5 Challenges of In-House Translation

When it comes to taking on large projects within your organization, you probably think it would be best to leverage internal resources to do the work. After all, who better to work at your business goals than the people within your business?  

But when it comes to website translation, you have a lot more to consider than just translating webpages. Translation and localization is a very complex and niche process, so you should be putting your trust in the experts. After all, 92% of the top 2000 global companies are outsourcing their IT and business processing needs. 

If you plan to tackle a translation project in-house, you'll likely run into some very common roadblocks. You also need to consider how your translation workflow and quality may suffer. That's why we're here to outline the five greatest obstacles of doing translations in-house.

Watch 5 min Webinar on the Total Cost of Web Translation with MotionPoint’s CEO, Evan Kramer.

1. Training is Slow and Expensive

Translating a website isn't just about the words, sentences, and segments on the page. It includes everything from photos, videos, PDFs and more. And since 70% of internet users are not native English speakers, you don't want them to miss anything due to incomplete or insufficient translation. What you may assume would be a quick project turns into a slow and costly endeavor if you try to own the entire translation workflow. 

If you decide to provide training to your employees, you may run into other roadblocks. Not only will putting your employee through a college program or certification put you back thousands of dollars, but your employee's inexperience could also cause you to have to recruit additional website developers, translators, and proofreaders, who may advise you to start over. In the end, this will cost you more time and money. Luckily, companies who partner with MotionPoint only pay between $15,000-$35,000 a year.

2. In-house Translation Can Interrupt Workflow and Impact Quality Assurance 

Quality assurance in translation should be a top priority. Translation is not a simple word-for-word process, and someone who is not an expert in the field may not provide the most comprehensive work. The lack of expertise in your in-house translators can create roadblocks in your workflow. This can lead to mistakes, delays, misunderstandings, and subpar work. 

So what can you expect to be different with a partnered translation service like MotionPoint? With translation workflow management technologies, we utilize machine and human services to minimize mistranslation and grammatical errors, making the process smooth and the work exceptional. Our different approaches to website translation help to reduce the complexity of website localization. And the best part: you wouldn’t have to worry about a thing! 

3. Slower Speed to Market 

If you're considering translation and localization for your brand, chances are your competitors are also trying to break into the same new markets-or worse already have translated websites. This means you need to prioritize speed as well as quality. Tackling your translations in-house typically takes 12-18 months. In contrast, with MotionPoint new multilingual sites are published in around 45 days.  

So, what is the alternative? MotionPoint leverages technology-driven solutions to expand global reach and drive business goals with industry-leading speed. We don't just focus on quality; we strive to improve speed to market to put your business in the best position to succeed. 

4. Difficult to Scale Sustainably

You're likely looking to localize as part of an effort to support and enable growth in your business. Unfortunately, owning the translation process may get in the way of your ability to scale your company sustainably. As the size and complexity of your projects grow, especially translation and localization projects, it can become more difficult to manage your in-house team. They could have limited resources and capacity, which can hinder its ability to meet the demands of a larger project. 

Conversely, a team like MotionPoint can provide a more scaled solution with SLAs in place to ensure work gets done on time. A larger team of experts with automation tools can handle a wide range of projects, big or small, and can easily scale to meet the needs of any project.

Download the Ultimate Guide to Owning vs. Partnering for Translations

5. Lack of Technology and Innovative Solutions

While you may be able to find high-quality translators who are experts in the field of linguistics, chances are they won’t have access to the same technology as we do at MotionPoint. Our new Adaptive Translation™ uses a combination of translation memory, algorithmic translation, and AI to increase efficiency, ensure accuracy, and drive visibility.  

We use SEO tactics in the web development process to not only provide high-quality translation, but also to help ensure those translated versions are being served to your target markets. Moreover, using your own team or even freelancers prevents you from being able to take advantage of in context translation, where translators know how their translations will render on a screen. A concierge-level service team, like MotionPoint, can provide web engineering, UI quality assurance, and project management for a more well-rounded experience. 

Avoid the Challenges of Owning Translation with MotionPoint

In a time when 76% of online shoppers prefer to buy products with information in their native language, are you willing to risk your business with subpar translations? Avoid the challenges that come with owning translation like low quality, slow processes, lack of innovation, and high labor and translation costs. MotionPoint's concierge-level service provides an effortless solution, with the efficiencies and expertise required to keep your translation up-to-date with your English language website.