The beauty of translating chemical texts
As a translation agency originally specialized in EU affairs and politics, our core business used to be translating EU politics and related documents, reports and websites.
We first translated a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) in 2012, into 7 EU languages.
Due to the complexity of the topic, we analysed the text and concluded that it was not a simple chemistry translation. We had to use the related EU regulations and guidelines in order to be able to translate the text properly. Because of our vast experience with EU related topics, we managed to combine this know-how and the technical knowledge of our chemical translators. Our first “SDS-client” was extremely happy with the result, and they immediately started to recommend us to other companies in the chemical industry.
In order to continuously ensure the highest quality, we have developed a method for translating regulatory and chemical documents in a way that minimizes the chance of errors. We are quite aware that even one mistranslated word can have serious consequences. Therefore, we have a 2-step Quality Assurance process, which ensures that problems such as possible mistranslations or missing text are spotted and solved before delivering final results to our clients.
We have built up translation memories (a TM, or translation memory, is a database of translated passages, documents, sections of text and specialised or proprietary terms maintained to ensure high quality translations) for each of our clients. This means that if a text has previously been translated, our software will realize it and will recommend the translation. This method ensures consistency and cost efficiency, as we also provide a 60% discount for matches with our translation memory. Therefore, it’s worthwhile to translate with us on a regular basis, as the unit cost of the translation will be cheaper and cheaper the more units our clients translate.
Our team of project managers have become experts at managing chemical translations. Since 2012, we translate over a million words per year in this field, into more than 50 languages. We can truly say that we are experts in the field.
If you have any chemical texts to translate, please do not hesitate to contact us, we are happy to help.