With over two decades of experience in the translation industry and spread over three continents, our project managers (PMs) at 1-StopAsia are often asked similar questions by new clients who need to be assured that the translation project they hand over to us will be in good hands. As a result, we have collected some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) posed by clients and provide the answers below.
1. How long would the translation take and how long would it take to translate and review?
The answer to this question is “it depends”. Some of the influencing factors to consider would be what is the target language that the translation should be translated into, has the source document been sent in an uneditable format such as a PDF or other version, what is the character count of the source document (considering that Word cannot accurately calculate character count accurately, especially for Asian languages), what is the nature of the translation project, which industry is the translation for (e.g. medical, legal, marketing, or otherwise) and do you need a specialized translator for the job? These are all factors that affect the length and duration of a translation project and should be taken into account when providing you with the final time frame for delivering the final translation.
2. Do you have experience in a certain field/industry?
We have broad experience in a variety of fields and industries due to the fact that we work with both in-house and freelance translation staff with a broad combined range of skills and experience. Some of the industries which we commonly work with include but are not limited to the following: Art & Entertainment, Automotive, Business & Financial, E-commerce, Education, Gaming, Industry & Engineering, IT & Technology, Legal & Government, Manufacturing, Marketing & Localization, Medical & Pharmaceutical, Oil & Gas, and Software.
3. Which CAT tools does 1-StopAsia use?
Computer-aided translation (CAT) tools make the life of our translators that much easier and the quality of the translation project that much better. In addition, translators who use CAT tools have found that using these tools improves their productivity by around 30%. Some of the CAT tools our translators work with include the following, although we are always open to finding out more and learning about new technologies: Across, Trados, SDL, Smartcat, memoq, Memsource, Wordfast, dejavu, Translation Workspace from Lionbridge, ApSIC Xbench, and Star.
4. Can you work with non-editable files?
Although working with non-editable formats can cause some delays in the translation project, we do, however, work with non-editable formats to help ensure you receive a final product that’s of high-quality standards that we adhere to, in terms of our ISO certifications.
5. Can you deliver the translation with the same layout as the original document we send you?
We aim to offer our customers a service that meets their needs appropriately and in a high-quality manner. Therefore, if you send us a project in a certain layout and require the translated version to be in the same layout, we can definitely help you with this.
6. How many people can you provide for a big translation project?
We have an extensive team that works across various time zones on three continents. Therefore, we can provide you with a large team depending on the size and scope of the project you’ve assigned to us. We work with 60% in-house translators and the remainder are freelance-based translators.
7. Why does the translator send us questions about the text?
When a translator sends you questions about the text, it means that they care about the quality of the translation output they would like to deliver to you as the final product. Asking questions could be done in order to confirm something, to get clarification, to ensure that the correct wording is used when more than one option is available, and so much more.
8. Can I send special instructions for my content translation?
You are very welcome to send special instructions for your content translation project. Whether it is related to its layout, the type of CAT tool you’d like the translator to use, specific requirements about the final product, specific words or terminology that you’d like to be used instead of others, a file format you prefer or anything else, we can help you with all this and more.
9. Do you need a glossary for the translation?
Glossaries are an excellent way of ensuring that translations are standardized across the board and that the final product is a quality one. In the best-case scenario, by offering our translators a glossary to work from, you’ll ensure more consistency in your translation project as well as save translators time looking up terms that could be ambiguous. You can either create the glossary yourself, knowing which terms are most important and which translation of each specific word you’d like to be used, or you can ask us to create a glossary for you using various CAT tools to help you have a consistent glossary which you can re-use again in the future.
10. Will my materials be kept confidential?
At 1-Stop Asia, we believe in producing translations to the highest quality standards and we do this by complying with various ISO standards. In fact, we are ISO 9001:2015 and 17100:2015 certified. However, we also take confidentiality seriously. This means that all our translators have signed a non-disclosure/confidentiality agreement. Furthermore, we work with an internal communication system all while ensuring that we are also GDPR compliant.
Conclusion
And there you have it! Some of the top questions our PMs are asked about our services in the translation industry. From the format and layout of your translation project to using glossaries and even ensuring the confidentiality of your materials – we cover it all. If you have any more questions, feel free to head over to our FAQs page or get in touch with us for more information by visiting our website and leaving us a message.