Frequently asked questions
Rates and delivery times
A professional and experienced translator translates roughly 2500 words a day, depending of course on the kind of text. Creative articles or marketing texts can take more time than an instruction leaflet. And complex legal or medical texts take longer than a straightforward catalogue.
There is a difference between the time needed to complete the translation itself and managing the whole project around it. Sometimes, a project requires more extensive preparation, setting up a terminology list or doing more research. The completed translation is revised by a second native speaker and in a final check, ‘i’s are dotted and ‘t’s crossed.
We can also work on a translation with a great team of translators around the world. That way, a large project can be completed faster. In such cases, it’s always important to carry out good final editing, so that we can guarantee that terminology is consistent and the result has one tone of voice.
We generally deliver an ISO-compliant translation of a 2500-word text within two days. If you need things more quickly, we will always check with you beforehand. We look at the possibilities and offer you a tailored option.
That depends on a number of factors. The prices is dependent on the language combination, the degree of difficulty of the text, the format of the document and the delivery time desired.
Translating a short but complex text can take longer than a long but simple text. We usually determine the price based on the number of words multiplied by a word tariff.
However, more often these days, we offer you a project price based on the number of hours needed to deliver a good, ISO-compliant translation.
Naturally, we can always give you a rough idea immediately, when you phone or email. We subsequently send you a detailed quote by email. Once we have received your text, we read and analyse it. We look at the structure of the text, the terminology used and the relevant professional field. After that analysis, we send you the quote, without obligation.
There are times when you need to have a text translated at the very last moment. A good translator processes around 2500 words a day, including proofreading and corrections. If you have a text of more than 2500 words that has to be done in a day, that often involves evening or night work. In that case, we call that a rush translation.
A rush translation is almost always more expensive than a ‘normal’ translation. That’s because some other projects may have to be put on hold so that we can work on the rush translation. Or because we have to work much faster to get everything delivered on time. This has consequences for the price. Rush surcharges vary from between 10% to 100%, depending on such factors as whether we have to work evenings or nights.
Yes, sworn translations are charged at a higher tariff than ‘ordinary’ translations. That’s because there is more work involved in a sworn translation. A sworn declaration has to be drawn up and stapled to the translation, and all documents have to be delivered as hard copy.
Plus, it may be that much more has to be done to make your translated document legally valid. Sometimes, a legalisation or apostille is necessary. If you’d like to know more, read all about sworn translations here or get in touch with us!
No, the tariff for a translation depends on various factors such as the degree of difficulty of the text, the delivery time desired and the language combination. Some languages are required more often than others. And here, the influence of supply and demand comes into play.
The scarcer a language combination is, the higher the price can be. Plus, it sometimes takes longer to translate in some languages; take for example languages with special characters, such as Japanese or Chinese.
Yes, they count in determining the total price. It would be weird if we just didn’t translate them. The same goes for numbers or codes. Often, we carry out the word count using a text processing program or an analysis with translating software. If you’d like to know more about what your translation will cost, please feel free to email or call us. We are happy to help!
Languages and translators
With translation, you convey the source text in writing in another language. With interpreting, you convey the spoken word vocally in another language. an interpreter speaks and a translator writes.
They are two completely different services. There are some translators who also interpret but it’s not necessarily the case.
Exito Vertaalbureau provides translating services. We leave interpreting services to the specialists in that field.
Exito Vertaalbureau offers translating, editing and correction of written texts. We don’t offer interpreting services but we’re happy to put you in touch with the specialists who do.
A professional and experienced translator translates roughly 2500 words a day, depending of course on the kind of text.
Creative articles or marketing texts can take more time than an instruction leaflet. And complex legal texts take longer than a catalogue, for example.
A native speaker is someone who has spoken the language in question from earliest childhood.
For the purest translation, with a naturally flowing text, Exito Vertaalbureau works as much as possible based on the native speaker principle,
which means that translators only translate into their native language.
So a translation into English will only be done by a translator whose native language is English.
The theory behind this is that a native speaker is more proficient in the nuances of their language than someone for whom it is a second language.
Now and then, there is no native speaker available.
In that case, we look for a translator with a very thorough knowledge of the target language.
We always do our very best to guarantee quality and deliver a perfectly readable text.
Exito supplies translations mainly from and into European languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Scandinavian and Eastern European languages.
But we also regularly stray from the beaten path with translations into Chinese, Tagalog and Farsi. We don’t do all that ourselves.
We work with a large network of professional and experienced translators worldwide who are all skilled linguists and in many cases have specific professional knowledge.
Technology and tools
Translation software or Computer Aided Translation Tools are software programs we use for your translation. We personally work with Trados 2021 but we can process a range of tools.
For technical translators in particular, translation software is an indispensable tool, allowing them to work faster, better and more simply. This is not the same as automatic translation. The translator is in charge at all times and accumulates a translation memory while translating. Every sentence, phrase or word order is recorded in the memory. They can later be utilised, resulting in clear and consistent translations.
Accumulating a translation memory offers significant savings in time, consistency of vocabulary and sentence construction and safeguards quality.
Machine translation with post-editing can sometimes be an interesting solution. Especially when you personally want to know what a text says, fast and for internal use only. A machine translation is a fully automated translation. Examples are Google Translate and DeepL.
We will never recommend you use this without careful consideration and in any case, without thorough editing of the finished translation. Not only that, but using publicly available machine translations can involve you making confidential information public, which you never meant to do.
Exito has access to secure tools but never makes standard use of machine translations. We are looking into how this kind of AI solution combined with post-editing might play a role in the future. However, to add nuance to text and process specialist professional jargon and consistency between text components, you need a human translator or editor.
A native speaker is someone who has spoken the language in question from earliest childhood.
For the purest translation, with a naturally flowing text, Exito Vertaalbureau works as much as possible based on the native speaker principle,
which means that translators only translate into their native language.
So a translation into English will only be done by a translator whose native language is English.
The theory behind this is that a native speaker is more proficient in the nuances of their language than someone for whom it is a second language.
Now and then, there is no native speaker available.
In that case, we look for a translator with a very thorough knowledge of the target language.
We always do our very best to guarantee quality and deliver a perfectly readable text.
Exito supplies translations mainly from and into European languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Scandinavian and Eastern European languages.
But we also regularly stray from the beaten path with translations into Chinese, Tagalog and Farsi. We don’t do all that ourselves.
We work with a large network of professional and experienced translators worldwide who are all skilled linguists and in many cases have specific professional knowledge.
We are specialised in translations for companies and organisations and work mainly in the maritime, technical, legal and marketing fields. We do that with specialists in those fields!
Quality & working method
Email, phone or send us a WhatsApp message with your question! We are happy to help with information about translations, text writing, editing or correcting.
People with a sound translation and language training, enough experience and the right expertise. They might be freelance or in-house translators or a combination of both.
Translators often translate into their native language – the native speakers. Here at Exito, we always have a native speaker check and edit translated texts. Not only to be sure that the text comes across as intended but also to check that the cultural aspect of the language is as it should be.
Are you unsure as to which agency to choose? It might help to check whether an agency is affiliated with a professional association. Although membership of a professional association is not a 100% guarantee, it does give you a certain assurance.
For example, many professional associations draw up guidelines on how to deal with quality standards, translators and service.
In addition, an ISO standard offers structure to:
- The translating process
- The quality of translations
- Professional project management
- Honouring commitments made
- Requirements of translators, reviewers, proofreaders and project managers
Exito is certified according to ISO 17100:2015.
Certainly! Exito Vertaalbureau is ISO 17100:2015 certified.
This standard was set up specifically for translating agencies.
If you’d like to know more about how we guarantee the quality of our services, read more about ISO and quality!
Yes, we can certainly help you with that. We work with a large number of native speakers in a wide range of languages and professional fields. We don’t only translate; we also help you with the editing and correcting of texts.
Sworn translations
A sworn translation can only be carried out and authenticated by a sworn translator. A sworn translator has taken a professional oath and is allowed to make sworn translations in a certain language combination. Many people also refer to this as an official translation because you often need it for official or legal procedures abroad.
Exito Vertaalbureau has a network of sworn translators in a number of language combinations. We can provide your sworn translation fast and efficiently and help you with any legalisation or apostille you might need too!
[LINK] We tell you all about sworn translations, legalisations and apostilles here.
Exito Vertaalbureau can provide any sworn translations you might need. A sworn translation can only be carried out and authenticated by a sworn translator. A sworn translator has taken a professional oath and is allowed to make sworn translations in a certain language combination. Many people also refer to this as an official translation because you often need it for official or legal procedures abroad.
Exito Vertaalbureau has a network of sworn translators in a number of language combinations. We can provide your sworn translation fast and efficiently and help you with any legalisation or apostille you might need too!
Yes, sworn translations are charged at a higher tariff than ‘ordinary’ translations. That’s because there is more work involved in a sworn translation. A sworn declaration has to be drawn up and stapled to the translation, and all documents have to be delivered as hard copy.
Plus, it may be that much more has to be done to make your translated document legally valid. Sometimes, a legalisation or apostille is necessary. If you’d like to know more, read all about sworn translations here or get in touch with us!
Yes, we can certainly help you with that. In order to be able to use Dutch legal documents abroad, and foreign documents in the Netherlands, they must first be translated by a sworn translator.
There is one more step after this: legalisation of the translation.
That involves the court checking and ratifying a signature. For example, the signature of a sworn translator. This is done with a stamp or a special sticker. The legalisation shows that your document was issued by an competent authority.
For a legalisation, you have to go through a number of organisations, from the court to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to an embassy or consulate of the country in which you wish to use the document. The Apostille Convention was introduced to simplify this whole process.
We’re happy to help, provide information or carry out certain steps for you.
Apostilles and legalisations
Yes, we can certainly help you with that. In order to be able to use Dutch legal documents abroad, and foreign documents in the Netherlands, they must first be translated by a sworn translator.
There is one more step after this: legalisation of the translation.
That involves the court checking and ratifying a signature. For example, the signature of a sworn translator. This is done with a stamp or a special sticker. The legalisation shows that your document was issued by an competent authority.
For a legalisation, you have to go through a number of organisations, from the court to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to an embassy or consulate of the country in which you wish to use the document. The Apostille Convention was introduced to simplify this whole process.
We’re happy to help, provide information or carry out certain steps for you.
Absolutely! In order to be able to use Dutch legal documents abroad, and foreign documents in the Netherlands, they must first be translated by a sworn translator. There is one more step after this: legalisation of the translation.
That involves the court checking and ratifying a signature. For example, the signature of a sworn translator. This is done with a stamp or a special sticker. The legalisation shows that your document was issued by an competent authority.
For a legalisation, you have to go through a number of organisations, from the court to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to an embassy or consulate of the country in which you wish to use the document. The Apostille Convention was introduced to simplify this whole process. We’re happy to help, provide information or carry out certain steps for you.
Documents and layout
It doesn’t actually make a lot of difference. We can process pretty much every file format, ranging from standard Word files to .json, .idml or .xliff files. However, some file formats take extra time to process properly.
For example, we are often sent a PDF as source text – a format that by definition, is not meant to be processed. If you don’t have the underlying InDesign file, for example, we will convert the PDF to a format we can process text in and then we’ll deliver your translation in Word.
File formats such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, .html, .xlm, .xliff, .txt, .rtf, .json, .idml, oR Open Office are no problem at all.
We haven’t listed your format? Phone or email us and we’ll find a good solution together.
We exchange ideas with you on what would give the most useful result.
The simplest way is to send your file digitally – by email or if the file is really big, through We Transfer. We analyse your document, count the words and put together a quote.
Naturally, there’s always the possibility that you would prefer to deliver a deed or other legal document in person or by post (registered) and that’s no problem at all.
Specialisations
We are specialised in translations for companies and organisations and work mainly in the maritime, technical, legal and marketing fields. We do that with specialists in those fields!
With translation, you convey the source text in writing in another language. With interpreting, you convey the spoken word vocally in another language. an interpreter speaks and a translator writes.
They are two completely different services. There are some translators who also interpret but it’s not necessarily the case.
Exito Vertaalbureau provides translating services. We leave interpreting services to the specialists in that field.