Don’t Settle for Low Quality and Expensive Express Translation

People don’t usually think of translation as something that they need in a hurry. We all imagine that translators take their time, finding the perfect words in the destination language to fit the source text. Translation, according to this ideal, is a laborious but rewarding process.

And there’s nothing wrong with this type of translation either. If the translator has the time to go over each and every word of the original and translated text several times, then they should be lauded for doing so.

However, there are times when you just can’t wait for this type of painstaking translation. Maybe your new branch in Little Italy is opening tomorrow and you need to have your brochures translated in a hurry. Or maybe you just got some new big clients that you would like to hold on to, except that their first language is Hungarian and not English.

In cases such as these, there isn’t that much time to prepare and you need to have express translation. Here are a few things that you can speak to your translation agency about:

Time Limit

It’s important to let your translation agency know that you have a time limit. It’s best to be honest about exactly how little time you have for the translation. For example, you might even need to get those two pages done in the next twenty-four hours so that you can bring them to your printer or website designer.

Be clear about your time limit rather than saying something vague like “asap.”  Once your translator knows how much time they have, they can arrange their schedule accordingly. This will make sure that you and your clients aren’t disappointed in the results.

It’s possible for an agency to assign more than one translator to a document. So they might give a couple of pages to one translator and another couple to another translator. However, this can result in inconsistencies in translation. So it’s best to go with one translator for the whole document. You don’t want to end up with a document that uses different words for the same thing in different parts.

Quality

You don’t want your quality to be sacrificed just because you have a time limit. Your translator may not be able to go over your material as many times as they normally would. However, they can check and double check their work quickly to make sure that there are no glaring errors.

Explain to the agency that the wording doesn’t have to be as elegant as possible, as long as it gets the message across to the client. What most customers are looking for is all the information. They don’t care about whether the information is written in the best way possible, with a large vocabulary or complex sentence structures. As long as there are no spelling or grammatical errors and as long as the message gets across, the customers will be happy.

Pricing

When you’re going in for express translation, you should expect to pay a little more than you would for translations done in the usual time. And the less time you give a translator to work on your document, the more expensive the translation is going to be.

However, the difference in price shouldn’t be anything ridiculous. Don’t get taken in by an agency that promises you an absurdly quick turnaround, like two hours, if you pay them five times their usual fee. A good agency will take at least twenty-four hours and will deliver a quality translation. There will be a difference in price, since you’re getting your translation done faster, but it won’t be an unreasonably big difference.

Contact us for more great reasons to get express translation today.