Why should you choose ZippyLingo?

Because we're handsome, pretty, witty and amazing? Because we have great teeth? No? OK, fair enough. Stick around, and we'll tell you why.

See, we're fully aware that we are operating in the age of the empowered user. The internet has given rise to companies which utilise a so-called "sharing economy" – the likes of Uber, Airbnb, BlaBlaCar and Vinted have taken their respective industries by storm, changing the way we interface with the world. The user is given autonomy with instant access to their desired service at a very attractive price, and the professionals are often left twiddling their thumbs.

Indeed, translation services are no exception to this new world order. A savvy surfer of the web should have no trouble locating a ready and waiting translator, without the need of going through an agency. One could be forgiven for taking such an approach – but what is the true cost of employing such services? What are you missing out on by not using the likes of ZippyLingo? Call us biased, but we think it's rather a lot.

Acquisition and Management of Qualified Translators

Our translators are lovely people, but they're also very good at what they do. Professionals. There's no gamble involved when you hire ZippyLingo because our translators are vetted and evaluated before they're put to work. Those who make the cut are seasoned experts who are dedicated to their craft, keeping up-to-date with local linguistic and cultural developments. The result is a roster of language warriors who are armed to the teeth in translation skills, from which we can hand-pick the perfect match for you.

Such talent needs managing and organising, and that task lies solely with us. Translation is a global operation, and many projects involve the localisation of text in several languages and several markets simultaneously. Then, when you factor in different time zones, the need for tracking progress and providing new instructions, it can quickly become a hot mess. ZippyLingo has procedures in place to handle the hoo-ha. Stress be gone – we're taking care of it.

Quality Control

Translation is a subtle and delicate art. One can’t dance simply because they can walk; one can’t translate just by knowing two languages. Most of us can’t dance or translate, but luckily we’ve hired people who are masters of the latter (and I hear Antonio performs a marvellous samba).

Languages are nuanced, intricate, and ever-changing. Building a sturdy bridge between two of them requires extensive research of the cultures that drive linguistic trends. Meanings can easily be lost or distorted when rendering one language to another, and the right translator will ensure that never happens — ZippyLingo endeavours to vet and evaluate a translator during a thorough recruitment process. We work with the best, and we will continue to assess the quality of our output until the end of time (or at least until the internet destroys itself) to ensure that you’re always getting the best.

Administrative Tasks

Your time is precious, and life comes with enough micro-management as it is before considering any work-related tasks. You might not think there's much admin involved with hiring a freelance translator – after all, you're just paying someone to do a job. However, there are several seemingly small processes to carry out, which can quickly add up to one big headache. Price negotiation, communicating between different time zones, tracking invoices, international bank transfers, and ensuring no payments are missed (especially when working with multiple freelance translators simultaneously) are just a few of the things you would have to take care of when working with freelancers.

Lock it all up and throw away the key. ZippyLingo exists to bear the entirety of this burden. Simple as that.

Saving You Money

It's worth mentioning that saving you time and a tiresome headache is also going to save you money. Not only is the need for excess admin costly to you, but so too is the process of correcting mistakes. When working with multiple freelance translators, there is no guarantee that the translation will be super-duper, and you'll be forced to pour yet more resources into finding and correcting any mistakes. It's costly and time-consuming, and entirely unnecessary! ZippyLingo has systems in place to ensure we get it right the first time. Super-duper-ness guaranteed.

Furthermore, you might be surprised to receive higher quotes from certain freelancers than you would from ZippyLingo. We keep our prices as low as possible. At the same time, in the freelance world, there are several translators of professional renown, with years of experience behind them, who are inclined to charge much higher rates than the average freelancer. They may be offering an expert service similar to that which we are offering, but at a much higher cost to you.

Advanced Translation Tools and File Formats

Technology is progressing in every industry, and the translation industry is no exception. ZippyLingo has the knowledge and experience to utilise the latest in translation tools effectively.

As for file formats, well, there's rather a lot of them: doc/x, odt, pdf, rtf, txt, wpd, xls/x, xml are but a few of the guests attending the grand ball of formats. It's the duty of ZippyLingo and the translator working on your content to know one file format from the next and to know what makes each of them tick. Additionally, you might be sending us copy that is part of a website or an app, from which things like URLs, image descriptions and meta tags must be carefully extracted and then put back in the right place – or, not touched at all. It's a precarious minefield, one which our translators have the means to navigate successfully.

Larger Work Volumes

No job is too big or small for ZippyLingo. Be it a single sentence or the collective works of Marcel Proust (a casual 1.3 million words), we've got you covered. Individual freelancers are at risk of being buried by the more sizable jobs. In contrast, we, as a team, are primed to carry any weight. Beyond standard translation jobs, there are globalisation, internationalisation and localisation projects – altogether raising more complex and challenging processes.

Working with individual translators on a project that involves translation across multiple languages means you would have to hand-pick a team, building it bit-by-bit until it covered all the necessary bases. Since ZippyLingo hires translators from all corners of the globe, the puzzle comes pre-solved, and a multilingual team would be deployed without delay.

Single Point of Contact

You might be undertaking a translation project that involves ten different files across five different languages. There's going to be multiple translators working on such a project, and as you juggle with keeping track of it all, things can quickly slip out of control. This is not a circus, and master jugglers, cool as they may be, are not needed here. With ZippyLingo, you would be provided with a single point of contact who would be wired up to your network of translators. With dedicated systems and processes in place, this point of contact has the necessary means to provide fast updates and progress reports.

Availability

When you eventually find a freelancer who looks like they're the right fit for the job, there's no guarantee that they'll actually be available. Perhaps they're busy with another project, or whatever else, and last we checked, human cloning wasn't possible. At ZippyLingo, we build up a roster of translators, and they're all chomping at the bit to get to work on your translation.

We operate within flexible working hours and provide an enthusiastic service with rapid response times. We're ready for you.

Languages Galore

There are bilinguals and trilinguals. Polyglots and hyperpolyglots. Heck, Ziad Fazah claims to speak a whopping 59 languages – mad respect!

The best thing about being an agency? We can totally cheat. Here are the languages we speak:

Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Basque, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cambodian, Catalan, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Irish Gaelic, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Korean, Latvian, Lingala, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Malayalam, Maltese, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian, Panjabi, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Shona, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh, and Yoruba.

Sorry, Ziad. Think we've got you there. Please note, this is not an exhaustive list, and we do cover other languages. If your source or target language is not listed above, don't worry, we're pretty confident that ZippyLingo can help you. If this is the case, please do get in touch.

Speed

Now, we're not going to make any outrageous claims like we're the Usain Bolt of the translation world. But actually, we are the Usain Bolt of the translation world, so how about that?

In all seriousness, at ZippyLingo, we work fast, though never at the cost of quality. Our family is made up of translators who work around the clock with zeal and purpose. They understand the importance of working to deadlines and will take every measure to ensure that your project proceeds as scheduled. Working with a team of professionals guarantees time frames which you could not rely on when working with freelancers – we are such a team, and just like Mr Bolt, we're always pushing to break our own records.

Proofreading

As the Spanish say, "cuatro ojos ven más que dos", meaning "four eyes see more than two". Indeed, one is perfectly entitled to proofread their own work, but it's amazing just how much a second pair of eyes might catch that the first pair missed.

At ZippyLingo, proofreading is an inherent component of the service we provide, and our translators are more than capable of self-evaluation. However, our team values promote the ideals of that particular Spanish statement, and for an additional low fee per word, you can take advantage of professional proofreading. We want to emphasise the word 'professional', because we have friends who are literal masters of the art of proofreading – able to scour your content with the finest of toothed combs, and ensure that every inch is as airtight as a sub-sea army base.

It's more than simply checking spelling and grammar – the proofreader and translator work in collaboration, firing suggestions back and forth in a bid to unleash the full potential of your content. That's the ZippyLingo way.

Going Global

So, you want to be famous? Well, we can't promise you fame, but we can provide something even better – globalisation! ZippyLingo is the key to the door that takes your company global.

By having freelance translators spread across the globe, with the translators being natives of the countries that they represent, ZippyLingo consists of a collective understanding of various cultures and local markets. What are the latest trends? What new technologies have arisen? A local professional translator, the kind that we hire, stays in the loop and tailors their work to be optimised for their respective market. This means you can be assured that your newly localised content is appropriate across all relevant cultures.

Data Protection

The internet, for all its wonder and infinite wisdom (or lack thereof), can be a scary place. It seems that every form of significant online presence is after your cookies, and not the tasty kind. In a world of data leaks and privacy violations, it would be reassuring to know that you were working with a company that ensures the safety of any intellectual property. ZippyLingo cuts no corners when it comes to security, treating your content with privacy and discretion.

For the icing on the cake, if you utilise a Dedicated Client Page, this will be hosted on a private URL that is password-protected (though you can choose to share your Dedicated Client Page if you wish). If you're like a Robin-less Batman who works alone, then this thing is for your eyes only. It's a process that is built for simplicity and efficiency, but most of all, security.

Dedicated Client Pages

Ah, the Dedicated Client Page, AKA the DCP – catchy, eh? Our very own baby. You can learn all about them here, but we'll try and quickly convince you of their unmatched greatness. A Dedicated Client Page is a means of communication between the client and ZippyLingo. Whereas typical communication would involve multiple emails back and forth, a submission via a DCP begins a simple three-step process:

1. You submit a translation request via a simple yet comprehensive form.

2. Our translators get to work.

3. You receive a shiny new translation back in no time.

It's a smooth, simple, and extremely effective system. But don't take our word for it, try it for yourself! Welcome to the new dawn of translation.