Frequently Asked Questions
A: Usually, an experienced translator will be able to translate about 2,000 to 3,000 words per day, while a proofreader at the same level can handle about 4,000 to 5,000 words per day. Desktop publishing may take just a few minutes or sometimes, a few days.
In fact, a translation project is not just about “translation”. How much time a translation project will take may depend on a variety of conditions.
Generally, a source text document will go through procedures like engineering, translation, editing and proofreading, desktop publishing, quality check, etc., before it can be finally handed back in target language. Whether all those procedures are necessary and how much time each one of them would take are decided by what kind of services are required.
Therefore, without reference to specific documents and requirements, general estimations of translation time could be hugely different from the actual result.
A: Machine translation (MT) has attracted more attention than ever, though its unpredictable quality is not always satisfactory, and that’s why Maxsun will NEVER use machine translation or any relevant technologies without written permissions from our customers.
However, for those who have faith in the future of technologies, we have a flexible option: MTPE. MTPE stands for “machine translation post-editing”, where machine-translated texts will be reviewed and edited by professional linguists to correct errors and modify style.
The quality of texts that are produced by MTPE depends on both the selection of language pair and the size of existing terminology database.
A: The quote of a translation job is produced based on the word count data from SDL Trados Studio, a well-known CAT (computer-aided translation) software used by almost every single translator or agency, where the source text piece will be pre-translated with existing translation memories (a database of your past translations) so that the repeated sections of the source texts will be spotted by Trados Studio and the past translations will be reused.
A: Maxsun offers professional translation services in over 100 target languages, including all major languages and their common variants around the world, like Canadian French, LatAm Spanish, traditional Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Arabic in different countries, etc., while in addition of English, we can translate from a variety of popular languages too, so technically the language pairs available at Maxsun exceed 500 and are still counting.
A: Language assets are sets of data collected or generated from different procedures of language services, including glossaries, translation memories, style guides, etc. The reason they are called “assets” is that they are just valuable like any other database: firstly, keeping good care of language assets is one of the most effective way to ensure translation quality as the assets are the source of reference and consistency; secondly, applying existing language assets when making a quote could mean a considerable amount of fee reduction on leveraging past translations; thirdly, reusing existing translations means the translation process can be accelerated which could be a huge advantage when you are translating at scale.
Therefore, the maintenance of language assets is just like a constant investment. The earlier you start, the longer you keep, the more benefits you will get. If you are not sure about how or don’t have the time to deal with your language assets, you can always consult with your LSP (language service provider).
A: The cornerstone of Maxsun’s lasting excellence is a worldwide network of over 2,000 professional linguists. All Maxsun’s translators on a specific project are native speakers of the target language with proficient knowledge of the source language, while being subject matter experts on relevant areas.
To ensure the right expertise is fitting into the right place. Maxsun’s focus on recruitment has never been distracted.
The standard requirements of Maxsun’s translators include:
- Native speaker of any language with proficient knowledge of English or other major languages.
- Aminimum of 5 years’ work experience as a professional translator.
- Expert knowledge in at least one technical area such as information technology, equipment manufacturing, telecommunication, cloud computing, etc.
- Pass Maxsun’s test where the translation must be approved by a senior translator in a specific technical area. A certified Maxsun translator can only work in the area that thetest is passed.
A: There are plenty of things to do that will help improve translation quality as a client, including organizing glossaries and style guides, taking good care of translation memories, offering references that help translators better understand the context, responding to queries, etc. However, the most important thing about translation quality is that the translation process is always a joint effort, the more assistance a translator can receive, the better quality they can deliver.