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Here’s one thing we most likely can all agree on: it seems like everything costs too much these days, to the extent that many of us feel compelled to cut corners. This, coupled with the fact that for many businesses and organizations, translation isn’t considered until late in a project’s process, leads to language service providers throughout the industry hearing so many variants of the same question, on a frequent basis: why does translation cost so much?
If you’d care to flash back to the spring of 2014, you can find a thorough overview of all the parts of a translation project, which should help explain the cost, as well as a look at how we can work with your schedule and budget. If you don’t have the time to read those now, or you’d simply like a précis, here’s a shorter response:
Translation isn’t just a word count – it’s a service package.
When I take my car for an oil change, I have been known to gripe (loudly) about the price of the service. Yet I always quit griping when I look at the receipt, where there’s a list of all of the many services that come under the umbrella of an oil change. They’re doing a whole lot more than changing the oil. A translation project is like that – look under the hood, as it were, and you’ll see that the workflow goes beyond switching words from one language to another. Depending on the complexity of the project, the work could include, in addition to translation and proofreading:- file preparation (if no editable source text files are available)- text extraction from graphics (if no editable graphics files are available)
- embedding of text in source graphics
- formatting and text fitting
- typesetting/desktop publishing
- proof of typeset files (if you do your own typesetting, we still need to sign off on the final result)
- timing of translated audio files
- testing of audio and video projects
- recording of audio for dubbing
- transcription
- transcreation (taking a pithy slogan into a foreign language? the translation team will have to get creative!)
- glossary creation and terminology management
- style guide creation
These services are named and itemized on TrueLanguage quotes for projects that require them; if you would ever like to know more about what goes into your projects, you’re invited to contact us with any questions.
As was said above, pretty much everyone is feeling the financial crunch these days. It’s understandable that the cost of a translation project might raise eyebrows when your requested quote arrives; if you’re under pressure, we’re open to working with you. Yet do please consider what you’re getting for the price – a full service package, executed by the best!
