You need official document translation in Japanese, so why would you want to use a professional translation company?

After all, everyone knows that freelance Japanese translators are cheaper.

My intuitive response is that it depends on your project requirements. For example, freelance translators may be ideal for small translation projects. On the other hand, though, a professional translation company would be more appropriate for large and/or complex ongoing projects, certainly for official and certified translation projects.

In general, from the perspective of nearly 2 decades of translation industry experience, I believe in most cases a company is the better option. The reason I say this isn’t just because we want your business (which we certainly do!), but because companies provide a “drop-off, pickup” professional translation service. What does this mean? It means you don't need to hassle with everything in between, such as recruiting & evaluating translators, sourcing additional vendors for specific requirements, project management, payment for services, and the myriad of energy and time consuming issues common on any project. And, when it comes to official translation Japanese-to-English, many organizations will only accept translated documents that have been certified by a company.

(Indeed, on many an occasion clients have contact us to simply certify a translation produced by a freelance translator that was rejected by an embassy!)

More importantly, professional service providers guarantee translation product & service quality, or should do. Can't really beat that, can you?

About the Author
Ivan Vandermerwe is the CEO of SAECULII YK, experts in Official Japanese Translation in Tokyo, Japan. Visit SAECULII for the latest professional case studies, articles and news on Japanese translation services

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