Academic Translation Services
We at HumanTranslation are committed to providing academic translation services in multiple language pairs at an affordable cost. Please contact our manager to find out whether we can translate into the language you need (the answer will be positive in 99% of cases) and get a quick quote for your project.
We have a worldwide pool of translation experts that specialize in different academic areas, and they know how to comply with all demands set at any academic level. Get in touch with us to ask any questions, discuss terms of cooperation, or get a high-quality translation straight away!
Academic Translation: What Is It?
As an academic translation agency, we say “academic translation” to refer to any educational, scientific, and research materials, usually associated with higher education and beyond, that need to be translated into a foreign language.
Who may need academic document translation services?
- Undergraduate students who need to publish their articles in a foreign journal, for instance.
- Post-graduates who need to study some concept for their research paper that has not yet been translated into their language.
- Academicians who may need some piece of information for their research work (these may include rare pieces that few people know about) that exists only in one language.
Thus, academic translation is our contribution to the world of science that makes the world’s wheels go round and imperceptibly changes our lives to a dramatic degree.
Academic Translation: Procedure
Each translation genre has its style, rules, vocabulary, taboos, and idiosyncrasies, and sometimes all of these are poorly formalized. Therefore, it takes an experienced translator to know how to go about it and comply not only with the express requirements but also with those that are implicit.
1. First of all, the translation should be assigned to a specialist who can handle the subject. And here is what it means and what it takes to translate a scientific piece properly:
- Excellent linguistic skills are a must, of course. They are always supported by appropriate credentials, but the proof of the pudding is in eating. So we value positive feedback on their translations even more.
- Being well-versed in the subject matter is the key. If the translation is done by a layman in the field, it could contain inaccuracies. And what happens if any subsequent conclusions are drawn from inaccurate assumptions? If you are in the academic environment, you probably know that it results in vague scientific-like rubbish that has no grain of truth in it.
- Excellent academic style is another crucial aspect. The translated material may be used for quotations in the research paper, and a poorly translated paragraph (even the one translated absolutely correctly) may spoil the impression.
2. Following the translation stage, the text is assigned to an editor who polishes the style and checks completeness and accuracy again.
- Why should I have the text edited if the translator is as good as you described? Some people who have never dealt with the translation industry may ask that question, and it is pretty logical! And here is what you need to know about editor’s work:
- Human attention span is limited, and texts tire it out really quickly. The translator’s work is not easy at all when it comes to the attention parameter! Therefore, one pair of eyes can never catch all the bugs in the text.
- When a human reads one text many times, he or she inevitably loses freshness of vision. It’s like eating too many candies: the first candy is always sweeter than the twelfth! And all you can do in this case is to make pause, put the text away (sometimes for a week) and then read it again. Your vision will regain freshness like the taste buds that will appreciate the candy after a long break in sugary snacks. However, there is no talk about a fast turnaround in this case. And this is the reason why the text is given to another person who has this fresh vision to polish the text, and this would be the editor.
- Finally, even the works of the greatest writers are not published before they are polished by an editor! It means that it is an almost impossible task for one person to write a perfect text alone: this is teamwork.
3. Finally, the text gets into the proofreader’s hands to get the final touches and suit the stringent quality parameters that we set (and that the academic texts certainly deserve).
Academic Document Translation
The documents that we at HumanTranslation typically deal with include:
- Abstracts
- Research papers
- Theses
- Dissertations
- Articles for (and from) scientific journals
- Essays
- Academic surveys
You may rest assured that we will find a suitable translator for each of these genres who is familiar not only with the subject matter but also with the syntactic, stylistic, and semantic peculiarities of each document we mentioned.
And yes, it may be a whole book! Congratulations on writing a book on an academic subject (or finding the one you need for your research) – and do accept our offer to translate it for you in accordance with stringent quality requirements! Just contact our manager for more information.
Documents for Foreign Degree Programs
You may need a whole bunch of documents to be translated and filed with some university abroad to enroll in a degree-awarding program. You will need your transcript, letter of reference, diploma, or maybe some examples of your research works or papers. We can help you with the whole package: just deliver it to us to process – and focus on your research or studies instead!
We do understand the need for urgency, so we will update you on each stage of the translation of your documents to keep you relaxed and assured you will get your documents on time. You can also get in touch with our managers at any time to ask a question or inquire about the progress. We value your time, money, and nerves, and we will try to deliver a smooth experience and take no more time than is needed for an accurate translation of true academic quality!
What makes a good translation? First of all, a high-quality source text. If this is a marketing piece of translation, for instance, and the original seems to convey some vague message that is hard to understand for the translator, it will be just as vague for the reader. Therefore, the customer should be prepared to work on the text to get a really good translation, and the translator should be ready to ask the customer to do so. This will make cooperation really beneficial – contrary to the “I-need-the-translation-quickly” approach that may not bear the fruit you want.
Ask the client about the country for which the translation is intended. The Arabic dialect required for Saudi Arabia will differ from the one appropriate for Egypt or Lebanon.
Most Arabic translations will require transcreation due to major cultural differences between English and Arab countries.
The target audience will determine the level of formality required in Arabic texts, so be sure to find out all the required information from the client.
The more important the translation, the higher quality should be agreed upon with the customer. High quality is achieved by editing, sometimes by several editors; it may add up to the cost, but it will finally pay off.
