Frequently Asked Questions
To help your business understand more about our translation services and to illustrate the usual initial concerns, we have compiled a list of some of the most commonly asked questions. Below are the answers. However, should you require any additional information on any particular issue, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Why translate?
Which languages do you translate into?
How do I choose the right translation agency?
Why do you use independent translators?
How do we count the number of words to translate?
Do you refuse to translate certain texts?
Which criteria are used to assess the quality of the work submitted?
Who are the translators?
How long does a translation take?
What is automated translation?
What is a translation memory?
What is a glossary?
What is project management?
Why translate?
Why translate your professional documents? Most of the time, the companies who entrust us with their translations are seeking to enter new markets. To do so, they need to communicate with their local partners in their own language.
To this end we translate considerable volumes of marketing, finance, legal and HR documents. Training manuals, company partnership agreements, employment contracts, balance sheets and company accounts are good examples of the type of documentation we frequently work on and go to highlight the diversity of skills necessary to translate professional documents. This is one of the main reasons that we call upon independent translators who stay focused on their individual specialist domains.
Which languages do you translate into?
So far our customers have requested translations in over sixty different language pairs: English to Hungarian, French to Danish, Korean to French, German to Spanish, and many more. In most cases English or French are either the target or the source language. However, should your company wish to address the majority of the population of the European Union you will need to express yourselves in the main six: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch. These languages represent 70% of our activity. English into French is the major proportion of our work in the UK. Similarly French into English is the bulk of our work in France. Every year this increases, despite the escalating number of languages we deal with.
How do I choose the right translation agency?
At first sight all translation agencies appear to offer similar propositions. How do you differentiate among them? Why choose one company rather than another? Why use Anyword?
It is tricky to select a translation company that will meet all your objectives before having worked with them at least once. There are a number of very large translation firms established worldwide, along with many smaller companies with a handful of staff.
Translation usually involves a number of experienced professionals who have been practising the trade for many years. They know how to analyse a project, decide on the best translation process according to criteria, select the most appropriate translation tools, and assign the right translators for the job.
The truly decisive factor of selection however is agency know-how. For example, Anyword's principal associate directed a translation agency for almost ten years before founding Anyword. He has taken the time to surround himself with experienced professional teams throughout all the departments in the group. Judge our professionalism for yourself by contacting us and evaluating our response.
Why do you use independent translators?
When we present our activities to people unfamiliar with our profession they often imagine incorrectly that we translate everything in-house. We explain that as for almost all agencies, the translations entrusted to us are done by independent translators.
Why? Because translating requires more than just an in-depth knowledge of a foreign language and writing skills in ones mother tongue. It is also necessary to have expertise in one or two specialised fields. Even if we limited ourselves to only a single pair of languages (in the UK it would be English into French) we could never employ a translator who would be capable of working on texts in fields as varied as agriculture, defence, sales techniques, computing, and business finance! Our clients want one point of contact dealing across all languages and domains of specialisation. It is therefore our job to know who to work with for the best possible result. This represents important added value to our service.
How do we count the number of words to translate?
Like all translators – agencies or professional independents – Anyword sell by the word. To accurately estimate the cost of the job and establish an exact quote, we count the number of words in the text to translate. These are known as source words, as distinguished from target words in the final translation.
If we only have a printed document at our disposal, the words are counted by hand. We take three lines from each page, calculate the average number of words and multiply this by the number of lines. To reach the overall figure we then add any words appearing outside of the text such as footnotes, appendices and taglines.
If we have an electronic document, we use the relevant software to automatically calculate the number of words. We do however make some adjustments. For example, depending on which version is used, the Microsoft® Word option word count in the review menu does not necessarily include headings and footers, text found in images, text framework, or imported tables. We therefore count these words by hand and add them to the total indicated by the software. In these cases the figure we arrive to is often superior to that communicated to us by the client.
Certain file formats do not allow automatic word counts. For example files created with Adobe® Acrobat Professional cannot be modified, and the software does not include an automatic word count option. The same thing applies to Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Visio and web pages (HTML, PHP, etc.). In these cases we use special word breakdown software such as Wordcount, developed by Abacus, or Freebudget developed by Aquino. Otherwise there is the option of copying the text onto a different programme with a word breakdown option.
Do you refuse to translate certain texts?
Anyword are under no obligation to undertake every translation request. We do of course, as a general rule, do our best to translate everything entrusted to us. However nothing compels us to take on a translation and we have, on very rare occasions, been forced to decline a job.
This can be on practical grounds: certain language pairs are very hard to treat due to a limited existence of mother tongue translators. Normally this is when the source language has far fewer speakers than the target language (there are fewer French speakers than English speakers, so the language pair French into English is therefore rarer than English into French). In this case the solution can be to go through a second party: if, for example, we have trouble finding a Polish translator into French, we can call upon two translators: a Polish into German then a German into French, although this obviously doubles the cost.
Anyword can also refuse to translate text due to content. There again, this occurs very rarely, but it can happen that documents with immoral or illegal content are submitted to us. It goes without saying that we refuse to translate documents with racist or paedophiliac content. Without reaching this extreme it can occur on rare occasions that Anyword or our translators refuse a text, even if our reasons are not within the legal and moral limits mentioned above (numerous translators, for example, will not work on pornographic material).
Which criteria are used to assess the quality of the work submitted?
We check for spelling mistakes, syntax errors, ensure every sentence has been translated, look for obvious misinterpretations, and ensure that the vocabulary employed is compatible with that of the domain.
Translations can be judged on these points. A number of simple methods exist to guard against unpleasant surprises. Pointing out, for example, any specialist glossaries, putting us in contact with a terminology expert, or furnishing us with any website references relating to the subject in question.
Generally speaking, the more the project is well documented and framed, the better it will be executed.
Above all, the quality of the translation is not a matter of impression, sentiments or preferences but the measurement of certain faults, the total of which determines the outcome of the translated text.
We have therefore put into place the following quality control procedures:
• The choice of translators is crucial. They must translate into their mother tongue, live in the country where it is spoken, be a specialist of the text subject field, be used to the editorial style required, and have ready any relevant documentation and client instructions.
• Translators are committed to re-reading their text very thoroughly, spell checking, and carrying out all verifications before handing the work back in. When they return a translation it is always accompanied by the completed proofing checklist.
• For ongoing projects, we often recommend using two translators who are then able to cross over, verify each others work from a fresh perspective and discuss any suggested improvements.
• For major projects, Anyword can arrange an integral re-reading of the translation by a linguistic reviser or a field expert. Although this procedure lengthens the duration of the project, it ensures complete revision of the entire text. Nothing however will guarantee that the original translation will be improved by an integral revision – inevitably certain inconsistencies may emerge.
• For critical translations, we recommend the client examine an initial sample of the translation. Any resulting comments/recommendations are then passed on to the translator and applied throughout the entire project. The finished work therefore respects the client's wishes to the maximum. It is also possible to re-apply these guidelines a few days before the end of the project allowing the translator to refocus before the handover of the finished work.
Who are the translators?
As translation is an unregulated profession, anyone who wishes can declare themselves a translator providing their professional status allows them to issue invoices and take payment. However, it's a time consuming and demanding profession that attracts very few amateurs.
Typically, translators fall into two categories:
• Linguists. After five years studying they have obtained a degree in linguistics or translation studies. They then gain several years experience in a company or agency before becoming independent. Typically linguists are especially sensitive to the formulation of literary texts.
• Specialists. Translation is their second trade. They have worked between five and ten years in a completely different activity sector such as medical, IT or even the aeronautical industry. Collectively, these specialists represent the majority of technical trades. After a transitional period they have repositioned themselves to become professional translators. As a result they pay particular attention to technical precision within the text.
Professional translators have an open attitude to the world and are inquisitive about different civilisations as well as current technical and cultural affairs. They like to document, read and synthesise, and are always very careful with the selection of correct wording when writing. They are language technicians who apply themselves to the constraints of the translation projects on which they are working in order to produce a pertinent text.
How long does a translation take?
Both the turnaround time and cost of a translation are directly related to the quantity of words. As a general guideline it is considered that a translator can work on around 300 words every hour (around 2500 words per day). This can of course vary depending on the subject matter to be treated as well as the individual translator.
When a situation of urgency is pointed out to us, we can apply certain methods to speed up the turnaround time. In some instances it is possible to spread the workload over two or more translators. To ensure the coherence of the resulting text we need to set up a specific system of project coordination. As this process in itself is time consuming, it is usually more effective to split the job between three (rather that two) translators. This type of management requires certain supplementary documentation such as the provision of a terminological glossary to be respected by all parties involved. Also worth noting is that the text in itself must be large enough to merit this kind of treatment.
An analysis of the source document to extract all repetitions is another potential way of decreasing the turnaround time. This can sometimes prove to be very interesting. Repetitions in certain technical texts can vary from 5% to 80%.
There are therefore a number of methods available to speed up a translation which one should not hesitate to use when necessary. It is on the other hand important to point out that a translator should never be pressurised into exceeding his daily quota. Translating work is intellectually demanding and the usual tendency is to reduce rather than accelerate the pace throughout the day. Insisting on faster work or longer working days will affect the overall quality of the translation.
What is automated translation?
Language and computing both have points in common. For example, to run a programme, the computer analyses the lines of code and in particular interprets their syntax according to the language in which they are written. Interestingly, linguistic research is much inspired by computing research. For this reason, over the years, computing specialists have been trying to automate the translation process. The basic principle consists of analysing a sentence in the syntax of the source language to identify the components and replacing them with their equivalents in another language. The problems are numerous, and all linguistic ambiguities cannot be resolved. As anyone who has lived in another country for a period of time knows, practising a language is not a matter of pure logic. The creation of specialised dictionaries with terminology relating to specific trades is not the answer to every situation. Even the best translation software will therefore fail to construct entire sentences without making mistakes either in meaning, syntax or vocabulary. As a simple test, ask a translation programme to convert a page of English into French and then back into English. The results are disastrous! Although the rapidity of these tools can make them useful to those who use them, with the possible exception of brief texts such as e-mails or to find the meaning of a given expression, they do not provide a credible alternative to human translation.
What is a translation memory?
Any translator will tell you that their work can often be repetitive!
From one text to another they can encounter identical or similar expressions and phrases. When these are straightforward they can represent time savings to the translator. However, in the case of more complex phrase structures which initially required much longer deliberation, they can also mean losing time.
Translation memory programmes are designed to deal with these situations. They store the original sentences and their translation in a bilingual database. If a new text has a similar sentence as one stored in the memory, the software proposes to replace it by the translation in its database.
If necessary, the translator can adapt the proposed text and store the modification linked to the original version. This procedure provides time savings of around 20-30% depending on the situation. It is particularly useful when an existing translation requires updating from a new version of the original. Most software publishers use this facility when translating their on-line help files.
What is a glossary?
If the only requirement when translating were a dictionary, which one would you use?
Every year there are tens of thousands of neologisms, few of which are ever recorded in official dictionaries.
As well as the terms pertaining to a trade there are also those concerning individual international organisations and companies. In some of these cases, outside agencies propose the assembly of a reference guide providing the complete terminology for each department in every relevant language. All these terms have their own meanings and translations. A glossary is a list of words with their translation and sometimes their definition. If the client has a glossary relevant to the topic of a text, it should always be made available to the translator. This is the best way to avoid incorrect word use and to reinforce the coherence of the text. In the same way all other relevant documentation such as website addresses are useful
.
What is project management?
A translation project can be half a page of French text to be converted into English, or a series of several hundred page manuals to be translated into fifteen languages. The methods employed are not the same in each case.
However, every situation involves an analysis of the source text, selection of the most suitable translator(s), file transfer co-ordination etc. In short, the work progress at all stages from start to finish of a project requires close supervision. This is the the project manager's responsibility. Generally a supplementary charge is made when there are a number of files to treat or if the files are comprised of text, images, tables, etc., all requiring individual treatment.
5 reasons to entrust us with your translations
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Reactivity
We react instantly to your every request, before and throughout the course of your project. We’re used to managing tight deadlines.
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Professionalism
Well established for a number of years, all of our translators are recognised professionals. They translate into their mother tongue and reside in the country where it is spoken.
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Specialisation
All of our translators are specialised in the field of activity that they are thoroughly familiar with. More often than not, translation is their second trade after several years of practice as an engineer, a lawyer, a doctor, an IT consultant etc...
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Confidentiality
Each job is covered by a strict confidentiality clause which is as applicable to every employee of the group as it is to all of our suppliers.
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Security
Your information is well protected. All files transmitted to Anyword are recorded in several copies on RAID 5 disk servers which are in turn backed-up on a daily basis. Our financial transactions are secure and hard copy despatches are only ever done by express courier (DHL or FedEx).