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There a a number of specifications you need to define before commissioning a translation. If you haven’t defined these and the translation company does not ask you these things then there is only a very small chance that your translation will achieve what you want it to.

The bare-bones specifications from which many others are derived are the audience and purpose of the translation.

Besides these, the most basic specifications are also the best known:

Deadline
Price
Subject area and type of text
Source language and regional variation
Format (word processing file? XML?)
Volume (how many words, characters, etc.)
Target language and regional variation
Recourse if certain sections of the translation need further clarification.

If you regularly use the same translation agency they may be familiar with your requirements most of these specifications. However, no professional agency will begin translation without being clear on these issues. If they do, that should immediately raise a red flag and alert you to the fact that 1) the agency is not professional, and 2) you may not be getting the translation that you require and you should identify contingency plans in case the translation you receive is not usable.

The sheer variety of translation projects is daunting. So daunting, in fact, that even experts sometimes wonder if there is any single piece of advice that applies to all translation projects. (“Always do X.” “Never do Y.” “Do Z, and you’re home free.”)

How about this:

“In every translation project, the buyer and the translation service provider (translator or translation team) should agree in advance on a set of specifications to be followed while carrying out the project.”

This statement is more powerful than it might appear. It provides the basis for a universal definition: The quality of a translation is the degree to which it follows the agreed-upon specifications. Simple but true. If you don’t identify what you want up front—or do identify it but those instructions don’t reach the person doing the work, or aren’t understood by him or her—you are unlikely to get a good translation.

Patching up a poor translation costs even more time and money, since it may also mean patching up your image and reputation if you have inadvertently offended (“I didn’t know X meant that in Hong Kong Cantonese!…”) or left readers grappling with an incomprehensible phrase.

Ask any translation service provider, and you’ll get a raft of examples of lost time and budget due to crossed wires. Failed translation projects are as different as apples and oranges, but they have one thing in common: time, money and frustration could have been saved if both sides had agreed in advance who should do what, when and how.