Professional Translation
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Professional translation is translation carried out by someone with experience in the field the text belongs to, following a process that requires research. What separates it from general translation is not the accuracy of the language but the accuracy of the terminology and the context.
What is professional translation?
Translating a text correctly does not end with finding the right words. In a legal contract, the difference between "shall" and "may" is a difference of obligation; in a medical report "negative" does not mean bad but means no finding; in an engineering specification, a decimal point in the wrong place stops production. Professional translation is the work of someone who knows these distinctions.
Our earlier site put it this way: professional translation differs from general translation in that the translator reflects their experience in the field and follows a process which requires research. We say the same today, because nothing has changed: however well a translator knows the language, without field knowledge they cannot know which meaning a term takes in which context.
Which fields do we work in?
Whichever field your document belongs to, it is assigned to a translator experienced in that field. The table below shows the fields we work in most often and the typical elements that make translation demanding in each.
| Field | Typical documents | Point requiring care |
|---|---|---|
| Legal | Contracts, powers of attorney, court decisions, pleadings | Institutions with no direct equivalent between legal systems |
| Technical / engineering | Specifications, manuals, assembly instructions, test reports | Unit conversions, standard numbers, tolerance values |
| Medical | Discharge summaries, test results, package inserts, ethics files | Latin terms, abbreviations, local equivalents of drug names |
| Academic | Articles, theses, conference papers, reference letters | Field jargon, citation style, journal style rules |
| Financial | Balance sheets, audit reports, investor decks, bank correspondence | Differences in line items between accounting standards |
| Commercial | Quotations, catalogues, correspondence, tender files | Correct use of trade terms such as Incoterms |
If your document spans more than one field — a pharmaceutical licensing agreement being both legal and medical, for instance — one translator carries the work, but a second review is carried out for the terminology of the other field.
How the process works
In professional translation most of the work happens before and after the translating itself. Work started without reading the text ends up changing terms halfway through; work delivered without review leaves its errors for the reader to find.
- 01
Reading the text
The document is read and its field and purpose established. Who it addresses — a court, a customer, an auditor — directly affects the register.
- 02
Terminology preparation
Recurring terms are extracted and their equivalents agreed up front. If the same term is translated differently at the start and the end, the text loses its credibility.
- 03
Translation
A translator experienced in the field translates the text. Points of genuine uncertainty are flagged, not invented.
- 04
Comparative review
Source and target are read side by side. Skipped sentences, wrong numbers, shifted dates and inconsistent terms are caught at this stage.
- 05
Layout
Tables, heading numbering, footnotes and page layout are matched to the source, so the document reaches the reader in the same structure.
- 06
Delivery
The file is delivered in the format you asked for. Where questions arise, translator's notes accompany the explanation.
Why does terminology consistency matter?
In a long document, translating the same concept two different ways leads the reader to believe two different things are being discussed. If a contract alternates between "Contractor" and "Builder", which party is bound by which title becomes open to dispute. If a technical manual gives one component two names, the person doing the assembly looks for the wrong part.
Corporate term list
For organisations that translate documents regularly we keep a term list. Your product names, unit names, titles and preferred equivalents are agreed once and used in every subsequent job. That keeps your texts speaking with one voice even when different translators work on them at different times.
What typically goes into a term list
- Product and service names
- Internal unit and department names
- Titles and position names
- Product codes and model numbers
- Preferred and rejected equivalents
- Expansions of abbreviations
- Proper nouns that stay untranslated
- Technical terms kept in the source language
What does a good source document look like?
The quality of a translation is bounded by the quality of its source. An ambiguous sentence becomes more ambiguous in the target language; missing context forces the translator to guess. Attending to the points below reduces both the time and the number of questions.
| Format | Effect on translation |
|---|---|
| Editable text (Word, Excel) | Fastest; formatting is preserved and table structure holds |
| PDF with a text layer | Usually straightforward; complex layouts may need extra formatting |
| Scanned PDF or photograph | The text has to be retyped, which extends the timeline |
| Handwritten document | Depends on legibility; unreadable passages are flagged |
What determines quality?
The phrase "quality translation" says nothing on its own. What can be measured is this: does the translation carry the information in the source completely and accurately into the target language, and does it read naturally for a reader in that language? These two questions can pull against each other; professional translation resolves the tension according to the purpose of the text.
- 01
Completeness of information
Is every piece of information in the source present in the target? A skipped footnote or a parenthetical note can change a document's legal value.
- 02
Accuracy of terms
Are field terms given with the established equivalents used in that field in the target language?
- 03
Internal consistency
Is the same concept rendered with the same word throughout? Are numbers, dates and proper nouns consistent across the text?
- 04
Register fitted to purpose
A text going before a court and a marketing brochure are not translated in the same register. Where the text is going determines how it should sound.
How is the price calculated?
Translation fees are calculated per page, and one page is taken as 20 lines on the basis of the Turkish Act of Fees No. 492. In digital form this corresponds to roughly 1,000 characters without spaces, or 150–200 words.
- one page under Act No. 492
- 20 linesone page under Act No. 492
- characters without spaces
- ~1,000characters without spaces
- approximate word equivalent
- 150–200approximate word equivalent
Texts requiring field expertise increase the translator's research load; scanned documents require the text to be retyped. These elements are itemised separately in the quote, so you can see what the total is made of. Send us the document and we will do the calculation.
Localisation: the invisible part of translation
Carrying a text into the target language is not enough; it also has to be carried into the system the target reader uses. Date format, decimal separator, units of measure, address layout, currency and legal references all vary by country independently of language. When these are left unconverted the text stays grammatically flawless but is read wrongly in practice.
| Element | In the source | What is done in the target |
|---|---|---|
| Date | 03/04/2026 | Where day and month order is ambiguous, the date is written out |
| Decimal separator | 1,250.75 | Converted to the target language's separator |
| Unit of measure | 12 inches | Converted, with the original kept in brackets |
| Currency | USD 40,000 | Symbol and notation adapted to the target |
| Address | Street, city, postcode order | Reordered to the destination country's layout |
| Legal reference | Section 12(b) | Kept in the original where no equivalent exists, with a note |
The governing rule is this: every converted value must remain traceable. Where a unit is silently converted in a contract, a party returning to the source sees two different figures. That is why we leave the original value in brackets wherever a conversion is made.
Three typical scenarios
To show what field expertise means in concrete terms, here are three situations we meet often and the detail that decides the work in each.
- 01
A tender file
In a tender file the specification, technical annexes and administrative conditions cross-refer to one another. A term rendered differently in an annex than in the main text can cause the bid to be eliminated on formal grounds. That is why the whole file runs on one term list, in one pair of hands.
- 02
A clinical trial dossier
In ethics committee files the informed consent form is written in language a patient will understand, while the protocol is written for specialists. Two sections of one document require two registers; translating both in the same tone leaves either the patient with an incomprehensible text or the committee with an inadequate protocol.
- 03
A product manual
In user manuals, signal words (caution, warning, danger) carry a hierarchy and for many products are defined by standard. Treating those three words as synonyms and alternating between them changes the weight of the safety information.
Recurring text and updates
Corporate documents are rarely written from scratch. Standard clauses in contracts, safety sections in manuals and product descriptions in catalogues stay largely the same from one version to the next. Managed properly, that repetition delivers both consistency and speed.
What makes an update translation easier for us
- The approved translation of the previous version
- A marked-up comparison between the two versions
- An indication of the sections that must not change
- The term list used on the previous job
- Usages established inside your organisation
- Version number and date
An update sent without the changes marked means, in practice, that the whole document has to be reread. When you mark the changed sections, the work focuses on those alone and the rest of the text keeps its previously approved form.
The line between translation and adaptation
Not every text binds to the same degree. In a contract the translator's duty is literal fidelity to the source; in a promotional text literal fidelity usually produces something that says nothing to the target reader. There is a line between those two poles, and where it falls has to be settled before the translating begins.
A slogan translated word for word may be meaningless in the target language; a play on words in campaign copy has no counterpart in another. Two options follow: carry the source across as it stands with an explanation beside it, or propose a new expression that produces the same effect in the target language. The second is no longer translation but adaptation, and it requires the client's approval, because the text no longer carries the source's words.
| Type of text | Latitude | Criterion |
|---|---|---|
| Contract, court document | None | Literal fidelity to the source |
| Technical specification, manual | Very limited | Precision of terms, clarity |
| Academic text | Limited | Conformity with the rules of the field |
| Corporate communications | Moderate | Preservation of the organisation's voice |
| Promotional and campaign copy | High | The same effect on the target reader |
Where adaptation is called for we supply two versions: the literal translation and the proposed adaptation, with the reasoning for the difference. The decision is yours. For website and catalogue copy in particular this is the safest way to protect an organisation's voice, because you are best placed to know which sentence is a binding commitment and which is a matter of expression.
Frequently asked questions
Can I have the same document translated into several languages?
Yes. One source text can be translated into multiple target languages. In that case the terminology is run from a single list, so the same concept is treated the same way in every language. Where an expression in the source is ambiguous we ask once and apply the answer across all languages; as the number of languages grows, this method raises both consistency and speed noticeably.
How can I check the accuracy of a translation?
The most practical route is to have a colleague who knows the source read it for numbers and dates; that check needs no language expertise yet catches the most serious errors. If you want independent verification, our translation quality control service exists for exactly that: source and target are read comparatively and the findings come back in a graded report.
Are professional translation and sworn translation the same thing?
No. Professional translation is a description of quality and expertise; sworn translation is a legal status. A document can be both: produced by a translator who specialises in the field and also holds an oath record. Documents going to official institutions require sworn translation.
Do you use machine translation?
Texts that reach us are translated by translators experienced in the relevant field and go through comparative review. The term lists we keep for consistency should not be confused with machine translation: a list is a reference showing which equivalent the translator should use, not the translation itself.
Can I receive the translation in my own template?
Yes. If you have a corporate template, letterhead or a specific file format, tell us at the outset and delivery follows it. For special formats such as Excel tables, InDesign files or subtitle files we run a feasibility check first.
Can I ask questions after delivery?
Yes. You can ask why we chose a particular term and state your own preference. If your organisation has an established usage, we adopt it and add it to your term list.
How is confidentiality maintained?
Documents you send for translation are covered by professional confidentiality. Their contents are never used for any purpose other than performing the service and are not shared with third parties. If you would also like a confidentiality agreement signed, simply say so at the outset.
Our other services
Sworn / Notarized TranslationYou may require any documents to be translated by a sworn translator or legalised by a notary public, depending on the individual or authority to whom it will be submitted.
Translation Quality Control (Proofreading)Proofreading is to review and correct and edit a written text in terms of language, narrative, contents, etc. In the process of translation quality control (proofreading), the source and target texts are compared to check and correct any text that has already been translated. Accordingly, any missing or erroneous parts in the translation are re-edited on the basis of the source text. In this operation, such errors as possible semantic shifts, inverted sentences, erroneous use of words, etc. which spoil the integrity and meaning of the text are carefully corrected. The team that carries out the proofreading operation is consisted of translators who are specialised in this field.
Simultaneous InterpretationSimultaneous interpretation means the verbal interpretation of a speech to another language by an interpreter. It is also known as simultaneous translation.
Consecutive InterpretationForeign coaches make statements to press after a game. Meanwhile, the interpreter next to them interprets the speech consecutively. This type of interpretation is the most common example of consecutive interpretation. Same interpretation is also made in international seminars and conferences. Country representatives have an interpreter who interprets their speech while they speak in their own language. This interpreter consecutively interprets the speech.