If you ever use a traditional translation company, you know how slow the translation is. You place an order and can't get the translation until a few days or even weeks later, depending on the content, nature and volume. Why can't we get translations quickly?

Translation is just slow. Translation work is detail oriented and labor intensive. The faster a translator works the more mistakes s/he makes. It's a rule that holds for all translators, regardless of their knowledge, skills and capabilities. To ensure an acceptable quality level, translators have to control the speed. The daily maximum of words a translator can put out usually ranges from 1,000 to 2,500 words, depending on the languages, nature of source, and quality requirements.

Collaboration is difficult. For translation projects of millions of words, assigning multiple translators to work on different parts of the source at the same time may speed it up. However, doing so brings inconsistency and requires additional editing. Also, a translator cannot start editing a section until all of its source text has been translated. For small jobs it is even more difficult to assign multiple translators and get translating, editing, and proofreading tasks done by different people in an efficient manner. It requires much more time in planning, communicating and coordinating who will do what and when. Collaborative translation for a turnaround shorter than 3 days is virtually impossible without advanced translation technology.

The business process is inefficient. Last but not least - translation companies have to allocate a large amount of time for non-productive business processes such as contacting the translators, negotiating delivery terms, processing files, orders, invoices, and payment. If you give the translation company three days, the time left for translators might be less than one day.

Disappointing, right? So here is the next tip.