Dear Clients, you might feel like the start of our relationship often begins with an ‘interrogation’, but please don’t take offence! We’re truly interested in getting to know you better so we can best achieve your objectives. Tell us everything, share your problems and explain your hesitations… be as thorough as possible. Every piece of information you provide is a step closer to a clearly defined and tailored project.
Wanting to know our clients well is a sign of healthy curiosity!
Finding out more and wanting to know our clients well is the very foundation of a business relationship built on trust. A company’s history, its products and services, future challenges and the role of its employees are all information that fuel the ability to best meet a company’s expectations, whatever the sector.
At VI, we go further still and examine content strategies, existing publications, international issues and relevant audiences.
You might think that translation is all about buying ‘words’ and that they are all pretty much the same. Nothing could be further from the truth!
We may invoice ‘words’, but we sell something far more substantial: time and skills. Both are intrinsically linked to the translation project, its type and the associated instructions and constraints.
Here are examples of specific questions you can expect to answer:
- Do you see your translation project as a cost or an investment?
- Do you have a strategy to conquer a particular market or do you simply want a ‘global’ website that provides you with an international presence?
- Do you use specific terminology and does it already feature in other content?
- Do your documents include images with non-editable text? (If they do, we will ask you to provide us with the source files).
- What source files do you work from and what format do you want to receive in return for better integration internally?
- Have you experienced any issues with translation projects in the past? What was the problem?
Clients can sometimes be concerned about being upsold by a sales rep and are often not forthcoming with information about their needs. They simply don’t understand the importance of being open and sharing as much information as possible.
All of these questions help to anticipate potential problems relating to the target text, project management, terminology, IT tools, file formats, and more. And anything that was not discussed upfront is likely to boomerang back at the end of the project. A lack of early perspective can be detrimental to all parties.
Making the right choices ahead of time to ensure a quality translation
Having as much information as possible helps us to judge how to best proceed, so we can:
- Present your products and services to your audience using the right words and appropriate style.
- Choose the pair of linguists best suited for your project.
- Enable you to make the most of our expertise in glossaries and terminology to best define the characteristics of your content.
- Deliver file formats suited to your needs and offer you page layout formatting if necessary.
- Make the best technical choices. Choose the tools according to the project’s specific features and optimise processes. For the translation of web file and software source files in general, we work together to find the best work format.
Sustaining gains over time
These various elements help us to set up a customised process and, in the medium term, find a system for optimising and automating projects.
The quality of our translations improve as the linguists become more familiar with your content over time. In addition, all completed translations are saved in a translation memory. So, every translation we deliver to you helps to reduce costs over time when content relates to subjects already covered.
And, knowing that you can speak freely with our team creates mutual trust that helps us all move forward. Challenging ourselves to improve has never been an issue, as long as the goal makes sense and benefits our clients.
We like to build a long-lasting relationship with our clients, honed over time. You will always have the same contact person at VI, someone who knows you well. This person ensures consistency and quality for your projects.
What we’re trying to say is you can trust us; let us advise and guide you. We aim for your satisfaction and will always offer the most suitable solution for you.
