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Being allergic to grapes, I am far from a connoisseur of wine despite my
French mother. Still, from time to time, I have to go to the store and choose
an appropriate bottle of wine to bring as a gift or use in a boeuf bourguignon.
As a non-expert, I look at the labels, the bottles and the price and make an
uneducated guess which is ordinary vin de table and which is a
distinguished vintage. Likewise, purchasers of translation and similar services
must look for clues to somehow distinguish the risky providers from the ones
they can trust. These service providers can learn much from the wineries in how
to market their products and attain higher prices. Specifically, it is
important to understand the similarities in market niching, messaging, framing
and pricing.
It is clear that some people are neither interested in nor can
distinguish a fine wine. Thus, they are not willing to pay more for a better
product and are quite satisfied with a cheap fermented-grape liquid, a bit like
Google Translate. On the other hand, for reasons of pride, need or personal
taste, other wine buyers seek the extraordinary and pay a premium for it
without hesitation on condition that they receive value of course. Likewise,
with machine translation of various types readily available and often able to
produce understandable texts, many translation purchasers do not require more
than a satisfactory rendition of the text and view low cost as an essential
factor. On the other hand, in some fields, particularly medicine, law and
marketing, accuracy and seamlessness are vital for the success of these
materials. These customers seek expert translators to provide local versions of
the text with the knowledge that the benefits of a solid translation far outweigh
any cost. As one expert said at a conference, there are two ways to make money
as a translator: work quickly or specialize. Wineries and translators must
choose a path.
Faced with a wall of similar sized bottles, I depend on the labels to
provide me some clues to the quality of the wine. If I see a wine that claims
“made from the finest grapes”, my initial question is whether there are wines
made from the poorest grapes. On the other hand, “Graced the tables of Louis
XIV, Napoleon and George Pompidou” or “Grand Cru ”indicate the vintners have a
strong idea of what they are doing. In short, it is important to build trust in
a few words. Translators also must express their uniqueness in a few words to
build trust. “15 years’ experience”, “Certified Translator by X” and “20 years
of professional background in Z”, to name a few, indicate that this person is
superior to others. By contrast, “expert translator and “reliable editor”
merely state the minimum requirements. So, extraordinary wines and translators
must define themselves and express their distinctions to the buyer.
Seemingly minor, the form of the text on the bottle creates an
impression. Like clothes, design elements such as font, pictures and aesthetics
create an overall impression. Simply put, a cheap label indicates a cheap wine
while a fancy label hints at a fancy wine. For translators, since many
translation purchasers cannot distinguish proper translation from poor
translation, they notice obvious visual elements. Therefore, translators need
to make sure that the formatting is neat and identical to the original (or at
least as identical as relevant). Obviously, translators must make every effort
to avoid spelling errors. In particular, errors in spelling names can often
upset customers. It is important to relate and explain any non-translated item,
include charts and screenshots. As in wine labels, a classy look indicates a
quality product.
Statistically in wine and translation, there is no correlation between
price and quality. Some table wines are quite good while some expensive wines
do not justify their price. Still, faced with two bottles with red liquid from
the same grapes, I look at the price and assume, from lack of contrary information, that the
more expensive one is better. So, if I want to bring a more impressive gift, I
choose the more expensive option. Likewise, when customers that require a
quality product receive varying price options, they assume that the translators
with the lowest ones are less capable of providing that quality. In short,
higher prices not only create more income per product but also may increase
volume just like with wine.
Translators and providers of similar services need to focus their
market, communicate with that niche, arrange the package elegantly and price it
to complete that image. Lehaim, salut and nazdorovie to all.
*Picture caption help the blind full access the Internet.
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