Translation Services Reviews | Tolingo

My quest to review the leading online translation service providers in the market continues, and German company Tolingo is next to go under the spotlight.

• History

Tolingo is a relatively new translation service provider, but this fact belies its size, as the Hamburg-based company has grown to be one of the major players in the market. They were founded in 2008 and rapidly grew in size, now employing over 6000 staff and offering their services across 220 different language pairs. The company uses human translation methods and they have embraced technology to streamline their offering by including instant online cost calculators and more importantly, an automated translation management system.

• Services and Products

Tolingo has positioned themselves to cater to SMEs and large corporate groups. For corporate customers they will tailor their workflow to integrate with large corporations' interfaces and programs.

Tolingo's services really cover the entirety of the market, so depending on which way you look at it, they are either specialists in everything or generalists. They are set up to cater across business, legal, medical, science, IT and more sectors. They also claim to offer specialist skills in automotive, consumer goods, tourism, engineering, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and agencies.

The 'agencies' field is a unique mix that Tolingo caters to, and this is aligned to the advertising and marketing industry. Agencies looking for assistance with translating content such as brochures, press releases and advertising material can benefit from the experience of Tolingo translation staff with mar

The automotive industry represents a huge segment of the translation market, and Tolingo have catered for this. Their technical translation staff utilize a mixture of software and experience to ensure that terminology use is consistent throughout. When you're dealing with a car's instruction manual, product information and handbooks, it makes sense.

keting and journalism exposure.

• Translation Methods

Tolingo's contractor workforce of 6000 translators use human translation methods. They use common software to ensure consistent use of glossary terms, however this is not machine translation: their translations conform with the translation quality standard DIN EN 15038:2006. As Tolingo don't promote their testing or screening criteria for new translators, I can't comment on their procedures here. The company uses an automated project management system which allows them to efficiently process orders through to translators. This helps manage delivery timeframes and allows customers to receive a price confirmation at the point of order. They do offer a 3 hour turnaround time on their fastest translations and it's their system that helps facilitate this.

• Summary

Tolingo is a German company that was a newcomer in 2008, but they've since cemented their position as one of the industry's biggest players. They have a slick and efficient website and online ordering process, along with automation that allows for efficient processes and fast turnaround times. Although they are not the fastest in the industry (One Hour Translation still holds that spot), they are quick. Because they cater to most markets and companies large and small, Tolingo presents as an excellent all-round online translation service option.