How Do We Evaluate Services?
The following is our Absolute Translations review. We are writing this review at the request of several of our readers who have come across this service in their search for the best translation services. In order to properly conduct an investigation and write a thorough review, we took several steps. These included placing an order for services, interacting with our translator, speaking with customer service, and reviewing the translated document for accuracy. We also researched the service online looking for reviews, news, and customer complaints.
Services Provided by Absolute Translations
We quickly noted that Absolute Translations offers a fairly meaty selection of translation and related services. These include, of course, translations for business, immigration, medicine, and even SDS translation services. They also offer interpreting services, audio transcriptions, voice over services, video subtitles, proofreading, and multilingual desktop publishing. We were impressed by this as well as the number of languages offered: Chinese, Latin translation, Russian, Vietnamese translations, Arabic to English translation services.
To evaluate the translation services best, we opted to have a 6000+ word document translated from Mandarin Chinese into English. The document was an explanation of benefits document. We enlisted the help of an independent translator to evaluate the document for accuracy.
Estimating The Prices and Additional Options
Before we placed our order, we requested a price quote. Getting the quote was quite simple. We provided information on the number of words, and languages. The company then provided us with several figures. The differences in prices were due to the various add-ons and other services that could be included. Ultimately we selected the basic translation service. Our total was around $850, but that was before VAT was applied. This rounds out to about 13 cents per word. We find this to be within the average rate charged by translation firms.
Analysis of Translation Quality
The first version of the translation we received was severely truncated. We were able to discern this because we knew the content of the first several and last several pages. We contacted the company to inquire about the missing pages. Unfortunately it took several phone calls and emails to get anyone to acknowledge that they had indeed failed to send us a complete translation.
Once we did get them to realize there were missing pages, it took another full day to receive them. This meant that a three day translation took nearly five. Unfortunately, there were still issues with the translation having several errors.
Learn About Pros and Cons
Here is a quick list of pros and cons for anyone considering hiring this translation service.
Pros:
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Well Designed Website
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Accurate Up Front Price Quotes
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Easy to Place an Order
Cons:
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Customer Service Issues
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Key Translation Errors
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Late Delivery of a Completed Document
The Ultimate Thoughts
While there were some promising aspects to this translation service, ultimate goal of Translation Report is to ensure people receive quality translations, and good customer service. When we consider the errors in our translated document as well as the disorganized albeit well-intentioned customer service, we simply cannot give our endorsement. This is an industry where organization, professionalism, and accuracy can never be compromised. It goes to show that even larger translation providers can fall short of providing paying customers what they need.
