Building trust through Fair Trade

Why do we limit fair trade to our lattes and sweaters? Shouldn’t we also be aware of the conditions behind the end result of services we receive, such as translation?

The translation industry in the United States is still fairly new, developing and striving to prove itself. At the same time, many US businesses are only now beginning to come out of their “English only” isolation by establishing a multilingual marketing presence and creating an international image.

Many top executives have recently seen the direct impact translation services have on their bottom lines (a local example here in Fort Worth is Bank of America’s new Spanish marketing campaign).

However, many companies new to the world of translation have not begun to demand that principles of fair trade be established and followed in the language services industry. Meanwhile, a plethora of translation companies are establishing themselves, only without also establishing a foundation of trust.

Mistrust often reveals itself when clients have a hard time believing that their translation services are providing the best and most accurate products.

That mistrust might compound, too, as clients often cannot read or speak the translated languages.

Mistrust can also come in the form of international vendors and linguists, as they a) do not have the benefit of direct contact with us and b) do not always believe that we will treat them well and pay them on time.

TLC is a beacon of successful fair trade. We have decided to make a difference in the industry by practicing what we call “All-Around Ethics.” In order to build (and, more importantly maintain) all-around trust, we chose to be different by upholding the principles of fair trade while educating and challenging others to follow our lead. For the next few weeks, I will be highlighting different principles of fair trade and the ways TLC models these principles.

Fair Trade Principle #1: Create Opportunities for economically and socially marginalized producers.

Freelance translators have a disadvantage in the marketplace. They have the freedom to gather work from companies in any part of the world, but that freedom comes with a lack of legal protection, which can silence a freelancer’s voice against violations. This leaves them vulnerable to scams, dishonest businesses and pressure to accept work at a price that is unfair for their level of qualification and experience. Unfortunately, some translation companies nowadays will hire talented linguists around the world, exploit them with a wildly short deadline and then delay their payment or not pay them at all. This type of exploitation removes trust and devalues the quality work these qualified, talented linguists produce.

To counter this, we show our active linguists daily appreciation for what they really are: our most important asset. We rely on them to provide expertise in a variety of subjects and languages. You rely on them to produce a quality product for your business.

As a result of our ethical standards, we enjoy virtually no turnover among our translators and interpreters, which makes it easier for us to seamlessly maintain consistency in your documents and vocabulary. We also provide a framework for successful, ethical relationships between translation companies and linguists. You can rest assured that we treat our linguists with respect, pay them on time and allow them opportunities to garner income for their talents and skills.

TLC was recently recognized publicly for our efforts in fair trade and our commitment to ethics. We received the Greater Tarrant Business Ethics Award in December. To read more about it, visit this press release.