A World of French – Which Dialect is Best for your French Translation?

When I started my first job in the translation industry as a project manager more than 15 years ago, one of the biggest surprises for me was the number of translation requests we received for French. After all, weren’t Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic the most “important” languages for translation now? Not to mention, I was […]


What is “Back Translation” and Do You Need It?

Now amid the digital age, the need for generating enormous volumes of content has exploded. From marketing materials to website localization, blogs, white papers, news & research articles, manuals, and so much more, many organizations and businesses (and consumers) are struggling to keep up with the seemingly insatiable demand for new and engaging content. Moreover, […]


Improving Your Source Content for Better Translations

Your marketing team has been working tirelessly on developing catchy and alluring content over the last several months for your imminent global marketing plan. Now, one of the final steps is translating all of that content, perhaps into Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, or even Swahili. When it comes to translating your marketing content, you expect that […]


Debunking the Most Common Translation Myths

Translation, interpretation, and localization services have become one of the most important industries in the global marketplace. What was once considered to be a small, niche industry is now valued at close to $50 billion worldwide and serves as one of the key driving forces of global economic integration. However, despite the industry’s importance, it […]


Setting Your Translation Partner Up for Success

When you’ve finally found the perfect language service provider (LSP) to work with you on your organization’s foreign language translation needs, the next step is how to go about setting your translation partner up for success. If you take the time to develop a plan and institute some fundamental processes, you will be well on […]


The Translation Project Manager

If you’re an old hand when it comes to working with translation services providers, you have almost certainly worked with a translation project manager. For most clients, the interaction is relatively superficial, and the project manager (PM) is simply the person to whom you send your translation project and then sends back your completed translations. […]


Customer Pain Point: Translation Costs

One of the more difficult pills for customers and prospective customers to swallow when it comes to procuring translation services is the cost. While translation costs have come down in recent years due in part to an increase in competition in the industry as well as the implementation of new technology solutions such as computer-assisted […]


Going Global? Business Translation Services You May Need

Is your company poised to leap into overseas markets? From the acquisition of weakened companies to selling products overseas, there are many pathways to international business, and American companies are leaping at the chance to “go global.” For instance,ABC News has reported on the uptick in American-made products being exported overseas. As ABC writer Sharyn Alfonsi […]


ALS Selected for Cincinnati Small Business Excellence Awards!

We are proud and excited to be named a finalist in the 2012 SBEAs – come support us Thursday as we find out who wins each category! 2012 was a record year for Affordable Language Services, and we are on target to beat those numbers this year!  As we continue to grow our business, people have […]


Transcreation: What it is, What it Means for Your Business Translation

“Translation is not a matter of words only; it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture.” This quote, from Anthony Burgess, expresses the intention behind a specific form of business translation service: transcreation. The word transcreation is a portmanteau that melds together two smaller words: translation and creation. Sometimes translators will be asked […]