I find that more and more clients decide to get translation on the spur of the moment, often within a fixed, usually low budget. It’s difficult to educate them on the virtues of professional work, when they have a dollar sign blinking in their minds at the same time.

As you say, education is the key word, here as in many other fields. Those two cases were extremes and happened within 30 minutes of each other, but they are also representative of what happens in our world of fast communications and quick transactions.

That’s why I called it Client Confusion. In a world where translation has become a commodity, who could blame them?

Advising clients is part of our job, and sometimes that includes client education. Not all are savvy buyers of translation services, and most are very receptive to useful information.

Having those types of exchanges is a win-win situation, even when one does not land the job on the first go.

Have fun!

Patricia