Agencies covering all the World's languages Thread poster: Jean-Pierre Artigau (X)
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Jean-Pierre Artigau (X)
Canada
Local time: 17:34
English to French
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Recently I have received offers from some agencies who seem to cover all possible languages of the World, according to their profiles or Websites, from Abkazian to Zapotec and Zuni, including Dinka Eskimo, Fino-Ugrian (other) and French Old (842-ca.1400). Is that realistic? What should we think about such agencies?
Jean-Pierre
[Edited at 2015-11-23 18:45 GMT]
| | | | | Normally not.... | Nov 23, 2015 |
.... but there are bonafide agencies which can deliver these languages (I know at least 1), maybe not on a call up base, but it is a part of their specialism. If a language is being spoken or studied, there must be someone who can work with it. Finding such a person is something totally different.
Unfortunately there are (in my humble opinion) many more agencencies which can't deliver. But hey, sounds good in your advertisement (marketing is everything!).
[Edited at 2015-11-2... See more .... but there are bonafide agencies which can deliver these languages (I know at least 1), maybe not on a call up base, but it is a part of their specialism. If a language is being spoken or studied, there must be someone who can work with it. Finding such a person is something totally different.
Unfortunately there are (in my humble opinion) many more agencencies which can't deliver. But hey, sounds good in your advertisement (marketing is everything!).
[Edited at 2015-11-23 20:05 GMT]
[Edited at 2015-11-23 20:05 GMT]
[Edited at 2015-11-23 21:09 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | DorothyX (X)
France
Local time: 23:34
| Normally not.... | Nov 23, 2015 |
but ask them a translation in a strange or rare language pair, and they'll accept immediately, and then find people on a translation portal competing with others on priced and deadline to have the job. Sad.
[Edited at 2015-11-23 20:16 GMT]
| | | | | I am not sure I understand you correctly | Nov 23, 2015 |
DorothyX wrote: but ask them a translation in a strange or rare language pair, and they'll accept immediately, and then find people on a translation portal competing with others on priced and deadline to have the job. Sad. [Edited at 2015-11-23 20:16 GMT]
Strange or rare language pair - let's say Inuit into Tagaloc (just for the fun of it). Do me a favour and please search for competing translators on any translation portal, and let me know the outcome.
[Edited at 2015-11-23 22:17 GMT]
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You can always translate from a source language into English and then from English into a target language. Of course the outcome will not be brilliant, but when taking about languages like Inuit for many cases it will be acceptable.
| | | | Heinrich Pesch 
Finland
Local time: 00:34
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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| Is there a need for specialised agencies? | Nov 24, 2015 |
If there were an agency for such a rare language like Inuit, would that be a working solution? In the real world any agency must be able to deliver services in the main translation languages just to be able to pay the bills. Small agencies do not have the muscle for the global market. Clients will trust an agency they know and that has delivered services befor, they will not search for an obscure specialised agency or a single freelancer.
| | | | | I prefer specialist agencies | Nov 24, 2015 |
I prefer working with medium to small agencies. While they do need to cover a certain range to be able to survive on the global market, the advantages of size are limited after a certain point.
Many of my favourite clients specialise in Scandinavian languages and a handful of others.
One of the bigger ones advertises that it handles sixty languages routinely - the EU languages plus Norwegian, Chinese and probably some Indian languages among others. I am not sure how the... See more I prefer working with medium to small agencies. While they do need to cover a certain range to be able to survive on the global market, the advantages of size are limited after a certain point.
Many of my favourite clients specialise in Scandinavian languages and a handful of others.
One of the bigger ones advertises that it handles sixty languages routinely - the EU languages plus Norwegian, Chinese and probably some Indian languages among others. I am not sure how they count the different varieties of English.
They work a lot on the German market, and if clients want languages outside the agency's regular range, they try to contact experts in the languages concerned, or refer the clients to them.
Others work in limited subject areas, specialising for instance in medical translation.
Languages and cultures are so different that it is very difficult to be good at everything. Where really rare languages are involved, I am not sure what I would do. It would probably depend on the languages, type of text and several other things. I would look for an agency that worked in the relevant part of the world. The Bible Societies know a thing or two about translation into unusual languages. However, there are certain big, non-specialist agencies that would NOT be my first port of call. Regardless of their claims to cover all the world's languages. ▲ Collapse
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