Translation and localization are key components of the growth strategy for businesses that aim to reach a global audience.
However, translation has its challenges, such as getting the nuances of language right, which can be a difficult task. Simply deploying machine translation won’t cut it. In fact, a study by UCLA Medical Center reports that the accuracy of Google Translate across different languages varies from 55 to 94%.
This is where partnering with a professional translation company comes in—one that can provide software and services to help you maximize cost savings and minimize the time and energy necessary to deliver accurately translated content.
But with hundreds of language service providers and translation agencies out there, which should you choose? In this article, we'll guide you through the must-haves for your next translation vendor and highlight the top nine translation companies that stand out from the rest.
Must-haves for your translation vendor
Identifying a top-tier translation company is challenging. You need to navigate each potential provider, evaluate its offerings, and verify its claims to confirm if it truly serves your business’s current and future vision.
You can look for a comprehensive list of must-haves in our buyer’s guide to selecting a translation solution, but here’s a list of key factors to consider when selecting a translation vendor:
Offered translation services
A translation services provider should offer a comprehensive range of language solutions for all your needs. The services include legal translation, technical translation, and website translation, to name a few.
Tailored and localized content for specific regions achieves a 12-fold increase in engagement compared to content that is not localized. It’s important to check if the vendor offers localization services to help you adapt your content for different regions and cultures while keeping cultural nuances in mind. Localization doesn’t end with textual translations—remember to check for media localization capabilities such as voice-overs, dubbing, transcription, and subtitling for your audio-video content.
Another offering to watch out for is AI-driven translation, which leverages advanced algorithms to significantly increase speed and reduce costs while maintaining quality. AI translation combined with human oversight offers a balance between quality, cost, and speed. It can handle large volumes of text quickly and accurately, making it an attractive option for organizations that need to translate a high volume of content regularly.
Smartling’s AI-powered human translation (Source)
Additionally, if your business needs it, look for interpretation services for conferences, meetings, and other live or in-person events to facilitate seamless communication with your customers, employees, or business partners in other countries. Check out our detailed resource to learn more about the subtle differences between translation, interpretation, and subtitling.
Lastly, confirm that your potential translation company supports a wide range of languages, has built-in quality assurance mechanisms, and provides rapid turnaround times to ensure your business operations run smoothly.
Integrations and technical capabilities
A translation project involves multiple stakeholders, such as marketing, sales, and customer support teams. Your translation services company should support several integrations to facilitate seamless collaboration.
This includes connecting with content management systems, customer relationship management software, and other relevant platforms to drive efficient workflow management and content distribution.
Leveraging AI in translation processes is crucial for efficiency and accuracy. AI-led translation services, in conjunction with expert translators, can expedite translations, incorporate brand terms, and ensure accurate translations.
Additionally, opt for a collaborative tool that organizes all your translation projects in a single place, such as a translation management system (TMS), and provides detailed analytics about translation quality and costs.
Native-speaking translators
Native speakers are essential for producing culturally sensitive, high-quality translations that help you overcome language barriers. Ensure that the professional translation services you choose employ native speakers or freelancers who possess subject matter expertise, have several years of experience in your industry, and understand the nuances of the target market and culture.
Track record of success
A company's track record of success is a testament to its quality and reliability. Look for case studies, testimonials, and reviews from previous clients to gauge the company's translation performance.
Consider if the translation company has experience working with similar customer profiles that your business caters to. For instance, if you often work with healthcare or life sciences institutes, ensure that your translation service provider has a proven track record of efficiently handling medical translations.
A company that’s been around for a long time or has generated the most revenue is not automatically the best, especially if it’s not accustomed to working with companies like yours. You can’t beat the expertise that comes from hands-on work with similar businesses.
Scalability and flexibility
Your business needs may change over time, so it's essential to choose a translation company that can scale with you. For instance, if you have plans to expand into China or create Spanish content, make sure your translation vendor has the capacity to handle large volumes of work in those languages and can adapt to your evolving content needs and deadlines.
Up-to-date certifications
Certifications such as ISO 17100 and ISO 9001 are essential for ensuring that your translation services provider meets industry standards. Look for a company that has up-to-date and relevant certifications and adheres to industry best practices.
9 of the best translation companies
Now that you have a framework to evaluate translation vendors, here is a list of some of the top translation services for you to compare:
1. Smartling
Smartling is a cloud-based translation technology and full-service language services company that provides a range of services to help businesses localize their content efficiently. Smartling works with hundreds of brands like Samsung, Shopify, and Canva and consistently rates #1 on G2 for translation management. In fact, it was the #1 enterprise TMS for 15 consecutive quarters. It also provides a 100% translation quality guarantee.
Services:
- Human translation by professional translators who are both native speakers and local experts
- Professional services for onboarding, migration, web proxy maintenance, and more
- Day-to-day management of your account with managed services
- A powerful TMS with translation memory technology
Languages: Unlimited language pairs
Content types:
- Marketing materials, including website content, emails, and lead magnets
- Product documentation materials, application translations, and user experience copy translations
- Customer support content, including FAQs and help documentation
- And more
Industries: Marketing, finance, legal, government, security, procurement, gaming, and more. Smartling can work with companies of different sizes and industries.
Company base: USA and Ireland
2. XTM
XTM International, a company specializing in translation software, offers the translation management system XTM Cloud and XTRF, a translation business management solution. It enables enterprises to streamline and fully automate localization processes.
Services:
- A translation solution for enterprises, language service providers (LSPs), and freelance translators
- Centralized linguistic assets and project data, enabling collaboration on translation tasks in real time using translation memory
Languages: Supports over 320 languages
Content types:
- Website content
- Marketing content
- Product content, including in-app content and user-help documentation
- Policies, employee handbooks
- And more
Industries: Manufacturing, software and technology, and life sciences
Company base: London, Rochester (NY), Poznań, and Tokyo
3. Phrase
Founded in 2008 as Memsource, Phrase is a localization platform that helps businesses automate, manage, and translate content for fast growth and expansion.
Services:
- A cloud-based and AI-driven localization platform empowering organizations to provide customers with content in their preferred language
- Professional translation services and help managing professional translation providers on a single platform with its TMS
Content types:
- Software and apps
- Websites
- Documents
- Marketing materials
Industries: E-commerce, travel, media, and gaming
Company base: Prague, Czech Republic
4. memoQ
memoQ is a TMS within memoQ Translation Technologies. It offers translation and localization services for enterprises, language service providers, and individual translators.
Services:
- Aims to streamline translation and localization processes globally
- Features like flexible workflow management, project tracking, automated quality checks, and advanced reports
Languages: Supports over 100 languages
Content types:
- Documents
- Websites
- Software interfaces
- And more
Industries: Life sciences, gaming, and financial institutions
Company base: Budapest, Hungary
5. Crowdin
Crowdin is a cloud-based localization management platform that helps companies translate and localize their content globally. Crowdin boasts over 2 million registered users and 100,000 projects worldwide.
Services:
- Various localization services, including automated translation workflows to help you continuously localize content in parallel with development
- Integrations with over 600 apps and tools like GitHub, GitLab, Sketch, Figma, Hubspot, and Mailchimp
- AI-powered machine translation with glossary and translation memory support
Languages: Offers localization into over 100 languages
Content types:
- Software and apps
- Websites
- Games
- Other digital content
- Supports over 40 file formats including JSON, CSV, and properties files
Industries: Software, gaming, telecommunications, information technology, and more
Company base: Tallinn, Estonia
6. Unbabel
Unbabel is an AI-powered language operations (LangOps) platform. It helps businesses with fast, high-quality translations by combining advanced AI algorithms with human editors.
Services:
- Real-time quality reporting and customization of multilingual content translations
- Cost transparency and complete control over your translation projects
- Customizable translation workflows and built-in quality checks
Languages: Supports 130 languages and over 6,000 language pairs
Content types:
- Translation for customer support in channels like chat, email, and FAQs
- Marketing content like product descriptions
- User guides
Industries: Retail, technology, travel, food and beverage, and logistics
Company base: San Francisco, CA
7. Transperfect
With nearly 30 years of experience and over 10,000 native-speaking linguists to its name, this company is often a top search result for translation and localization. Its 2021 merger with Semantix—another top provider of translation and interpretation services—makes it worth considering for large-scale translation efforts.
Services:
- Translation and language services (document translation, AI and machine translation, etc.)
- Content creation and management
- Transcription services
- Multilingual customer support
Languages: Supports over 170 languages
Content types:
- Website content
- Training and e-learning materials and videos
- Mobile app UX copy
- And more
Industries: Life sciences, retail and e-commerce, legal, travel and hospitality, technology, media and entertainment, and digital marketing and advertising Company base: USA
8. President Translation Service Group International
President Translation Service Group International (PTSGI) is a multinational translation and localization service provider. It is Asia’s largest language service provider, with a team of 13,600 professional translators worldwide.
Services:
- Multimedia translation and localization services
- Proprietary AI and intelligent case management systems to provide efficient, high-quality translations to its clients
- Languages: Supports over 140 languages
Content types:
- Document translation services
- Technical translation
- Website translation
- Software and application translation
- Patent translation
- Video game localization
Industries: Medical, IT, cosmetics, finance, public construction, and legal
Company base: Taipei, Taiwan
9. WeLocalize
WeLocalize, founded in 1997, is a language service provider that empowers global brands with translation and localization services.
Services:
- Linguistic talent management and AI-powered service delivery to provide fast and accurate translations
- Multilingual search engine optimization, transcreation, and media localization
Languages: Covers over 250 languages
Content types:
- Website content translation
- Patent translation
- Compliance translation
- Product and software localization
- Voice-over services
- E-learning localization
Industries: Legal, medical, pharma, technology, e-learning, manufacturing, and entertainment
Company base: USA
How to choose the right translation company
The above are among the best translation agencies out there today. But that doesn’t mean you should pick one at random and expect quality results. Submitting a Request for Proposal (RFP), like our sample translation RFP, can help a potential vendor understand your goals and clarify any questions you have. Here are a handful of the most important questions to ask to make the right decision:
- What is the vendor’s unique value proposition?
- What products and services does the vendor offer? How do they align with your company’s needs?
- Which of its customers have been most similar to your business?
- What security measures does it have in place?
Remember: it’s not all about your current needs. You need a company that can adapt and grow with you as your needs evolve. This is one reason that a true full-service translation solution like Smartling is so valuable.
Scale your business with Smartling’s robust translation solutions
You can translate any type of content with Smartling’s TMS, Neural Machine Translation Hub, and expert human translators. And you can do so for a fraction of the cost—and a fraction of the time—it would take to handle translation manually.
Curious about how Smartling can help you reach your translation and localization goals now and in the future? Book a meeting now.
