Why don’t you invest into Google translate-free quality translations?

My experience with translations is this: Working from Croatia, I tend to see clients being very mean with their money. What do I mean by this? (note how the word “mean” has different MEANings)

They simply go for the cheapest option when they have something to translate.

It’s very similar with public tenders too. Institutions which place these tenders offer the execution of projects to those bidders who can perform the task at the lowest cost (if there’s no nepotism behind that). What if they would start evaluating suggestions and biddings from another aspect, not strictly from the point of expenses?

And I can talk about this trend even from my viewpoint.

Clients want the cheapest option. They don’t question who’s the provider and how he works. They don’t entertain any doubt.

Price is the ultimate factor which makes them decide.

Can we as translator make clients decide upon other terms?

Unlikely, but we can try. Each of us individually and maybe with time clients will acquire a different perspective. They may consider other parameters too. Only when looking at all of them and weighing them against each other, they may come to the realisation, that price is not the best indicator for quality.

They may burn their fingers by employing a translator who does a sloppy work - running the text through Google translator, giving such a text to proofreaders or even not doing anything with it, just giving it forwards as it is, Google-translated to the client.

When the client publishes it and then sees from repercussion of the publishing that the work hadn’t been done right, he may then want to demand a refund. What will happen next? The translator or agency could turn silent and evade the confrontation. What kind of damage was made to the client? Can it be corrected?

I know from my own clients that they are pretty reluctant to just put the text into my hands. They need more reassurance, and price is still key. I need to educate them further. Each project is a struggle between price and deadline. This is where you might get a more decent price. If you make an offer based on deadlines.

But that’s not what I wanted to point out with this post.

I meant to highlight this very wrong trend, not just wrong, but a damaging trend to make use of Google translate and just sit back without doing anything to check the accuracy of the so created translation.

The Australian government, an official body, highly acclaimed (must be, because the country itself has a good status, a good economic and social standing) used precisely that, what it should have evaded at all price.

The shorter, the cheaper, the most unprofessional way- Google translate. Shame on you!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-19/government-used-google-translate-for-nonsensical-covid-19-tweet/12897200

"This is incredibly embarrassing and it's worse than that, because we know a public health response that's successful requires every community member to be able to access appropriate advice, and everyone in Australia knows we shouldn't be relying on Google Translate to translate important public health information.

"It beggars belief the Department of Home Affairs would rely on this instead of appropriate translations."

And what now?

What course will they take? What course will clients take? The cheapest is not the best.