The currently demanded translation activity includes three links: the customer, the translation agency, the translator. And, if the customer and the contractor (translator) are two integral parts of this field, then the necessity of the existence of a translation agency is questionable for many.
In fact, in the chain of relations between the customer and the translator, the intermediary is the translation agency. For those who are looking for cooperation with a translator, the presence of a translation agency seems unnecessary – it is known that you have to pay more for intermediary services, and it is the customer who has to pay. But if no special requirements are put forward for simple translations, then in the environment of international communications a translation agency cannot do without services. And everyone who needs qualified assistance in this area knows this firsthand.
Features of the translation agency
The cost of work
The question, which especially worries customers, is described in English by the concept of “value for money” – the ratio of the quality and quantity of services relative to their cost.
The opinion that a freelance translator will cost much more than the work of a translation agency is not so difficult to refute: in fact, finding an independently working specialist who translates at lower than market prices is quite difficult. And it is completely impossible to manage the services of one person – at least, a proofreader must be “attached” to the translator, and in the case of the translation of drawings, applications, sites, relevant specialists.
As a result, those who want to save often have to finish the work themselves, which affects the timing and quality of work. Companies and individuals who repeatedly need comprehensive services know that it will be safer, safer to contact a translation agency, and in some cases cheaper.
Selection of performers for cooperation
If you are not able to get business acquaintances in this industry, you have to start searching for employees. In this case, practically nothing can save the customer from mistakes – resumes and a portfolio of specialists, presented in large numbers on the Internet, do not provide reliable information about the professionalism of translators working independently.
The consequences of making the wrong choice are wasted money, lost time and unnecessary worries. At the same time, when contacting a translation agency, the obligation to look for suitable workers is removed from the customer’s shoulders. A good company has an extensive database of trusted specialists in all areas related to translation activities. We can safely say that all negative situations when contacting the translation bureau will be excluded – there is no talk of expired work, as well as of force majeure situations that prevent us from delivering the translation on time.
High professionalism of translators
Who will give guarantees of competent translation, if it comes to cooperation with a freelancer? Often the material for translation is saturated with professional terminology and has “pitfalls” that only a professional can get around.
Most likely, a lone translator with such topics had no business, and he has much less experience – for example, university students most often take on part-time jobs in the translation field. And all the specialists in the staff of the translation agency have impressive experience and proper qualifications, which allows them to easily switch from one subject to another.
A large company that has been working in this market for a long time may have translators specializing in a particular field – economics, literature, technology, law, etc.
Paperwork
An unreadable format on a computer or a damaged document will cause difficulties for a simple translator, but will not become an unsolvable problem for a translation agency that has a coder and programmer on staff. Any document can easily be restored and converted to the desired view.
Urgency of order with a large volume
When an urgent task arises that requires a competent solution, not every translator will take up work alone. When contacting a specialist who works “on his own”, you need to be prepared for the fact that instead of the completed task, a letter will come from him informing you of the impossibility of performing a volume translation within the specified time frame.
The translation bureau, when carrying out a large urgent order, organizes the work together – parts of the text are redirected to several executors who prepare their part of the work without much haste – and only then the project manager carefully checks the results and gives them to the correctors and editors to subtract errors, as well as reduction of a scattered text to a single denominator.
QA / QC Text Verification System
An interpreter who does not have partners in his field of activity cannot study the work done in a qualified manner, while the translation bureau contains a whole staff of workers who are able to detect and correct any, the slightest mistake or inaccuracy in the material.
Mandatory confidentiality
Translations of most working documents require caution, from financial reports to unique projects under development. When contacting an unofficial person, no one is safe from theft or disclosure of important data.
The practice of signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) by the contractor is used in the field of transfers, but, as a rule, charges against an individual engaged in unregistered activities do not lead to anything. And the company that signed the NDA and violated its terms suffers significant financial losses. The fact that almost all translation agencies conclude a non-disclosure agreement before starting cooperation with the customer is a significant security measure in this matter.
Warranties on time
Private traders usually work without contracts, so in case of any problems they cannot be called to account. Even if the translator works on behalf of the individual entrepreneur and is able to offer a contract for the provision of services, for the most part, the customer will suffer in case of litigation.
The translation agency cherishes its reputation much more tremulously, so bringing the matter to serious proceedings is completely unprofitable for them. In the event of disputes, the contractor will always go forward – defects will be corrected, and all the untimely corrections and changes made to the work. Failure to meet deadlines is almost impossible, but if this still happened, the amount for the work will decrease significantly.
For a translation agency, not only reputation is important, but also the opportunity to participate in tenders and win, and one of the important criteria for participation is the absence of court decisions in a company’s dossier for a certain period of time.
