The fine art of finding a translator

It sounds so simple, doesn’t it?

You have some words in Language A which are in dire and immediate need of being seamlessly transformed into Language B. Perhaps it’s a website, or an Annual Report. A birth certificate or an academic paper. A legal document or a love letter.

And your priorities are quite clear: fast, perfect and, most importantly, cheap. Received wisdom, however, holds that you can have one, maybe two, of those qualities, but never, ever, all three.

I shall, of course, beg to differ, based immodestly on my own many years of toiling in the trade. Yes, indeed, I, for example, am known to be fast, good and relatively cheap.

There are several vital steps, however, for ensuring a happy outcome. The first is to understand your role in the transaction. You are the client, you have a job (“project”) which needs to be done, and you require someone (a “provider”) to do it for you. Just like finding a contractor or a physician or someone to cut your hair.

Well, more or less.

But, instead of immediately hitting the Yellow Pages, asking for a referral from the equivalent of your family doctor or stopping the next person on the street whose hair you admire – take a deep cleansing breath and look inward.

Have a peek at your project, and ask it a few questions.

How many words are involved? Most software programs, like Word, have a word count mechanism.

What is the nature of the text – legal, financial, medical, technical, marketing, academic?

What is your sense as to level of difficulty? Would it require someone with extensive knowledge of a specific field, or could it be handled by someone with a good general background?

What is the format of the text ( the “source document”): Word Document, PDF, Excel, Powerpoint, a website, hard copy?

Do you have someone in-house who can handle proofreading and/or editing?

What is your realistic deadline (preferably somewhere between tomorrow at 9 AM and when you retire)?

Do you have an absolutely fixed budget for the translation or are you in a position to solicit bids?

Once you have assembled all this information, you’re properly positioned to begin your search. Here are your most obvious options:

1. Referrals. Ask around. Colleagues, professional associations, even consulates often maintain lists.

2. Online translation “portals” which provide large (and I do mean large, some numbering in the tens of thousands) databases of available translation agencies and freelancers.

3. Translation agencies which, let’s face it, you’re going to find by googling, and, after wading through 269,861 hits for “translation, cheap, Urdu, engineering”, you’ll go with the first agency which responds with a quote.

4. Freelancers, ditto all the above, but at least you’ll probably be dealing with someone who is willing to give you their real name and some actually verifiable references.

The most important question at this point is whether to go with an agency or directly to a freelancer. Despite my obvious bias, there are clear advantages and disadvantages with both options, all of which we shall entertain ourselves with next.