Russian translation market: TechInput Translation Company's view

How would you describe the current status of the Russian translation service market?

Today, the state of Russia’s translation market can be summed up as follows: presence of few established players amid numerous small agencies; absence of major international translation agencies (Lionbridge, Transperfect); predisposition of translation providers to accepting whatever comes their way, regardless of their specialization (linguistic, technical focus), and finally, complete lack of financial transparency, including hiding companies’ charter capital in ownership structures 

The translation business is unique in that demand depends on the level of economic development and the scope of international cooperation. In this context, how would you assess the impact of the economic crisis on this industry?

Technical translation, by nature, is global. Hence, it was seriously hit by the global economic crisis, just like any other service industry. However, in our business the crisis lasted longer than, for example, in the manufacturing industries because the need for significant translation normally arises only when commercial projects have progressed to a certain phase. However, I believe that by and large the economic crisis had a positive impact on the translation business by accelerating market consolidation and squeezing out the smaller players. Our company was also exposed to certain effects of the crisis, and to some extent, still feels the pressure: for instance, we lost some of our Russian clients and were compelled to ‘freeze’ our rates, despite ongoing inflation. Nevertheless, our company has continued to provide services to major international clients, and this enabled us to mitigate the impact of the crisis and essentially return to our pre-crisis level.

Your company has grown from a small firm to an established translation agency. What are the driving factors behind this growth?  

The history of our company dates back to January 1999, when TechInput Inc. was registered in Houston, Texas. The establishment of one more translation agency in Houston had a reason, because in the late 1990s, Houston turned into the U.S. capital for the oil and space industry, one of those areas, where international cooperation had made much more progress than elsewhere. Hence, the demand for technical translation soared, especially in the mid-90s, when global oil majors such as ExxonMobil and Shell moved into Russia to create international consortiums for the development of offshore mineral resources on the Sakhalin Island under production sharing agreements. So, it was perfectly logical for Techinput to establish a Russian subsidiary in Moscow in 2002. The expertise I gained from more than a decade of working in the United States has proved helpful in promoting a culture of high professionalism with special focus on quality control and quality assurance in the Russian subsidiary. From the very first days of its operation the company has focused on improving the quality of its translation services, providing training opportunities for translators, reviewing feedback from clients, developing the appropriate methodological guidelines and publishing translation manuals for the petroleum industry. In 2004, it received the ISO 9001:2000 and IQNet international quality certificates, thus becoming Russia’s first translation agency certified for both written translation and oral interpretation. In 2008, the Localization Industry Standard Association ranked TechInput among the top five major translation agencies in Russia based on its survey of the translation market. 

Your company specializes in oil and gas projects. Does this specialization impose limitation on your business, and secondly, what would you call advantages of such “narrow specialization” over “universality” in the translation industry?  

 “In 2004, TechInput received the ISO 9001:2000 and IQNet international quality certificates, thus becoming Russia’s first translation agency certified for both written translation and oral interpretation.” 

In order to deliver quality results, one needs a fairly deep insight into the subject matter, irrespective of businesses involved. Therefore, I have always been rather skeptical of the advertised capabilities to deliver quality translations in all areas of human activities and from/to all conceivable languages. This is, indeed, one of the reasons why we stopped providing translation services to Merck, a major pharmaceutical company, and also currently do not serve clients in the IT and car manufacturing industries, that is, areas, where, in our view, special technical knowledge is required, in addition to linguistic proficiency. Having focused on the petroleum industry, our company has established strategic cooperation with the world’s leading petroleum consulting companies such as Miller & Lents, Ltd and Purvin & Gertz, Inc., and the Russian State Mineral Reserves Committee. Consultations and feedback from specialists in these organizations facilitate continued improvement in our translation, covering highly sophisticated technical matters. This enables us to deliver excellent results. Notably, any oil and gas project, in addition to geological exploration and development, has legal, environmental, financial and other aspects, which make our specialization fairly broad. For instance, we also have major international legal firms and banks among our clients. 

How does the unique expertise of operating on two very different markets – Russia and the United States – help your work?

Our operations on the Russian and U.S. markets help us address multiple issues – from purely logistical to solely commercial. Our clients are located in different parts of the world (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Moscow, London, and Houston) and we are providing translation services to them round-the-clock and seven days a week. For this purpose, we, in addition to our in-house staff, also use a pool of 150 freelance translators in Russia, CIS, United States, Canada, England, Israel, etc. Besides, having legal entities both in the United States and Russia simplifies payment procedure to translators in any world currency. Most importantly, our company maintains high corporate operation and management standards and practices similar to those used in the West. 

How would you describe a ‘fail-proof formula’ for success in your industry and the best way to achieve it?  

There is no such thing as a ‘fail-proof formula’ for success in any human activity. However, there is a prerequisite to success in business, which is quite simple: try to stay at least a small step ahead of competition.