In a recent article we discussed what factors you should consider when choosing a translation agency, however, there also is the option of working directly with a freelance translator instead of an agency. Both have pros and cons which are explained below.

Price

When it comes to price usually the freelancer can offer cheaper prices, simply because they have less overhead cost than a company. In some cases, however, you might also receive higher quotes from freelance translators, e.g. when you ask translators with a lot of experience that have made a name in the industry.

Availability

As a freelance translator usually works alone they have a limited capacity. If your freelancer of choice is currently on vacation or booked with other projects you might have to find someone else. Agencies, on the other hand, have many translators so that availability is not an issue here.

Translation Quality

Freelance translators usually work alone on the translations and do all the editing and proofreading themselves, which makes quality control difficult.

At agencies, translation are checked and edited by several linguists. Freelancers can deliver high-quality translations, but they might require some additional editing and checking.

We always have two linguists work one project, one as translator and one as proofreader to ensure a constant high-quality of our translations.

Communication

When hiring a freelancer you can communicate directly with them. Direct communication will lead to less misunderstanding and you know exactly who will be handling your project. In an agency, your point of contact will usually be the project manager and you won’t have the opportunity to contact the translator directly.

At transeuro your inquiries will be handled by our marketing team but if requested direct communication with our translators is possible as well. If you have special requests or would like to give feedback you can contact our translators by phone or e-mail or visit us at our office in Tokyo. It is also possible to request the same translator for your next order.

Ability to deal with different fields

A freelance translator usually specializes in a few fields of translation and might not be able to handle all your requests. If you only have need for translations in a certain field, a freelancer that specializes in this field is a good choice, but otherwise, you will have to work with different freelancers which makes communication more time-consuming. Agencies employ different translators with different specialization so that they can handle all sorts of translations.

At transeuro, we employ over 40 in-house translators so that we can cover most fields that are relevant for patent, legal and technical translations.

Choosing the translator

When looking for a freelancer you will have to review several CVs and sample translations to find the person that is the best fit for your translation. This is time-consuming and sample translations might be difficult to judge for someone with little experience.

If you employ an agency they will do the choosing for you. A good agency has a network of qualified translators and knows their abilities and experience in and out. They can easily find the professional that is best suited for your project.

As most of our translators are in-house and we work really closely with our external translators we have a good understanding of their abilities and can smoothly choose the perfect translator for your needs.

As you can see depending on your budget and needs agencies or freelancers have pros and cons. At transeuro, we try to offer you the advantages of working with an agency will still maintaining a close relationship between client and translator.

If you would like to know more about us, feel free to contact us.

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