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The Price of Translation
 
Keywords
translation, pricing, localization, globalization, services, buyers, vendors

Abstract

The business of translation presents an intriguing irony. It is performed by highly skilled humans who must possess linguistic and subject matter competence as well as a nuanced feel for recreating the tone of the source text without sacrificing accuracy. However, many buyers and even some providers view translation as a commodity – and thus introduce commodity pricing pressure into any discussion.

Unlike true commodities, buyers quickly come to realize that there is little transparency in translation pricing. Some 5,000 vendors across the globe offer translation services, ranging from mom-and-pop operations to enterprises with more than 4,000 employees. Once they get past their basic concerns about language and subject matter expertise, buyers want to know how and where to get the best deal or the highest value (see "Localization Vendor Management," February 2008). Suppliers want to find out whether their price is competitive against a nearly unlimited number of mostly unknown rivals.

Benefits
In General:  This report presents information that should help both globalization service buyers (GSBs) and language service providers (LSPs):
I. Vox LSPorum. This "voice of the LSPs" section presents the results of translation pricing research that we conducted from August through November 2007. It begins with a description of our online survey, its methodology, and the demographics of the 292 LSP respondents.
II. Translation Pricing FAQs. This section answers the most frequently asked questions about buying language services. As such, these FAQs should prove useful to anyone purchasing translation or related language services. LSPs can put themselves on the other side of the question.
III. Pricing Data. This section presents pricing data by language plus details about the market reach and e-GDP (online GDP) of those languages. This information will help procurement staff and others who develop metrics for globalization ROI.
For Buyers:  Buyers of translation services can use it as a guide to understand market dynamics, calculate the price ranges for different languages, and determine what different price points mean in terms of service levels. Companies with highly evolved purchasing departments and professional sourcers can use it to validate their research into their suppliers’ economics and negotiate good but fair deals.
For Suppliers:  LSPs will profit from this report by having empirical data on pricing, identifying their own position in the price continuum, and thus respond better to prospects’ RFPs. They can use this information to retreat from price wars and work toward formulating a more compelling value proposition, relying less on price to distinguish their offerings and more on actual service or product differentiation.

Physical Details
Authors: Donald A. DePalma, Benjamin B. Sargent, Thomas Bassetti, and Renato S. Beninatto
Date: 28 April 2008
ISBN: 978-1-933555-51-5
Pages: 104

Table of Contents
  • Topic
    • Research Methodology and Preview
    • How We Researched this Report
  • Vox LSPorum
    • Research Methodology and Respondent Demographics
    • Geographic Distribution: Europeans Dominated this Sample
    • Most Responding LSPs Employed Fewer than Five People
    • "Reporting Currency: Euros, Pounds or Some Type of Dollar"
    • Suppliers Distinguish between International and Domestic Buyers
    • Services for Which Translation Buyers Should Expect to Pay
    • Suppliers Continue to Charge Primarily by Word
    • Source or Target Language Can Decide the Pricing Formula
    • Translation Memory Leverage Saves Money for Clients
    • Prices by Language ? How Much Does Translation Cost?
    • Conclusions from Our Worldwide Survey of Translation Pricing
  • FAQs
    • Translation Pricing: The Basics
    • Is Translation a Commodity?
    • "Are Prices Going Up, Down, or Staying the Same?"
    • Do Prices Vary by Language or Geography?
    • Does High Price Guarantee High Quality?
    • Translation Pricing: Common Practices
    • What Exactly Does Translation Pricing Include?
    • Is Editing Part of Translation?
    • Do Low Price-Per-Word Vendors Recoup Their Profit In Extra Charges?
    • What Strategies Are Most Effective for Lowering Prices?
    • What Effect Does Technology Have on Translation Pricing?
    • How Does Re-use Affect Pricing?
    • Is Machine Translation an Alternative to Human Translation?
    • Can Better Source Authoring Affect Translation Pricing?
    • Translation Pricing: Supply-Side Business Models
    • Does LSP Size Affect Translation Pricing?
    • Do Freelancers Offer Better Prices than LSPs?
    • When Does It Make Sense to Centralize Translation Purchasing?
    • Do Auctions Make Sense?
    • How Do ?Value-Added? Factors Affect Price Comparison?
    • When Should Translation Be Done In-House?
    • Will ?Community Translation? Lower Translation Costs?
    • Translation Pricing: External Factors
    • What Effect Does Currency Have on Translation Pricing?
    • What Relationship Does Translation Have with Growing a Global Business?
    • Why Does English Remain a Dominant Language?
    • "All Things Considered, Is Translation an Expensive Proposition?"
  • Pricing Data
    • Guide to Language Pricing Data
    • Market Value Data for Each Language
    • Pricing Data for Each Language: How to Interpret the Graphs
    • African Languages
    • Arabic
    • Bulgarian
    • Chinese Simplified
    • Chinese Traditional
    • Croatian
    • Czech
    • Danish
    • Dutch
    • Estonian
    • Finnish
    • French for Canada
    • French for France
    • German
    • Greek
    • Hebrew
    • Hungarian
    • Icelandic
    • Indian Languages
    • Italian
    • Japanese
    • Korean
    • Latvian
    • Lithuanian
    • Norwegian
    • Polish
    • Portuguese for Brazil
    • Portuguese for Portugal
    • Romanian
    • Russian
    • Serbian
    • Slovak
    • Slovenian
    • Spanish for Latin America
    • Spanish for Spain
    • Swedish
    • Ukrainian