Is translation a commodity? We’ve heard from LSPs about print shops providing free translation in order to get a big printing job. We’ve also wrote in the September 2005 issue of Multilingual Computing that we expect to see service providers turn invoices upside down, listing "the piddling translation and desktop publishing fees at the bottom with little or no mark-up, right above the FedEx and DHL courier charges" — but below the critical project management and business process charges.

Mustang now offers its clients convenient one-stop-shopping for a variety of cleaning goods and services, language included. By listing translation along with the cleaning supplies, the company takes one more step in this direction of turning language services into a commodity. But it’s not quite the end of the world as we know it. The company outsources its translation work to website builder SD2001, which uses SYSTRAN for automated translation. Mustang cautions buyers that its automated translation will not provide ne plus ultra output.

Rather than emphasizing translation quality, Mustang pushes the timeliness button. Its announcement notes that the company will even translate manuals in a couple of hours for a new Portuguese member of cleaning staff. We wouldn’t be surprised if Mustang actually got more substantive jobs from its existing client base — which is almost certainly not composed of sophisticated translation buyers — seeking a service they probably had never thought about.

The bottom line: Common Sense Advisory has described the translation-to-toilet-paper ratio in its research and presentations, noting that some companies spend more buying toilet paper than they budget for translation. Now they can buy both in the same place!