Top Translation Companies

A translation company is a company that offers translation services to individuals, organizations, and businesses. These companies ensure that translations are accurate, culturally relevant, and contextually appropriate. Some translation companies specialize in technical projects and employ experts in industry-specific terminology, such as medicine, engineering, and law. Translation companies play a crucial role in global communication. They facilitate businesses' reaching international markets, enable governments to communicate with diverse populations, and help individuals access information in multiple languages.

Translation companies provide services in different languages while making sure that the translations are accurate, culturally appropriate, and consistent with the tone and voice of the original content. These agencies also translate different types of content, including content for internal use, technical, financial, marketing, social media content, and website content.

The responsibilities of translation companies typically include:

• Translation services:
  • Human translation: Translation without the use of any kind of software
  • Machine translation: Translation done using software tools and AI
  • Blended translation: A combination of human and machine translation
  • Localization: Adapting the content to ensure consistent messaging by making the content suitable and culturally relevant for a specific target audience
  • Literary translation: Translation of novels and other literary work to preserve the author's specific writing style
  • Technical translation: Translation of technical texts that require industry-specific knowledge and familiarity with the terminology
  • Website translation: A combination of translation, localization, and search engine optimization (SEO) to provide a consistent user experience across different regions
• Transcription: Converting spoken word (audio recordings, videos, etc.) into written text, commonly used to create video subtitles
• Proofreading: Reviewing and correcting translated material to ensure it is free from grammatical, spelling, and readability errors
• Interpretation: Translating spoken language into another language in real-time to facilitate communication between speakers of different languages

Translation agencies charge for their services based on the scope of work, the complexity of the subject matter, deadlines, and other project variables. 

The most common pricing structures include:

• Per word: Between $0.08 and $0.40 per word of translated text
• Per line: Between $1.63 and $2.39 per line of translated text, which is 55 characters long
• Per page: Around $100 per page of translated document
• Hourly: Between $35 and $75 per hour, depending on the subject matter and turnaround time

The top 50 translation companies on DesignRush charge an average of $48/hour. Roughly 52.8% of the translation companies on DesignRush accept projects with a minimum budget of less than $1,000, while 1.9% require a $50,000+ minimum budget.

You should hire a translation agency to ensure high-quality translations and avoid any miscommunication that could arise from poorly translated content that isn't localized and optimized for its audience. Translation companies will know exactly how to approach any challenging translation and ensure each translation sounds like a native speaker wrote it, giving your business credibility before potential foreign clients.

Some of the benefits of hiring translation agencies include:

• Accuracy: Many free translation tools are available, but they lack accuracy and struggle to capture a language’s natural structure and flow. Professional translators, on the other hand, ensure that the translated content preserves not just the meaning, but also the tone and style.
• Specialization: Most translation services offer expertise in niches like law, medicine, IT, finance, etc. and their translators are familiar with the niches’ specific terms.
• Data security: Professional translators ensure that all translations follow the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and ISO standards if they are handling sensitive information.
• Cultural context: Aside from translation accuracy, translation agencies ensure that the content upholds the appropriate cultural context. Without context, a translated text may confuse or even insult readers from another culture.
• Time efficiency: By hiring a professional translation agency, you can better manage deadlines. This is especially important for companies looking to launch a product in a new market, with limited timeframes due to competition.
• Consistency: Translating professionals maintain consistent terminology and style throughout the document, which is essential for maintaining a professional image.
• Quality assurance: Translating companies provide thorough proofreading and editing, ensuring the final product is polished and error-free.

An example of a successful collaboration with a translating company is the project between MM Digital and Lemac. Namely, Lempac, a custom packaging provider, hired a translation agency called MM Digital to streamline its translation process and provide accurate translations for the German packaging market. The translation service provided an industry expert fluent in English and German who helped maintain the brand essence in another language.

Thanks to the translations resonating with the German market, Lempac saw an increase in customer engagement and interaction. By communicating in another language, Lempac successfully expanded to new markets and gained more customers, positioning itself as a global leader in the industry.

Choosing the best translation company involves several key considerations. One of them is you must check that the translation company has the right expertise in the language(s) you need. To choose the translation company for your business, consider its experience in your industry, its portfolio of services, pricing plans, and client reviews.

Based on your company's needs, you should focus on these steps:

1. Identify your goals: Define the scope of work - the number of documents or pages you need to be translated, the deadlines, and desired outcomes.
2. Find the right expertise: Look for a translation service that has experience with the language and the industry you need translation for. Browse through DesignRush’s Agency Directory to find ideal candidates for the job. Some companies provide only human translations while others offer AI-powered machine translation or a combination of the two.
3. Set a budget: Determine the total amount you can invest in the translation project.
4. Evaluate their pricing structure: Understand the agency's pricing model. Typically, translation companies charge by the word, by the page, or by the hour.
5. Review agency experience: Ask for a portfolio of relevant work, case studies, reviews, and clients you can contact for feedback. Ideally, the agency should have tangible results with companies from your industry.
6. Evaluate communication and responsiveness: Good communication is vital. Ensure that the agency provides timely and clear communication to avoid any misunderstandings in the future.
7. Ask about the processes: Find out about the stages of the project, define milestones, and discuss the timeline.
8. Inquire about analytics and reporting: Ask the agency how it tracks the quality and success of its translations and if it uses any kind of software for reporting.
9. Ask for proposals: Send a request for a proposal (RFP) to the shortlisted translation services.
10. Interview: Set up interviews with prospective translation companies to discuss the project in detail and determine if they fit your team well.
11. Make a decision: After reviewing the RFPs, choose the best-suited agency and establish all project development processes.

If you need a custom-made list of agencies that offer translation services, contact us. Our team will send you the list of the most suitable agencies based on your requirements. Feel free to take a look at our Marketplace for more details.

To find the best translation agency on DesignRush that fits your budget, use the filtering feature to sort agencies by minimal budgets in ascending order or by hourly rate from lowest to highest.

If you have a limited budget, look for agencies that accept projects under $1,000. Translation agencies like Global Interpreting Network, Expert Localize, virtualousPRO, MM Digital, and Calamo & Cran accept budgets below $1,000. The average hourly rate changes from country to country, so you may consider hiring an agency outside the US that offers more affordable rates.

The key success metrics in translation services are related to productivity, quality of work, cost, and translation process. Translation agencies that strive to be among the top players in the industry will understand and implement the right key success metrics to realize whether their work practices are paying off or not.

These are the commonly tracked success metrics for translation services:

• Translation output per hour: Total words or pages translated divided by the number of hours spent translating
• Translation turnaround time: Total time needed to translate the project from start to finish
• Translation utilization rate: Time spent translating divided by total hours spent on the project
• Translation error rate: The number of errors divided by the total number of words or sentences translated
• Translation rework rate: The number of translations that needed reworking divided by the total number of translations
• Translation cost per revenue: Total translation costs divided by total revenue
• Translation tool utilization: The percentage of translation tasks where translation memory (TM) segments were used
• Translation localization rate: The number of translations localized for a market divided by the total number of translations

You should ask translation agencies about the languages they are proficient in, relevant certifications, industry-specific expertise, translation tools they use, pricing plans, and project specifics. 

These include the following:

Its Relevant Background

1. How many years of experience do you have delivering translation services?
2. Do you have a portfolio of previous projects?
3. What certifications and licenses do your team members have?
4. Do you have experience working in my industry? Are your translators familiar with the terminology used?

Its Services and Processes

1. What languages do you provide translation services for?
2. Are your translators native speakers of the language they are translating to?
3. What is the turnaround time for completing a project for a translation service company?
4. Do you have experience with localization projects?
5. Will you provide human, machine, or hybrid translation services?
6. Do you provide interpreter services as well?
7. What is your pricing plan? Do you charge by the word or page, or do you have a different pricing structure?
8. How do you ensure that the translated content stays culturally relevant?
9. How do translators ensure confidentiality and data security during the translation process?

Related to Your Project

1. How do we define project deliverables? What happens if they still need to be met?
2. How many translators will work on my project?
3. What metrics will you use to define the quality of your work?
4. How often will you provide us with status reports?
5. What is the planned budget? Are there any additional costs we can expect?
6. What kind of additional support can you provide after the project is done?

 The best translation companies in the US are:

• Daily Transcription
  • 4.5 stars on DesignRush (2 reviews)
  • 5.0 stars on Google (2 reviews)
  • Top clients: House of the Dragon, Bling Ring, After Yang, Ink Master
• Language Network
  • 4.6 stars on DesignRush (2 reviews)
  • 5.0 stars on Google (1 review)
  • Top clients: Oracle, Yahoo, Paramount, Mariott
• Arriva Translations
  • 4.6 stars on DesignRush (3 reviews)
  • Top clients: AdvancedONE Legal, Cornelia, INC., Enrich Sales, The Sullivan Group of Court Reporters
• ABC Translating and Interpreting Services
  • 4.6 stars on DesignRush (3 reviews)
  • Top clients: Laurel Tree Apartments, Wooly Burger Productions, Mark Sandburg Marketing Solutions, Johanna Rodriguez
• TranslateXpress
  • 4.6 stars on DesignRush (2 reviews)
  • Top clients: Boeing, Philips, Sonoco, Mattel

Discover more about these and other translation companies by scrolling through our list of agencies. All the companies were carefully selected based on successful projects, industry reputation, customer reviews, and team expertise. Personalize your search and sort companies by location, budget size, hourly rates, and reviews.