Abingdon Business Communications

Bridging the language gap between you and your customers



Why you should check what you pay for

When you hire a photographer, a hairstylist, an artist, even an architect or an engineer, you can see the result of their work and judge whether it was money well spent or not. If not, you'll never call them again.

In the world of conference Interpreting and, to a lesser extent, in translations, there is a feature unique in its nature, when compared with other skills provided as services by freelance professionals: In most cases, the person benefitting from our services is not the person who pays for them.

How come?

Because in 9 out of 10 cases, the conference organiser hires interpreters for the benefit of foreign delegates. So the conference is mostly conducted in the language of the country where the conference is held and a section of the audience listens to the simultaneous translation coming through their headphones.

Now, there are 3 reasons why foreign delegates don't normally complain about a mediocre service:
  • They're not paying
  • Simultaneous interpreting is such a difficult thing to do that you can be tolerant about imperfections.
  • The delegates are the experts on the topic, not the interpreters. It is understandable that the latter make mistakes.
And with this in mind, you may have hired a rather mediocre service but you are none the wiser. If the delegates found the service wanting they will choose not to come next time, rather than complain about something they have not paid for.

We encourage our clients to make sure they get value for money and have ready-made questionnaires to distribute among the delegates if so required.