Have you got any questions?
Question: How quickly can you submit an offer for a translation?
Answer: You can phone us (0231/958990) or send your » enquiry with the text to be translated by email or fax. You will find our postal address, email address and fax number under Contact. Here you can also transmit your enquiry to us directly "electronically". If the text to be translated is available in file format, use our online » enquiry-form. You will usually receive an offer that will inform you of the price, the delivery date and the method of calculation within one hour.
Go to » Offer for more information
Question: Do you charge per line or a fixed price for translations?
Answer: Depending on the customer's wishes our offers contain a fixed price for the complete text that is binding on our company or a price per line for a standard line on which the translation is based. You will find more detailed information on pricing under » Pricing, calculating.
Question: Do you grant discounts?
Answer: We grant a discount based on the size of the order for first orders. If a document contains considerable repeats of large sections of text, this can be taken into account on pricing.
Question: Are contact and consultation always necessary and essential?
Answer: The necessity and the intensity of the contact and consultation depend on the nature of the text to be translated. A translation of general correspondence, or a private letter, does not usually require any consultation, but this is more often the case, for example, when translating operating instructions or a documentation, or even with individual terms without any context.
Details on job criteria are stipulated in the job specification.
Question: Why and when is background information necessary for translations?
Answer: A translation is only possible if the translator understands the text beyond doubt. With complicated contents this requirement calls for reference information, such as, for example, previous translations on the same subject. This helps to guarantee the terminological consistency of different translations on the same subject (» Background texts).
Question: Should the core terms be harmonised in case of major jobs?
Answer: This measure would be very useful, but it requires that the customer has the suitable personnel.
Question: Can the costs of translation be reduced?
Answer: In case of larger translation projects the translation costs can be reduced by means of a demand analysis. We can offer a demand analysis on request. It covers an inspection of the documents to be translated and preparation of a table of contents that offers a decision-making aid for the scope and costs of the job.
Question: In what languages do you offer translation services?
Answer: Some examples:
Afghan, Albanian, American, Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Armenian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, German, English, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, French, Ghanaian, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Icelandic, Japanese, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Korean, Laotian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Moldavian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Pashtu, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Swedish, Serbian, Singhalese, Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish, Tamil, Tatar, Thai, Turkmenian, Turkish, Uigurian, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese. Additional languages on request.
Question: What languages combinations do you offer?
Answer: Here are just some of the language combinations that we offer:
German - English, translation German - French, translation German - Albanian, translation German - Arabic, translation German - Bosnian, translation German - Bulgarian, translation German - Chinese, translation German - Danish, translation German - Estonian, translation German - Finnish, translation German - Greek, translation German - Hebrew, translation German - Hindi, German - Indonesian, German - Japanese, German - Italian, German - Flemish, German - Korean, German - Croatian, German - Latvian, German - Lithuanian, German - Malaysian, German - Dutch, German - Norwegian, German - Persian, German - Punjabi, German - Polish, German - Portuguese, German - Romanian, German - Russian, German - Swedish, German - Serbian, German - Slovakian, German - Slovenian, German - Spanish, German - Tamil, German - Thai, German - Turkish, German - Czech, German - Ukrainian, German - Hungarian, German - Urdu, German - Vietnamese, translation English - German, translation French - German, translation Italian - German, translation Spanish - German, translation Russian - German, translation Polish - German, translation Italian - German, translation Spanish - German, translation Chinese - German, translation Russian - German, translation English - Italian, translation French - English, translation English - French, translation English - Russian. Additional language combinations on request.
Question: Why are there great differences in the prices of translation offers? What should I watch out for?
Answer: Translation offers differ greatly not just because of the price. It must be said that there has been an inflationary trend on the German translation market for many years. This trend, which has a negative effect on both prices and quality, is intensified by the general labour market situation. In addition, the designation "translator" is not protected by law.
This is why you should consider the offered quality features in the same way as the guarantee (e.g. check the existence and the amount of consequential loss insurance). You should also calculate a reasonable price here for sound work.
Question: What are the criteria for proofreading a translation?
Answer: The decisive criterion here is the fulfilment of the text function, which can vary from text to text. The requirements for a document for publication differ from those of a simple business letter. The corrector must check whether the translation fulfils the text function, i.e. whether it is fit for purpose.
Specifications for proofreading cover the following characteristics:
Layout, typographical design, structure, lists, arrangement of tables and figures, footnotes, symbols, units, signs, formulas and equations, use of names and abbreviated forms, titles, occupational and functional designations, transliteration and transcription, quotations, translation accuracy, language skills, use of language, spelling, grammar, syntax, use of terminology, omissions, etc. Proofreading does not mean "stamping your own style" on the translated text.
Question: How many pages can an experienced translator translate in a day?
Answer: The benchmark is that a translator can translate about five pages a day. This, of course, means a careful translation of an averagely difficult text.
This benchmark shows that a translator can rarely translate a text with 50 pages within a period of one week.
Question: How can an urgent translation problem as described above still be solved?
Answer: A problem of this nature can be solved by making use of the services of an experienced translation services provider, because they have the necessary organisational, personnel and technical resources available. In a case like this the translation could be divided between two translators, with each translator proofreading the other's work. The project manager ensures the flow of information and the uniform use of terminology (» Project management).