Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ)

Company

We’re based in Los Angeles, California but we have a production office in China and Korea.
We provide 24-hour assistance during weekdays; we have dedicated Account Managers working during US Eastern time zone, US Pacific time zone, European time zone and Asia-Pacific time zone.
As a US based translation company and a member of ATA (American Translators Association) and ALC (Association of Language Companies) since 2001, our process has been based on the ASTM F2575-06 Standard Guide for Quality Assurance in Translation. Unlike EN15038 or ISO standards, this standard does not include an accreditation process.
We are a corporate member of ATA (American Translators Association), ALC (Association of Language Companies) and GALA (Globalization and Localization Association).

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Services

Translation is written, whereas interpreting is spoken.

Simplified Chinese was developed in the 1940s by the Chinese government by simplifying the strokes for certain characters. It is used in mainland China and Singapore.

Traditional Chinese is the writing form that has been used historically in China. It is used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and by some overseas Chinese communities including the US.

We have over 11 years of experience in the translation industry. Our company started in 2001 and we serve over 400 translation companies worldwide, including some of the big names in the industry (i.e. Lionbridge, Translations.com, WeLocalize, TheBigWord, etc).
We specialize in all Asian languages. Our primary languages are Chinese, Japanese and Korean, but we also have the experience and capability to work with all other less common Asian languages such as: Vietnamese, Thai, Tagalog, Malay, Indonesian, Cambodian, and many more. We also have the capability to work with Spanish and other European languages upon request.
We have both ATA certified translators and non-ATA certified translators. For ATA certified translators, we would have to charge higher than non-ATA certified translators.
Machine translation has limited capabilities and accuracy. It’s fast and might be helpful in giving an idea on the essence of the content but the quality of the translation itself won’t be as accurate as when it’s done by an experienced translator.
We specialize in Asian languages and we have the capability to work in all types of industry. The most common industry that we deal with include Medical, Dental, Pharmaceutical, Patent, Legal, Technical, Automotive, Business/Financial, Marketing, Education, and Government.
Yes, we have in-house translators for our three major languages, which are: Chinese, Japanese and Korean. For all other languages we normally usually use in-country translators.
Yes, we can translate websites directly from the HTML file and we can do online testing.
Yes, our in-house DTP team can work with all languages, all file formats and with most commercially available software.
Yes, we work with both PC and MAC.
We use QuarkExpress, InDesign, Acrobat, FrameMaker, PageMaker, Illustrator, Photoshop, PowerPoint, MS Publisher, MS Word, Freehand, CorelDraw.
We perform DTP work in all languages.
Yes, we do. Besides Trados, we are also able to work with memoQ, Wordfast, Idiom, SDLX, Memsource, XTM, Star Transit, and Déjà vu.
Yes, we have a network of interpreters that are located all over the United States and abroad.
Yes, our network of interpreters consists of a number of interpreters both certified and non-certified.
Yes, but pricing varies depending on the scope and demands of the project.

Yes, we normally provide transcription and translation. Our rates vary depending if we are required to provide transcription only, translation only, or transcription + translation.

We also perform a test translation for each new translator, regardless of their experience. Only those who pass our test will be included in our database.

– All of our translation projects will include TEP (Translation, Editing, Proofreading) performed by 1 translator and 1 editor in addition with a QA (Quality Assurance) process performed by our QA team.

– We also have language leaders who are in charge of supervising all TEP process and monitoring the translation quality of each project.

Our company functions as a vendor and most of our clients are translation agencies. We believe that we will be able to relieve you of all the headaches that you get when you have to deal directly with difficult or non-responsive translators.

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Payments

We accept US check, PayPal, Wire Transfer, and credit card.

Yes, we have a dedicated Account Manager for European clients, his working hours are 8am – 5pm CET. Please contact him at europe@1stoptr.com for more details.

We normally charge per source word. Please refer to our Pricing page for more details.

In Microsoft Word, the system automatically counts the number of pages and words in your document and displays them on the status bar at the bottom of the workspace. For almost every other file type, we use a CAT (Computer Assisted Translation) tool to analyze the files and generate the word count for us. For non-editable files (i.e. PDF, image file, scanned documents, etc) we would use an OCR software combined with manual count in order to provide an estimated word count.

Our translators have the ability to translate an average of 2,000 words/day, but we are able to provide a team of translators to work on a project together if required.
Yes, our standard rates include our three step translation process which is translating, editing and proofreading.
Yes. We have 3 offices in 3 countries that are ready to work on your project. We work as an integrated team and can provide 24-hour services. Each project is different, we might have to charge an additional urgent fee if we are required to produce over 2,000 words/day in order to meet the deadline.
A high volume job requiring a quick turnaround which exceeds our average daily capacity.

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Working with 1-Stop

We are registered in various credible translation workplace sites and we receive approximately 10 resumes per week. In order to be considered, each translator has to meet the following criteria:

  1. Has at least 3 years of previous experience.
  2. Minimum education level is Bachelor’s degree or additional related experience beyond the minimum 3 years’ experience.
  3. Native speaker of the target language.
  4. Able to communicate well in written and verbal English as determined by our expert examiners.
  5. Able to provide at least three (3) favorable references for background and character check.
We have flexible payment terms. For translators located in the US, we normally pay via check. For translators located outside of the US, we can pay via PayPal or wire transfer. Please visit our Flexible Payment Terms page for more details.
We respect your experience as a professional translator; however our policy is to perform test translations on all translators that would like to be included in our database. Since we would like to be able to work with you on a long term basis, we need to familiarize ourselves with your translation style.
We provide a custom test translation (approximately 500 words). The subject area for the test translation will be determined based on your experience and/or on our current needs.
As a rule of thumb, your native language will be your main target language. However, if you have the ability to translate into multiple languages then we will perform a custom test translation for each language pair that you want to be registered in.
Yes, we provide 24-hours assistance. If you have a specific time period in which you can accept jobs from us then please disclose this information to our Vendor Manager. We will input all these additional information into our database so that our Project Managers will be aware of your preferred working time.
After you passed our test translation and prior to starting our collaboration we will provide training materials and how-to guides on each CAT tool that you need to use. Our Vendor Manager and Project Manager are always ready to provide support to you should you experience problems with the tool. In addition, we also regularly conduct online and onsite training sessions to provide guidance and to listen to our translators’ feedback.
Any issues regarding your PO amount should be discussed with the Project Manager in charge.

Please contact our Accounts Payable department at ap@1stoptr.com.

It pays to build good relationships with our Project Managers. If you do this, our Project Managers would be more than happy to send more jobs your way. On top of that, the following traits are essential in our regular translators:
  1. Quick response time
    • Always replies to our emails in a timely manner.
  2. Availability
    • Our client prefers to use the same translators for ongoing jobs, therefore our Project Managers tend to select translators that have a high probability of accepting future jobs as well.
  3. Reliability
    • Always provides their best quality work in all projects (whether big or small).
  4. Responsibility
    • Willing to take responsibility for all work performed, even when a negative feedback is received.
  5. Flexibility
    • Willing to work in projects with tight turnaround or tight budget.
  6. Teamwork
    • Able to work well in a team setting.

Please keep an eye on our Job Posting page to see if we have any current job openings for in-house translator.