Frequently Asked Questions

1 How long does a translation take?

2 How will I get my translation back?

3 How will the price of my translation be determined?

4 Why should I choose you?

5 What forms of payment do you accept?

6 Do you charge extra for a rush job?

7 Can I hire you to just proofread a translation I have?

8 What languages do you work with?

9 Is there anything I can provide to you to help with my translation?

10 How does translation quality relate to price?

11 Can you translate legal documents such as marriage and birth certificates, passports, wills, and others.

12 What can I do to keep the price of my translation job lower?

13 Why shouldn't I just ask or hire someone I know who is bi-lingual to complete my translation?

14 What's wrong with using a computer translation software program for my translation?

15 What does it really mean to translate from one language to another?

16 How would you define a well done or "quality" translation?

17 What makes a translator and how does one become a translator?

Answer 14

Translators have been able to use computeres as an aid in repetitive sections of translations, and computers are able to translate simple texts or word lists. But...even the most advanced computer systems are still not able to produce high quality translations without extensive editing by professional human translators. It is not likely any time soon that computers will be able to perform translaitions as human translators can. This is do to the complex cognitive processes involved in the translation process. See Answer 15 for more information.