If you're expanding into a new market or reaching customers in another language, translation is where first impressions are made. A clumsy translation quietly signals "not for you" to the reader — while a good one feels like it was written for them from the start.

Machine translation isn't enough for anything that matters

Free tools are fine for getting the gist of something, but they miss tone, context and nuance — exactly the things that make marketing, legal or customer-facing text work. For anything a customer will read, hire a human.

Look for a native speaker of the target language

The best translators translate into their own native language, not out of it. A native speaker catches the idioms, formality and cultural cues that make text feel natural rather than technically-correct-but-off.

What to send your translator

  • The final source text, so it doesn't change mid-job
  • Who the audience is and where it will appear
  • A short glossary of any brand or technical terms
  • The tone you want, and the file format you need back

What affects the price

  • Word count and the language pair
  • How specialist the subject is (legal and technical cost more)
  • Turnaround time
  • Whether a second native speaker proofreads it

For anything important, it's worth paying for that second pair of native eyes — a proofreader catches the small slips that undermine otherwise good work.

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