Professional Japanese Translation: The Jack of All Trades but Not Quality
Language pairs refer to the source (i.e., English) language and target (i.e., Japanese) language in translation.
It goes without saying that the greater the number of language pairs (i.e., Japanese to English, English Japanese) in a translation company’s portfolio, the greater market share they can command. In the crowded space that is the translation industry, this is a sure-fire growth strategy. After all, there are over 6,000 languages in the world still not extinct requiring translation – That’s quite a market!
Astounding Claims
However, in an attempt to expand market share, some translation companies claim expertise in hundreds, thousands and even tens of thousands of language pairs. Seriously. One company even
Famously claims expertise in 36,000 language pairs!
That’s very impressive -- So why should you be concerned about these astounding claims, even if they are true?
The Pitfalls of Quantity Over Quality
Well, because it’s a case of “Jack of all trades, master of none”!
Think about it, with the Full-cycle Translation Method (TEP - translation, editing, proofing) that is the hallmark of professional Japanese translation requiring at a minimum 3 different experienced and professional Japanese translators, it makes for an awfully large pool of language professionals. In fact, it would make for one of the largest companies (36,000 x 3) in the world! Simply put,
It defies belief…
TEP – Built in Quality Control
Why does Full-cycle Translation (TEP) require 3 different language professionals at an absolute minimum? The reason why is because it introduces a series of checks and balances into the translation equation that
Ensures the best Japanese translation quality possible.
Without Full-cycle Translation (TEP) translators are forced to pull double duty. That is, when, for example, a translator proof-checks their own work you have a “fox guarding the chicken coop” kind of scenario. Thus, when considered from the quality oriented TEP Method, that figure (108,000) really is…quite a stretch of the imagination.
Focused to Master Translation Quality
If you’re looking for quality of translation products and services, then go with a Japanese translation company that focuses its resources. At SAECULII Y.K. (Japan, Tokyo), our professional translation service focuses on English-to-Japanese translation and Japanese English translation, exclusively.
That is, we believe in doing a few things exceptionally well – MASTER OF TWO
