Dilbert: Spanish-English Translation from the "No Help Whatsoever Desk"

Man: Hello, is this the "Help Desk"?
Dogbert: No, that group got reengineered out of existence. I'm the new "No help whatsoever desk." My job is to make sure you never call again.
Man: Can you tell me how to make a pie chart?
Dogbert: Crush your computer into small chunks, add flour and bake one hour. While you're waiting, read the free novel we sent you. It's a spanish story about a guy named "Manual." Repeat the process until you get the desired result.
Man: (Sitting by oven, reading manual) This has lost a *lot* in the translation.

Dilbert: Tina's Chinese Translation

Another excellent translation-related cartoon from Dilbert.



Boss: Tina, I want you to write the Chinese version of our product's instructions.
Tina: Can you tell the difference between Chinese Words and random scribbles?
Boss: No.
Tina: I'll be done in five minutes.

Thanks to Franco Zearo for pointing out this comic.

Financial Data for Private Translation Companies

Financial data for privately held translation companies is naturally closely guarded and difficult to come by. Unless they disclose that information to get on one of Common Sense Advisory's lists of the industry's largest companies (Top 30 Language Services Companies in 2008 or Top 15 Telephone Interpreting Companies in 2007), you are unlikely to find it just browsing translation-related websites.

However, some few translation companies have released their revenue numbers to appear on the Inc. 500 or the Deloitte Fast 500. Here is where you can find such information for a few of these companies:

Inc. 500 & Inc. 5000

2008 and earlier (click to download chart)

• CyraCom International
• Diplomatic Language Services
• Dynamic Language Center
• Eriksen Translations
• Geneva Worldwide
• Iverson Language Associates
• Integrated Wave Technologies
• JTG
• Language Services Associates
• LinguaLinx
• Master Translating Services
• MotionPoint
• MicroTac Software
• Net Transcripts
• New-Global Translations
• Sajan
• SM Consulting (2/3 revenue from military language services ~ $50 million - acquired by $8.9 billion SAIC in 2008)
• STOPS
• The LanguageWorks
• TransPerfect
• Welocalize

Deloitte Fast 50 & Deloitte Fast 500

Welocalize 2008, 2007, 2006, 2001,

2007
Acclaro

2006 Central Europe
Moravia 95% Growth

2004 Europe
VistaTec 207%

2001 Europe
VistaTec 167%

D&B Million Dollar Database

The D&B Million Dollar Database contains some revenue, number of employees, and more information for approximately 300 translation companies in the US. However, you'll see here that much of that information is outdated. Some of the companies listed no longer exist, and others have grown by many millions more. Again, this is a natural limitation of trying to keep up with data for private companies.

Additional Sources

You are probably thinking of a few more translation companies that should appear on these lists but do not. Certainly more translation companies have grown faster than 65% in 3 years, as Eriksen has. Lists from CSA, Inc., Deloitte, and D&B still depend on voluntary disclosure of revenue and other financial information, and they can not help it if some large and fast-growing translation companies still choose not to reveal their numbers. Sometimes translation companies go undetected for years or even become acquired before the industry realizes that they should have been on these lists all along. (See examples of this among the Large Translation Companies Overlooked for CSA's Top 30.)

For more complete translation company financial statements, see the list of links to Financial Data for Public Translation Companies. These types of financial statements are not usually disclosed by translation companies in the US, but Renato Beninatto notes that private companies are required to publicly disclose such complete financials in the Czech Republic, Scandinavia, Italy, and some other countries.

If you know where else we can find such information for private companies, please leave a comment with a link. Then subscribe via email or RSS feed above to be notified of updates.