During the last few years more and more translation agencies have appeared on the market and seem to come to the fore, while freelancers more and more have to take the back seat.

Having been actively engaged in the translation business for 20 years, I have seen the translation market change drastically and I have come to the point where I would like to put this question out: "Does it pay for the customer to have his translation ordered at a translation agency or would it be smarter and maybe even more cost-efficient to work directly with a freelancer?"

In order to answer this question, we need to ask: What is translation? First and foremost, "Translation is not typing in another language". Translation is a living art! Translation requires knowledge, skills, creativity and of course at least the knowledge of both languages on a native speaker level to become a high quality translation. If you wish to know more about translation, but didn't know exactly who or what to ask, go to The Truth about Translation.

Being a freelancer myself, I would like to say that working directly with a freelancer definitely has its advantages. But, in all honesty, it all depends on the type of translation the customer requires. If he needs something translated into more than one language, then of course the translation agency might - but not necessarily - be the correct address to turn to, as they would take care of the enormous administrative work involved in such a project. If however, the customer needs to have something translated into one language, I would definitely recommend working directly with an experienced freelancer.

The reason is very simple: Translation agencies do not predominantly deal with translations, but merely act as a mediator between the customer, looking to get his document translated, and the freelancer, who does the job. Therefore translation agencies merely fulfill administrative duties. Let's not forget: It is the freelancer, who does the translation. Translation agencies contribute only very little to the creation of a translation; in fact, they cannot help with the translation, because in most cases they don't even know the language the document needs to be translated from or into. This gives rise to the question, in how far translation agencies actually disrupt or even impede the process of a translation.

Translation agencies stand in direct competition with the freelancers. Due to economic considerations with regard to competition, translation agencies avoid as much as possible to have the customer of a translation get in contact with their actual supplier, the freelancer. In many cases translation agencies even obligate freelancers to sign statements (so called Non-Disclosure Agreements), by which they are coerced to commit not to accept orders from the agency's customers for a certain period of time (normally 1-2 years).

Another factor, having an important effect on the overall quality of a translation submitted by an agency, is their price policy. It is my strong belief that quality has its price. According to the ITA (Israel Translators Association) there is a recommended basic rate for freelancers for work contracted directly with an end client, to which a surcharge may be added for certain parameters.

Being primarily a profit-oriented enterprise, translation agencies are of course interested in constantly increasing their share in the translation market. Aside of the competition among translation agencies, it is the freelancer, who is an easy target to be "pushed aside". In order to be able to compete with the freelancers, translation agencies offer the freelancer prices and claim the share, which in fact the freelancer would be entitled to, for themselves. This share in most cases amounts to 60% or more and as a result from it, freelancers, who work for translation agencies are being more and more underpaid. This underpaid work, which in most cases needs to be rendered within a very short period of time, does without a doubt affect the quality of the translation, because the translator renders work that has only been checked - if at all - on a very superficial level. Many customers of translation agencies are not even aware of this fact, because they cannot evaluate the quality of a translation and maybe for this reason they turned to a translation agency in the first place. But let's face it: most translation agencies cannot evaluate the quality of a translation either and - in most cases - don't even check the translation, because they can't, because they are not familiar with the subject mater and/or they don't know the language.

No freelancer, who has experience and appreciates his work, will work for underpaid rates (dumping prices) the agencies are willing to pay nowadays for services rendered.

In any case, translation agencies that offer surprisingly low prices, sometimes even global prices, should be treated with distrust.

If you order with me, you can be sure to get high quality translations at a cost-effective price. I also accept projects that need translating into more than one language. For the last 20 years I have been engaged in translation and editing services. I take pride in providing high quality accurate translations, based on my education and my long-time experience in the field and on my satisfied customers, who return to order my services. For a non-binding offer please contact me by mail or phone.

[All rights reserved to Marjorie Kaufman, 06/2011]