Seven steps, in the same order, on every job. A one-page notice and a benefits handbook take the same route; the handbook simply takes longer to walk it. Nothing here is dropped to make a date.
Lifecycle
Seven steps, every job.
Standard turnaround covers all seven in 2 business days. The step that people expect to be optional — the second linguist — is the one that is not.
01
Intake and quote.
Send the file in the format you hold it — a document, a PDF, a scan, exported web copy. Tell us the target languages, the date you need it, and who reads it. We return a written quote same business day: word count, price per language, the delivery date, and anything in the source we expect to cause trouble. Nothing starts until you confirm scope in writing, so the number you approve is the number you are invoiced.
What to send
The source file, in the format you will publish or print from.
Target languages, plus the script or regional convention if your program has one.
The date you need it, and what happens on that date.
Any glossary, style guide, or previously translated version you want us to follow.
A contact who can answer a question about the source text.
If the document lives in a layout program, say so in the request. We will confirm what we can return, and in what format, before you order rather than after.
02
Preparation.
Before a word is translated the file is converted to a working format that preserves the structure, and the text is checked against terminology you already use: your existing translated materials, any glossary the agency maintains, and the wording your prior notices for the same program used. Consistency across a program is decided here, not left to whoever happens to be translating.
Where the source itself is ambiguous — an undefined acronym, a sentence that can be read two ways, a date with no year, a form field with no label, a placeholder nobody replaced — we flag it back to you and wait for an answer. Guessing at intent is how a translation becomes wrong in the way no reviewer can catch, because it reads perfectly.
03
Translation.
A linguist qualified in the pair translates the document against the prepared terminology, working from the full source rather than from extracted strings, so headings, form labels, and legal boilerplate are translated in the context they appear in.
On a document long enough that the work has to be divided, one linguist still owns the terminology and the final pass. A notice that changes voice halfway through reads to its audience as two documents.
04
Independent review.
A second linguist, qualified in the same pair and not the one who translated it, reads the full translation against the full source. Not a spot check and not a proofread of the target text alone: a comparison, sentence by sentence, for accuracy, completeness, register, and every number, date, name, address, and amount in the document.
Findings go back to the translator and are resolved before delivery, rather than left in a comment for you to arbitrate. This step is in the schedule of a Priority job exactly as it is in a Scheduled one. It is never the step that gets compressed to make a date.
05
Layout and QA.
The approved text is rebuilt into the source layout so the translated file prints and posts like the original. Then it is checked as a file rather than as text, because this is the stage where a correct translation still arrives damaged.
Encoding and diacritics, verified in the delivered file rather than in the editor.
Line breaking and justification in scripts that do not break on spaces.
Right-to-left flow, including numerals, punctuation, and mixed-direction strings.
Text expansion and truncation: every fixed-width field, table cell, button, and mailing window checked at the size the document will actually be produced.
Page and section numbering, cross-references, headers, and footers.
Anything that had to stay in English, checked against your instruction.
06
Delivery and certificate.
You get the translation back in the format you sent, with a signed and dated certificate of accuracy naming the document, the language pair, the page count, and a reference number. The reference is how a copy gets reissued later without anyone having to find the original email thread, which is usually what an auditor is asking for.
Specimen
Civic Translation Co.
San Francisco, CA
Certificate of Accuracy
I certify that the attached translation of the document identified below, from English into Spanish, is a true, complete, and accurate rendering of the source document to the best of my knowledge and ability.
I further certify that the translation was reviewed by a linguist qualified to translate between these languages, and that I am competent to make this attestation.
Document
Notice of Public Hearing
Pages
3
Reference
CT-0000-00
Date
00 Month 0000
Signature, authorized representative
Certified translation
Specimen of the certificate of accuracy issued with every completed translation.
07
After delivery.
If you find something, tell us. Every delivery carries a revision window, stated in the quote: send the passage and what you think is wrong, and a reviewer reads it against the source. If the translation is wrong we correct it, reissue the certificate with the corrected file, and there is no charge. If it reads to us as a preference rather than an error we will say so plainly, and still make the change if you want it.
We retain the source, the delivered file, and the certificate so a copy can be reissued or produced for an audit without you having to be the only holder of it. Terminology approved on this job is carried into the next one for the same program.
Rush work
A rush compresses the schedule, not the steps.
Every tier below runs all seven steps. What changes is how much preparation sits in front of them and how much of the work runs in parallel.
Standard2 business days
Documents up to roughly 2,500 words, per language.
Priority24 hours
Documents up to roughly 1,200 words, per language. Same-day intake before 11 a.m. PT.
ScheduledBy agreement
Handbooks, manuals, and multi-document programs, delivered on a milestone schedule.
What a rush compresses
Preparation. We work from the glossary you already have instead of building one, and reconcile new terms after delivery rather than before.
Sequencing. Layout preparation starts while translation is still running, instead of after it.
Division of work. A long document may be split across linguists, with one owning terminology and the final pass.
Format. We may return a clean, faithful layout first and the fully rebuilt file after, if that gets you to your date.
Assignment. The job goes to whichever qualified linguist is free first rather than to the one who usually handles your account.
What a rush never compresses
The second linguist. Full translation against full source, by someone who did not write it.
The numbers pass. Dates, amounts, deadlines, phone numbers, and addresses checked digit by digit.
The ambiguity flag. If the source is unclear we still ask. A rush is exactly when a quiet guess is most expensive.
The certificate. Signed and dated the same as any other job. There is no expedited certificate that attests to less.
The refusal. If your date cannot be held with review inside it, we decline the date instead of delivering an unreviewed file.
Rush intake runs Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Pacific. If your deadline sits outside that, send the file anyway and say so in the subject line.
Terminology
When we disagree with your preferred wording.
It happens on most programs eventually, and it is better handled as a stated procedure than as an argument on a deadline.
Your house wording wins by default. If your program has named a benefit one way in every prior notice, the next notice should not rename it, and a reviewer who “improves” an established term has created a second term rather than a better one.
We will still tell you when we think a term misreads. The usual cases: a term that is accurate but pitched above the reading level of the people it is for; a term that looks equivalent across the two languages and is not; a term correct in one regional variety and wrong in the one your audience speaks; and a term inherited from an earlier machine-translated version that has been copied forward ever since.
What we do about it: we translate it your way, and the disagreement goes in writing with the delivery — the term, why we think it misreads, and what we would use instead. You decide. We do not silently override your glossary, and we do not quietly go along with wording we expect to confuse a reader.
The exception is an outright error rather than a preference: a benefit described as its opposite, a deadline stated incorrectly, a right expressed as a condition. We raise that before delivery and hold the file until we have an answer, because certifying it as accurate would not be true.