In our sector, a translator’s availability is highly valued: a key factor that is taken into account by any translation agency when organizing their work.
The translator’s responsiveness …
In our sector, a translator’s availability is highly valued: it is without a doubt a key factor that is taken into account by any translation agency when organizing their work. A good number of translation projects are urgent or to be done over the course of a weekend. Having responsive and quality service providers makes the project manager’s job easier.
Move you feet, lose your seat
For translators, it is certainly not pleasant to be contacted via Skype, on their phone or by mass emails, but for translation agencies, it is not always easy to find an available professional for a translation project. Even with databases of several hundred translators, project managers spend a significant portion of their time assigning their projects to the right translators. For example, for a 500 word financial translation to be translated into 7 languages, there are 14 providers (one translator and one proofreader in each language pair). The project manager must therefore minimize, as much as possible, the time needed to find service providers, otherwise the profitability of the project suffers (as well as its health…).
… and the translation agency
So, although applying the proverb in question to the translator’s situation is probably excessive, it is clear that a project manager will be more likely to contact a translator who is often available rather than another who constantly refuses projects. Take comfort in the fact that the translation agency suffers exactly the same fate from the client…
Is shared misfortune easier to bear?
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