Translations

Language auditing

We support our clients in various areas of operation – one of the services offered by Alingua is language auditing. It can be used to verify both written materials and websites, as well as assess the competencies of people working with foreign languages. We often cooperate with managers and HR specialists – on their request, Alingua conducts internal corporate audits, whose aim is to professionally appraise the language skills of employees or candidates participating in recruitment processes. Such a constructive and impartial assessment helps to effectively manage company finances and astutely allocate language training resources.

Language auditing is carried out only by qualified native speakers who collaborate with our translation agency. Native speakers of any language are best at detecting possible errors and deficiencies, providing clients with an assurance of a reliable assessment of employee skills. The language auditing service is always personalised, based on the needs and expectations of our clients. For this purpose, Alingua experts prepare written tests or conduct interviews, which are very effective at verifying the communication skills of the respondents.

Language auditing is not limited to direct cooperation with employees of our client companies. This service can also cover various types of texts, such as websites, which are assessed in terms of their linguistic correctness, clarity and accessibility. Such an audit includes the adding of comments and suggestions for changes, and on the request of the client, these materials can be corrected or edited.

Examples:

• websites
• marketing materials
• job interviews

Copywriting

What distinguishes a well-written text? The key features include linguistic correctness, consistency and unambiguity – the building blocks of linguistic perfection. However, that is not all – for a text to arouse the interest of readers, it should be written with polish and flair, and the content should make them want to continue reading. This crucial fact should be remembered especially by entrepreneurs operating in foreign markets, where the materials published on the website are considered a calling card of any business. Therefore, they must be professional and engaging.

Alingua clients can take advantage of the copywriting service that is complementary to the translation service. We can create convincing product descriptions, comprehensively develop website content or create company profiles in social media. What sets us apart is that we can create advertising content directly in the foreign languages specified by our clients. All materials are created or edited by native speakers who understand the cultural and linguistic context of international markets and can make any text sound attractive to its potential readers. Before beginning to work on a text, our copywriters become acquainted with the character of the company and the communication strategy adopted by it, so that the resulting materials are consistent with the brand image and do not require further editing – instead, they can immediately be put to work to the benefit of the company.

Examples:

• product descriptions
• articles for the website
• social media

DTP – preparation for printing

Because we know the value of our clients’ time, Alingua provides comprehensive language support at every stage of preparing the materials for printing – from the first translated word to the last printed dot. To date, the Alingua Translation Agency has completed tens of thousands of diverse projects, which allows us to provide our clients with an effective, comprehensive and refined translation process, complemented by additional services.

DTP is the final stage of working on the translated text, and the last step before the materials are submitted for printing. This service is particularly recommended to clients who order translations into languages different from Polish in terms of word length or direction of writing, such as German or Hebrew. DTP also comes in handy when there is a need to accurately reproduce the graphic layout of the translated material – for instance, in the case of leaflets, advertising brochures or specific books.

Our experts carry out typesetting services carefully, with every attention to detail, always taking into account client guidelines and the specificity of the cultural context in which the translated text is based. It is not uncommon for linguists, native speakers and graphic designers to work together on the typesetting in order to make the final document linguistically correct and aesthetically pleasing.

The DTP service includes both the preparation of an editable file based on submitted unedited documents and the accurate graphical representation of the source materials. Crucially, at each stage of the work it is possible to monitor the progress and make corrections in line with client recommendations.

Examples:

• leaflets, brochures
• product catalogues
• books

Proofreading

To ensure the highest quality and linguistic correctness of the translations, Alingua recommends its clients to take advantage of a proofreading service for the translated material. This additional language service is designed to eliminate minor punctuation and typographical errors. Our highly-qualified proofreaders also ensure the consistency of the terminology used in the text and verify the faultlessness of the numerical data.

In additional to their extensive expertise, the proofreaders working with the Alingua Translation Agency also have a great range of professional tools at their disposal. They use general and specialised dictionaries, as well as the possibilities offered by language-specific online text corpora. The quality of their work is continuously monitored by means of the Linguistic Quality Assurance system. Alingua proofreaders are skilled in using computer-assisted translation tools (CAT), which enhance and streamline the translation and proofreading process and notify the proofreaders of any internal inconsistencies within the text.

Examples:

• scientific articles
• marketing materials
• medical texts

Localisation

Language is so much more than just a collection of phonemes, lexemes and grammatical rules; it is, above all, a living organism that changes every day thanks to its users. Any natural language is co-created by its cultural context and the local environment in which it exists. The language users’ characteristic perception of the world is reflected in the way they describe it.

The translation process cannot be considered complete if the translated text has not undergone the localisation process, i.e. it has not been adapted to the specific requirements of the target recipient. In the course of their work, all translators localise the texts they are working on – to a greater or lesser extent – when they adapt the linguistic parameters to those used by native speakers of the language. The localisation process most often applies to the formats of dates, currencies, as well as units of measure and weight. In marketing texts, names of people and places, as well as various other references are changed. On the request of the client, much more deep-seated changes are possible. This may be advisable, for example, when translating games or software, if it is necessary to adapt the text to the preferences of the target audience.

The additional service of localisation is especially recommended to clients entering foreign markets and planning to acquire clients from abroad. The localisation services are performed exclusively by native speakers. Marketing and advertising texts will only achieve their objective if they are addressed to a specific group of language users and are consistent with their needs and their perception of the world. The input of native speakers will guarantee that the text recipients will understand it correctly without detecting that they are dealing with a translation.

Examples:

• marketing materials
• games
• software

Source text processing

Very often materials submitted for translation must first undergo initial text processing. Through the provision of the source text processing service, Alingua enables its clients to focus on their core business by saving their valuable time. Alingua experts take care of everything from A to Z.

The starting point for the translation process is to send us an editable file, for instance, a Word document. However, if the client sends us a source file in a non-editable format (e.g. PDF), we use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software, which is used to recognise the content of the file. Sometimes, due to the poor quality of the source material, it is necessary to manually edit the file in places where the software was unable to decipher the text.

Small captions under illustrations or very decorative fonts may prove challenging to even the most up-to-date text processing programmes. In the case of non-standard typesetting or formatting solutions, specialists at Alingua are qualified to suitably prepare the source text for translation.

Alingua experts can also process the source material at the linguistic level – sometimes, the materials submitted for translation require initial editing or proofreading, also in terms of terminology consistency and transcription. If the source text is correctly prepared at the initial stage, the translation process becomes streamlined and the quality of the final product is improved.

Examples:

• documents in PDF format
• results of medical examinations
• handwritten letters or notes

Editing

Some translations must be literal and must completely reflect the source material – these include all types of documents, laboratory test results and technical specifications. Sometimes, however, the form is as important as the actual content of the message. Such a text must sound natural to the reader, so it must be engaging and appropriately adapted to the target audience.

While in the case of the first group the intervention of the editor is not advisable, the second group of texts requires editing by a qualified native speaker, as this may significantly improve the quality of the translation. The editor always looks at the translation with a fresh pair of eyes, while endeavouring not to refer to the source text. Alingua editors’ excellent writing skills and expertise in the linguistic context of the target language guarantee that the final product will always be unambiguous and appealing to the reader.

The editing service is particularly recommended to clients who order translations of marketing texts and websites. Advertising texts and websites are the calling cards of any company. Their main goal is to convince potential clients abroad to purchase the goods and services on offer. In-depth editing also ensures that the message is well understood by the native speakers of the target language, so this service is also invaluable if the translated texts are scheduled for publishing – for example, scientific articles and books. The input of a competent editor will ensure that the readers will not even notice that they are reading a translated text. Editing is often combined with localisation, which means adapting the text to the local cultural and linguistic context.

Examples:

• advertising texts
• publications
• websites

Voice-over

The range of Alingua’s language services is not limited to the written form. Audiovisual translations are a less common, yet interesting branch of our business. We can prepare movie subtitles or voice-over scripts in a language of your choice. To complete such translation, we offer an additional service of voice-over recordings for your multimedia material. The result is a recording ready to be combined with the existing soundtrack. Depending on your needs, we may deliver this service in any chosen language.

The voice-over recordings are made exclusively by carefully selected professionals, and may serve as an alternative to dubbing or subtitling. This way, the viewer can easily understand the content. Text segmentation, phrase length, speed, and pauses during the discourse are adjusted properly to the language version, making it easy to follow the material. This technique is usually more intuitive than subtitling, so we recommend the voice-over service to all clients who need a viewer-friendly multimedia.

Examples:

• educational material
• training and informative movies
• commercials and promotional material

Revision

The translation process does not end with the translation of the last sentence of the text. It is also necessary to ensure that the final product is consistent, accurate and linguistically correct.

In order to be certain that the translation is a perfect reflection of the source text, it is justified to subject it to an additional revision procedure. Within this service, the completed translation is handed over to a second translator for revision. The translation is then analysed sentence by sentence, by comparing the source text with the target text. Revision is aimed at identifying areas which could be unclear to the client or sentences which might have a different meaning in the target text. If there are any uncertainties, the second translator consults the author of the translation. The service also includes checks to see if the specialised terminology has been used correctly and consistently throughout the text.

Revision is necessary for a translation project to be compliant with ISO 17100. When completing translations that meet the specifications of this quality standard, we entrust the texts only to qualified specialists who have a university degree in translation and a minimum of several years of translation experience. The highest quality of revision is guaranteed by the fact that the skills of the person checking the text are as high as those of the translator.

Examples:

• medical records
• technical texts
• financial reports