AltaLang.com

Introduction to AltaLang review

Since some of our visitors asked for AltaLang review, one of lesser-known translation services, we accepted this challenge. For doing it effectively, we conducted thorough research into every aspect this company is represented by.

AltaLang was founded in 1980. This fact stunned us because it makes it the oldest company we’ve ever explored, yet we never heard much about it prior to starting our test! It’s ISO 9001:2015 certified and it’s an employee-owned firm with 66 full-time employees. Everyone else works remotely. AltaLang reviews available online are scarce when compared against its incredibly long history of operations. We also found them suspicious. Almost every positive comment is written in a typical advertising fashion — they just don’t sound genuine. They’re all grammatically fluent, all gushing about company and promising that they’ll use it again. Slightly concerned, our Expert Review Team has placed their own order, asking for business translation and wondering what results they were about to get.

Services AltaLang Offers

AltaLang has a significant array of services. First, there is a certified kind for documents, certificates, and other files that need a stamp of authenticity before being passed forward to authorities. Then there is a usual document translation service, which covers the texts tied to a specific industry. The industries themselves include business, legal, technical, literary, sales sectors. AltaLang also provides software localization services for web designers and developers. It is able to translate your website directly. They work with videos, too, so you could always request subtitles or voice-overs.

In addition, there are interpretation services. You may ask for online or physical assistance with phone or Skype conversations, conferences, etc. This agency provides access to about 4000 interpreters who specialize in two specific languages, meaning that finding help won’t be difficult. Finally, Alta Lang offers testing and training for business owners. They find professional employees as well as assess the level of their skills. 100 languages are covered — it’s a good number that proves a significant scale of this company. We found all these details impressive, so we were really curious if quality will amaze us.

Prices and Add-ons

The first really negative thing is that there are no prices available on the site. You can only guess how much you’ll have to spend on your project. If you want to know for sure, you must submit all information and wait for an estimate. Here’s where questions start: how can you be certain that price is universal for all and you aren’t being lied to? Why would you share confidential files with AltaLang.com before you know whether you’ll be hiring it? From our experience, when prices aren’t published, they are higher than normal. It was true in our case, as we expected: we had to pay $0.15 for one word, even though our project wasn’t all that complex. It means that service is expensive, and not everyone will afford it. AltaLang also offers add-ons like turnkey file layout and formatting via programs like Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, and many other media editing tools. But of course, they cost extra, so one should clarify the price once again.

Quality of Services

Quality is an important aspect of our AltaLang review, so we always focus on it first and foremost. Our document arrived later than needed, which upset us. This is a really bad indicator — no respectable agency should break deadlines, considering that the client pays a lot for a professional attitude. When we demanded an explanation, we were told that a translator had an emergency, but that the delay wouldn’t be long. We heard this excuse many times before, so at this point, we didn’t entirely believe it. But we waited patiently, and almost a whole day later, the document was finally submitted. We quickly sent it for analysis to our experts, and here is what they reported.

Text wasn’t bad: style was preserved, and grammar mistakes were minimal. At the same time, quite a lot of points involving special business terminology were twisted. As a result, a few sentences were basically unrecognizable, with their meaning being lost. It’s a serious issue that shouldn’t have occurred, particularly as we paid a lot for our order. When we sent a complaint and requested revision, operators’ tone bordered on almost rude, which damaged our impression even more. But they agreed to pass what we said on, so soon, our order was assigned to another Alta interpreter. Once again, the deadline wasn’t met. We got the revised file 10 hours later than we had to. The issues were eliminated, the text was almost perfect this time, but naturally, we weren’t thrilled with the service we received.

Pros & Cons

If you hire a service, you don’t want to end up paying for shoddy work. Below are the summarized pros and cons of AltaLang.

Pros:

• Many services are available. You may order anything, from interpretation to translation, localization, and voice-overs.
• Acceptable translation. The overall level of quality was acceptable. The first file had flaws, but it was still usable. The second version was of great quality. Based on Alta medical interpreter review we’ve seen, these employees are also sufficiently qualified.
• Impressive background. Having functioned for 40 years, this company has completed a huge number of orders.

Cons:

• Expensive services. Price is higher than average.
• Slow delivery. Deadline wasn’t respected twice, which shows an unfortunate pattern.
• Dubious customer service. Operators weren’t always polite, especially when we asked for revision.

Summary and Future Alta Language Services Reviews

We looked at this firm from all sides, going as far as hiring its services to test their quality personally. After our review, it’s evident that AltaLang’s translators have enough experience, but they still need editors or proofreaders because they make mistakes, sometimes very serious ones. Operators also have to be trained more because their professionalism is doubtful, particularly when it comes to stressful situations. The delivery was consistently late, and this is something that has to be addressed by the managers.

Alta Languages is moderately professional in terms of quality, but it has a serious problem with deadlines and smaller details like proofreading. It states that it operates based on core values that guide its day-to-day operations — namely, integrity, innovation, expertise, and exceptional service. Unfortunately, we were unable to experience some of them, so there are many areas of improvement the agency should think of. Check other translation services online for example best Polish translation services — maybe you’ll find a firm that you’ll like better. This one is pretty good, too, but we can’t call it the best due to all issues identified above.