Paid Translator – Those (not) to trust in
First of all, when you contact a translation agency or a translator – paid or free -, you should ask yourself: will my text end up in the hands of expert and professional people?
Translation may seem suitable for all those who have a basic knowledge of a foreign language and a good dictionary, but an amateur translator – unlike a professional translator – is not aware of his actual skills and limits: for this reason, he can make common mistakes that he and his customer will not notice – or they do when it will be too late.
However the professionalism you have if you choose a paid translator, instead of an amateur translator, doesn’t guarantee reliability: you need also knowledge!
By trusting in a professional translator who doesn’t have the necessary knowledge, you may run the risk of “wasting your investment”. For example, web sites and a brochures translated down to the last word, are usually not able to convince the readers and to produce conversions.
Sometimes this kind of translation may discredit your brand, that could be outmatched by competitors who chose to use a more effective communication. You may also have to reprint texts with mistakes that had not been notice in time, or even worse, refund serious damage: translators who challenge themselves with topics they don’t know well, end up forgetting some details and words – and this may be very serious if the translator forgets the negation before a verb.
Generally, the cheapness of translations produced by translators who don’t have the right level of professionalism and/or knowledge is only apparent, since the actual cost kept hidden while purchasing.
By saying this, we don’t mean to state that a good translation has to be expensive. The Foreign Friend thinks that a translation is good when it satisfies the needs of the customer.
And that’s why the production of all our services is based on these needs. It is no coincidence that The Foreign Friend is – if not the only – the first agency in the world that offers to customers the possibility to choose the level of expertise of the translator, so that they can have the quality/cost they look for.
