It's Fall So It Must Be Budget Time 
October 2005 - Martha Galindo 



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Each fall one item grows more important in corporate budgets. As companies find 
increasing success in reaching out to multi-cultural, multi-language markets, 
the need to produce material in the language of the consumer or end-user becomes a 
critical factor.

Creating a budget for translation services is an important part of the preparation 
any company must make if it hopes to reach its multi-cultural, multi-language
audiences. Too often that vital budget item gets folded into a larger and more 
loosely defined marketing or human resources budget. The result is often an unpleasant 
surprise when suddenly it occurs to some poor project manager that there is much 
more to publishing advertising, collateral materials, training manuals, orientation 
programs, technical instructions, and all the rest of the support required to reach 
business objectives in multi-cultural markets and with multi-language workforces. 

Those of our clients who have learned this difficult lesson the hard way are
quick to ask us in this time of year for consultation on the development of appropriate 
budgets for translating services.

Here are 7 important elements of preparing a translation service budget that we review 
with them.
1. How to keep costs down by aggregating projects from various departments, 
   divisions or business units.

2. How to calculate cost of inclusion of graphic elements into translated materials.

3. How to plan delivery of translation services to reduce or eliminate rush 
   charges.

4. When and under what circumstances to use localization consulting services 
  (e.g., When meaning may be altered by dialect or local custom).

5. Avoiding cross-format issues that affect speed and cost of services.

6. Anticipating the differing costs associated with different languages (No, 
   they are not all the same.).

7. Electronic files are easier and less costly to analyze than print files. 
  Again, the sooner files reach us, the sooner project analysis can begin.

Budget preparation is a formal planning process that can help anticipate situations 
that regularly occur and just as regularly are overlooked without proper planning. 
Too often companies waste money and resources on poorly planned, badly budgeted 
translation services. Don't let it happen to you. Give us a call early in the 
budget season and we can help you enjoy all four seasons without being blindsided
by unexpected budget storms.


See you soon ! 

 
Martha. 

 

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About the Author, if using, please include:

Martha E. Galindo, President and CEO of Galindo Publicidad, Inc.
A multilingual translations agency, selected twice as 
a Florida 100 company. Author of “How Do You Say…?” 
an eNewsletter designed to help you improve your 
business communications in other languages,

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GPI, Inc. Request a free project quote- 

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