What Do Translation Clients Buy?

What do consumers of translation (written text) services really buy in the estimated $40 billion plus language services market? They buy the professional language judgment of the linguists assigned to their projects. That’s one answer.

The linguistic judgment of the assigned translator might differ from that of the purchasing client, others within the client’s organization, and even translators that work for other language companies. Virtually no two people will see language the exact same way word-for-word since there are almost always multiple ways to express equivalent meaning.


Translation clients buy the professional judgment of the linguists assigned to their projects.


Some of the reasons why translation clients elect to buy the judgment of professional linguists include:

  1. Reducing organization internal bias in communications
  2. Achieving higher overall quality of communications
  3. Saving time of internal personnel for other tasks
  4. Receiving the benefit of an additional opinion on issues involving language
  5. Speeding time-to-completion for a specific language task or project
  6. Satisfying a requirement for translation certification (adherence to defined process)
  7. Preserving impartiality and objectivity in the use of language

Not all clients seeks every advantage listed above. Clients we work with are encouraged to communicate their objectives for the projects we perform for them. Knowing what’s important to a client allows us to better customize our services to more specifically meet their needs and expectations.


translation services consumers