Frequently Asked Questions
Expanding into the international markets and suddenly needing documents or websites translated to or from various languages can be a daunting task for clients. We strive to make the process as painless as possible. Please see below some of the most frequently asked questions.
Firstly, we need to understand the nature of the text and your target market and audience. We ask for contextual reference material and find out if there are already translations in use. Next, we select a translation team who is familiar with the subject matter. Budget permitting, we will create a key terms glossary as a basis for the translation. This is particularly helpful if there is a team of translators working on your project. If you have in-country teams/distributors, we always recommend including a client review process to be sure we are in line with their terminological and stylistic preferences.
We always ask for native/source files at the quoting stage. This allows us to not only create a more accurate quote but also to save you money in file preparation cost. InDesign is one of the friendliest formats, as it works nicely with translation tools and requires no copy/pasting – unlike Illustrator and Publisher.
The latter 2 require us to copy/paste the translated text back into the source files. Either way, we can deliver the final translation formatted, print-ready, to match the original English file – given we receive the proper fonts and images from you.
Yes we can, although it will typically increase the price. PDFs require us to prepare the file before starting the translation and, depending on the file quality, we may not be able to match the English format and fonts. Additionally, poor scans/images might necessitate manually typing the translation, risking quality issues.
This can vary. Let’s assume we are talking about a file in InDesign. A translator typically translates 1500 to 2000 words per day to ensure quality. After the document goes through translation, it is sent to a second linguist for editing/proofreading, then to QA. Lastly, we send the file to DTP for formatting. All of this takes time. For this example of an 8000-word InDesign file, approximately 10 business days. In order to speed up the process, we can put a team of translators on your project. This, however, can result in stylistic and terminological inconsistencies and in a loss of translation memory savings. Depending on your requirements, however, we might be able to modify the process to deliver a document that works for your needs. For example, if you have a file that you need quickly but only for internal use (not to be published), we could offer an abbreviated translation/QA workflow. Just contact us to discuss!
As a first step, we will need the proper source/native files (e.g. an InDesign IDML file, or a Word document). We then prepare the file for translation, running it against a translation database we might already have created for the specific client. Then the file will go to a translator, qualified in the subject matter. After translation, the file is sent to a second linguist for editing/proofreading. Lastly, we have a proprietary in-house QA step to ensure that all numbers are correct, the term base has been followed, and no text is missing. After this step, the file is sent to DTP for formatting. The DTP team sends us a PDF for a post-layout review. The linguists check the PDF, make sure line breaks are correct, text is not jumbled, and the format matches the original source document. A marked-up PDF with any changes is sent back to DTP who will implement any necessary changes. We then receive a final PDF and design files for delivery to the client.
All our work is done by human translators, not by machines. We do, however, utilize the latest technology in the field. We believe that we can obtain the best quality by using human resources while leveraging our technology for consistency and cost effectiveness.
A translation memory is a database of every sentence/segment and its translation. It is used to ensure greater consistency, reduce cost, and accelerate the turnaround time. The database is client-specific and yours to keep if you ever need it. We use it at the quoting stage to analyze new files for repetitions and recycled content and at the project stage to ensure consistency and references for the translators.
Since our main focus lies on quality and customer satisfaction, most of our projects follow a five-step process. We avoid charging our clients rush fees if it all possible. However, if the timeline is just too tight, we will need to assess and charge fees, depending on how crunched the turnaround is. So please plan accordingly.
A term base is a glossary we create either from bilingual terminology received from you or by extracting key terminology from the source document and translating those terms. After translation, we submit the glossary to the client for review. The term base is used on every project for each specific client and ensures consistency and usage of industry-standard or distributor/client preferred terminology.
All our translators have signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement with Choice Translating®️. We would also be happy, to sign a specific NDA for your company in preparation of a project.