Here is some vital information for anyone needing interpreters: they are usually booked months in advance, and most interpreting agencies will not accept urgent requests.
Case Study 1
We are currently working on a project for a heavy equipment manufacturer who contacted us requesting no fewer than four interpreters for an event that will take place in 11 days’ time. This is a common occurrence, and the major interpreting companies have a standard response in these situations—”No thank you!”
In fact, we regularly get e-mails with requests along the lines of: “We need an interpreter for a meeting next week!”, or “Help! We cannot find any interpreters for our event, which is in two weeks’ time!”.
In one instance, the client had been accustomed to employing the services of the largest interpreting company in Japan for all their translation and interpreting requirements; however, when they needed interpreters for an event just one week away, this well-known language-services provider simply refused to help them.
They thus became our client instead. And this is not an isolated occurrence.
So, if you find yourself in that type of situation, and you need Urgent Interpreting Services, you can still always contact us and we will do our level best to help you. It will certainly be pricey, but it is better to pay and feel the pain than to fail and feel the shame.
Case Study 2
We received a call one lazy Friday afternoon from an acquaintance in the financial services industry:
“I need a Chinese-Japanese interpreter,” he said.
“Okay— when?” we asked.
“Right now!” he wailed.
He had hired an amateur interpreter (a language student looking to make some extra cash on the side), but quickly discovered during the meeting that they were simply not up to the task (which was almost inevitable, given their lack of experience or any formal training in interpreting). So, not only did our friend want a Chinese-Japanese interpreter right away, but he also needed one who was an expert in finance! It so happened that we had just the person! Admittedly, this was extremely fortuitous for all concerned, but she was on-site within three hours, and the assignment was a total success. So much so, that the client hired her that very day for a three-day junket to Osaka, and then won the contract for which they were bidding.
We can provide you with conference interpreting, legal interpreting, medical interpreting, business negotiation interpreting, sales interpreting and even sports interpreting. (We love sports interpreting!)
Case Study #3
We were contacted in June about a November visit to Japan by the chamber of commerce of a major industrial city on the West Coast of the USA (think Starbucks, Boeing and Microsoft). We gave them a price and said what we always say: please book our interpreters at least two months in advance. They ignored our advice.
Two weeks before their visit, they contacted us again, and it was then that we learned that their itinerary included multiple meetings at government and corporate offices in Tokyo, Nagoya and Kobe, a reception at the US Embassy in Tokyo, and several social events for the 60-person US delegation (which included the city’s mayor and C-suite executives from several world-famous American companies) and their Japanese counterparts. We needed eight interpreters, which is quite a tall order—even under ideal circumstances. It took us a mountain of overtime work and we stretched our network almost to breaking point, but we successfully provided them with all the interpreters that they needed. Once again, the business negotiations that took place were a resounding success!
Other Vital Information
Interpreting quality: Our interpreters are hand-picked from a concentrated pool of the best interpreters in Japan. Time and again, they have proved their mettle by interpreting for the likes of the Governor of Tokyo, the FIFA Executive Committee, the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan (BCCJ), the French Chamber of Commerce in Japan (CCI France-Japon), Google, Meta and even sprinting icon Usain Bolt!
Interpreting modes specify the channel and the type of interpreting. We provide both on-site interpreting and remote interpreting channels, and consecutive, simultaneous or whispering (the three main types of interpreting).
Number of interpreters required: For a business meeting of an hour or less can be done by a single interpreter. For longer meetings or for presentations using simultaneous interpreting, two or more interpreters may be required. The required number will be determined at the cost estimate stage after collecting all the details about the work to be done.
Interpreter availability is probably the main hurdle to securing interpreting services. However, our network of interpreters has allowed us to fulfill every urgent request that we have received over the last five years.
Interpretation rates for our Urgent Interpreting Service are 30% to 50% over standard market rates for interpreting. It is also important to know that interpreting is billed in half-days or full days. A half-day is four contiguous hours and includes a 30-minute break. A full day is eight hours and includes a lunch break. There are several other incidental costs involved with some projects. Below is a list of these incidental costs.
Transportation: If your event requires the interpreter to travel outside of their city, (that is, more than an hour one way), then transportation fees are billed to the client.
Accommodation: If the travel distance is far and the timing of the event so warrants, the interpreter will arrive the night before, with the hotel costs also billed to the client.
Travel Time: For interpreters, time is money, and if the interpreter has to travel for a large portion of one day, Travel Time to and from the venue will be billed at one-half of the half-day rate.
Secondary Use: When an event is being recorded for use after the event, this is referred to as “secondary use,” and is billed at different rates by different interpreters. Typically, clients may be billed an additional amount equal to around 30% of the basic interpreting fee for this.
Cancellation Fees: For cancellations between 14 and eight days before the event, the fee payable will be 50% of the interpreting fee, plus any non-refundable transportation and accommodation fees already incurred. For cancellations seven or fewer days before the event, a cancellation fee of 100% of the interpretation fee, plus any other non-refundable costs will be charged.
Non-circumvention agreement: The client will be given the contact information of the interpreter to facilitate any necessary last-minute coordination; however, this information may not be used to contact the interpreter for any other purpose or at any other time. Any future interpretation requests for this interpreter must go through Honyaku Plus. This is an industry convention to which interpreters rigorously adhere, so we will almost inevitably find out if it is violated by the client.
We realize that this is an awful lot of information to take on board all at once, so please feel free to contact us with any questions that you might have—either by e-mail at translator@honyaku-plus.com or by telephone at +81-3-5913-8115.