5 Ways to Save Money on Chinese Translation Without Compromising Quality

Thinking how to save money on your first Chinese translation project? You’re in the right place because this article will uncover the secrets to make the most out of it.

Translation shouldn’t be an option when you’re targeting Chinese consumers. There must be a portion of it in your marketing plan. That said, a coherent strategy on Chinese translation includes budget, timeline, and scope.

Here are the five ways to save money on Chinese translation projects:

Use English as the source language

For German, Spanish, or French companies with websites or documents in their native language, you can save money when translating your source documents from English to Chinese rather than German to Chinese.

Translating non-English language to Chinese is more expensive, so you’d instead choose English as the source language, which is more affordable.

Only translate the necessary elements of the website

If you plan to translate and localize your website, list down the elements that are not relevant to your target audience. Most companies, at the early stage of the business, stick to a lean budget.

If you’re in this situation, handpick the essential pages on your website instead of making a major translation and localization overhaul to avoid overspending.

In the first phase of the project, you may skip the news and blog sections on top of the services and product pages. Translating the homepage, about us, and contact pages may be enough to introduce your company to get started.

Take advantage of CAT tool analysis and price

A CAT (computer-aided translation) tool helps in reducing the costs of the translation work. Professional Chinese translators use it to help them in the translation process. The tool saves the words and phrases in its translation memory or TM.

When translators run through the texts that need translation, the tool spits out repetitions. In short, the CAT tool detects repetitive words and phrases. That said, honest vendors should provide a quote that includes a CAT tool discount because of the repetitions.

Translators run the CAT tool to scan the texts of websites, catalogs, user guides, software, and databases. Thus there’s a high chance of getting repetitions from these types of projects. Most Chinese translation agencies charge per word count. With the CAT tool, the detected repetitive words and names will save you cost.

Companies that already have data from the CAT tool from their previous vendor can endorse that to the next vendor to save more on those repetitions. First-timers should ask for a CAT tool discount as this will insanely save a lot of money.

Initially invest in a PowerPoint presentation

Another way to save cost on marketing materials is to invest in Powerpoint presentation translation in Chinese. Unlike other marketing materials with many texts, presentations are often short, sweet, but concise. They only include an overview of your company, services or products, unique selling proposition, and contact details.

Most Powerpoint presentations we have translated are informative but mostly heavy on images. So, it won’t cost you a lot of money to translate this type of document.

Go for bulk orders on translation projects

Last but not least, if you pair up your bulk orders with the CAT tool discount, you’d be able to save on the cost as you negotiate with your vendor.

Instead of asking the vendor for a meal piece or per piece translation, try to consolidate all your materials so the team can map out a plan to translate all the orders according to your timeline efficiently.

Most vendors are willing to give discounts for bulk orders and long-term projects. Not only will you enjoy the deals and quality of work they offer, but also build stronger business relationships with them.

Final Thoughts

With all these points, you want to make sure that quality isn’t compromised as you work with a team of professional Chinese translators.

Always ask for the CAT tool price and don’t settle for the initial quote. Overall, before you send the non-disclosure agreement, conduct a background check about the translation agency’s track record of finishing a high volume of work.