Babel - Volume 12, Issue 3, 1966

Summary To sum up my advice to those persons charged with procuring translations: Make sure you have specified exactly what is to be translated and by when you need it. Build up a group of suppliers on the basis of your own experience. Once you have found a group of individuals or firms who can give you the type of service you require, use them regularly and make their work a little easier by providing them with English-language references whenever possible. Above all, do not be overly concerned with costs. A good translator is a highly trained and skilled professional and will not condescend to work for cut-rate fees. It is no more advisable to look for bargains in translation services than it would be to look for bargains in medical or legal services. John Ruskin, the English writer and critic, wrote a century ago : ''There is hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper—and the people who consider price alone are this man's lawful prey." This is particularly true in the field of translation.