subject: Translation Business [print this page] Translation is a service businessTranslation is a service business. The basic difference between industry, commerce and services lies in inventories. Industrial establishments keep at least two kinds of inventory: raw materials and finished goods. Commercial establishments keep only finished goods inventories. Service establishments, however, keep no inventories.
Now, every product, tangible or intangible, can be compared with another product based on three parameters: delivery time, quality and price. Buying decisions are based on tradeoffs among those three parameters: Product A is very good, but too expensive. Product B is good and reasonably priced, but unfortunately they dont carry that brand at your local store and you do not have the time to look for it elsewhere. So you settle for Product C, which, in your opinion, offers the best balance of the three parameters at the time.
We carry no inventories; clients who call us for a translation know they will find none. They also know they will find no Product B that will somehow meet their needs. Finally, they know that calling another translator will not help much, because nobody will have their translation ready for them. So, they press for immediate service. Many translators complain that jobs go to the lowest bidder, but my experience is that the majority goes to lowest bidder among those who offer the fastest turnaround.
This creates a certain amount of tension between client and translator. Tension that is made worse by the fact that time devours itself: if a client needs a translation within 72 hours, each minute spent finding a translator reduces the time available to do the job. Once I was asked to translate five long annual reports within three days, a job I had to refuse. The desperate client called every agency in town and three of them called me - each of them with a shorter turnaround time: because deadlines are fixed, turnaround times must be flexible.
Pressure on translators is heavier than it is in other service businesses because the translator is often one of the last links in a very complex chain of events.
Time pressures favor new entrants: sometimes the only person who can take the job is someone who actually never did a professional translation before. Unfortunately, this also means that someones opera prima often is a rush job done without the benefit of appropriate equipment.
The constant pressure for fast service created by the lack of inventories has a deplorable impact on quality - we all know that. But the point I would like to make is different. Because we have no inventories, clients cannot possibly test our product for quality. When they contact us, they find not a product, but a potential. And potentials cannot be tested for quality.
Quality has to be evaluated indirectly, based on what we have done for that client or for someone he knows. This procedure favors experienced translators and is thus hated by new entrants, who would like to see clients giving a newcomer a deserved break.
Aunes Oversettelser AS has been in the business for 26 years, and we are specialized in technical translations. We are specializing in the Nordic languages, and can offer services into Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Icelandic. The premier translation agency for Norway and the Nordic region! Technical translation services for businesses in the Nordic countries and translation agencies world-wide.
