BeTranslated Translation Service Overview Test
BeTranslated has been founded back in 2002. The reviews on it are surprisingly scarce in comparison to those about other firms that have been functioning for the same lengthy period. One of the main peculiarities of this company is that it works for businesses, not individuals. So if you have a personal task and want to find someone who’ll help, BeTranslated isn’t the option for you. To complete an unbiased review of BeTranslated, we have presented ourselves as a company that needs to translate a 10-page business document. Our request for a smaller project has been ignored, so we had to enhance the requirements. We tested BeTranslated’s support system, its website, range of services, pricing, as well as the quality of its work in general.
What Services Can You Benefit From?
This translation company seems to cover about 40 languages, but in its FAQ section, it states that it works with only six, with exceptions being made solely for regular customers. We found this both confusing and misleading because if someone wants urgent help, they are going to have to spend lots of time clarifying everything. If you require something less common than English or German like certified Indonesian translation services, chances are, you won’t find it here. BeTranslated also doesn’t have sworn translators who hold relevant certifications, which diminishes the number of services it could provide. As for the industries, it focuses on marketing, technical, IT, and business translations. Among the listed services, text, as well as the audio-visual translation, was the only thing we could find. There was no additional information about localization, subtitles, interpretation, etc. provided.
Discovering the Pricing Model
BeTranslated’s website isn’t as clear as we’d like it to be, but it does offer info about standard rates for translation services. They start at $0.11 for one word, which is pricey and places the firm in the top layer regarding expensiveness. The problem is, to calculate what your document is going to be worth, you must request a free quote online. As BeTranslated claims, their response time is swift, but then they indicate it’s going to take them hours to get back to you, sometimes as many as 8. It’s too much, especially for urgent situations when you require assistance ASAP. In comparison, the best firms are known to respond within 10 minutes.
Can They Deliver Quality Translations?
After all the fuss and complexities, we expected the quality of our file to be vastly superior to that provided by other firms. But to our surprise and disappointment, it was mediocre. While it wasn’t machine translation and a human touch was obvious, the work itself was far from being professional. Many sentences were awkward and short, and some meanings were twisted to the point where our initial message was lost. The document started out well, but after the first page, the problems began. By the end of it, it felt like our translator was tired and attempted to finish work as soon as possible.
Evaluating Pros and Cons
BeTranslated has a narrow specialization, which can be seen as an advantage. Its approximate prices are disclosed online, just as the languages it works with. It has been working long enough to acquire solid experience. But the drawbacks are far more significant.
The site is confusing. It presents several contradictory facts about the same topic, like about the number of languages it supports.
Response time for a free quote is too long.
Prices are high.
Quality is insufficient.
Our Final Thoughts
BeTranslated strives to focus on companies and business organizations, specializing only in several languages. Potentially, this could make it the best option for some groups, but its lack of focus and unprofessional attitude to work ruined these chances. As you see from our BeTranslated review, we can’t recommend this firm as the best translation agency unless it decides to change its approach and rework its existing policies. Narrow specialization makes sense only as long as the quality is superior, and this isn’t something we can say about BeTranslated. It might have succeeded in the past, but now, the level of its operations has fallen. Because of this, we can give it only two stars.
