Hiring a translation service for your business is a smart move and can save you time, money, and potential headaches. While hiring a translator can seem like an unnecessary expense, more often than not, you will find that by doing so, you invest your money wisely and you were able to complete transactions that you may not have been able to otherwise. If you are new to working with a translator and unsure of how it can help your company, this article will go through some of the pros and cons of using this type of service to conduct business.
Pros
- Translation agencies can help you with more than language.
- Managing projects. An agency will have the ability to manage a team of translators who are working on your project. Perhaps your project needs translation services in more than one language. By working with an agency, you can streamline the hiring process as they have access to translators that speak a variety of languages. They can manage the organization of the translators and task them with various aspects of the project. If you were to do this on your own, you would spend a great deal of time trying to explain the project goals to each person which can be time consuming at the very least.
- Availability. Hiring a service provides a level of trust and certainty that your project will get done in a timely manner. A service has the ability to get a project done quicker than a freelancer mainly because they can guarantee availability. A freelancer may work but when their schedule permits which means that your project could be the last priority on their list. Whereas when hiring a service, you can rest assured that your project is a priority and will be done in a swift manner.
Cons
- Hiring a company could cost more money than hiring a freelance translator. Freelancers can be more competitive with their rates however they are often unreliable because of other priorities that take precedent in their lives over your needs.
- By hiring an agency, it is likely that you will work with a variety of individuals and not the same person all the time. If you find that building relationships with those you work with is of utmost importance, you may want to consider hiring a freelance translator instead of an agency. If this does not matter much to you as long as the project is completed in a timely manner, then an agency will work just fine.
- Payment. While a freelancer may accept payment after the work is done, many agencies may want a deposit up front. Some may even require full payment up front before the work is completed. This could be problematic if you pay for the work up front to find out that the finished product is not at all what you wanted.
While this article has identified some positives and potential challenges to hiring a translation service, you can only be sure for yourself by doing the proper research as you know your needs and budget better than anyone. To get started in exploring whether or not a translator is what you need to be successful moving forward, check out https://lighthouseonline.com for more information.