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Translation agencies and language pairs
Thread poster: George Trail
George Trail
George Trail  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:52
Member (2009)
French to English
+ ...
Apr 19, 2010

When I first started working as a translator I agreed that the only people likely to consider offering me any work were translation agencies. It wasn't long before I was registering with translation agencies all over my home country (the UK) but also any number of those located in countries whose mother tongue is a language I am fluent in and offer translation services in, but it's not my own mother tongue. But consider this: I have been fortunate enough to be approached by translation agencies ... See more
When I first started working as a translator I agreed that the only people likely to consider offering me any work were translation agencies. It wasn't long before I was registering with translation agencies all over my home country (the UK) but also any number of those located in countries whose mother tongue is a language I am fluent in and offer translation services in, but it's not my own mother tongue. But consider this: I have been fortunate enough to be approached by translation agencies based in Italy, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia, for whom I have completed translation tasks from French to English or from German to English. How do you explain it being so seemingly likely that an agency based abroad offers translation services in language pairs where neither language is its mother tongue? ▲ Collapse
 
Johannes Mueller
Johannes Mueller  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 11:52
Dutch to German
+ ...
Maybe it is because.... Apr 19, 2010

of the globilasation (my spelling might be incorrect)- huge multinational companies have there office in f.e. Italy, but produce in Germany, GB, USA. All orders are made in Italy and they will seek for Italian translation agencies- for any language combination.

of the cheaper prices- translation agencies in other countries offer better prices for any language combination. You can google them by just using keywords like "cheap" "fast" "translations" and the result is word wide.
... See more
of the globilasation (my spelling might be incorrect)- huge multinational companies have there office in f.e. Italy, but produce in Germany, GB, USA. All orders are made in Italy and they will seek for Italian translation agencies- for any language combination.

of the cheaper prices- translation agencies in other countries offer better prices for any language combination. You can google them by just using keywords like "cheap" "fast" "translations" and the result is word wide.

of job-sharing (I made this word up)- if you don't have the possibility to do it yourself, you give it to another agency.

of the time-difference- I know an agency that runs offices in Asia, Australia and Amercia (besides Germany)- simply because the send orders from Germany to Australia, go to sleep, come back in the morning and the job is done (while Australians go to sleep).

of about of it all- you would not believe how many people all over the world need translations
in any combination because of reasons we would not believe...

Have a great day!

Johannes ▲ Collapse
 
Annamaria Amik
Annamaria Amik  Identity Verified
Local time: 12:52
Romanian to English
+ ...
Mother tongue? Apr 19, 2010

Does an AGENCY have a mother tongue, technically speaking?

I think we can speak of an agency's mother tongue only if it is run by an almighty project manager/translator/editor who reviews each piece of translation delivered to the clients. In that case, the agency is more like an outsourcer limited to certain pairs.
Other than that, I don't see a relevant connection between the official language of the agency's ... See more
Does an AGENCY have a mother tongue, technically speaking?

I think we can speak of an agency's mother tongue only if it is run by an almighty project manager/translator/editor who reviews each piece of translation delivered to the clients. In that case, the agency is more like an outsourcer limited to certain pairs.
Other than that, I don't see a relevant connection between the official language of the agency's country of residence and language pairs. An agency should be international in terms of working languages.
Actually, they might have native speaker editors who provide quality assurance. ▲ Collapse
 
Stanislav Pokorny
Stanislav Pokorny  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 11:52
English to Czech
+ ...
Czechoslovakia? Apr 20, 2010

I have been fortunate enough to be approached by translation agencies based in Italy, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia...


Just for info: Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic on 1 January 1993. Speaking about Czechoslovakia today is like speaking about Yugoslavia when referring to Croatia.
Try to do that and watch the responses by the Croatians...

[Upraveno: 2010-04-20 08:56 GMT]
 


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