I am not sure exactly when, but sometime in the early 1980s one-hour photo stores became the norm. Instead of sending your film to a central lab for development and printing, stores started to print your photos on premises and deliver them in one hour or even less.
A similar kind of service is now being offered for translations. Instead of calling a translation agency for a quote, paying for the work and then waiting a few days for the translation, you can do it all online and get the translation within hours. Some of the companies that offer this service are Tolingo, Mygengo and OneHourTranslation. Babylon, the vendor of translation dictionaries has launched a similar service. And there are other companies as well. Some of these companies have received funding from VCs, resulting in valuable media coverage and advertisement.
So should the old-fashioned translation agencies be worried? Will the one-hour shops take over the industry? continue reading…
