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Civic TranslationSan Francisco

Services

Document translation.


The documents an agency puts in front of the public, and the ones a resident has to fill in and hand back. Translated, reviewed by a qualified linguist against the source, and returned in the file format you sent. Standard turnaround is 2 business days.

Scope

What we translate.

Notices and hearings

Notices of public hearing, board and commission agendas, comment periods, rate changes, and service-change mailers.

Benefits and eligibility

Applications, eligibility and denial notices, renewal and recertification packets, and statements of appeal rights.

Intake and forms

Intake questionnaires, consent and release forms, grievance and complaint forms, and the instructions printed on them.

Tenant and health notices

Tenant and habitability notices, inspection letters, clinic instructions, and public health advisories.

Outreach and signage

Flyers, mailers, FAQ sheets, program brochures, counter and lobby signs, and posted rights notices.

Web and digital

Page copy, service alerts, and the email and text messages a program sends to the people enrolled in it.

Files

What you send, and what comes back.

Send the file you actually work in. We translate inside that file rather than in text pasted out of it, so what you get back is a version you can publish, not one your designer has to rebuild.

Formats

.docx / .xlsx
Back as the same file, with styles, headers, and table structure intact.
.pdf
Back as a matching PDF. Where the PDF is a scan or the source file is gone, we rebuild the layout to match it.
.indd / .idml
Back as a print-ready package with fonts and links in place, plus a PDF proof for sign-off.
.html / .xliff
Back ready to drop into your CMS, with the language and direction attributes set on the markup.

Every delivery includes the working file, a PDF of it, and the signed certificate of accuracy. Where a document is both printed and posted, the print version and the web version come together. Layout work on the translated file is described under formatting and layout.

Sets

One document, or a program of them.

A single notice is a job we will take. A set of documents is handled differently, because the risk is different.

When a program is translated as a set — the application, the eligibility notice, the renewal packet, the appeal form — the vocabulary has to agree across all of it. A resident who meets one phrase for income verification in the application and a different phrase in the renewal notice reads them as two separate requirements, and calls the office to ask which one applies.

So before translation starts on a set, we pull the recurring terms into a list: program and form names, legal phrases, job titles, office names, and the agency's own name as it should appear. We check that list against translations your department has already published and against any glossary you already use, then send it to you for approval. The approved list governs the whole set and stays on file.

When one document in the set is revised later, send the redlined English. We translate what changed, leave the rest as it stands so the published text does not shift under readers who have already seen it, and issue a certificate for the new version.

Send us a document.

Attach the file, tell us the languages and the date you need it, and you will have a written quote back same business day.