Overview
Researchers translate their work for many reasons: publishing a thesis chapter in an international journal, submitting a bilingual abstract, sharing findings with a national audience, or meeting a university's language requirement for a thesis summary. Each has a different target reader. A journal article translated into English must use the terms that appear in that field's English literature, not dictionary equivalents; a French thesis résumé must follow French academic conventions; an Arabic abstract needs consistent terminology across Maghrebi and Mashriqi usage where they differ.
Our workflow separates translation and review. A translator with background in your discipline produces the first translation using a project glossary agreed with you. A second linguist compares it with the source text for accuracy, omissions and terminology, then reads it as a target-language text for flow. You then check the technical terms and answer queries, because you know your field's usage better than anyone.
We work across Arabic, English and French as core pairs, and can arrange Spanish and German where suitable translators are available. For translation into English for journal submission, we can combine translation with English editing so the final text meets journal language expectations.
Who it’s for and the problems it solves
This is for you if you are…
- Doctoral researchers turning a thesis written in French or Arabic into English journal articles
- Authors who need a bilingual or trilingual abstract for a journal, conference or thesis
- Faculty publishing book chapters or reports for audiences in another language
- Universities and research centers translating policy reports, project outputs or course materials
- Researchers translating quoted source material or archival documents for their analysis
Common problems we help with
- Machine translation of your article reads fluently but uses the wrong technical terms
- Your field's key concepts have no settled equivalent in the target language
- A journal requires an abstract in both English and another language with strict word limits
- Quotations and references in the original language need to be handled according to the target style guide
- Several people translated different chapters and terminology is now inconsistent
What’s included — and what isn’t
Included
- Source review before quoting: word count, subject area, formatting, figures and embedded text
- Project glossary of key terms, agreed with you before translation begins
- Translation by a translator with relevant subject knowledge
- Independent bilingual review for accuracy, omissions, terminology and consistency
- Handling of quotations: using published translations where they exist, or translating with the original retained as required by your style guide
- Abstract translation to journal word limits, with keywords translated or selected from target-language indexing terms
- Translation of tables, figure labels and captions, and preservation of formatting in Word or LaTeX
- A query log listing ambiguous passages and choices for you to confirm
- Optional English editing pass for journal submission
Not included
- Translating coursework, essays or theses to be submitted for assessment as if written by the student in the target language, where the institution prohibits it
- Rewriting or adding content beyond what is in the source text
- Certified, sworn or notarized translations, which we do not currently provide; for official documents, see our transcript and diploma translation service for accurate translations and guidance on certification
- Guaranteeing journal acceptance; translation quality is one factor among many in peer review
What you receive
- Translated document
- The full translation in your original format (Word, LaTeX or another agreed format), with tables and figure text translated.
- Project glossary
- A bilingual list of key terms with the equivalents used, which you can reuse for later papers or chapters.
- Query log
- Notes on ambiguous passages, untranslatable concepts and choices made, with options for you to decide.
- Review record
- Confirmation that an independent reviewer checked the translation, with the categories of changes made.
How it works
Quote and scope
You send the document, target language, purpose and any journal or institutional guidelines. We confirm the language pair, timeline and whether a suitable translator is available.
Glossary
We extract key terms and propose equivalents based on the target literature. You confirm or correct them.
Translation
A subject-aware translator translates the text, logging queries as they arise.
Review
A second linguist compares source and target for accuracy and terminology, then reads for fluency.
Author check and delivery
You answer queries and review terminology; we finalize and deliver the translation and glossary.
Languages, standards and tools
- Core language pairs
- Arabic ↔ English, Arabic ↔ French and French ↔ English, in both directions.
- Further languages
- Spanish and German to and from English or French, subject to translator availability for your discipline. Tell us the pair and field and we confirm availability before quoting.
- Translation plus revision
- A two-person workflow in which translation is followed by independent bilingual revision, reflecting the principle used in the ISO 17100 standard for translation services.
- Terminology management
- Project glossaries and, where useful, a translation memory so repeated terms and phrases stay consistent across chapters and papers.
- CAT tools
- Computer-assisted translation tools that preserve formatting and support consistency; machine translation is used only as a drafting aid with your agreement and full human revision.
- Citation handling
- Quotations, titles of works and references treated according to your target style guide (APA, Chicago, ISO 690 or journal-specific rules).
Terminology comes from the target literature
The right translation of a technical term is the one researchers in your field already use in the target language. 'Gouvernance d'entreprise' becomes 'corporate governance', not 'business governance'; an Arabic term for a statistical concept may have several equivalents, of which one dominates in published journals. We build the glossary from published sources in the target language and check it with you, which is the single most effective step for avoiding translations that read as foreign to reviewers.
Abstract translation
Many journals, especially in the Maghreb, Latin America and Europe, require abstracts in two or three languages. An abstract has to stay within a strict word limit, keep the structure the journal requires (for example, background, methods, results, conclusions) and use keywords that indexers will recognize. We translate abstracts as standalone texts rather than word by word, check the limit and suggest target-language keywords, often drawing on controlled vocabularies such as MeSH for health sciences.
- Check whether the journal wants a translated or an independently written abstract
- Keep numbers, statistics and units identical across languages
- Match the title translation to the journal's capitalization style
Translation and academic integrity
Translating your own published or publishable research is normal academic practice. Some institutions, however, do not allow assessed work to be written in one language and translated into another by a third party. If your translation is for a thesis or assignment, check the rules and acknowledge the translation where required. For publications, be aware of duplicate publication policies: publishing the same article in two languages usually requires permission from the first journal and clear cross-referencing.
Right-to-left and mixed-script documents
Arabic documents that include English or French terms, equations or references need careful handling of text direction, numerals and punctuation. We check that mixed-direction lines display correctly in Word or LaTeX, that tables mirror appropriately and that references remain in the order your style guide expects.
What the work can look like
Illustrative example — fictional data
Illustrative glossary excerpt for a French-to-English management thesis chapter
A fictional doctoral researcher at a francophone university is turning a thesis chapter on SME financing into an English journal article. The glossary lines below are invented to show format and reasoning.
Glossary entries
'Très petites entreprises (TPE)' → 'micro-enterprises' (term used in the target journal's recent issues). 'Rationnement du crédit' → 'credit rationing'. 'Garanties' in a lending context → 'collateral' when it refers to pledged assets, following the target journal's usage.
Query
Section 3.2 uses 'contraintes financières' for both perceived and actual constraints. Please confirm whether to distinguish 'perceived financing constraints' from 'financial constraints' in English, as the target literature does.
Review note
Reviewer standardized 'ratio d'endettement' to 'leverage ratio' across the chapter (previously mixed with 'debt ratio').
Illustrative example with invented content. It does not describe a real client or thesis.
What you’ll need to provide
- The source document in an editable format (Word, LaTeX or similar) rather than a scanned PDF where possible
- The target language and variety (for example, US or UK English, Modern Standard Arabic)
- The purpose and target venue: journal, conference, thesis requirement or report
- Any existing glossary, previously published papers in the target language or key references for terminology
- Style guide or journal author instructions
You don’t need everything ready to ask for a quote — tell us what you have and we’ll say what’s missing.
What affects price and turnaround
Price depends on
- Word count of the source text
- Language pair and translator availability for your discipline
- Technical density and the amount of terminology research needed
- Formatting complexity: tables, figures, LaTeX or right-to-left layout
- Whether English editing or journal formatting is added
Turnaround depends on
- Length of the document and the number of translators needed to meet the deadline
- Time you need to confirm the glossary and answer queries
- Availability of translators for less common language pairs
Every project is quoted individually. How we price our work.
Questions people ask before starting
Do you use machine translation?
Only with your agreement and only as a drafting aid. Every sentence is translated or revised by a human translator and checked by a second linguist. If your institution or publisher restricts machine translation for confidentiality reasons, we will not use it.
Which language pairs do you cover?
Arabic, English and French in all directions are our core pairs. Spanish and German are available where we can match a translator with relevant subject knowledge; please tell us the pair and field so we can confirm before quoting.
Will the translation be ready to submit to a journal?
It will be an accurate translation reviewed by a second linguist. For English-language journals, we recommend adding an editing pass focused on journal style, which we can include. No translation or editing service can promise acceptance.
Is my unpublished work kept confidential?
Yes. Your documents are shared only with the translator and reviewer assigned to your project, and we can sign a confidentiality agreement.
Can I translate my thesis and publish it in another language?
Often yes, but check your university's rules on thesis reuse and each journal's policy on prior publication. A thesis is usually not considered prior publication, but publishing a translated version of an existing article generally needs permission and disclosure.
What if I disagree with a term the translator chose?
Tell us. You know your field's usage, and the glossary step exists to agree terms before and during translation. We update the glossary and apply the change consistently.