Choose by purpose
The document determines
the approach
An installation warning, a liability clause and an advertising headline demand different decisions. The right starting point is the task the text must perform.
For a manual, the reader must carry out an action correctly. For an agreement, the parties must recognise the same rights and obligations. For a campaign, the proposition must remain persuasive in another language. Specialist knowledge gives the translator a basis for these decisions; revision tests whether the finished wording still fulfils the source intention.
Babylon Translations combines in-house project managers and proofreaders with native-speaker translators living in the target country. The agency has 25+ years of translation experience and a network that includes linguists, engineers, doctors and economists. Assignments are matched to both language and subject rather than treated as interchangeable word counts.
Translation services
Specialist translation
and everything around it
Technical translation
Manuals, specifications and industrial documentation require stable component names, accurate values and unambiguous instructions. Technical translation connects engineering meaning with the language of operators, installers and maintenance teams.
Legal translation
Contracts, company documents, patents and legal correspondence depend on definitions, qualifications and cross-references. Legal translation preserves these relationships without smoothing away a restriction or introducing an obligation absent from the source.
Medical translation
Device information and medical texts require precision about intended use, clinical concepts and precautions. Medical translation sits within the agency’s ISO 13485:2016 certification scope for translation in the life sciences and medical devices.
Marketing translation
Advertising, brochures and product messages need a convincing proposition as well as accurate facts. Marketing translation addresses tone, audience expectations and the distance between a memorable source phrase and an effective target-language expression.
Business and financial translation
Reports, financial statements, presentations and business letters must retain their commercial meaning. Business translation pays particular attention to reporting periods, financial terminology, figures and the difference between a forecast and a commitment.
Website translation
Web pages, navigation and product descriptions guide a visitor towards a decision. Website translation keeps menus, calls to action and metadata consistent, so each language version reads as written for its market.
Software localisation
Interface strings, help content and product terminology must match what the software does. Software localisation works from context and specifications, so a short label such as “Open” names the right command or state.
Machine translation post-editing
Machine output can speed up suitable, repetitive content once a linguist corrects it. Machine translation post-editing is certified to ISO 18587:2017, with human judgement deciding meaning, terminology and accuracy.
Interpreting
Conferences, symposia and seminars call for simultaneous interpreting; business meetings usually work with consecutive interpreting. Interpreting starts from the event format, the languages spoken and the subject.
Multilingual projects
Several target languages, one source and one deadline. Multilingual projects are coordinated by in-house project managers, with parallel translation, shared terminology and the same quality checks in every language.
Language technology
CAT tools serve a different purpose: they support a translator with terminology and previously translated text. Babylon Translations uses Trados and dedicated QA software. Repetition can make large projects more economical, but a familiar sentence still needs to be checked in its current context.
Interpreting
Spoken communication
has its own brief
Interpreting covers simultaneous interpreting at symposia, seminars and conferences, and consecutive interpreting at business meetings. The distinction affects the event itself: simultaneous interpreting follows speech as it happens, while consecutive interpreting requires pauses for the interpreter to speak.
A useful enquiry identifies the languages, subject, location, date and format. Presentation material, an agenda and specialist terminology give an interpreter the context that written translators obtain from the document set. Event logistics and written-document deadlines therefore need separate consideration, even when both belong to the same business initiative.
Project management across languages
Multilingual project management brings parallel language work into a coordinated assignment. The source version, target languages, reference material and delivery sequence need to be clear before work begins. Otherwise a late source amendment can leave several apparently finished translations saying different things.
In-house project managers coordinate the agency’s language work. A multilingual brief should distinguish facts shared by every market from language-specific choices, such as terminology, regional vocabulary or formality. Translation memory supports consistency within a language; it does not replace decisions about what each market version must contain.
Quality framework
Four standards,
defined scopes
| Standard | Relevant scope | Procurement significance |
|---|---|---|
| DIN EN ISO 17100 | Translation services | Translation followed by revision against the source by a second qualified linguist. |
| ISO 9001:2015 | Quality management for translation and localisation | A management framework supporting consistent processes. |
| ISO 13485:2016 | Translation for life sciences and medical devices | A quality management scope relevant to medical-sector supplier assessment. |
| ISO 18587:2017 | Post-editing of machine translation output | A specific framework for human post-editing rather than an automatic quality claim for raw output. |
Certificates describe processes and their scopes. Document requirements, terminology and intended use still belong in the assignment brief.
Before commissioning
Choosing a service
and defining the work
Which translation service fits a document covering several subjects?
The dominant purpose and highest-risk passages determine the starting point. A distribution agreement with engineering schedules needs legal and technical attention; a device brochure combines medical facts with marketing language. The enquiry should include the complete document set and identify the intended readers so the subject requirements can be assessed together.
Does Babylon Translations work with other translation agencies?
Babylon Translations serves language-service providers as well as corporate buyers. The agency works with native-speaker translators, in-house project managers and proofreaders. A vendor enquiry should specify the language direction, subject, source files, reference terminology and required delivery, rather than relying on a language name alone to define the assignment.
Are all translations checked by another linguist?
Every translation is proofread and reviewed. For translation under ISO 17100, a second qualified linguist revises the target text against the source. That comparison addresses meaning, omissions and terminology as well as language quality. Dedicated QA software adds checks, but linguistic judgement remains necessary to assess context and intended meaning.
Can several languages be ordered together?
Several target languages can form one multilingual assignment. Babylon Translations handles parallel translation projects across its range of 32 languages and variants. The brief should identify the exact variants, the common source version and any market-specific content so scheduling and terminology decisions start from the same information.
What is needed for a translation quotation?
A useful quotation starts with the files, source and target languages, intended use and requested delivery date. Previous translations and terminology references help define consistency requirements. Complex subject matter, incomplete scans, source revisions and several target variants can affect the work, so the document itself is more informative than an estimated page count.