Well, taking medical interpreting as an example, it’s only fun until someone screws up. Then it’s deadly. Would you want your mother to be communicating a health-related issue through someone being paid less than the guy who sweeps the floor? That is already going on.

This is a prettier idea, though, since it doesn’t seem like a reverse auction, but it really is. Get ready for a swarm of people from overseas who “speak very good Japan language”, as one submission I received from a “professional translator” once proclaimed.

I smell a monolingual running things.

Interpreting is a very difficult skill to acquire and master. You need to be very accurate in translating the idea not the words immediately.

There are other options available that are more affordable yet not Walmart interpreting.

Professional Translation Service

This services already exists (except interpretting - maybe chances to work together Chas?) at http://www.livetranslation.com

Launched in 2005, we offer two service levels - Translation Only and Translation with Proofread (by a second translator).

We manage the quality procedures internally and can therefore offer a quality guarantee. I managed the online business for one of the top 3 translation vendors were quality was taken very seriously and I have tried to bring this to our business.

Pricing - From $1.99 for non-proofread and $14.99 for proofread. Why so cheap? No bidding, no quotes just accept the job or don’t. Most of our translators are working on larger projects for international companies and find our jobs actually help them stay focused mentally by providing a welcome break that also pays!

Our Translators - all hold a degree, all have at least one years experience and all are native speakers.

We welcome Chas and the Lingtastic team into this niche as the more people become aware of these services, the better for everyone.

Oh, and did I mention we have API’s available for integrating into Email, CMS, SMS and any other system that requires an integrated translation service.

LiveTranslation - Powered by People

While it doesn’t appear that you’ve put enough thought into the business model itself, I admire your innovative thinking. I would encourage you to review your site again for grammatical or spelling errors since it will discourage someone from using your service if they anticipate the same results. I might also suggest catering your message more to the professional community rather than it sounding like a FaceBook chat. While I appreciate the “casual” tone of your message I’m not sure that it conveys properly to your target audience (i.e. those who have the resources to support your business).

My sincere best to you and your venture.

I’d put my money on the first company to figure out automatic CONTEXTUAL translation. I know Google’s been looking into it for some time but I have no idea where they are on that.

Once a computer is trained to translate documents based on context rather than by-word then we won’t need these ancient services from people called “translators”. They’ll function just like calculators.

http://www.jhatak.com/Buckler/BucklerHomePage.htm

As an avid reader of TC it is strange to now read the comments about a company that I am so deeply involved with and I would like to address some of the thoughts and issues some of you raised.

With regard to the coffee choking startup founder, good luck. This is the future of translation so we knew there would be others developing similar ideas.

The translation market (both interpreter and translation) is worth over $10 billion and growing. The goal of Lingtastic is to dominate every aspect of the interpreter business and a large section of the text translation business. The translation of books, legal documents, in fact any document of length is not part of our focus.

This service was born out of frustration. Some of us just do not have a skill for learning languages. For those of you that have travelled or intend to travel abroad extensively without local language skills, having a friend or a local with you that can translate for you is wonderful and removes much frustration from travel and business activities. Yet to hire an interpreter on the phone is prohibitively expensive. But hiring a local who can speak both languages competently enough for you to do what you need to do is extremely cheap. This service is meant to bridge that gap.

I will deal with interpreters and text translation separately as the market, delivery method, and quality issues are extremely different.

Interpreters are available on the phone anywhere from $90 an hour to $300+ (no joke) an hour! Yet even the most professional interpreters receive only a small fraction of this amount. Many Spanish/English interpreters work out of call centers in Argentina, The Dominican republic etc and are paid in the region of $8-15 per hour. Some are US based and are paid a lot more but they are the exception, not the norm. However they are still paid far less than the amount charged to the customers. We are trying to remove the EXPENSIVE middle man and provide these same services via many other mediums such as VOIP applications where there is little or no cost for the connection.

The level of skill, quality, and trust with language interpretation is most definitely an important issue and concern. Lingtastic gives the customer the opportunity to chose the skill level or quality of their transaction. Our selection will include professional translators with degrees and years of experience. They, being more skilled, will obviously charge more for their services. We will also have people who grew up bilingual, have great internet connections, and can live in their location happily on $8 an hour. You will choose what you need. I know if all I need is someone to help me talk to a shop assistant to buy some goods in a foreign language I do not need a master interpreter specializing in medical terminology; nor am I willing to pay such an extravagant amount for something so simple.

We will vet our interpreters and assign them a skill level based on their experience and abilities while attempting to err on the side of caution. Quality is of extreme concern to us but so is the customers opportunity to choose the level of ability and hence the price. As to the question of “where are we going to find the translators?”, without any significant effort on our part we have over 250 qualified applicants for the Spanish beta, far more than we actually need.

To ensure customer satisfaction the interpreters will be restricted to translating into their native language only. In addition the customer will be given a short period of time at the beginning of each call to judge for themselves free of cost whether or not this specific interpreter meets their needs.

Text translation is a far different issue and one where the challenges are more exciting. A text translator must have command not only of the spoken language but grammar and spelling skills as well. Lingtastic will have strict minimum skill restriction with regard to text translation so that a satisfactory translation is always obtained. Lingtastic will also restrict our translation to blocks of text such as emails and SMS messages only. We are committed to having translators from varied regions and differing dialects. All translation will be done anonymously yet you will be given the chance to give feedback as to the quality of the transaction.

The phrase “compete for work” used in the article above may give the impression of an auction. That is not how the system works. Interpreters and translators establish for themselves what they want to be paid for work. We assign their skill level using master translators who must have years of professional experience. Once a customer makes their selection of available criteria either the best price is found for the criteria or the most skilled for a maximum price. All criteria being equal the translator with the best feedback is chosen. This happens in seconds and the job is assigned immediately. Our software has received a request to translate text, assigned the job, the translator has translated the text, and the service has sent the translated SMS message within a minute.

Interpreters and translators can work when they want and for whatever fee they want. We expect to cover every possible language eventually, and our goal is to be able to deliver to our customer via whatever medium they need from us. We are convinced that our service will provide a beneficial service and bring interpreters to the mass market.

I hope this addresses some of the above issues and I am always willing to listen to any comments on a personal basis via my email cwatkins [dot] Lingtastic [dot] com

Regards
Chas Watkins
Founder Lingtastic

From their website: 1400 language pairs, 26.000 professional translators (they claim to be the largest network of managed translators), developer API and they already serve customers such as IBM and HP.

have a look also to worldlingo.com and appliedlanguage.com

Also, from the the “About Us” page:

“Funny Chas should choose a South American country. He doesn’t speak Spanish. That didn’t stop him! It made him more fired up. Everyday became a small battle living and working in a Spanish speaking environment without the language. Sending an email became monumental. A text message was impossible. “Life should be easier than this.” thought Chas. “

Did it never occur to him to actually learn the language of the country in which he was living?

Secondly, the only way this can work is if they have very strict requirements for getting listed on the site, including references and testing. I don’t think just a user rating and feedback mechanism will generate enough trust.