When you’re talking certified translations, you’re talking the kinds of documents that carry an extreme level of importance. From certified marriage certificate translations to adoption document translations and so on, these are exactly the kinds of instances in which misunderstandings and miscommunications are entirely unacceptable.
So with this in mind, what follows is a brief overview of just a few important pointers for ensuring that all such negative outcomes are avoided, when sourcing certified translations:
1) First and foremost, it is important to remember that you will only ever get what you pay for. There’s a very good reason why some translation services practically give their services away to customers, while others charge premium rates. In the case of the latter, you are quite literally guaranteed a flawless result during the allocated time frame. By contrast, put your trust in a substandard provider and there’s every chance you’ll be disappointed with the outcome.
2) Speaking of which, there’s nothing more important than establishing concrete deadlines ahead of time and ensuring that they have been documented and agreed to. Unless you have an actual deadline written down and agreed on by both parties, you run the risk of not getting your documents back by the time you need them.
3) It’s also a good idea to speak to your chosen service provider ahead of time, in order to discuss whether or not they fully understand the dialect of the document. This doesn’t necessarily tend to be a problem when it comes to official documents and legal paperwork, but it is nonetheless a good idea to at least broach the subject.
4) Before agreeing to go ahead with the project, ask the translator to fully preview the documents and consider the task as a whole, in order to determine whether or not they can deliver. You may also wish to ask them for evidence of previous translation projects of a similar nature, in order to verify their capabilities.
5) Last but not least, remain in contact with the translation service you chose throughout the project, in order to check exactly how things are going and perhaps assess the partially-completed project for accuracy and quality. In addition, if you are in any way concerned with the quality or accuracy of the results, it is in your best interests to arrange to have them proofread by a reputable third party.