How to Choose the Right Translation Software?

Companies aiming for global expansion need to break down language barriers and communicate effectively with potential customers across markets. Utilizing professional translation software can often be the key to their international success. Through smart automation, translation software can help linguists provide accurate translations of any text more efficiently and with ease.

If your company is considering employing professional translation software to bring the most remarkable change to your team’s workflows, you might be wondering how to choose the right translation software that will get the best results for your organization.

This article will highlight the most fundamental questions you need to ask yourself when choosing translation software for your company. So, without further ado, here’s how to choose the right translation tool that will fit your needs.

What type of content will you be translating?

First things first, you should know that a translation tool can support different file formats. For example, if you’re willing to localize an iOS or Android app for global audiences, you should choose translation software that supports the respective file type.

In contrast, if you mostly need translation software to work on documents like brochures or presentations, you need to ensure that the tool supports the file formats you use to create those types of documents.

Do they provide professional and reliable technical support?

Next in line, you should consider whether translating texts and documents is part of your daily work operations. If so, the translation software of your choosing needs to be a highly convenient tool and a reliable system as a whole. In that regard, having a dedicated and responsive technical support team can improve your productivity and user experience when technical issues occur.

Therefore, before subscribing to a plan and choosing the translation software for your company, remember to consider and test the accessibility of its support teams. Do they provide live support? What is the coverage of the support?

The thing with the support is that the best translation software providers don’t limit their customer support efforts only to particular aspects of their end product and will willingly guide you through updates, processes, and everything in between during regular working hours—regardless of whether you work in an Eastern, Pacific, or Central time zone.

In contrast, free translation solutions usually don’t have proper support systems and teams.

Do you need cloud-based or desktop translation software?

Cloud-based translation software solutions could be easily accessed through a regular web browser and offer the possibility to collaborate remotely with others on translations. And the best part about cloud-based translation tools is that, since they are web-based, the end user can enjoy regular updates, and bug fixes by the developer at no extra cost.

On the other hand, if you opt to go with a desktop translation tool, chances are, that you’ll need to download the program and install it on your computer. While most don’t require an internet connection to operate, the user would need to free up space on their computer for installation and make manual updates when available.

The bottom line here is that when choosing between desktop and cloud-based software, you will need to consider things like:

● Does your organization have a stable internet connection all the time?

● Would your team members need to access the software from different devices?

● Does the software allow you to use the tool on different computers without acquiring separate licenses?

Once you have answers to these questions, you will better understand what deployment option for your translation software you may need.

Is the software user-friendly and easy to use?

Last but not least, as the software’s main benefit would be to help you allocate your resources and time more efficiently, the software you’ll opt for must be both user-friendly and easy to use. Otherwise, you and your employees would need to undergo intensive software training, which may take time and money.

Some translation software solutions focus more on perfecting the user experience, while others are packed with features. The main reason for this is simple: different people have different needs.

For that reason, consider what software you need and the use cases you’ll have before making the final decision. Either way, the software should be easy to use and enhance the productivity of your daily operations, not the other way around.

Bottom line

Choosing proper translation software can be challenging as you need to ensure that its functionality matches your company's needs, all while it is not overpowered with features you may have no use for. We hope this article will help you make a better, more-informed decision and use translation software that suits your organization's needs.