Translation agency

As the  owner of a translation agency, I need to think about what our customers want.

20 years ago, when our agency was first formed, I decided that Quality, Delivery and Price would be our watchwords.

Quality : Almost all customers want good, accurate translations, so that was a prerequisite I set for our translation agency. No-one would want a translation which was inaccurate.

However, there can be differences as far as the finished product was concerned.

A few words being translated for an advertising slogan require much more thought about the translation of each of those few words and a far longer time spent per word compared to the time spent per word in translating a technical report, where only very concrete terms and concepts are to be translated. You imagine how much time the original advertising agency spent on choosing the right words for that slogan

If an experienced translator of a technical report has the required technical knowledge and the technical vocabulary for both of the languages concerned, he or she can produce a competent translation which will convey the entire meaning of the original source text  - and such a translation can be provided in a relatively short time.

Of course, all translations, technical or other, need to be proof-read by another translator to ensure accuracy and improve style.

Delivery : Customer’s requirements vary to a great extent. Sometimes a translation is required as part of a carefully organized schedule. Sometimes the translation is required very urgently, for example, when the company concerned intends to bid on a large tender, with a deadline only a few days ahead.

While translation agencies do have in-house translators, they also need freelance translators so as to be able to cope with unexpected demand. The system used is generally for new translators to be tested by being given given small translations at first and then increasingly large ones as the agency becomes more confident of their competence.

Our more experienced translators now dictate translations into a digital recorder and then send the translation by email to a typist who in turn sends it back by email after typing it. The translation is proof-read by the original translator and then by another proof-reader, before being sent to the customer. Using this method, a translator can produce over 10,000 words in a day’s work and this system is very useful when unscheduled large translations are urgently required.

There is one thing that all our customers insist on and that is that we keep to the deadlines they set.

Technical Translation Ltd makes extraordinary efforts to ensure that deadlines are kept and we have built up a fine reputation for our quick work and on-time deliveries.

Price : Of course, all our customers want to receive an accurate translation at a reasonable price. Considerable efforts are made to keep prices down to a level which is equal or lower than the competition and we have also found that the use of translation memory programs such as Trados or Déjà Vu can provide lower prices and more consistent terminology for our customers.

John Hadfield spent thirty years working and living abroad with various companies, dealing with the automotive industry, agricultural machinery and construction equipment. He started his translation agency in 1989.
http://www.technical-translation.co.uk
translation agency

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