We have been doing a lot of research to find out how Babelbee can be made most useful. We had conversations with translators, translation companies and corporate clients who regularly need translations. In the coming weeks we will share with you some of the results.
Today I’ll start with the number one concern that (free-lance) translators have: “not getting paid”.
Sounds familiar? Not surprised? Well, personally I find it astonishing. Translations are not all that different from other services. Yet we did not hear the same complaints from graphic designers, programmers or other free-lancers. We heard many horror stories about clients that would pay late or not at all. Some companies were out to con translators by repeatedly asking them to do “tests” and asking them to translate a page or two, after which (unpaid) test they would of course never hear from the company again.Naturally some translators have become wary and will work only with well-know, reputable translation agencies. That way they take less risk, but at the same time they are probably missing out on a large number of very decent clients – if only they knew they could trust them….
So we know that one of the main things we want to address in Babelbee is getting payment sorted out in a fair way. Fees should be clearly defined at the outset. Translators should have a guarantee to be paid. On the other hand, Clients should have a full money-back guarantee if their translation is not delivered as promised. We know that if we can tackle this, we are already providing free-lancer translators with a luxury they have ever had.
Ciao for now. More next time.