4 Factors that Will Affect the Quality of Business Translation in Chinese

Achieving high-quality Chinese translation can involve some challenges. 

You want to make sure you know what to expect when you work with translation agencies. If you have a high volume of work on business translation, communication is crucial. 

Business translation in Chinese isn’t the same as creative translation or transcreation. There are important things to consider, like the niche industry, jargon, and terminologies. Plus, it would be best if you think about the expertise of the translators who will handle the work. 

In this blog post, we will share with you four factors that affect the quality of translation work. You can distinguish your priorities before you hand over the documents. And it will also help you maintain the quality of translation as you work with the project managers and translators.

#1 Jargonize English source texts

Each industry uses different terms and phrases when writing content on the website and even on publications. If you’re regularly publishing content on your site or you have copies for landing pages that you want to translate, make sure you use simple, translatable English.

Refrain from using complicated English words so that translators can easily understand the context of your content. 

To speed up the process – if you have specific phrases and words that you use in different contexts – provide a glossary. Chinese translators can quickly determine the meaning and translate the texts based on what the source means. 

#2 Expertise of the Chinese translator in your niche

Work with Chinese translators who specialize in your sector. If you’re in the fashion and luxury industry, look for someone who has managed the same or related projects. 

The best way to spot the right one is by asking for samples of work. It would be best if you also consider the volume of work and the timeline of the project. Sometimes, even if you find the class A translator, but you only have limited time to get things done, you need to find other translators for a large volume of work. 

Translators have different processes and methods in translating, so you want to enforce quality control over the documents even if you’re working with several translators with different skillsets and years of experience. 

#3 The method of translation from English to Chinese

In connection with point #2, each translator has their way of processing the information you provided, including the content and glossary. 

Years of experience will be a contributing factor to the skills and how fast they can unpack the texts from the source language then translate them to Chinese. 

Amateurs are still in the process of figuring out their style and workflow when translating texts. So, you need to understand that even if they’re native speakers and translators, the choice of words, style, grammar, and how they understood the source will affect the output. 

Most veteran translators also use other tools like the CAT tool to help them translate and manage projects. The revision process may have comparative reading, and the method of how they do it may vary. 

Make sure you ask for a third-party reviewer of the entire texts once they submit the document so you’ll have time to request for revisions if necessary. 

#4 Failure to manage expectations on the workflow

One of the best ways to handle large projects for business translation in Chinese is to discuss a structured workflow. Ask the project manager how the process works whenever you have a business document that urgently needs a translation.

What does the typical workflow will look like? Who’s in charge? What is the turnaround time? How many revisions can the team handle in case there are some concerns in the final documents? How many times can you request changes in the translated documents? These are the things that you also have to discuss with the project manager. 

Failure to manage your expectations on the workflow will inevitably cause you frustrations and affect the quality of the business translations you requested.