This brief guide to the main principles of buying quality translations was written for busy executives who are faced with the need to contract translation or interpretation services.

Sonia Barinas, the founder and president of Barinas, is a translator and simultaneous interpreter with more than 30 years of experience. She was educated at Rutgers and the Sorbonne, and has worked in Europe, Africa, and Latin America, as well as the US. In the 80's, she pioneered the concept of applying quality management principles to the translation process, and has lectured and written on the subject widely.

This Guide is an abridged version of Barinas's presentation to the 1986 World Conference on the Economics of Language Use, Center for Research and Documentation on World Language Problems, United Nations, New York.

It gives an overview of the services, describes the different categories of translation suppliers, and discusses:

1. How to set requirements,
2. What to look for in a translator or translation company,
3. What questions to ask,
4. What to avoid,
5. How to spot bad translators,
6. What category of translator is right for you,
7. How to obtain effective feedback from your end users,
8. How to judge the competence of translators and interpreters by the terms they use.