Why low cost translation could do more damage than good

low cost translation
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You have a translation you need to be done. You’re dismayed that when you inquire at a translation agency, the cost was a lot more than you expected. You know someone who had gotten low cost translation. So you go online and discover the wonder of crowd-sourcing. You can just dangle your project and ravenous freelance translators will compete by bidding as low as they can and as fast as they can.

Benefits of getting low cost translation?

cheap translation

Cheap translation may not be good for you

Then you find out later, much later, after you’ve already paid for the translation, that it’s full of errors. You might even go so far as to think that a free translation tool could have done better. You might even suspect that that’s exactly what the translator did.

A translator who offers low cost translation is more likely than not a beginner translator who is just starting out. They could be fresh from language school and not know a lot of things. Or in their rush to meet the deadline they overlooked a few things. They are unlikely to be specialists of a certain field, don’t expect that they can pull off medical, technical or legal jargon convincingly.

No proofreading?

A dirt-cheap translation would not include the cost of a proofreader. A proofreader would have ensured that everything was correctly translated, that no line was missed and that the final is grammatically correct. Even harder to do, ensure that the tone matches the original. Such hard work and attention to detail is worth more than a low cost bid. In the same manner, a translator who knows he is good also knows his worth. They would not offer low quotes for translation. Who can you trust to deliver high quality translations? Certainly not among those who offer to work for cheap.

Only opt for low cost translation if the translation you need is for personal use, does not require specialist knowledge, and is not a matter of life or death or loss of income.

no proofreading
expectations and result

Expectations and the real result

Hiring cheap or low cost translation services and finishing up with a poor final text can hurt your business name due to grammar errors, lack of accuracy, offensive and culturally uncaring content. People will often create low-cost translations without the required qualification or experience.

You cannot expect low-cost error-free translation. Sometimes buying low cost translations will head to an extra cost: hire a proofreader to double examine your document after it is given to make sure that the translation is correct if the grammar is on purpose if it makes sense to your target public and if it is culturally relevant. Besides the time wasted waiting for the translation, you will also have to wait for the proofreader to do the task, and if the text has numerous errors and makes little or no sense, the proofreader will need to go longer to edit or rewrite your text. It occurs more often than you imagine.

There are also accurate yet cheap translations out there too

Getting accurate yet cheap translation services is still possible. Universal Translation Services charges some of the lowest rates in the market, and the translation you are getting is still translation + editing + proofreading.

We sport the lowest rates in the market for this level of quality and accuracy. We use 3 translators with each project, who are natives of your target language and are experienced in the field of expertise the document to be translated falls into. One translator does the translation and the other two are editing and proofreading the result. In the end, you get highly accurate translation services at a low price.

We also know that time and speedy delivery is yet another important matter for our clients, as well as the availability of the services. We are therefore working day and night, 7 days a week, and you will always have an experienced project manager to answer your questions, to give you a free quote or to get your project started.

We also give you the option to come back to us with comments in regards to the translation we provide. Should you have questions or comments after delivery, you are able to get back to us. We will re-open the project and have the linguists work on your document until you are happy with the outcome. This is done free of charge of course, and we are doing it because we want our clients to be happy with the low cost translation they receive from us.

If we can help you with any questions, please feel free to contact us