One Stop Shop Translations: Fixing Translation Rates and Prices

One Stop Shop Translations: Fixing Translation Rates and Prices: As an independent translator one of the most important things to consider is what translation rates to set. A professional translators dile...

Understanding Translation Quotes

Time and time again clients are left baffled by the translation quote process. The fact that there is no formal method for translation quotes means that quotes can be interpreted in many different ways. A client may think he is choosing the cheapest quote while in fact this may be the opposite.
The following article describes some of the headaches and remedies to confront the quoting process. Normally, someone looking for translation services will shop around and receive at least three quotes. Firstly the needs of the client must be taken into consideration.

Is the client is only looking for a single language to be translated with no additional translation services such as software localization, desk top publishing or software localization?

In this case it is often recommended to go straight to the translator and avoid the middle man, the translation services company, as they of course take a percentage of the translation which in some cases can be up to 50% of the translation quote. This is justified by the additional value they add to a translation.

Does the client need multiple languages translated?

In this case the client may have the in-house resources and knowledge to deal with a multiple translation language project however this is often not the case as a lot of projects tend to be one off or a lot of the multilingual projects require a lot of specific translation expertise and skills which are only available within a translation company. For instance, the use of translation memories, the availability of a large database of specialized translators, Desktop publishing specialists or software localization engineers. For many companies this expertise and resources would be a sizable investment and not worth it in the long run so they tend to outsource their translation needs.
On the plus side a lot of translation tasks are very measurable, for instance word counts to measure the cost of translation, page counts to measure the costs of desktop publishing, string counts to measure the costs of software localization. Even though all these tasks within the translation process are very measurable translation quotes can differ to the extent that clients may even wonder if they are looking at the quote for the same project.
Here are some pointers to bear in mind when requesting a translation quote: With regard to the cost of translation some translation services companies may charge by: • Word count which tends to be the most reliable • Character count which can be especially the case with Asian languages • Page count which can be unreliable as there are often great variations in the number of words per page
Word counts and translation rates can vary greatly too due to the following factors: Some companies use Translation Memory technology. This technology can reduce the word count greatly even with new translations as there may be a lot of repetitions within a file. For instance, in the case of software a lot of the User Interface strings are repeated throughout the software. A lot of companies will offer a discount on these repeated strings or offer the repeated terms at a reduced word count. One thing to bear in mind however is that the cost of translation memory technology will be factored into the translation price. At the beginning the prices may seem a little more expensive but once the translations are in progress and the translation memories of previous work built up, the benefits of reduced word counts and more consistent translations are clearly evident. Paying that little bit extra will increases quality and in the long run reduce cost provided the translation memories are managed correctly. The aforementioned gives an insight as to why some translation prices and word counts can vary from one translation quote to another.

Does the translation quote include revision?

Some translation services companies factor the cost of revision into their translation rate making them more expensive. This has an obvious advantage in that translators are only human and a third eye to revise texts enhances quality. To summarize the use of translation memory technology and revision greatly enhance quality and give us an insight into why translation rates can vary so much between translation services companies. One must also bear in mind that a client can be more focused on cost as opposed to quality as in many cases they will have local offices doing the revisions.

Why do translation rates vary so much from language to language?

There is a simple rule of thumb here in that the rates tend to be reflected by the country of a particular language. For developing countries the local language tends to be translated more cheaply than in developed countries. For instance Chinese translation services tend to be cheaper than German translation services.
To summarize, three main factors that influence the cost of translation are: • Use of translation Memory technology • Language combination being translated • Whether there is revision
So far we have only considered the cost of translation but what about the other translation services: Software localization tends to be charged on an hourly basis but again the hourly rates can vary greatly from one translation Services Company to another. Again a major factor can be the location of the translation services company. For instance a translation vendor in a developing country tends to have much lower hourly software localization rates as opposed a vendor in a developed country where the costs of labor are much more expensive. The same principle also applies to the cost of desktop publishing.
All in all, if you are wondering why one quote is so cheap you have to probe that particular translation services company exactly what their process is, how they manage to cut their costs so much and be sure to ask for references of previous work completed. Picking the best translation quote is definitely a mind field but if all your priorities are clear there is a vendor out there to suit your needs.

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Mark Kieran, CEO, One Stop Shop Translations

One Stop Shop Translations is a translation services company based in Madrid, Spain. If you just want to browse over our translation rates, click here or get a great value personalised translation quote here.

Try One Stop Shop Translations for Quality, price and timeliness!

Choosing A Translation Services Company

I am often surprised to hear that Localization managers are not happy with the level of service they are receiving from their translation vendors. Frequent complaints about missed deadlines, poor linguistic quality and unresponsive project managers seem to be the norm. Then when I ask about their prices I wonder why they wish to stay with the same translation services company when receiving such a bad level of service. To add insult to injury when the words Translation memories or translation savings are mentioned they seem unaware of the idea. Similarly with Managers complaining of prolonged schedules the same question springs to mind, “Why stick to the same vendor with such a poor level of service”.

The main reason why these Managers are reluctant to change is the risk involved which outweighs the unknown reward. To lower this risk and have visibility of the partial benefits of two or multiple vendors why not protect your Translation assets thus ensuring full independence when out-sourcing. While maybe being a little more labor intensive the multiple vendor model keeps current vendors more competitive and allows you to easily draw comparisons on the level of service you are receiving. How can you possibly tell how fast your vendor is, the competitiveness of their translation prices and the efficiency of their processes with a single vendor model?

Implementing the multiple-vendor model?

The first thing to do is to request your Translation memories. At One Stop Shop we acknowledge the importance of our clients requesting Translation Memory imports to protect their intellectual property while at the same are not worried about entering the competitive vendor model because of the confidence we have in the level of our service.
Remember you have every right to your TMs as it is your intellectual property.

1. Phase in alternative Vendors.
Ask One Stop Shop Translations for a quote here and your current vendor for a quote. If you have supplied us the TMs you will have a direct comparison of the price per word rates and the savings from using the TM. If the TMs are not supplied at least you will have a comparison of the translation rates which will not let you down. You, you will have clear visibility on additional services you are being charged for e.g. Project Management

2. Hire One Stop Shop Translations on a test project
This is a good way to measure our quality and customer service.

3. Phase in more projects to One Stop Shop Translations
Provided you are happy of course phase in more work to your second vendor.

Quality, Turnaround and Cost
All vendors profess a quick turn around, high quality and unbeatable prices so at least now with the multiple vendor model you can draw your own comparisons. It may be helpful to keep a checklist or post-project feedback form to collate all criteria scores over a period of time. Apart from the quality, price and turnaround other effective criteria that may be selected are responsiveness, relationship, due diligence, reporting and technology.
One Stop Shop Translations can help you draw up these checklists free of charge and help you phase in a higher level of translation services.
With regard to quality you may not have the luxury of your country reviewers to judge this but there are other methods which One Stop Shop Translations can guide you through. Extensive quality criteria are always recommended.
With regard to cost, apart from having lower rates One Stop Shop Translations have no hidden costs with regard to the pre-project quote, that’s right, no Project Management costs, no update costs within reason. Due to our due diligence One Stop will negotiate any grey areas of the project at the Quote stage, still remain competitive and avoid any nasty surprises for the client with the invoice.
At all stages the client has to right to the analysis files (Trados, Catalyst, FrameMaker etc.) and will receive a clear explanation if there are still in the dark.

Choosing One Stop Shop Translations
While there are many translation services companies to choose from, we will distinguish ourselves from the competition by our friendly and highly qualified people, free consultancy and Project Management services and our expertise in your industry. We would love the opportunity to demonstrate these things to you and describe how we've been able to help other clients in your position make a change for the better. To schedule a discussion with One Stop Shop Translations, please call +34–91-365-9608.

Mark Kieran,
Director,
One Stop Shop Translations S.L.
mark.kieran@onestopshoptranslations.com
(Madrid) 0034 91 365 9608