We hired freelancers for translation, but the style ended up being different everywhere
I run a small online platform that sells digital templates and workflow kits for freelance photographers and things like client contracts, pricing guides, editing checklists, and onboarding forms. As we started getting more customers from different countries, we decided to translate the website and product pages into a few additional languages, which were the most popular.
For the cost management efficiency, we hired several freelance translators through different platforms. Seemed like a good solution because each person specialized in a different language and the turnaround was pretty fast
The problem showed up later. One section of the site sounded very formal, another felt casual, and some product descriptions used completely different terminology for the same features. Even the tone of voice changed from page to page, which made the brand feel inconsistent.
Our customers probably wouldn’t notice every detail, but when reading multiple pages, the site started to feel stitched together with a lack of coherence. We also realized that updating content became messy because every translator had a different style and workflow.
But rn I’m thinking whether using an AI translator with centralized editing, or working with a company like Ad Verbum that combines AI with human review, would create more consistency across the entire site.
Has anyone else dealt with this issue when using multiple freelancers?
How do you keep tone, terminology, and brand voice consistent across languages?