Nonetheless, it would be unfair to say that the turmoil passed the sector without leaving a mark, as the terms of operation were shifted somewhat. Competition became intense among companies that provided cheap services, as clients tended to seek out their services more. “However, this eventually led to demand for translation agencies that were able to better combine comparatively low costs with quality services,” said Katalin Varga, managing director of Afford. Her company was one of the winners of 2010, seeing a 23% increase in revenues and improving five places from its position in the BBJ’s Book of Lists (BOL).
The list still features largely the same companies contained in the BOL ranking released at the end of 2010, indicating that the established players were also able to hold on to their weight on the market. Still uncontested at the top of the table is OFFI, the state-owned agency having exclusive privileges to translate legal documents. Second-placed InterContact (the first-ranked commercial player discounting OFFI) held on to second, but the rostrum does feature a newcomer on the third peg, with Hunnect. The company ended 2010 with a 59% spike in revenues, improving seven places in the BBJ’s rankings.
Of the ranked companies nine were able to increase their revenues by 10% or more, 10 produced similar results to 2009 and only five were forced to concede a revenue drop greater than 10%. Asked why Afford was among those able to conclude 2010 with a comparatively large (roughly HUF 30 million) increase in revenues, Varga cited the low 2009 turnover. “Without the setback then, the year-on-year difference would still have been positive, but the gap considerably smaller,” she said.
The business as usual approach was shared by Zoltán Nagy, managing director at Lector Fordítóiroda. The agency exclusively translates business documents, and is featured for the first time on the BBJ’s list after a HUF 8 million increase in annual revenues. “The growth is organic and is in line with normal annual business growth,” Nagy said.
When it comes to demand, the market is still dominated by jobs where one of the languages involved is English. This is also reflected in the pricing, with translations to and from English or German being the cheapest. However, if a Scandinavian language is involved, the price could double, Varga said. As Lector’s Nagy noted, the same applies for Asian languages, and the translation of a Chinese business document is done for three to four times the character prices charged for a more common English to Hungarian assignment.
The most conspicuous change of the past year in Nagy’s experience is that an increasing number of clients, especially foreign ones, are now showing bigger interest in other languages from central, eastern and southern European countries. Varga also noted the rapidly growing significance of the Chinese economy, and consequently the role of Chinese dialects for the translation business. (This article was originally published in the June 3rd issue of the Budapest Business Journal)
