Premium, Turnkey Machine Translation for Boutique LSPs
If we’ve worked together before, you know me for my premium Korean translation. What you may not know is that I’ve spent the last few years engineering AI-human workflows specifically for translators here at CotranslatorAI.com.
Unfortunately, most of the industry is focused on replacement, and independent agencies are forced to buy out-of-the-box MT solutions from the very tech giants and mega-agencies that are actively trying to automate us out of the market. But our combined strength as independent translators and agency partners has always been our agility and specialized quality; to survive, we must compete differently.
As a career-long vendor in this space, my business relies on you prospering. That is why I adapted my commitment to human-level quality into this outsourced, multilingual, secure MT solution. By operating from Korea, I act as your overnight processing department, preparing files with intention, supporting your linguists, and arming you to compete with the giants on your own terms.
Three-Tier Service Model
Refer to this suggested framework to offer a modern, flexible pricing structure that solves all of your clients’ multilingual needs so that you become their sole language solution provider. All details remain under your discretion to fit your business.
| Tier 1: Full Human Translation | Tier 2: Machine Translation Post-Editing (MTPE) | Tier 3: Premium Raw MT |
|---|---|---|
| Client Pricing: 100% (your standard rate) |
Client Pricing: ~50% (of your standard rate) |
Client Pricing: 10–15% (of your standard rate) |
| Client Value: 80% of Tier 1 | Client Value: 50% of Tier 1 | |
| (same margin as your Tier 1 service) | (higher margin than your Tiers 1 and 2 services) | |
| Premium, from-scratch translation for brand-critical, highly creative, or legally sensitive texts. | The perfect middle ground. Faster turnarounds and lower costs without sacrificing cohesion. | Highly readable, formatted, glossary-accurate drafts for internal use on huge volumes. |
| Handled entirely by your trusted linguists (business as usual). | I supply a context-aware, fully formatted draft. Your linguists refine it. | I process the native files end-to-end. Zero linguist intervention required. |
Will half-price MTPE cannibalize my full-human sales?
No. Frame this to your clients as delivering more volume for the same budget. By distributing their work across three tiers, you aren’t cutting your prices—you’re capturing a higher overall volume and positioning your agency as a comprehensive content consultant.
What if they want Tier 2 pricing but expect Tier 1 perfection?
Set clear boundaries. Explain that Tier 2 guarantees objective accuracy and fluency, while Tier 1 is reserved for subjective, creative polishing. Emphasizing this distinction upfront prevents quality disputes, even though end-readers rarely perceive the difference in standard corporate text.
Why pay for Tier 3 when free online MT exists?
Free and DIY tools carry hidden costs. They result in broken formatting, wasted manual labor, and major security risks. Tier 3 provides your clients with a secure, enterprise-grade pipeline that preserves native layouts, applies their glossaries, and builds their TM leverage—all without their staff lifting a finger.
Why provide Tier 3 at such a steep discount?
It acts as a “volume magnet” to capture low-budget, internal projects you would otherwise lose entirely. Once a client experiences your seamless delivery and baseline quality, it becomes a natural bridge to upsell Tier 1 and Tier 2 services for their high-impact, external content. Of course, this entire three-tier framework is simply a strategic blueprint meant to be customized exactly to your agency’s needs.
- Offer to translate everything up front; then go back and provide MTPE – Retainer approach
