Most companies probably don’t realize it, but they’re actually hemorrhaging money on translation. In fact, most businesses lose up to $1.3 million annually on inefficient processes.
Would you be surprised if we said one of those would be translation workflows?
Most companies are paying substantial fees to translate the same content repeatedly, only to watch the rush fees pile up due to poor planning.
Why?
They’re treating translation like a necessary evil. Something that costs money, takes time, and needs to be ‘endured’. The smarter global giants are turning translation from a cost center into a competitive advantage. This can effectively reduce expenses, all while improving speed and quality.
The global translation services market is all set to hit $33.9 billion by 2029. If you’re still throwing money at the problem, you’re part of the problem.
Here’s how you can cut translation costs without sacrificing quality.
1. Plan Ahead and Avoid Urgent Requests
Here’s what no one’s telling you: rush fees aren’t about convenience – no matter how much they’re made out to be that way.
They’re about scarcity.
You need something translated urgently? Great, now you’re competing with everyone else who also failed to plan ahead.
That demand alone drives prices up 20 to 50% for standard jobs.
But there’s a deeper cost to rushing that translation job that you’re probably missing. Urgent projects force translators to work in isolation. They don’t have the time to conduct proper terminology research or collaborate with experts.
What you get is a technically accurate translation that doesn’t quite hit the nail culturally or contextually.
Take Netflix, for example. Do they wait until a show is finished before considering translation? No. Their localization team is on it from the very beginning.
Staying within your translation budget is totally doable. But it requires discipline. When launching a product, your translation deadline should be set the same day.
2. Create Translation-Friendly Content
As frustrating as it is, most writers aren’t even thinking about translation when they’re writing up new content. They’re using clever wordplay and cultural references that make sense in English but can be quite expensive to translate into other languages.
Every ambiguous phrase, every cultural idiom, every unnecessarily complex sentence becomes a research project for your translator. They need to understand not just what you said, but what you meant.
This detective work requires time, necessitates back-and-forth clarification, and often yields translations that feel awkward.
Does that mean you resort to writing boring content now? No. But you do need to write with your international audience in mind.
Instead of “This feature is the bee’s knees,” try “This feature is exceptional.” The meaning stays strong, but the translation becomes a lot easier.
3. Create and Maintain a Glossary and Style Guide
You’re paying to translate the same concepts over and over again. What one translator calls a solution, another calls a platform, and another a system.
Every new translator starts from scratch, making judgment calls about terminology, tone, and style as they go. This inconsistency is confusing your customers and costing you way too much.
When you establish a comprehensive terminology glossary, you gain a competitive advantage. Companies with strong terminology management systems can launch products in multiple markets simultaneously, confident that their messaging will be consistent and clear.
Don’t get us wrong, though, your glossary should capture more than just words.
Document the reasoning behind translation choices. Why did you choose “software” over “programme” for your UK audience?
These decisions, once made and documented, never need to be made again.
4. Use AI to Streamline Translation Workflows
Let’s get one thing straight: the new AI wave in translation isn’t replacing human translators, it’s amplifying their capabilities.
The neural machine translation market is exploding from $464.07 million in 2023 to a projected $1,019.62 million by 2030, but most companies are using it wrong.
Their mistake is either underestimating the power of AI or overestimating it and relying too heavily on it. AI is great at first-pass translations of straightforward content. However, it struggles with cultural context and maintaining a consistent brand voice.
You need to utilize AI for what it excels at and humans for what they do best.
Ask yourself what needs to be perfectly polished and what just needs to be understood. You can let AI handle the volume and bring human expertise on board where it creates the most value.
5. Centralized Translation Management
Decentralized translation is expensive translation.
When your marketing team uses one provider, your product team uses another, and your customer service team handles their translations, you’re missing massive cost-saving opportunities.
The translation management system market is growing at a 14.81% CAGR because companies are finally realizing the actual cost of scattered approaches. You’re losing volume discount, duplicating terminology work, and missing opportunities to reuse previous translations.
But centralization is also creating consistency across all customer touchpoints. When your website, product descriptions, and customer support use the same terminology and tone, you’re building trust and reducing customer frustration.
The best way to cut translation costs is to designate someone who negotiates better rates, maintains relationships with translators, and ensures quality standards across all projects.
6. Translate in Batches
Translation providers love predictable work.
When you can offer a translator 50,000 words of similar content instead of 10 separate 5,000-word projects, they’ll often reduce translation rates significantly. You’re offering them efficiency, and they pass those savings on to you.
Batching works best when you can group similar content types together. Website pages, product descriptions, user manuals, and marketing materials each have their own rhythm and terminology. When a translator can focus on one content type at a time, they work more efficiently and consistently.
The planning challenge is real, but the payoff is substantial.
Instead of translating your product launch materials as they become ready, gather all the necessary materials together: web copy, brochures, user guides, FAQ content, and marketing materials. Translate them as one project, and you’ll often save 15-25% while maintaining consistency across all materials.
7. Stick with a Professional Language Service Provider (LSP)
We get it. The temptation to go cheap is strong. When freelance platforms promise you native speakers at bargain rates, why wouldn’t you jump on that bandwagon?
However, cheap translation isn’t the same as economical translation.
Sounds ironic?
Well, have you factored in the cost of low-quality providers? All those back-and-forth revisions, missed deadlines, and inconsistent quality – they’re adding up.
Professional LSPs bring infrastructure that individual freelancers can’t match.
They maintain translation memories that reduce costs over time, have quality assurance processes that catch errors before they reach you, and offer project management that saves your team countless hours.
Stop Letting Translation Costs Bleed You Dry
Businesses that’re winning at global expansion aren’t just cutting their translation costs; they’re getting more value from every dollar they spend. They’ve already learned to think about translation costs the same way they think about their marketing budget – an investment that should deliver measurable returns.
The translation industry is at an inflection point. The market is expected to grow at 4% CAGR by 2030. If you’re still treating translation as a necessary expense instead of a strategic advantage, you’re doing it wrong.
How We Help You Reduce Translation Costs
Stop letting another month pass, watching translation costs drain your budget. At EC Innovations, our 28+ years of expertise in translation, as well as machine translation, can help you achieve the perfect balance between cost efficiency and global market impact.
Here’s what we have to offer:
- Smart Translation Memory: Our EC Link platform learns from every project, reducing costs on repeated content while eliminating costly terminology inconsistencies.
- Hybrid AI + Human Approach: Our pioneering Machine Translation with Post Editing (MTPE) combines AI efficiency with human quality, cutting costs and turnaround times.
- Expert Teams On-Demand: Access our network of subject-matter experts, translators, and QA reviewers without in-house overhead. Pay only for what you need, when you need it.
- Strategic Volume Planning: We eliminate rush fees through proper planning and batch similar content while maintaining consistency across all materials.
If you’re ready to transform your translation costs from expense to advantage, contact our team to discover how translation management can reduce your costs while improving your global market effectiveness.
Our expertise in translation services and quality optimization can help you achieve the perfect balance.
