Translation Crowdsourcing is Good for Business

Many articles have been studied about crowdsourcing for translation companies and there are a number of reasons why crowdsourcing takes place.  Most benefits are due to factors that can be found in all types of translation work. 

The cost of translation is important to translation companies but it does not always figure as the most important reason for crowd sourcing. It is hard to understand why this is the case especially when companies like Facebook has got its site  translated into 70 languages using no less than 100,000 words in each. With a price tag of around 10 cents a word this could attract a bill of around $US 7 million. 

Adam Wooten from Globalization Group Inc. states that crowd sourcing costs maybe more than more traditional professional German translations. Perhaps the reason that saving costs are not seen as important is the difficulty persuading users to do translations for free just to increase company profits. It is not surprising that professional translators sometimes do not favour translation crowdsourcing for for-profit companies.

The speed of translation speed is usually regarded as the key reason for crowdsourcing for translation. A good example is the translation of Face book into French. When 4,000 users of Facebook translated the complete site into French in a 24 hour period it could most likely have won the prize for the quickest translation ever. That speed of translation would be just about impossible to achieve with translation organised in a traditional way.  When Facebook overtook MySpace it occurred because of the international user base.

Translation crowdsourcing means a single user base can translate into many languages with a minimum of organisation.

Some people think that the user base produce far better quality English German translation than traditional translators as they have a better understanding of the subject. It is quite safe to assume that crowdsourcing quality is more than adequate. 

Facebook says 300,000 users have completed translations and with more than 500,000,000 users that is 6 in about 10,000 users. 

In summary speed is of the greatest importance to translation crowdsourcing and quality seems to be good too if Facebook and Twitter are used as examples. About quality there are differing views but we can say for certain that at least Facebook and Twitter have achieved good quality translations to draw their supporters.

How Translation Improves The Economy

There are a number of factors that contribute towards economic growth in a country. An important factor is the number of industries that are manufacturing products that are of high quality and are similarly offering high quality services as well. A developed economy is in a unique position that allows the promotion of industries and services which in turn allows the industries to grow at a faster rate than in a less developed economy.  Both economic development and industrial development depend on each other to be successful.

The German English translation industry, in particular in the areas of technical and business translations has undergone considerable expansion in recent years. Reaching out to new markets overseas necessitates translating product information and advertising material from English to a German translation so as to capture the German speaking market.

German translators in countries where every day a new business venture is initiated can  take this opportunity by marketing their translation services. This means getting product information translated so that industries compete favourably with their competitors who have forgotten how important translations are when marketing products to as many people as possible.

The importance of translation apps to the world economy

Not only is translation in itself important but all the computer applications that go with it; Translators can build up all sorts of glossaries and resources as they go about different translations through the use of computer applications. Many translators even use machine translators to help them start the translation process. This machine translation software has been developed by translators themselves enabling them to create their own industry and income earning ability.

Furthermore, the translation industry has helped in the developing of other related industries such as proofreaders, graphic artists, text formatters, administrative personnel and even project t managers.  All these professionals can be outsourced from all corners of the globe and don’t even have to be visually present in an office to perform a translation task. Personnel in this burgeoning translation industry are part of what is forecasted to be by 2018 an industry worth $37 billion globally if all the salaries of the various professionals are added together. This indication shows the importance that industries are placing on localising their products to tap into the world market.