

Ask HN: Is Email translation a viable idea? - csytan

Problem:
English business-person wants to communicate with Japanese client but neither speak the other's language.<p>Proposed solution:
They use a service which automatically translates (human translation) emails between him and the Japanese client.<p>Would this type of service be useful to you or your company? I've been thinking of making this a reality for a few weeks, but first I'd like to know if this is a common problem.<p>Appreciate any tips!
======
trevelyan
It's been tried before a few times and hasn't worked for a simple reason:
people don't generally deal with other people who don't speak their language.
Think about it: how many times has this ever been a problem for you? Or anyone
you know?

The hard thing in the translation business is scaling up demand (there are
tons of translators in most language pairs so pricing is really competitive
and it is hard for a middleman to make money). And if you somehow manage to
get a lot of business you then have to manage the HR side of keeping a lot of
people working efficiently at scale while making sure you're still getting
great quality.

Both of these are difficult problems, especially since there isn't an obvious
technical way to lower customer acquisition costs enough to compete with
independent translators. That said, if you can find a solution to the first
problem (reliably getting business) you can monetize it much more easily than
by solving the second, if only because anyone who already has translation
business at scale will be reluctant to screw with the organizational processes
that are making them money in a cutthroat market.

~~~
csytan
Thanks. Those were really good points to consider.

Would you mind giving out your contact? I would love to pick your mind on
something like this :)

~~~
trevelyan
Sure, see first site in my profile.

------
ndroo
Ive certainly heard of people who would use it, but there would be a lot of
concerns around privacy and security of information. I personally think gmail
has most of the market here by providing automated translations, the big
companies who want something better (and are willing to pay for it) probably
use their existing translation partners....

Although...honestly...id you can solve the privacy issue and make an
experience where someone sends an email and selects the new language, and the
person receiving the email doesnt even see it until the translation is
complete...it could seem very seemless and accurate, people might love it. I
would, if i needed it.

