How much should a translation cost?

Why pay more for translation if it can be done by a person who knows the language and can translate using online translation? 

Good question. But the fact is online translation is robotic and is not effective in conveying the intended meaning of your original message. If decision has to be taken purely on cost consideration, freelance writer makes more sense.

For truly effective translation, that is as impactful and effective as the original in communicating the intended meaning, you need to be more careful and select the right vendor without making cost as primary consideration.

Do we judge a creative agency on creative fee or quality of creative? You don’t. Because, you want your communication to build a certain image for the brand or services with the ultimate aim of growing your business. You would naturally give more weight-age to the quality of creative since the stakes here are very high. The creative fee becomes a secondary consideration.

Translation is equally important as you would want to connect with your reader by speaking to him with the same impact and tone, in the language which he understands. You will not sacrifice on the quality of translation as do not want a diluted communication or second rated translation.

Translation Type

Translation that is meant to be ‘For information’ purpose can be unpolished yet accurate and can be produced faster and cheaper compared to translation that is meant to be ‘For Publication’ work.

If you are trying to sell or persuade or if Image is a consideration for you, then mere translation may not be enough. The choice of words, style, format, grammar, consistent terminology, fonts etc are important, apart from tailoring the communication to culturally connect and speak in customers’ language. These are ‘For Publication’ translation type which only a professional native translator is capable of handling. The translation rates vary depending upon the category of translation service, language and industry segment.

Translation Quality

Translation that is a mere exchange of words from one language to another without considering the target audience may produce embarrassing result while reading.  A foreign sounding translation will not connect as much as translation by professional native translator who crafts the communication to culturally connect and speak in customers’ language.

Value for Money

The added value that a translation company offers (Translator selection, project management, quality control, file conversions, standardized presentation of multilingual projects etc) also has a price tag which makes it worth paying more. The cost addition becomes marginal and often pays back by ROI in a greater degree if one looks at translation blunders that gets avoided due to quality parameters applied at each stage by Translation Company

Turn Around Time

The time taken by project coordinator in a qualified translation company would be more compared to directly dealing with freelance translator. This is because the project coordinator goes though the source document and briefs the writer with style guide and references so as to get the best output.

Qualified Translation Agency – A Cost effective solution

A qualified translation agency acts as your language partner and ensures that your multi lingual communication in resonates with the same power of clarity as source language. It is all the more important to engage with professional translation service provider if you have a multi lingual multi media campaign or if you need your message to have consistent voice with a local touch across channels.

Approach for your entire translation and localization requirement – Shakti enterprise, a qualified and certified translation agency in India with a track record of more than 4 decades of translation service and trusted world over by companies big and small.