Hi Lizardnation! It has been quite a long time since I have been of
service to you.
I am really excited about your new service and I know that you realize
that you also have a good size of competition to confront but also to
learn from. I will provide you with links to your competition and how
they do their service and the agreements they entail.
WordLingo Professional Translation
http://www.worldlingo.com/products_services/document_translation.html
(Translation Services)
http://www.worldlingo.com/products_services/ht_faq.html#10
(Professional Translation FAQ and Service Processes)
A Great Translation
http://alowcosttranslation.com/pricing.html (Pricing and Ordering
Page)
http://alowcosttranslation.com/certranwhy.html (FAQ)
The following are a list of other translation services for your
research.
Business.com
http://www.business.com/directory/media_and_entertainment/publishing/editorial_and_literary_services/translation_and_localization/
The Adad.net Translation Services has posted a sample of their
contract.
http://www.adad.net/trad/contract/contract.php
This one is a sample contract from UK based UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
Translation services.
UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
CONDITIONS FOR THE PROVISION OF TRANSLATION SERVICES
http://www.gla.ac.uk/centres/language/Commercial/T_C_TRANS.html
WordLingo also has statistics, facts and other resources that maybe of
help to your business. These papers maybe somewhat biased on World
Lingo’s part but it is still good for business intelligence work.
World Language Statistical Facts
http://www.worldlingo.com/resources/language_statistics.html
The WorldLingo Quarterly Email Survey - August 2001
http://www.worldlingo.com/resources/aug_email_survey.html
The WorldLingo Quarterly Email Survey - April 2001
http://www.worldlingo.com/resources/apr_email_survey.html
The WorldLingo Quarterly Email Survey - November 2000
http://www.worldlingo.com/resources/nov_email_survey.html
Media Metrix Top 50 Survey - September 2001
http://www.worldlingo.com/resources/sep_mmtop50_survey.html
World's Top 20 Etailers Survey
http://www.worldlingo.com/resources/etailer_survey.html
This article from Buyer Zone provides a simple guide in selecting
human translation services.
“First, you should focus on the how the business is run. Now that any
person can hang a shingle touting their ability to translate
documents, it's important to work with a service that takes a rigorous
approach to its work, starting with translator selection.”
“See if you can work with a translator who is familiar with your
industry. Requesting proof to demonstrate this fluency is not
unreasonable. Having a translator who is a native speaker and still
lives in the country for which the translated document is intended is
a plus, too.”
“Also, take note of how thoroughly a translation service questions you
about your translating needs. Companies should go beyond the basics
about the desired language and length of document requiring
translation.”
“Finally, there is the translation process itself. Ideally, you should
have a second person who is fluent in the target language serve as an
editor to review and proofread your document.”
“Then there's the final product. You may require the document to be
specially formatted, incorporating charts or a special layout style.
While it may not pose much of a problem with languages that use the
Roman alphabet, it can be more problematic with other languages.”
Decipher tricky documents with a translation service
Mie-Yun Lee, Editorial Director, BuyerZone.com
September 18, 2001
http://www.buyerzone.com/features/savvy_shopper/ss091801.html
A service like this is very important in the growing globalization of
trade and of the Internet. I read somewhere that language barriers in
the Internet will continue as thousands of new non-English websites
and documents become available every day. In my own opinion, the
critical points for this service are the following:
1. Accuracy: The accurate translation of course will be first and
foremost the core of customer satisfaction. Nothing should substitute
for quality work,
2. Speed. Although one should not compromise quality with hasty
service, speed of product deliverance will be of primary concern.
Remember you are on the Internet and people on the Internet are not
used to waiting for such a long time. For example, this service Google
Answers. Researchers indeed are valued for the quality of their
responses but when clients get a quick comprehensive answer, the
satisfaction takes on a whole new level. WorldLingo’s Live Solution
is one such service that you may improve upon.
http://www.worldlingo.com/products_services/live_solutions.html
3. Price will also be important since there are lots of web based
human and machine translation services you will have to compete with.
Provide a unique pricing strategy like cost per paragraph instead of
cost per translated word.
4. Security. Not only in terms of payment but the document itself that
will be passed on to you to be translated like contracts, personal
letters, legal documents, etc. Clients like me must be assured that
such documents are in very good hands. It will be a good idea to have
a separate contract about this also not only with your client but with
your employees as well which shall handle such documents.
I really hope that you find this research and my thoughts helpful.
Before rating this answer, please ask for a clarification if you have
a question or if you would need further information.
It has always been a pleasure of serving you whenever you visit us
here at Google Answers.
Regards,
Easterangel-ga |
Clarification of Answer by
easterangel-ga
on
29 Sep 2002 19:35 PDT
Thanks for asking a clarification.
I have not found much on the typical delivery time but according to
this report about the Canadian Translation Market, the following
estimate on conference translation was mentioned.
“The nature of conference interpretation is such that it often
requires a team of interpreters, at least for simultaneous
interpretation. Where an interpreter could work several hours without
a break while providing consecutive interpretation, it has been
determined that 45 minutes is the maximum possible period for
simultaneous interpretation if quality is to be maintained. Conference
interpreters must therefore spell each other off. Court interpreters
work alone most of the time, and almost always aloud
(consecutively) or whispered (simultaneously).”
In case you are interested here are the possible markets for the
translation industry.
“Equipe Consortium Ltd. evaluated the translation services industry
worldwide to be US$2.3 billion (CAN$3.5 billion) in 1998 and predicts
it will reach US$3.9 billion (CAN$6 billion) by 2000. Europe will
continue to be the largest region, with 49% of the market, followed by
Asia, with 39%.”
This is a very important read if you want to know more about the
industry before plunging in.
SURVEY OF THE CANADIAN TRANSLATION INDUSTRY
http://www.uottawa.ca/associations/csict/represum.pdf
In this website the following mentions a time frame of document
delivery for human translation services.
“Most human translation services need at least three hours in which to
return your document with its translation. You should explore which
software best suits your purpose.”
DIALOG ON Transnational Communication Online
http://216.239.37.100/search?q=cache:MZF1nLctCcUC:www.conf.etude.org/conferences/Knowledgepool/do/commondocs/transnationalcom.doc+%22human+translation+services%22+document+issues&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
About the issue of the document itself, I was not able to find any
further online data but the article mentions it because of the problem
of formatting. Some languages may not be readily formatted by word
processors or HTML web pages so that your clients maybe requires to
download plug-ins from the browser so as to view them correctly.
Anyway, the browser usually and automatically asks the viewer to
download a plug-in so as to view a foreign language page properly.
I strongly suggest that you look at different foreign language word
processors or desktop and web publishing software.
Here some links:
Word Processors for Foreign Languages
http://www.inform.umd.edu/ARHU/Depts/langctr/.flit/software.html#wp
Multi-Language Word Processors
http://www.inthebeginning.org/babylonlingua/Processors.htm#multi
Multi-Lingual Word Processing Aids
http://www.translation.net/multiwp.html
I hope I have answered the clarification correctly. Thanks again for
visiting us.
Easterangel-ga
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