My suggestion, unless you really need a large number of languages, deal direct and cut out the middle man - better quality/price ratio. The CIoL (Chartered Institute of Linguists) website has a searchable register of professional translators. Their qualification process is extremely tough (I know because my wife has been through it). The US equivalent is the ATA - an ATA member would also be a good choice. There's also the ITI in the UK.
My wife's business WordsInside specialises in English to Spanish.
There are now an increasingly large number of "virtual" agencies using crowd-sourced freelance translators. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but that they are all selling the same cans of beans and have little to compete on except price. Lower price means cheaper workforce or simply less time spent on the job, and the 80/20 rule very much applies. Translation is unique in that the client has no direct way to judge the quality of the final product. All providers will of course claim high quality, touting their ISO 9000 certifications (which just means they have quality control procedures, not necessarily good or even acceptable quality).
My wife's business WordsInside specialises in English to Spanish.
There are now an increasingly large number of "virtual" agencies using crowd-sourced freelance translators. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but that they are all selling the same cans of beans and have little to compete on except price. Lower price means cheaper workforce or simply less time spent on the job, and the 80/20 rule very much applies. Translation is unique in that the client has no direct way to judge the quality of the final product. All providers will of course claim high quality, touting their ISO 9000 certifications (which just means they have quality control procedures, not necessarily good or even acceptable quality).
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Hi Simon,
honestly, after reading many articles penned by translators, I have learned that you should definitely cut out the middle man and contact a translator directly. It might be a tiny bit more work (or it might be easy, your mileage may vary), but as Andy said, agencies are mostly out there to make a buck. Which means that they have to pay the translator less so as to be able to take a cut from the work. Which in turn usually means they employ lower-grade translators or cut corners where possible (proofreading only first few and last few pages or no proofreading after the translation at all, none or slow after-deal care etc.).
None of these things are what any business would want, so my advice is to go directly to the source.
Check out some translator web-hangouts like translatorcafe.com or proz.com and find yourself a capable translator who can do a good job for you (I am not affiliated with either of those sites and there may be better sites out there for this sort of thing, these are just the ones currently on top of my mind).
Oh and do yourself a favor and when you contact a translator for a job, give him some details. The amount of pages you will want translated, the deadline and most importantly, a sample of the thing you want him/her to translate - if they're professional, they will let you know if the content is above their profficiency or outside their scope of interest (there's nothing wrong with that - some people know all the vocabulary for the car industry, but not for law etc.).
As an aside - if you were looking to translate just a few emails here and there, you could use machine translation tool like YarakuZen.com - works wonders for translating to and from Asian languages. Machine translation will never be perfect, but for simple emails and short texts is usually the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to go.
honestly, after reading many articles penned by translators, I have learned that you should definitely cut out the middle man and contact a translator directly. It might be a tiny bit more work (or it might be easy, your mileage may vary), but as Andy said, agencies are mostly out there to make a buck. Which means that they have to pay the translator less so as to be able to take a cut from the work. Which in turn usually means they employ lower-grade translators or cut corners where possible (proofreading only first few and last few pages or no proofreading after the translation at all, none or slow after-deal care etc.).
None of these things are what any business would want, so my advice is to go directly to the source.
Check out some translator web-hangouts like translatorcafe.com or proz.com and find yourself a capable translator who can do a good job for you (I am not affiliated with either of those sites and there may be better sites out there for this sort of thing, these are just the ones currently on top of my mind).
Oh and do yourself a favor and when you contact a translator for a job, give him some details. The amount of pages you will want translated, the deadline and most importantly, a sample of the thing you want him/her to translate - if they're professional, they will let you know if the content is above their profficiency or outside their scope of interest (there's nothing wrong with that - some people know all the vocabulary for the car industry, but not for law etc.).
As an aside - if you were looking to translate just a few emails here and there, you could use machine translation tool like YarakuZen.com - works wonders for translating to and from Asian languages. Machine translation will never be perfect, but for simple emails and short texts is usually the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to go.
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Simon,
if you translation is non sensitive or not that important, use any independent contractor, website, whatever.
If you need technical translations, legal documents, contracts etc, is it worth risking your business or someones life over the mis-translation or understanding of a word or phrase? Make sure you have good insurance!
if you translation is non sensitive or not that important, use any independent contractor, website, whatever.
If you need technical translations, legal documents, contracts etc, is it worth risking your business or someones life over the mis-translation or understanding of a word or phrase? Make sure you have good insurance!
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I agree with the previous poster. First judge your needs and then choose the proper translating method accordingly. Simple email thanking the client for his patronage? I'd say use machine translation. Technical documentation for your product? Use a qualified translator, make sure to proofread. And so on.
I think this goes for many aspects of business - judge your needs and then choose the correct course, so that you are neither overpaying for something you don't need or neglecting some important aspect.
I think this goes for many aspects of business - judge your needs and then choose the correct course, so that you are neither overpaying for something you don't need or neglecting some important aspect.
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Very simple - use the Translators Cafe website (www.translatorscafe.com)
Brilliant site where you can post your job for free and you'll get loads of applicants - every time I post a job I get plenty of experienced translators applying and they are dead cheap too. Through that website I have now got excellent Spanish, French, German and Italian translators I can call on whenever required.
Brilliant site where you can post your job for free and you'll get loads of applicants - every time I post a job I get plenty of experienced translators applying and they are dead cheap too. Through that website I have now got excellent Spanish, French, German and Italian translators I can call on whenever required.
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