Work

A job normally runs in four steps. None of them are complicated; the value is in doing them the same way every time.

1. Reading before quoting

We read the source document first. Repetition, existing glossaries and the state of the original all change the estimate more than the word count does, and a manual that has already been through two revisions in another language usually carries inconsistencies worth flagging before anyone translates anything.

2. Terminology

Each client gets a glossary. Part names, tool names and any wording that has to match a label or a legal requirement go in it, and stay fixed across every later job. Where a client already has a preferred term we use theirs, even where we would have chosen differently.

3. Translation and check

One person translates, the other checks against the source. The check is specifically looking for numbers, units, part references and safety wording — the places where a plausible-sounding error does real damage. Queries go back as a short list rather than as assumptions.

4. Delivery and revisions

Delivered in the format it arrived in, laid out to match. When the source is later revised we update the translated set against the diff, so the two versions stay in step instead of drifting apart over a few releases.

We do not take marketing copy, literary work or sworn/certified translation. Those are different jobs and other people do them better.