« A Bad Translation from Morocco | Main | Online Translation Sites and Services - Quality Check »

Dec13
Translation Agencies - Do They Handle All Languages?

As I was searching the Web recently for information about translation service agencies, I discovered an interesting phenomenon.  It seems that the major agencies (or, those that appear at the top of Google searches) can handle translation into and out of almost every imagineable language!  I ran searches for "Bantu translation", "Xhosa translation", "Dari translation", "Sinhala translation", "Tagalog translation", "Malayalam translation" and got all the same agencies every time.  How is that possible?

I tried a similar search with "Pig Latin translation" and was relieved to find that they didn't claim that language.  (But I did find a nifty English to Pig Latin translator.  Check it out.)

The major agencies have a clever way of stacking themselves in the Google search results.  I don't know how they do it, but whatever language you stick into the search, they have a separate page for it, and they advertise that they can handle it.  www.AppliedLanguage.com will pop up whether you are looking for Basque or Pushto.  And their site gives tidbits about the language and countries in question while assuring you in generic "We handle language X" text that they have the translators standing by to help.  Others of the same kind are www.WinTranslation.com and www.WorldLingo.com.

How is this possible?  Is it true?  Do they maintain "live" lists of translators for every conceivable language pair?  Or are they fishing?  If they don't really have a English-to-Pushto translator on call, is it ethical for them to claim that they can handle the job?

I would like someone to explain to me how these agencies can claim to serve all languages.  If they really and truly CAN provide high quality translations in and out of all those languages, I will stand in awe of them.  If they can't--but still say they can--let's expose them.


2 Comments/Trackbacks




Any credible agency will be willing to release CVs or other qualification materials for any translator, editor or QA specialist that is involved in any translation project for any language pair.

Dr. Lingo

I agree absolutely with Dr Lingo - and companies should offer the added value of checking all translators out thoroughly, having every translation checked by a second qualified professional, and providing any other services that will make the client's life easier.
Nowadays thanks to the Internet it's relatively easy for translation companies to build up a large bank of qualified translators, even in the 'long tail' languages.

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