Our business  »  The right way to choose a translator

Table 3:  Choosing the right contractor point by point


Quality
Deadline / volume
Value for money
Areas of specialization
Source languages
Target languages
Document formats
Customer relations
Handling of complaints
Freelance translator
Level 1
+/- 3000 words/day
Price = the price of translation or proofreading only. Concerning the quality of the translation, the translator is both judge and jury.
The translator’s area of specialization.
Language(s) mastered by the translator.
The translator’s mother tongue.
Depends on the tools available.
Proximity, mastery of the project, communication with a translation professional, consistent quality of the documents delivered.
Depending on the pertinence of the complaint. Depending on the commercial relationship between the client and the freelance translator. Implementation to the extent possible (no proofreading due to freelance status) of corrective actions for future projects.
Translator network or translation company
Level 1 to 4
Translation: +/- 3000 words/day x number of translators in the network Proofreading and validation 6000 to 8000 words/day x number of translators in the network.
Price = the sum of the different stages in the process. The complete lack of any intermediary means that a good relationship between quality and price is guaranteed and control of the whole translation process is retained. The different stages as well as quality checks are carried out by members of the network / company.
Areas of specialization of all the translators in the network / company with a better level of quality due to interaction between the network’s translators.
Areas of specialization of all the translators in the network / company with a better level of quality due to interaction between the network’s translators.
Languages mastered by all the network / company’s translators also including regional variants (Swiss French, Latin American Spanish...).
Depends on the tools available to all the network / company’s translators.
Proximity, mastery of the project (terminology monitoring, updating of glossaries...), assurance that the same translator-proof-reader pair will work on your project, communication with a translation professional (always the same point of contact), consistent quality of the documents delivered.
Proximity, mastery of the project (terminology monitoring, updating of glossaries...), assurance that the same translator-proof-reader pair will work on your project, communication with a translation professional (always the same point of contact), consistent quality of the documents delivered.
Translation agency
Level 1 to 4
Infinite according to the agency’s translator database.
Price = the sum of the different stages of the process + the agency’s commission. The price, which is generally higher, does not necessarily match the level of quality, each stage in the process being outsourced to freelance translators. The agency only acts as an intermediary, quality checks usually being carried out via software (consistent terminology, punctuation...).
Infinite according to the agency’s translator database. It should be noted that many agencies prevent any communication between the translator and the proof-reader.
Infinite according to the agency’s translator database. It should be noted that many agencies prevent any communication between the translator and the proof-reader.
Infinite according to the agency’s translator database. It should be noted that most agencies attach less importance to language variants and act according to their database and translators’ availability.
Infinite, many agencies allocating the services of desktop publishing agencies (services invoiced over and above the translation).
The customer / agency relationship is via sales agents who do not necessarily have a translation background. Translations are placed according to translator / proof-reader availability more often than not without any follow-through. Terminology databases serve to reduce translators’ prices but do not necessarily improve the quality of the documents delivered which are of fluctuating quality.
Whatever the pertinence of the complaint (justified or not), it is processed at translator level from whom a discount will always be demanded -> Discount agreed by the agency = discount granted by the translator. Analysis of the problem aimed at improving future work, depending to a great extent on the translator responsible’s professionalism and therefore very often on the amount of the discount demanded.