What Guided Our Gengo Review?
The latest translation service we are reviewing is Gengo. As with our other reviews, we take a series of steps that allows us to be as accurate and thorough as possible. One thing that we do is research the firm as deeply as possible. It appears as if rather than hiring or contractor individual translators, gengo translation uses a crowdsourcing model. In spite of the fact that the reviews we read skewed very much negative, we were curious. We placed an order to have some business documents translated. We should note that there are no formal completes lodged against this company on the BBB.
What Services Does Gengo Offer?
We were a bit taken aback at the service limitations here. We are not sure if the crowdsource model impacts this, or if this is a deliberate decision to limit services offered. While many services offer video translations, subtitling, game localization services, audio translations, etc. We only found translation services available.
Although the services are limited, we did find that they have translators working in a variety of industries. These include engineering, education, web design, ecommerce, software and app localization services, etc. In our case, we had some employee profiles to translate from English into French.
Speaking of limitations, when we placed our order, we were able to select English as the root language. Then we had the option of selecting many target languages. However, we tried selecting a language other than English for the root language, and were only able to select English as the target language. Ultimately, the language options are fairly limited overall.
Learning About Gengo Prices & Features
Because ours was a business translation, we were charged 12 cents for each word. When we compare that to other translation services, that cost is somewhat higher than average. However, if the quality is of the translation is decent, that’s hardly an exorbitant price. Add-ons are available. However, because pricing on them is not clear and upfront we decided to take a pass.
Do They Provide Expected Quality?
Unfortunately, there were several errors in the employee profiles we had translated. Things such as position, experience, degrees held, and other information were widely misinterpreted. Many others who have used and reviewed this translation company made note that it appears that the crowdsourcing model is simply being used so poorly with little quality assurance or screening of translators. In this case, the poor translation would mean additional work and frustration.
Now, consider the potential impact of a translation that is done poorly for something like medication instructions, manufacturing specifications, or a safety manual. That could prove absolutely disastrous. We were very grateful that our translation was for informational and review purposes only.
Pros & Cons of Dealing With Gengo
We have compiled a quick and easy to consume list of pros and cons for our audience to consider.
Pros:
- Prices Are Provided Upfront
- Easy to Place an Order
- Friendly Customer Service
- Well Designed Website
Cons:
- Limited Languages
- Minimal Services Offered
- Very Low Quality Translations
- Pricing is Too High
Summing Things Up
Ultimately, Gengo translation is not one of the best translation companies we can recommend. To begin, their prices are simply too high. In addition to this, the crowd source model clearly leads to unpredictable results and quality issues. This seems to be an experiment gone bad. Please consider one of the other translation services reviews Translation Report has to offer you.
