Want the best translation services for schools? Language service providers (LSPs) – oftentimes referred to as “translation agencies” – are not your only option for top-notch school translation services. In fact, if you want to translate school documents into Spanish and other languages in a faster, smarter and more secure way, you should use translation software for schools. 

Using translation software right inside your school can help you create precise and top-quality translations quickly. You can produce more translated content and it can cut down on the time spent and save money compared to working with a translation agency. Plus, it’ll give you a faster translation turnaround, so you can get your translations done quicker.

However, if you want the best translation service for schools, you need translation software that is built for your needs. 

What You’ll Learn in this Article

In this article, you’ll learn how to make the most of the same cutting-edge translation tools and tech that professional school translation services use. We’ll cover what these tools are, how they can help your school (or school district), and why it’s a smarter choice to use these tools in-house instead of outsourcing to academic translation services.

By the time you finish reading, we’ll also share our top pick for a translation management system that brings all these powerful technologies together into one user-friendly platform. This means your admin team and teachers can handle school translations in-house with little effort, ensuring top-notch quality while saving more money in the school budget over time.

Become Your Own “Best-in-Class” School Translation Service Provider with these Technologies

Here are the technologies and capabilities that the best translation service providers use, that you can find in one software solution made just for schools like yours.

1. AI-Powered File Translator (Top Tool Used in Translation Services for Schools)

All the best translation services for schools use a robust AI-powered file translator that supports various file formats – not just a digital PDF* or Word document. 

They know to use AI tools like this that are optimized for all the different file types your school works with. Why? Because it saves them time while producing your educational translations, which means they produce translations for you at a lower cost to themselves. 

These tools use machine translation to provide an initial first draft of your file. Then, these translation service providers post-edit it to improve translation quality (since AI translation isn’t perfect). Essentially, you could use this same technology internally and have bilingual school staff do the post-editing if you’d like. 

*Note: Not all digital PDFs are the same. Some can have interoperability issues, so it’s important to be mindful of that.

2. Translation Editor

Speaking of post-editing, your school can use a translation editing tool to increase its productivity when editing and reviewing school translations. Most professional school translation services use a translation editor when translating files for educational institutions.

Professional school translation services most often use these translation editors coupled with translation memory and terminology management. And you can, too. However, it’s not a requirement, and it’s up to you and your staff how much you edit.

3. Text Gisting 

Since school translations don’t always require translating an entire file, you might need to translate a small chunk of text on occasion. For example, an email communication from a Limited English Proficiency (LEP) parent. 

“Gisting” typically involves providing a rough or fundamental translation of text. And translation providers often use a gisting tool to help their clients gain a rapid understanding of text that doesn’t require publishable quality. 

Having a gisting tool on hand means you can respond to that LEP parent’s email in a timely manner. 

4. Batch Translation

All the big language service providers use batch file translation for schools. This technology allows them to translate multiple files simultaneously for a single school. This way, they can perform quick AI-assisted language translations for groups of related documents.

One example of a combination of school documents that might be translated together are parent notifications, field trip permission forms and IEP documents.

5. Translation Memory

School translation services most often utilize what is called a “translation memory” to save and store the high-quality translations you pay for. They automatically reuse these translations over and over again for your projects. 

Translation memory works in tandem with machine translation and dynamic machine learning to deliver continuous quality improvements. If you want to internally store and reuse previous translations just like the large translation companies do, you can.

What’s more, this technology saves a ton of time on manual translation. You’ll never translate the same text segment twice.

Learn more in the 2-minute video below.

6. Easy-to-Use Interface

School translation providers oftentimes use tools with lots of bells and whistles, which results in cluttered user interfaces. However, there’s no need for your school to deal with this. There are tools that have easy-to-use interfaces, and we will recommend an all-inclusive one at the end of this article.

7. Automatic File Formatting

When it comes to a school’s documents that need to retain publishable quality, language service providers will utilize automatic formatting technology. Because sometimes, the computer-assisted translation tools they use will displace text and images in the translated file.

This technology retains most of your file’s layout and formatting when parsing your original file. It will reduce the amount of time spent re-formatting your translations and while it’s not without its flaws, it will save you time spent on reformatting files. 

This technology is not only available to the big translation service providers – your school can use it, too.

8. Collaborative Translation

The best school translators use top collaborative translation tools to effectively work with team members in the cloud. 

For example, someone will upload the documents sent by the client for machine translation, and then subject matter experts will weigh in to edit translations once a first draft is ready. Then the client approves it. Collaborative tools help to streamline this process for them. 

Some collaborative tools used by the smartest school translation service providers include:

• File sharing
• Instant messaging
• Translation history
• Segment bookmarking
• User permission controls

You can take advantage of these same capabilities in your internal translation process.

9. Google Drive Integration

Many translation agencies will tout their ability to accommodate various file type preferences. However, you don’t need to go through an agency to translate Google Docs, Slides and Sheets. 

In fact, you can get your hands on a translation management system that’s integrated with Google Drive. This will allow you to import your Google files directly from your school’s Google Drive account for translation and export them back to your drive.

10. Enterprise Security (Not Often Used by Many School Translation Services)

Lastly, enterprise security is a must in this day and age. However, not many school translation agencies use translation software that has enterprise-level security. 

That being said, adopting your own translation management system with all the technologies listed above plus enterprise security, will enable you to translate while safeguarding your school’s (including student and parent) sensitive data.

Best Alternative to Translation Services for Schools

Wondering how to find the best translation software that includes all the above technologies and capabilities? 

Use Pairaphrase. It’s the AI-powered translation management system for schools who value safer, smarter and faster translation. Best of all, there’s almost zero learning curve and it’s very easy to implement and use.

Many schools like yours already use Pairaphrase as an alternative to costly school translation services. And yours can, too!

Get Started

Schedule a Demo or share this article with a colleague.

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Related:

• 6 Tips for Training Administrative Staff in School Document Translation
• Translation Services 101: Your Guide to the Basics
• How to Comply with California’s School Document Translation Law
• Best Spanish Translator for School Districts