Translation Services Procurement Intelligence Report, 2023 - 2030 (Revenue Forecast, Supplier Ranking & Matrix, Emerging Technologies, Pricing Models, Cost Structure, Engagement & Operating Model, Competitive Landscape)

Every organization and its procurement team look forward to negotiating the best deal while procuring a set of products or subscribing to services. Rate benchmarking involves price/cost comparison of more than one set of products/services to analyze the most efficient combination that can potentially help the procurement team in getting the optimum rate.

The geographical location, the type of industry and content play a vital factor in analyzing the rate benchmarking of the translation services category. Pharmaceuticals and medical supplies are frequently sold outside of the nation. The products must be translated to a high standard because they will be sold in several countries. Legal translation is undoubtedly one of the most difficult, and expensive types of translation. As a result, medical and law document translations require specialized expertise and knowledge which increases the rate of services. For European medical translations, prices are around USD 0.13 - 0.20 per word. For Asian and Middle Eastern languages, prices are around USD 0.15 - 0.25 per word.

Word discrepancies can also have an impact on the rates of services. According to translation industry best practices, every translation is charged as per source word in most circumstances. Depending on the complexity of the document, translators can produce 1,500 - 2,000 words on average. The difference in word count between English and Scandinavian languages might range from 20 - 25%. This can depend on the method used and the type of information being translated. Hence, prices will be substantially higher while counting words in the English language than when counting words in Danish or German.

For the legal industry, the pricing can vary as per country, location of the service provider, and language pairs. For instance, a legal text translation from German-to-English is more expensive than Arabic-to-English translation. For instance, prices for English-to-Arabic translations can start around USD 0.07 - 0.10 per word. The industry average is 250 words per translation page (in any field). Accordingly, the starting price for English-to-Arabic legal translations is around USD 18 per page. Prices can increase up to USD 25 depending on language demand and word count. On the other hand, German-to-English translations can start around USD 0.10 - 0.15 per word, making the per-page rate around USD 25 - 38.

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Labor cost is one of the key components of the total incurred costs while offering a product or service. Therefore, an organization must decide on whether the focus category should be retained in-house or outsourced if the organization is providing its products or services at competitive prices. If the organization decides in favor of outsourcing, it must understand the difference in the salary structures of suppliers before selecting a supplier and formulating a negotiation strategy.

According to our research, translators at RWS Group and TransPerfect Translation receive a 13 - 18% higher base salary compared to the salary received by translators working in companies such as Welocalize and Keywords Studios. However, the year-on-year increment rate in all these companies majorly depends on the Key Result Areas (KRAs).

Organizations may find it cumbersome to track all the latest developments in their supplier landscape continuously. Outsourcing the activities related to gathering intelligence allows organizations to focus on their core offerings. At this juncture, our newsletter service can help organizations stay updated with the latest developments and innovations and subsequently assist in preventing disruptions in the supply chain. We have identified the following developments within the translation services category over the last two years:

• In December 2023, TransPerfect announced that the newly revamped website of “NYC Tourism + Conventions” was powered by its GlobalLink technology. The integration with AI and Contentful CMS will help the site to be easily localized and translated. With the debut of the new website in Portuguese, Spanish, French, and German, international visitors will be able to digitally explore and interact with the NYC city in their preferred languages.

• In May 2023, RWS Group’s language services were selected by Norse Atlantic Airways. The partnership used RWS’s Tridion to provide travellers with a multi-lingual (or, localized) online booking experience in four European languages - French, Norwegian, German, and Italian.

• In November 2022, LanguageLine Solutions announced its integration with Pexip, which is a video communication platform. With this integration, users will have on-demand access to professional linguists in 240+ languages. Users of Pexip and other telehealth platforms that are compatible with Amwell, Zoom and Doxy.me can establish a smooth connection with LanguageLine interpreters. Similarly, in October 2022, the company also announced its integration with Epic EHR.