The Linguist

Chartered Institute of Linguists SPRING 2026 The Linguist 25 FEATURES We then evaluated the efficacy of these changes and noted a number of success indicators, such as increased inquiries, engagement on social media, responses from agencies, growth in income and accumulation of proven translation experience. This demonstrates how CI tools can support strategic business development. The key points to remember are that CI is ongoing, not occasional; feedback is a strategic asset; CI tools support structured problem-solving; and real-world application drives results. Iraklis Lampadariou's 'CI for Translators' course, with 50% off for CIOL members, is at www.speak-greek.com. TAKING STOCK Clearly laying out how a business operates, and what changes might be useful, can be helpful for freelancers and small businesses includes expectations around accuracy, cultural adaptation, tone and style, turnaround time, and communication. Real client testimonials can reveal these expectations with striking clarity. Feedback can be collected through surveys, interviews, direct comments or testimonials. Analysing this data helps identify patterns, problems and opportunities for improvement. Repeated praise for fast turnaround times may encourage translators to refine workflow efficiency further, while comments about professionalism and reliability can guide the development of standardised communication practices. Trend analysis, segmentation (e.g. urgent vs non‑urgent clients) and root-cause analysis can help us to understand not just what clients appreciate or expect, but why. Applying CI tools to translation practice I applied CI thinking to grow the translation arm of my language teaching and translation service, Speak Greek. After noticing that clients who used the service once were not returning, I created an A3 report to analyse the situation. Although Speak Greek had attracted new translation clients, we needed to increase competitiveness and credibility. The report highlighted several issues: competitors held recognised translation qualifications or memberships; Speak Greek was not listed as an approved translator with the Greek Embassy in London; visibility in online communities was limited; and pricing and turnaround times were not clearly differentiated from competitors. This led to a number of actions, including applying for membership of the Panhellenic Association of Translators; investigating registration with the Greek Embassy; posting targeted ads in Greek community groups; submitting a CV to translation agencies with competitive rates; and offering clear USPs: 24-hour turnaround, transparent pricing, free first-class postage and fast delivery of scanned documents. Maria is a freelance English-Greek legal translator with five years' experience. She used the PDCA (Plan-Do- Check-Act) method to increase her income, reduce revision requests and improve client retention: Plan. Maria identified three recurring issues: she spends too long researching terminology; clients occasionally request tone adjustments; she struggles to track feedback trends. Do. She implemented three small changes: creating a personal legal glossary using a CAT tool; introducing a tone-checking step in her QA process; sending a short feedback survey after each project. Check. After two months, she reviewed her data: terminology research time had decreased by 25%; revision requests had dropped; the survey highlighted that clients appreciated her improved communication. Act. Maria adopted the glossary and tone check permanently, refined her survey to gather more specific insights, and began dividing feedback by client type. Outcome. Within six months, Maria reported higher confidence, improved workflow efficiency and increased repeat business. Putting CI to use IMAGES © SHUTTERSTOCK

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