the six ways
a practical guide to minimising your risk of change
Time and time again we speak with global communication managers who tell us how they’ve endured poor linguistic quality and poor project management from their translation vendor for quite some time. We often hear how they’ve been bounced around from one project manager to another and how they’ve tolerated the ‘silent treatment’ and reactive responses to questions instead of receiving proactive communication. We hear how emails with bad news – like missing Friday’s deadline – would appear quietly in their inbox at 6:30pm on Thursday. We’ve been told how much they have been paying for these services and how projects are completed within timeframes which seem unnecessarily long. But even though they are black and blue from vendor abuse, they are still reluctant to change. Why would anyone with good business acumen continue to work with a translation vendor providing such bad service?
That is a good question.
Then there are the people who tell us they are “relatively happy” with their translation vendor. But why aren’t they ecstatic? Why are they settling for mediocrity? Can they point to how their organisation has profited from the relationship? And when their turnaround times and costs are shown to be far greater than what a company like Golocalise can offer, that fact still seems not compelling enough for them to initiate changes.
Why?
The risks that change represents are often perceived to be greater than the reward that a new relationship can bring.
So while you may be aware that there are translation services that can offer you faster, better and less expensive services, how can you minimise your risk – perceived or real – while leveraging the advantages of better service and decreased cost?
And how would you “pull the plug” on your current relationship – without jeopardising what you have already accomplished? How could you make sure your deadlines are met and your website stays current in all languages while you go through this change?
Well, at Golocalise, we believe there really isn’t one sure-fire way to a satisfying translation. There are six.
Six Ways to make a change
1. Start flirting - Get a quote from Golocalise
This is the simplest way to get a side-by-side comparison of services and costs. Better still, volume discounts can be applied if a year’s amount of work is taken into view. Simply send a quote request out to both Golocalise and your current vendor.
2. Brief Encounters - Hire Golocalise on a stealth project
This is a good way to benchmark quality and customer service without immediate commitment.
3. Tell them: “It’s not you – it’s me”
You can split your workload by sending some to a new vendor – but tell them your volumes will be dropping over the next 3 months so they should expect a decrease in the amount of work they normally get. This will give you an opportunity to try out Golocalise.
4. Conduct an RFP process
This is a great way for you to get a good view of what’s out there. If you have a smaller or simpler project, you could also opt for an informal process instead of a formal RFP process – or...
5. Get procurement to do it for you
If your personal relationship with your vendor is good, but you are curious to see if you are really getting the best value for your money, have your internal procurement people conduct a RFP process for you. This way, you can leave subjective factors out of the equation.
6. Come up with a “multi–vendor strategy”
You can always say that you are trying a ‘multivendor strategy’ to reduce your organisation’s risk on translation activities and will be going forward with 2 vendors. While doing this requires getting a handle on which projects go to whom, it is a way of working that many companies have implemented with great success.
Three magic words: Quality, Turnaround, Cost
It goes without saying that everyone expects a perfect translation, as fast as possible and for the lowest price. However, those conditions are relative. Everyone involved in the operational chain (‘the workflow’) will place a different value on these three elements based on their job, their objectives and their personal approach.
You should be able to expect consistent linguistic accuracy from any vendor you work with. However, it’s the way that a translation is processed, advised on, and delivered which sets a top supplier apart. Accuracy is only one of the elements that define the quality of a translation; the spirit, style and voice of the source text should be maintained and sit comfortably with the cultural context of the target language. You may be able to rely on your in-country reviewers to judge linguistic quality, but don’t base your judgment merely on having your supplier review a single paragraph – this won’t give you the total picture. Check if industry experts have reviewed and whether they’ve adhered to your existing style guide or glossary. Measuring idiomatic quality is both an art and a science so do not discount your personal nous when setting up quality measures.
There are no two ways around turnaround times. Test the accuracy of a turnaround quote by running a trial project or speaking to one of their customers who fits your project profile.
Rule below the line, but don’t be ruled by it. One thing is certain: you will always find lower rates. This means that at some point you will have to make a gut-level judgment on whether an attractive price tag will really guarantee you the best overall value. With word rates under increasing pressure, translation suppliers may be tempted to let quality standards slip. So, if you think the pricing is too good to be true, it probably is.
Be prepared, change takes work
Once you’ve decided to take the plunge and make the switch to a new vendor, your day is not done. In fact, the decision is only your first step. In order for those new processes – which promise a better return on your investment – to take root, you need to rally everyone involved with translations in your organisation to get on board. Golocalise can assist you with analysing your translation goals and requirements to take you from where you are, to where you would like to be.
Going with Golocalise
We know there are many fish in the sea and while there are many similar vendors to choose from, Golocalise sets itself apart from its competitors not only by our people, the technology we use and our expertise in your industry, but also by the truly personalised approach and passion we consider essential for a project to succeed.
So why not let us demonstrate our capabilities and explain to you how we’ve been able to help other clients in your position make a change for the better. To arrange for a chat with a member of Golocalise team, please call +44 (0) 207 388 0139 or email david@golocalise.com
Foreign Language Voice Over
If you have any experience in the translation business then you will fully appreciate how vital - yet how difficult - it is to ensure that a foreign language voice over is done absolutely perfectly. Any slight errors in pronunciation or grammar can potentially cause a major embarrassment to you and your client. If you are in need of an expert company to take care of some translation for you then why not go to the best in the business. GoLocalise can organise foreign language voice over translation by the most committed professional Spanish translators, German translators, Japanese translators, Portuguese translators, and many more with voice over artists and experienced translation project managers to suit your needs. They also have expert copywriters worldwide to provide a comprehensive localisation service covering a wide range of areas of foreign language voice over translation. They will ensure that the whole process is hassle free for you as they will project manage the entire process, from the translation of your script (if required) to the delivery of high quality audio files to your technical specification.
Recording studio London
If you are interested in booking a recording studio in London, but have absolutely no idea where to start, then why not get some professional advice. There is one studio that is currently operating with in the capital, which can help you no matter what you need. Their state-of-the-art facility is available at one of the most competitive rates within the city today, and they will also offer you full support for the entire duration of you stay in their recording studio in central London. GoLocalise works with talents from all over the word, that own a home studio or access to an established studio via ISDN. GoLocalise guarantees to give you professional, broadcast quality audio from their sound recording studio in central London, in incredible turnaround times - 24 hours in most cases. They can also provide you with voice over artists for your project, and will organize everything to ensure that your recording experience is as hassle free as possible. So if any of this meets your need then why not get in touch with GoLocalise today.
ISDN studio for your voice over recordings
GoLocalise thinks globally and this is why we have equipped our two-state-of–the–art studios in central London with ISDN. We want our client to be able to monitor the recording sessions and give their suggestions directly to the voice over artist in the booth. ISDN also allows us to transmit a live feed of our recordings in high fidelity, enabling us to share our excellent work with clients remotely while the recording is happening. ISDN powered studios have the capability to connect with remote users across the globe. ISDN is an acronym for Integrated Services Digital Network. ISDN is a service provided by most telecoms operators that allows users to transmit vast amounts of data faster than regular transmissions via a standard telephone line. ISDN is the equivalent of a digital telephone line. The ISDN system consists of two channels: D-Channels (used for signalling and call setup) and B-Channels (data channels). Each B-channel can be used independently as a separate data channel (or telephone line), so you can have two separate connections (or calls) in progress at the same time. This allows GoLocalise to transmit larger amounts of data than through a standard telephone set-up. A single B-channel can carry 64kb of data per second - twice as much as an analogue phone line. ISDN systems have a higher bandwidth, so data can be sent faster. Due to the fact that ISDN lines are digital and that the information can be compressed by a codec, the quality of the call is also substantially better than through a standard telephone line. ISDN lines can be used for ordinary telephone calls, but the audio will still sound like a normal telephone call unless a coding process is used, and this is where the codec comes in when thinking about an ISDN powered studio. The codec's function is to compress and un-compress (or COde and DECode) the 1.4 bits of data needed to transmit high fidelity audio into the 128 kbits of space available over the ISDN line, thus generating a considerable improvement in the quality of the decodified information received at the other end of the line.
Recording studio rental in central London – create your voice over demo reel
If you need a voice demo GoLocalise is your perfect ally. You can rent our recording studios in central London to create your demo voice sample and start your career as a professional voice over talent. Our two state-of-the-art recording studios in central London are affordable and accessible to everyone. You can rent our recording studios in central London - our in-house sound engineers are experts in a great variety of recordings, i.e. lip synch, ADR, dubbing, animation, etc. Our friendly and smiley project managers will organise the whole process for you. GoLocalise invites you to make your own personal voice demo reel in their recording studio for rent in central London.
Voice over casting – find your voice talent
Finding the right voice over talent for your voice overs is easy! GoLocalise specialises in voice over casting for online courses, promo, documentaries, games, video games, animation, cartoon, corporate videos, sales videos, TV and radio commercials, sports broadcasts, telephony (IVR/on hold messages, location sound), conferences/shows, PowerPoint presentations, dubbing for films and animation. All our voice over talents are experienced and native. We provide free voice over casting services to our clients. GoLocalise voice over casting is a full service casting talent agency. Click on our voices page to listen to voice over talent demos, you will be able to choose your voice over talent immediately - there are hundreds of voice demos to help you cast the right voice over talent in whatever language you may need. GoLocalise will help you find that special voice over talent for your project.
Dubbing, animation and lip sync services
Dubbing is the process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture, animation or television clip with the aim of substituting the original audio that was captured while shooting with the corresponding translation in a different language. Together with lip sync, dubbing is the most common process required to complete an audiovisual project. Production companies often need to dub actors’ voices in order to correct mistakes or to avoid background noise, but dubbing is mostly used to translate an audiovisual product from one language into another. Lip sync (lip synchronisation) is the dubbing technique used in close-ups and extreme close-ups - scenes in which the lips of on-screen actors are clearly visible and the translated text needs to be adapted to the movement of the lips. GoLocalise, apart from being a dedicated and experienced translation company, also provides full solutions for your audio needs whenever dubbing for film, animations or lip sync are required. In our state-of-the-art recording studio, we produce a wide range of work that goes beyond the “typical” dubbing and lip sync services. Working with an experienced team of in-house sound engineers, GoLocalise is able to offer solutions for other services related to dubbing, animation and lip sync such as audio fx sync, phrase sync, broadcast audio arrangement, sound fx generation by our foley artist, voice mixing, foley sound mixing, and dialogue cleaning and restoration. GoLocalise offers a centralised solution for all your multimedia projects: dubbing, animation or lip sync. Our clients can rest assured that we will offer the best quality and will meet their budget.
ADR voice over services
Have you ever wondered how movies make the dialogues you hear on screen so neat and clear? They use a trick called ADR. ADR has many names: some use the acronym ADR that stands for Automated Dialogue Replacement or Additional Dialogue Recording, while some just use the terms “dubbing” or “looping”. Here at GoLocalise we regularly take on ADR jobs and help our clients and producers by replacing noisy audio from the day of the shoot, or for situations where recording dialogue was simply not practical or where the results were not satisfactory. We have worked on ADR projects for Hollywood blockbusters, independent movies, cartoons, video games and short films for many different clients, always meeting their budgets. Our two state-of-the-art recording studios in central London are equipped with an ISDN connection so that your ADR recording sessions can be monitored and directed from anywhere in the world.
Audio book recording services
Audio books, audiobooks, audio guides and audible spoken word are terms used to describe one simple but powerful idea: books and guides for the ears. With the development of digital media, new art forms, industries and business possibilities emerged. Audio books are one of the most interesting and fast-growing trends of the modern media market. In fact, by 2008, in the UK alone, the audio book industry reached a total value of £80M, catching the attention of many publishers that turned to the audio book, audiobooks, audio guides and audible spoken word as a new form to promote new titles. At GoLocalise, as we are all language experts, we love working with everything that involves the spoken word. Driven by this passion, we created GoLocalise audio book, audiobooks, audio guides and audible spoken word services. Our audio books are done with the same attention to detail and professionalism as all our other services, and because we have our own team of transcribers, translators, sound engineers and two state-of-the-art studios, we produce all our audio books in-house without outsourcing anything.
TV Commercial production – the best voice over for your TV commercial
What does your product need to generate sales? Advertising and credibility, of course. Nowadays, TV commercials are the most effective form of advertising, but not all TV adverts are successful in the same way. In order to create the perfect TV commercial you need a team that knows what it is doing and GoLocalise is the perfect team. In its two modern, well-equipped studios in central London, GoLocalise can arrange the voice over production of your TV commercial in an easy and affordable way. In its wide portfolio of voice over talents, GoLocalise has the perfect voice over artist for your TV commercial and knows how to make your TV commercial unique and exclusive. Our experienced producers, directors and copywriters will be able to make the most of your preliminary ideas for your TV advert and turn them into a valuable and persuasive TV commercial. Contact GoLocalise for the production of your TV commercial voice over recording and rest assured your product will sell out.
Radio Commercial production – the best voice over for your radio commercial
What does your product need to generate sales? Advertising and credibility, of course. Nowadays, radio commercials are one of the most effective forms of advertising, but not all radio commercials are successful in the same way. In order to create a successful radio commercial you need a professional team, and this is where GoLocalise comes in. In its two fully-equipped studios in central London, GoLocalise arranges the voice over production of your radio commercial in an easy and affordable way. In its wide portfolio of voice over talents, GoLocalise has the perfect voice over artist for your radio commercial and knows how to make your radio commercial unique and exclusive. Our experienced producers, directors and copywriters will be able to make the most of your preliminary ideas for your radio advert and turn them into a valuable and persuasive radio commercial. Contact GoLocalise for the production of your radio commercial voice over recording and rest assured that your product will sell out.
E-learning translation, localisation and voice over services
GoLocalise provides your company with e-learning translation, localisation and voice over services, leaving you with a ready-to-host product. The steps and services involved with any end-to-end e-learning project are: the translation of the course and onscreen text using experts; the localisation of the course graphics using DTP specialists; the voice over recording of the course using your preferred voice over talents; and the quality control/assurance stage where the localised course files are reviewed against the original files. Your company is now able to upload the localised e-learning course and can start training their international team.
Video game translation
If you are in the gaming industry then you fully under stand the time and effort that goes in to the creation and production of a brand new video game. As well as making the game look good, and play smoothly, it also has to sound absolutely perfect. You also need to have an expert linguist taking care of your video game translation so that none of your games get lost in translation along the way. For all of your gaming translation only GoLocalise can give you a guaranteed top quality service time and time again. There are simple rules for ensuring that the translation is linguistically correct, that the game is translated for the target audience and market, and that your video game translation is word perfect from the very beginning. GoLocalise uses continuous quality control processes throughout the video game translation process to monitor quality and accuracy throughout every stage of a translation project, and through their processes of careful translator selection, editing and proof reading, they always deliver a consistently high quality translation.
IVR recording – record your on hold messages with GoLocalise
IVR or Interactive Voice Response is a useful tool for managing phone traffic. IVR or on hold messaging enables you to direct phone traffic according to customer needs. Dubbing your IVR or on hold messaging is very important for your company, especially when you are trying to expand to new countries and territories. It has been proved that most customers will not listen to your IVR or on hold messaging unless it is in their mother tongue. Dubbing your IVR or on hold messaging is therefore paramount when looking for new and foreign customers. At GoLocalise we offer the best audio quality IVR or on hold messages. In our wide portfolio of voices we will certainly have the right voice over artist for the recording of your IVR or on hold messages. Our experienced voice over artists will give your IVR or on hold messages the right tone, pace and intonation. Recording your IVR or on hold messages with GoLocalise will boost your sales. If you record your IVR or on hold messages with GoLocalise, in their two-state-of –the art studios, your customers will not hang up anymore, but will be pleased to listen to your IVR or on hold messages.
Sound design services – create the sound for your audiovisual products
When you need unique, creative, modern and client-tailored sound design services, GoLocalise is the answer. Unlike other production companies, GoLocalise has a modern and modular recording studio that allows us to generate bespoke and a-la-mode audio editing, audio effect insertion, foley recording, sound effects creation, creative sound design, special effects and beautiful soundscapes. GoLocalise is involved in many projects requiring the creation of specific sound effects, creative sound design and special effects. After over a decade of experience we understand the importance of a solid sound base to support each visual work. At GoLocalise we are well aware that the combination of killer visual resources and a great sound design allow our minds to believe that the images we are seeing are real and credible. Sometimes, good sound design is worth 1000 words and at GoLocalise we know that. We are aware that it is in this relationship, between good sound design and good video, that the message lies. Only with the right balance between effective sound design and video materials will the audience properly understand the message and as a result be interested in it. A brilliant sound design or soundscape completes the work of the directors of photography, art and sfx, generating an atmosphere that seduces the audience immediately.
Jingles and bespoke music services
Jingles and bespoke music add soul to visuals designed to convey a message. In the case of a commercial or artistic project, jingles and bespoke music add a special character to the project, capturing the attention of the audience and triggering their imagination. At GoLocalise we offer jingle and bespoke music creation services for all types of projects. We create music for TV, radio imaging, musical images, advertising jingles, music for media, custom music, all with a bespoke and jingle-oriented approach in mind. We are very proud to be a multi-tasked production company that can supply solutions for all your audio needs. Tailor-made jingles and bespoke music will increase the effectiveness of your product when transmitting a message, especially a commercial one. Our team of in-house sound engineers generate sound solutions that are designed to fulfil your jingle and bespoke music needs. Our jingle and bespoke music services are carried out with passion, creativity and a desire to adapt to different styles and budgets.
