Choosing a translation agency or freelancers?
10 Good reasons to rely on a translation agency
Is it better to contact a translation agency or a freelancer when you need a translation from or into a foreign language?
Here we want to explain the role of the translation agency and make you understand what is behind the scenes.
Then you can choose to rely on a freelancer, but at least you can make an informed choice.
The advantages if you choose a translation agency:
- A quick quote
- Delivery date
- Emergencies
- Professional translators
- Specialized Translators
- Less common languages
- Revision / Proofreading
- Multilingual projects
- More services
- An administrative contact person
1. A Quick Quote
An agency is able to draw up a quote quickly, even after one hour of receiving the request if urgent.
An agency has people dedicated to the preparation of estimates and responds in real time, during office opening hours.
A freelancer may not be quickly reachable (perhaps in the booth if he is also an interpreter) or simply has a translation on hand and needs extra time to evaluate.
In general, an agency has faster response times.
2. Delivery Date
The agency always manages to meet a delivery date because it works with a team of translators.
Therefore, whatever may happen to the translator in charge, the agency will have the opportunity to reassign the work to another professional.
The translator falls ill, has a family emergency, a PC crash… the agency can find another professional, with the same specializations, in a short time in order to respect the delivery agreed with the customer.
3. Emergencies
If your request is particularly urgent, the agency finds a professional that in the moment is free and can satisfy and meet your request.
Maybe making 10 telephone calls. All you need is one.
In addition, if necessary, the agency creates a team of translators to divide the work, to meet your urgency.
4. Professional translators
An Agency has the ability to verify the professionalism of the translator for you.
The agency creates the team of translators after careful evaluation both in terms of curriculum, training, and experience and with translation tests.
In addition to constant monitoring in the field, through the figure of the proofreader.
It’s not enough to be a natrive English speaker to be an Italian-English translator.
5. Specialized Translators
The strength of the agency is to have a network of collaborators with various language combinations and different specializations.
If today you have to translate a contract or a budget and tomorrow your internet site of wines or CNC machines, you may need two different professionals. Even if both translations were in the same language combination, for example from Italian into English.
The language of a statute, a financial report or a promotional text is extremely different and requires different skills. The agency selects the most competent translator in the specific field.
Not everyone can translate everything. The translators have specializations in diverse fields.
6. Less common languages
A successful agency works with many languages, even the less common such as Urdu, Thai, Korean, Farsi, and Punjabi.
And an agency is able to find other resources, usually having a network of trusted agencies to rely on for less common languages.
7. Revision /Proofreading
Before being delivered to the client, the translated texts are proofread by a second translator.
This step is not taken for granted when you rely on a freelancer, although several have colleagues with whom they work in tandem.
The review allows you to check and verify… because four eyes are better than two!
8. Multilingual projects
When you need to translate a text into multiple languages, the agency creates a work team and coordinates it.
You can save time by avoiding sending files, writing e-mails or making phone calls.
You will have one contact person and that will save you time and money because he/she will:
- Contact several translators
- Find the ones that meet your delivery needs
- Agree on the contractual conditions with each of them
- Send you a single quote
- Sort out the job
- Collect the doubts of all the translators and turn them grouped
- Sort your answers to all translators.
9. A translation agency offers more services
It is really true that unity is strength.
The agency is a group of professionals and can offer various services:
- Translations
- Interpreting
- Language courses.
- Graphic layout of translations
- Sworn translation/ legalization service
- Creation and translation of subtitles
- transcripts
- Courses abroad in selected facilities.
An agency can become a single supplier for various services
10. An administrative contact person
The agency has a department dedicated to invoicing.
They will respond promptly to your doubts or requests and will carry out their work on time.
All of these benefits come at a price.
And here are a few words to add.
The economic offer of a freelancer will be more competitive.
It is up to the customers to evaluate the advantages of one solution and the other.
We wanted to clearly illustrate what lies behind the offer of a translation agency.
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