Express translations with quality guarantee

If a product is to be created in significantly less time than usual, this cannot be done without certain compromises. This happens in all industries and for all types of products and services. For translations, express translation means that there is less time for research, for translation or for quality assurance. Nevertheless, on the one hand, there are means (tools, organization, methods) to ensure the necessary quality assurance, and on the other hand, there are minimum standards that we do not want to fall below. In a few special cases, a waiver of quality control can be explicitly agreed upon with the option to submit a checked version later. This must always be transparent. It should also only be done if you are aware of the risks involved.

As a rule, express translations are more expensive than “normal” translations. Express translation can be about 20-30% more expensive, depending on how tight the deadline is and its impact on the project organization. Factors that make translation more expensive include the need to select a translator who charges higher fees, or the greater coordination effort (team of 2 or 3 translators per language), or even the need to work longer or on weekends.

However, there are some circumstances in which express translation can actually be cheaper. This happens when the project can be machine translated, whereas it would normally be done by a human translator. Since individual factors affect the price, there is no blanket answer to the above question. Of course, the goal is always to combine deadline and cost as favorably as possible.

There is, of course, a whole range of possible situations. First of all, the classic case where, for whatever reason, the preparation of a translation has been forgotten and urgently needs to be made up.

The most common type of rush translation occurs in very complex customer projects whose progress depends on many tasks, including translation. This is the case, for example, in agile software development. Software strings need to be translated into software in multiple languages at shorter intervals.

Another common type of express translation is when companies participate in large tenders. They need every minute to work on their bid. They cannot afford to waste a lot of time on translations.

There are many other situations where express translation may be needed, but these are some of the most common. Express translations are available for small texts that need to be translated into one language, or for larger documents that need to be translated into many languages.