What factors can affect the Localization cost?

Sometimes, without knowing how, I find myself concluding in a discussion that localization is expensive. Argh, I never seem to learn, as I always say I won't enter into that discussion, but in the end, I inevitably end up participating! This week, it happened to me (again) with a former colleague who is developing an app, and he couldn't understand why localization is so expensive!

The first thing that comes to my mind is, why should it be cheap? Or rather, why does he think it's expensive? The truth is that several factors contribute to making a localization process affordable or costly, depending on whether the following best practices are applied, considered, or not. As in many occasions, people don't know everything that needs to be taken into account to launch a global product. Hence, they conclude that localization should be cheap.

Here is a brain dump of factors that I can think of that affect the perception that a localization project is cheap or expensive.

Furthermore, the terms "cheap" and "expensive" are very subjective concepts. However, one thing is clear: if you don't take into account any of the following, localization will be costly.

For someone to claim that localization is expensive without considering the different variables that affect its final price seems pretty bold to me!

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• Data hygiene

Translation Memories and the Tech framework require maintenance, which involves invest time in detecting and correcting corrupt or inaccurate entries from translation memory (or records in a termbase). These tasks are necessary to ensure a smooth translation process, and they cannot be covered by a price per word paid job

• Vendor management

Finding talented translators will take time. You have to find them, evaluate them, and then you have to keep them engaged. All this has a cost for an LSP that cannot be covered by a price per word.

• Language pair combinations

The combination of language pairs has an impact on the cost of translation. The less familiar the combination of languages, the more the translation's final price will be affected. A translation from English to Spanish will inevitably be cheaper than a translation from Dutch to Japanese. It's a matter of supply and demand!

• Rush deliveries

if we have a lot of content with a tight deadline and outsource to a language partner, they will need to outsource themselves the work in most cases. They will be forced to hire freelancers to help them complete the task. The cost will likely increase because of that.

• Content type

To pretend to calculate the cost of a translation work without considering the type of text is like I intend to pay the same for a york ham than for an Iberian ham. They are different things! (How delicious the Iberian ham, by the way) and a legal text is not the same as a financial one or a marketing one. Different content has different prices, so clearly, the type of content substantially impacts the price.

• PM coordination fees

Every project requires a certain level of coordination. Ignoring this and thinking that the price per word should absorb it is a mistake. There will be people working on our project, and we need to pay for that.

• Certification

Signed documents are more expensive. Sometimes it's required to have a translator attesting the accuracy of the translation. If a document has to be signed by a public entity, this impacts the translation cost.

• Machine translation

Machine Translation also has an impact on the cost of translation. Translators and LSps now have tools that can help them speed up their process, improve the quality of translation, and drastically reduce costs. But there's also a hidden cost often ignored; you need a budget and plan the cost to train the MT engine.

• Professional experience

Like everything in life, some professionals’ services are more expensive than others. Still, if your translation is for a specific sector, finding a translator or agency specializing in this field can be a good idea. Working with an experienced translator for one specific area may be more expensive. Still, the quality will likely be considerably higher than if you work with an inexperienced translator.

• Key naming convention

The names of the keys to be translated that appear in the TMS/CMS might not always have intuitive names at all. Believe it or not, this affects productivity and, therefore, on a localization effort's final price. Focus on developing a proper naming scheme is worth the effort.

• Seamless integration between systems

A software development ecosystem can be quite complex, and if you don't have a sound system for sending localization files back and forth, this factor also impacts the price.

• Lack of control in the source content

If we do not have a transparent content creation process and localizability readiness, this will not help the localization work to be efficient (aka cheap). Focus on quality at source to improve efficiency

• Lack of context

Context is one factor that most affect the final cost of Localization effort and its quality. The more context you provide to the linguists working on your project, the better the localization (price and effort invested). Make an effort to share context via reference material or directly in a TMS tool with context-sharing functionality implemented.

• Internationalization

The reluctance of many developers to implement the i18n of the code from the beginning has a significant impact on determining the final price. Non-internalized code means LQA errors and means paying for many hours of bug fixing.

• Not proper onboarding of LSPs

Onboarding and familiarization is a critical phase to minimize the number of questions and mistakes made in the localization phase. It may seem expensive to pay for a good onboarding ... but as my mother used to say, "cheap is expensive." Ensure that the translators have a good onboarding and a good familiarization with the product to be localized, as this will lower the localization cost in the long run, even if you don't think so at the beginning!

• Lack of test cases

The LQA phase is vital to ensure our customers receive the best possible quality product. However, LQA is expensive, and if there are no test cases or reference material, someone will have to create it, impacting the final price.

• Fonts

Some fonts are free, and some fonts are not. Some fonts require a Globalization assessment to make sure that they show all the characters while others are already clear that they work well, and then it saves you that step. So, believe it or not, the type of font you choose also impacts your localized product's final cost.

Summary

What's your view here? How much is a fair cost? What other variables should we consider coming up with that reasonable cost?

Leave your comments below, and have a great week!

@yolocalizo