Questions
Questions agencies ask.
Turnaround, formats, certification, and the purchasing detail a vendor file needs. If yours is not here, write to contact@civictranslation.com and you will have an answer rather than a call.
Working with us
Sending work, and getting it back.
What a language-access coordinator asks before the first job.
Standard turnaround is 2 business days for documents up to roughly 2,500 words, per language. A same-week job runs in the Priority tier: 24 hours for documents up to roughly 1,200 words, per language. Same-day intake before 11 a.m. PT. Longer work runs to a milestone schedule agreed in the quote. Review runs at full length on every tier, and if we cannot hold your date, the quote says so. The full process.
The quote form, or an email with the file attached to quotes@civictranslation.com. Send it in whatever format you hold it. If your department requires a particular transfer method or its own portal, say so in the first message. Request a quote.
Word and Excel files come back as the same file, with styles and structure intact. A PDF comes back as a matching PDF; a scan gets the layout rebuilt to match. InDesign packages come back print-ready with a PDF proof, and HTML or XLIFF comes back ready for your CMS. Every delivery includes the working file, a PDF, and the signed certificate of accuracy. Document translation.
No. We produce written translation only; interpretation is a separate discipline with separate credentials. A text meant to be read aloud (an announcement, a hearing script) is written work, and we do that.
Whichever ones your program is required to publish in. Send the full language list and the quote prices every language on it, with a delivery date against each. Every job is assigned a qualified translator and a second, independent reviewer in that language pair, confirmed before we quote. Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Russian, Korean and Arabic are the pairs we are asked for most. How coverage works.
Quality and certification
What stands behind the file.
The questions that matter when a translated notice is challenged later.
A signed, dated statement that the translation is a true and complete rendering of the source, naming the document, the language pair, the page count, and a job reference number. Included with every delivery at no additional charge. One certificate covers one source document in one language pair, so a notice issued in 3 languages carries 3 certificates. Certified translation.
Two qualified linguists touch every job. One translates; a second, qualified in the same pair and never the one who translated it, compares the full translation against the full source before anything leaves. Ask, and we state the pair, the qualification basis, and each role in writing. Quality standards.
Yes. Your house wording, glossary, and equity or inclusive-language guide win by default, and each decision is recorded so it holds across later notices. Where we think a term will misread, we translate it your way and put the disagreement in writing with the delivery. An outright error — a deadline stated incorrectly, a benefit described as its opposite — is raised before delivery and held until we have an answer. Inclusive language.
Send us the passage and what you think is wrong. Every delivery carries a revision window stated in the quote; inside it, a reviewer checks the passage against the source. If the translation is wrong, we correct it and reissue the certificate at no charge.
Yes. Independent review of a translation you already hold (including machine output) produces a written finding — errors of meaning, questions of register or terminology, layout. We certify the corrected version where the text warrants it. Quoted after a linguist has read the file. Review of existing translations.
Buying and billing
Purchasing, paper, and confidentiality.
Written for the analyst who has to raise the requisition.
No. How pricing works.
Ask for the quote first: it is written, itemized by document and language, and it is what the purchase order is raised against. A completed W-9 is available on request. We work to standard net terms, or your department's own where they differ. Every invoice carries the PO number, the documents, the languages, and the delivery date. How agencies buy from us.
Yes to both. We sign your department's own NDA form. Draft, deliberative, and pre-decisional documents are handled as confidential by default; you do not have to ask or flag the file. Reviewers are engaged under confidentiality terms and each sees only the job assigned to them.
Yes. We work on their paper and their process: their nondisclosure agreement, style guide, glossary, file formats, and QA form, with no contact with the end client. The certificate of accuracy can be issued under their name or ours, whichever the contract requires. Subcontract terms.
Send us a document.
Attach the file, name the languages, and give us the date. A written quote comes back same business day, itemized and with a delivery date on it.