hey all,

i am currently looking for some translation work to be done but i was not sure if i should go about it hiring a translator or working with a translation service. what's better? more efficient? more accurate? would like more feedback. any help??

Hi,
this very much depends on your needs. If you need to translate from one or two languages with reasonable volumes (not more than 3,000 words/day), hiring a translator is probably a good choice.
If, however, you need translations from/into several languages, it will probably more reasonable to assign the jobs to a translation agency: you will pay more, but you will be communicating with one single project manager instead of twelve different translators, thus saving your time. And time is money.

There are basically two types of translation agencies:
1. Agencies that will accept the job from you, forward it to the translator, collect the translation and your money. That's it. These are agencies I call "postman agencies" because all they do is forwarding files.
2. Agencies that will spend some time on careful project preparation and QA checks of the finished job, have the translation proofread by an independent professional etc. Such agencies have, of course, higher rates, but deliver high-quality work.

BEWARE of type #1 and don't get too price-oriented.