What you should know
What would the world be like without translators? No book could be read all over the world without these professionals who work quietly in the background, no film would be understood universally and no company could act globally. Translating is, however, a very strenuous activity requiring very targeted concentration and a high degree of cross-linked thinking. It is after all a question of transferring other people’s thoughts and ideas into one’s own mother tongue. A translator can only work seriously and in a concentrated manner for a limited number of hours per day. A translation task can therefore only be finished in a certain ‘technical’ time as the translator’s concentration starts to wane after working for about 6 – 7 hours. So when awarding an assignment, please allow the translator sufficient time to do the job efficiently. It would be ideal to have sufficient time available to be able to put the finished work aside for a while in order to gain distance and then to give it the finishing touches somewhat later. In this context, we will be happy to give you competent, detailed advice.
Another important subject is that of price. Very differing tariffs are applied nowadays, and caution is required here. In our opinion, a translator should receive adequate remuneration. This increases motivation and texts do not need to be finished in record time because of price-dumping. Price-dumping leads to poor quality, as working overly fast and without motivation results in flawed, inaccurate texts which you as the customer can only reconstruct and correct with a great deal of time and effort. In the case of a lengthy text, for instance a 100-page Operating Manual, this could mean your customers suffer serious accidents or expensive machine damage during the guarantee period. How easily a guarantee case could lead to a five- or six-figure claim, possibly caused by a translating error.
So a fair price is justified and will give you the assurance of reaching the goals which you have set yourself with your advertising material and texts.
Good communication is the best visiting card for your company.