Services
Four things, done in whatever combination a project needs. Most clients start with one and add the others once they see what the source material actually looks like.
Translation of technical documents
Operating and maintenance manuals, assembly instructions, specifications, test reports, parts catalogues, tender documentation and certification files. Working languages are German, English and Polish, in any direction between them.
Every translation is read afterwards by a second person who did not translate it. For documents that carry a legal or safety obligation, that reviewer holds the qualification the document requires; we will say in the quote who that is and what they are qualified in. If we do not have the right reviewer for a subject, we say so and decline rather than take the job and hope.
What we do not do
- Sworn or notarised translation of personal documents. Different trade, different accreditation.
- Marketing copy. We are poor at it and there are people who are good.
- Unedited machine output at a reduced rate. If that is what is needed, the tools are available directly and we would only be adding a margin.
Editing and restructuring of source material
Often the real problem is not the translation but the original. A manual assembled over six years by four authors will contradict itself, and translating it faithfully reproduces the contradictions in a second language at twice the cost.
This service brings the source to one structure, one register and one set of terms before anything is translated. Deliverable is a clean source document plus a list of the questions we could not answer ourselves — usually between ten and forty of them, and they are the ones only the engineer can settle.
Terminology management
A glossary per client, built on the first project and maintained between projects. It records the approved term, the variants that must not be used, and a short note on why — the note matters more than people expect, because in two years nobody remembers the reason and the argument starts again.
Supplied as a spreadsheet, or in TBX for clients whose own tools can read it. The glossary belongs to the client and is handed over in full if the relationship ends.
Typesetting and layout
Finished text placed back into the client's own template, with tables, figure numbering, cross-references and indexes rebuilt rather than copy-pasted. Output as print-ready PDF and as the editable source file.
We work in InDesign, FrameMaker and Word, and will work in whatever the client already uses if the files open. We do not migrate anyone to a new authoring tool as part of a translation project; that is a separate decision and a bad thing to do under deadline.
Rates and quoting
Translation and editing are quoted per source word, layout per page, terminology work per hour. We do not publish a price list because the variation between a clean specification and a scanned manual from 1998 is larger than any list would survive.
A quote requires the actual files. We will not quote from a page count or a description, and a quote given on that basis would be revised upward later, which is worse for everyone than a slower answer now.
Non-disclosure. We sign the client's own NDA as a matter of course. Source material is kept for the duration of the project and for two years afterwards for reference, then deleted. If a shorter retention is required, say so before the project starts and it will be in the contract.
