7. Finalize your source text before starting the translation

Your source document is the foundation, the platform for all work that follows. A mistake, an oversight, a typo, or any other error in your source document will show up in the translation or in the process. This will either complicate things by slowing the project or -- if it's not caught -- make you look bad.

Meticulously check your source text before submitting it for proofreading. This does not mean just giving it a glance-over. This means taking the time to read every word, making sure there are no typos, no spelling or grammatical errors, that everything is in its right place, that nothing is missing, nothing repeated accidentally. It is slow, tedious work that feels like you are not advancing with your translation at all. But it is crucial work. If you don't do it now, you'll likely pay for it later.

This is especially relevant to movie or online training scripts. Part of your source text preparation must involve not only meticulously reading the script you will deliver to translators, but comparing it to what actually happens on-screen. Does everything match? It is very easy to miss a detail.

So, tempting as it may be to get your translation project rolling as quickly as possible, factor in source-checking time. Having translators work from a draft-in-progress will almost always be more time-consuming -- and more expensive and frustrating.

Also, ensure there is only one version of the final source text. The more versions you have, the more likely it is that errors and inconsistencies will creep into the translation.

Sometimes you have no choice. Sometimes deadlines are so tight that work on the translation must begin before you've finalized the original, source text. If so, be sure to clearly time- and date-stamp each version and mark changes from one version to the next for your translators. Helping your translators this way will allow them to better serve you.