| Страниц в теме: < [1 2 3 4] | Agency mark-ups Автор темы: Gül Kaya
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Radian Yazynin 
Local time: 16:55
Член ProZ.com c 2004
английский => русский
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Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz wrote:
Higher payers are also more likely not to employ underqualified reviewers, revisers etc.
I meant end customers who buy "premium translations" and have no idea who stands behind such works.
| | | | Adrian MM. (X)
Local time: 15:55
французский => английский
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| Turkish into Arabic - possibly a 10% agency mark-up | Sep 12, 2013 |
Gül Kaya wrote:
I know this will probably be like getting blood out of a stone but I'm still going to have a stab at it. I would like to know if at all possible what the average agency adds on to the average translator's rate when charging the average client.
I have been offered Turkish-into-Arabic translation work - and I do not know either lingo: only choice swear words in each.
As far as I can tell, Turkish as a rare language, not exactly an LLD = language of limited diffusion - has not been factored into the equation. Surely English into Turkish would command far higher rates than French, Spanish or Russian into English. So the law of diminishing returns, disproportionate rake-off and pricing out of the market must apply.
If a Turkish-into-Arabic translator is going to charge GBP 200 or €/Euro 250 for 1,000 source-words for a translation brief from a social security claimant rather than a multi-national corporation, then the prime or relay agency passed the buck - even if run by non-linguists alias 'language executives', no names mentioned - is going to engage in a pointless exercise by doubling that rate for the mark-up to a figure that looks unaffordable. It doesn't make economic sense.
[Edited at 2013-09-12 22:36 GMT]
| | | | Shai Navé
Израиль
Local time: 16:55
английский => иврит
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| It all starts with a good transaltion | Sep 19, 2013 |
Stephen Emm wrote:
Translating the documents was just part of the process which also involved managing the workflow, managing the translation memories for each type of document, managing the terminology, reviewing all the work, maintaining quality and keeping the customer happy.
The agency obviously needs in-house staff to perform these various functions, so there has to be a fair mark up to achieve any sort of profit and then there is the issue of attracting the customers in the first place...
Translation is often not the only task in a project, but it is the foundation of any translation project. The better the translation and translator are, the less efforts are needed when the project progresses to the review and engineering stages.
However, this is too often overlooked and as a result the priorities get all mixed up. The attention is often focused on the in-house project management team (because they are employees with 'fixed' salary, and well, they are people that you see every day) and in order to maintain markup an attempt is made to cut costs somewhere else, often on the expense of the translator.
Complicated projects cost more, this is how it is done in most industries and marketplaces. Ignoring unscrupulous and unprofessional entities for a moment, a company that has a complicated translation project should expect to pay accordingly. Mind you, they make money out of the translation work, they don't send it as a form of charity (another thing people tend to forget). Working with an intermediate means that you know that you probably pay more compared to working with the service provider, but in return you benefit from their expertise in a field that you don't have any expertise in and cut the costs of managing the project in full in-house.
Attracting clients is indeed a concern for all business and commercial services, but not all clients are born equal, some are better than others regardless of size.
Another point that is often ignored is the difference between an agency and a translator. An agency is a business that deals in brokering translation services for the purpose of making a profit; while a translator is a professional offering a commercial professional service. They may superficially seem as being on the same both and working towards the same goal, but in reality they are not. Their approach and goals are fundamentally different.
This is why many translators prefer to work with professionals running a professional *practice* more than with people who run an agency business.
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