Many companies requiring product localization rely on a translation sample to evaluate a company's technical translation services. The intent is typically to gauge the quality and workmanship of the service.

But before you ask for your next translation samples, think about what it is actually buying you. When a technical translation services company is faced with a test, it is natural for it to put its best foot forward. This requires having the most qualified translator do the work.

Once the test is accepted and a service is selected, a project manager is assigned to manage tasks. Based on scheduling, availability and cost tradeoffs, a different translator may be assigned. The end result will still be acceptable if you have chosen a vendor, but the sample test suddenly looses all its meaning. Therefore a better indicator of vendors' abilities is not at the micro level, but rather at the macro level. We suggest the following steps.

Narrow down your search to no more than 3 potential vendors based on their abilities to meet your language, schedule, technology, process and price needs.

• Ask for references, preferably from clients that they have executed similar projects for. Do your due diligence.
• Ask the vendor how often they perform customer satisfaction surveys and request to see the results for the past 3 years.
• Ask if you will have a dedicated project manager to work on your project and to interview her. A good project manager trumps a good translator.
• If you are still not sure about which vendor to choose, consider performing a paid pilot project starting with the most promising professional language translation services vendor.

Measuring the success of your pilot project depends not only on accurate translations, but on other factors like responsiveness, timely delivery, meeting technical requirements, willingness to adapt and addressing your specific needs, accurate billing and a mutually enjoyable work relationship.

To choose a professional language translation services vendor, or a company who offers medical translation services, replace your microscope with a kaleidoscope and focus it on your vendor's macro abilities - client successes, background, culture, ethics and the project manager assigned to you, rather than a small translation sample. The end result will be much more appealing!