When you need a document translated into another language, you can either turn to a company (a translation agency) or an independent professional (a freelance translator) do to the job for you. Before I analyze their respective advantages and disadvantages, let me first briefly explain how translation agencies and freelance translators work:
A translation agency can be anything from a small local business (including one-man translation agencies operating out of a living-room which usually don’t last very long in business) to a large company with offices on various continents and …

Individuals or companies who need a translation for the first time often do not know where to find a freelance translator. Most people have heard about translation companies, but many are still surprised to learn that there are also freelance translators offering the same services!
Here are some tips on where to look for a freelance translator:
- If there is a translators association in your country, a good place to start is the association’s member directory. Most associations have websites with an online list of their members. Depending on the language …

Many individuals and companies who are not used to working with freelance translators are confused when it comes to choosing the right freelance translator. In most countries, translation is not a regulated profession. Anybody who speaks two languages, or thinks he speaks two languages, can offer his services as a freelance translator. It is therefore all the more important to choose somebody who is truly qualified.
Here are some guidelines to help you pick the best freelance translator for your project:
- Is the target language (the language the text will be …

Some translators claim to be able to translate as much as 10,000 words per day or even more. I do believe that it is possible to translate that much in a day (draft translation only – without proofreading – of very easy texts without special formatting or difficult terminology; speech recognition might also help to increase the speed) but I don’t believe that it is possible to produce a high-quality, error-free translation at such lightning speed.
The majority of professional translators reach an average volume of 2000 – 3000 words per …

Translation and interpreting are two distinct professions and yet hardly anybody except for language professionals seems to know, or care about, the difference.
Yet, the distinction is an easy one: translators work with the written word (they translate texts), whereas interpreters work with the spoken word (they interpret speech). All you need to remember is: translation = written and interpreting = spoken.
So next time you read in the press that somebody was “speaking through a translator”, you will know that it wasn’t a translator but an interpreter.
The skills required to become …