"MARK Business Translations has served more than 100 client companies over 12 years of successful operation" ("BUSINESS PEOPLE", Business Capital № 10)

Over the past 15 years, striking changes have occurred in the Russian translation-services market. The energetic development of international contacts and the extensive exchange of information and technologies have led to a growth not just in demand for the services of translators and interpreters but also in the demands made on them. Before our very eyes, the translation profession is becoming as widespread and in-demand as the professions of doctor and accountant.

The company MARK Business Translations provides translations from the principal European languages into Russian, and vice versa. I talked to its General Director, Yuri Mikhailovich Melnikov.

Tell me more about what you do. As we know, it’s not easy finding skilled translators, especially for translations of complicated subject-matter.

MARK Business Translations Ltd, set up in 1992, provides interpreting and translation services in the legal, banking, financial, auditing and other spheres. We work with legal entities throughout the process of accomplishing major transactions. Most of our clients (90%) are foreign companies operating in the Russian market. Translations into English account for around 80% of the total volume of translations.

Our company was the second organisation to join the Russian Union of Translators. Since we started up, more than 100 companies have become clients of ours, and we can now say with confidence that MARK Business Translations is capable of handling projects of any size and complexity.

What can be done to counteract the catastrophic growth in the number of illiterate translations of brazenly poor quality, and the trend to use cheapness as the sole criterion for selecting translators?

Many companies act purely as intermediaries between the translator and the client, without bothering to carry out any subsequent polishing of the text. But quality translation is a whole production process, requiring the involvement of at least three specialists — the translator, the editor, and the proofreader. Moreover, technologies have come onto the market in recent years that allow you to produce terminology databases for every client, ensure stylistic consistency, etc., and they all help to produce a quality product. Only serious companies handle the entire production cycle — and there aren’t that many of them in our market! The problem of quality will remain acute for many years to come. Some clients don’t understand how important good translation is for their business, and so are guided solely by the desire to economise. But quality translation does not come cheap.

What qualities, in your view, should a skilled translator possess?

A translator should be a creative, erudite person with an excellent command not just of a foreign language, but also of Russian. It’s very important to have an area of specialisation within which the translator can guarantee a high quality of translation. If a translator tells me that he can translate “anything”, I won’t have anything more to do with him!
Our specialists have many years’ successful professional experience in Russia and abroad.
All our staff undergo compulsory testing and evaluation. Many foreign companies used to get their translations done abroad. They’re now beginning to realise that there are companies in Russia that can provide translations of the same quality but at up to half the price. In our country there are specialists skilled enough to handle translations of any complexity, and they set great store by their professional reputation.

So who are these clients who appreciate the quality of your work?

We work mainly with western companies, including Crédit Lyonnais, Clifford Chance, Raiffeisenbank, Freshfields, USA–Russia Investment Fund, and many others. Unfortunately, most Russian companies still undervalue the importance of quality translation services and don’t like spending money on them. However, this attitude has recently started to change, and our clients now include such major Russian companies as Severstal and Rostelecom. I am confident that this is the direction in which the market will continue to develop.
N. Korotkikh