Deliver Quality Translations

There are literally hundreds of thousands of translators in the market. And, there are probably a few thousand translators working right now with your target language pair. The best way of securing well-paid translation assignments despite the sheer number of translators out there is to meet the needs of your buyers.

‘Quality’ means different things to different people

There is no single quality standard. Although the industry has worked on industry standards to be followed by translators such as the ISO15038, perceived quality is a highly subjective thing. For instance, some clients will appreciate quick turnarounds more than a flawless translation delivered under a regular turnaround.

To help you understand the mindset of translation buyers, here we describe three hypothetical clients you may encounter during your journey as a freelance translator:

Buyer A – Small Translation Agency

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Buyer B – Mid-size Entertainment Publisher:

Buyer C – Small Size Law Firm

Clients don’t want to be educated

One could assume that telling a client how much better off they would be by allowing you “enough time to carefully translate their content” would be seen as a positive professional trait. The truth is the vast majority of clients don’t understand how quality may differ when buying translation services. They may assume the ‘quality speech’ is just a justification to charge more for translation services. The only variables they can easily see and compare when buying translation services are: turnaround and cost. That’s why trying to ‘educate’ your client explaining they should value a well-proofed translation more than one hurried out may result in losing this client in no time.

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