Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
On this page, we answer questions frequently asked by our prospects and clients. Have more questions? Do not hesitate to contact us to learn more.
About Our Translation Company
What is Assertrad?
Assertrad is a translation agency established in 2005, based in France, and provides high-quality translation services in Canada and North America. Specializing in technical and legal translation services, we assist many clients – both private companies and institutions – in their multilingual communications.
What are your quality assurances?
Since our inception, we have established a methodology that we are proud of. This methodology governs every service to achieve high-quality translations. Our quality commitments are numerous and based on the swift management of a translation project, the quality of the translation, and the delivery of the deliverables within the agreed deadlines at the time of order.
Who translates my documents?
Your documents will be translated by professional translators. Our translators, who are degree holders, translate exclusively into their native language and specialize in a specific industry sector.
For each project, we assign your translation to a translator who is familiar with the field of intervention and its terminology, whether it be legal, financial, marketing, technical, etc.
What types of documents can we translate?
We accept all types of materials:
- Office files: Word, Excel, PowerPoint…
- Image files: PDF, JPG, GIF, BMP…
- Web files: HTML, PHP, XML…
- Desktop Publishing (DTP) files: InDesign, Xpress
- Audio or video files: MP3, Flash
- As well as paper documents.
Following the translation, and thanks to our additional expertise, we offer to integrate the new texts directly into your native files, even for the most complex languages such as Korean, Chinese, or Japanese. This allows us to deliver files that are formatted and ready for distribution or printing in each language.
In which areas does our agency specialize?
With our experience since 2003, we have specialized in numerous fields, including medical, legal, advertising, commercial, technical, tourism, financial, scientific, literary, and IT translations. If your request involves a highly specific area, let us know and we will confirm whether we can assign it to specialized and experienced translators in that field.
We have handled thousands of requests across all language combinations and on a wide range of vastly different topics, always with positive client feedback. Trust an experienced translation company and do not hesitate to consult us for a personalized quote.
What are the delivery times for a translation?
Questions About Translation
What is a glossary?
In translation, projects can sometimes be spaced over time, handled either within your company or through our translation agency. Therefore, it is crucial to maintain terminological consistency across different works over time, regardless of the author.
To ensure this consistency, we implement several tools: translation memories (see the next question) and glossaries in more than 30 different languages, from English to Portuguese, including Chinese and Arabic.
These multilingual databases are associated with a theme (for example, finance, chemistry, jewelry, veterinary) or a specific client (language or terms used only by your company and not by your competitors). Your translations are thus subject to the use of specific terminology, which is enriched with each project by your dedicated translators, the project manager, or yourself. Even if your project dates back several weeks or months, or is handled by another translator, you have the assurance that the validated terms will be systematically used.
Our computer-assisted translation software also includes a glossary management tool, which allows both importing your terminological databases (in the form of Excel, CSV, or text files) and extracting terminology from new translations, so that you can validate these new terms.
What is a translation memory?
When you entrust us with translations, you expect your specific terminology or phrasing to be respected. To ensure this consistency, we use several tools: glossaries and translation memories.
Computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools are now an integral part of the translation process. They allow associating and memorizing a sentence or sentence segment in the source language and its translation in the target language. This function is particularly useful for repetitive texts or when updating your documents.
CAT tools also include contextual search functions that allow placing a word or expression in its context.
Your vocabulary may evolve over time. When you inform us of changes, we update our translation memory so that your new preferences are taken into account in the future.
While these tools are far from replacing a translator, they undoubtedly contribute to the homogeneity and editorial quality of translations over the long term.
What is the benefit of using CAT tools?
We have been using computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools for several years. We have built glossaries and translation memories, which are the result of regular translations performed for our clients, and prove extremely useful for harmonization and editorial consistency in future translations across all languages.
These CAT tools also allow us to manage large volumes of translation within tight deadlines and to offer discounts in cases of frequent repetitions.
Finally, these tools incorporate quality assurance features such as spell-check, grammatical and terminological verification, number checking, punctuation control, omission detection, and automation of format changes for dates, quotation marks, etc.
Why do your translators work only in their native language?
Languages are living entities; they evolve. Only a native language translator (German for a German translation job, for example) will be able to capture all the subtleties of a text written in a foreign language, adapt it for a specific target, find the most suitable phrases and words for the client’s request, introduce a note of humor if the text lends itself to it, or incorporate cultural references specific to the country where the translation will be used.
Translating only into one’s native language is one of the golden rules in the field of translation. It is part of the translator’s code of ethics.
Our proofreaders are also all native speakers.
What is the difference between translation and localization?
What is the cost of a translation?
The price of a translation depends on numerous factors: the source and target languages of the translation, the word count, the technicality of the document, the layout of the file, and the delivery deadline. Assertrad sends quotes tailored to its clients. Do not hesitate to contact us to receive a quote as soon as possible!