Selecting an Agency / Translator
Faced with hundreds of translation websites all promising quality, accuracy and experience and being none the wiser about this industry, how do clients make an informed decision when selecting a translation agency? A client will often list cost as the main criterion influencing his decision – an important aspect seldom understood by clients. Few industries illustrate the old adage of ‘pay peanuts, get monkeys’ as well as the translation industry. Clients simply assume that all translators are qualified to do the work they do and so shop around for the best price. This could not be further from the truth as quality cannot be produced cheaply where education and experience play such a vital role. Conversely, a high rate is not always a guarantee of quality either.
What sets us apart?
Amidst the minefield of translators and agencies vying for your business, what sets French.co.za apart from the rest and why can we confidently recommend our services? The answer is a simple one: the composition of our team of translators. Most of our translators stem from the world of academia – a black and white place with a low tolerance for errors. People who understand the concept of quality. Our team boasts an impressive mix of lecturers, professors, translation accreditation examiners and advanced degree holders, all with years of experience both in translation and in teaching or lecturing. So yes, it would be accurate to say that we are a boring bunch of painfully detailed document-driven nerds, but the critical nature of translation and the accompanying responsibility of this discipline, require precisely that. A second important point is that we specialise in French and English only. This already means a level of focus and quality management that is difficult to achieve when covering multiple language combinations.
And finally, our translators are authentic native speakers. What does this really mean? It simply means that our translators working from French into English speak English as their first language and possess high levels of proficiency in French, and vice versa. This solid grasp of the source language is one of the defining qualities of a good translator. A thorough understanding of what the author of the document is trying to convey to his/her readership, coupled with a sound command of the target language are key aspects which separate excellent translators from average translators and the quality of the end product. A true test of a good translation is whether it reads as an original or as a translated version. This can be gauged within the first few sentences.