FAQs about Business Translation Service UK

Almost every registry asks for the same core set. Your certificate of incorporation. Your articles of association. The board resolution approving the new company. And proof of who your directors and shareholders are. Most also add a certificate of good standing, and a power of attorney for the local lawyer. Send us the list they gave you. We will mark up what needs certifying too, so you order once and not twice.

Two layers. First the company papers for the local registry, if you are setting up there. Then everything your customer reads. Listings, terms of sale, returns policy, privacy notice and delivery details. EU rules expect the buyer to get terms in their own language. So once you sell there, it is not an extra. Send us your store content and we will quote the lot together.

The distribution agreement comes first. We usually set it out in two languages, so both sides sign the same page. Then the product side. Manuals, spec sheets, safety data and warranty terms. For goods sold in the EU, safety wording has to reach the buyer in their own language. Send the agreement and one manual, and we will price the rollout from there.

Tender packs are the bulk of it. Company registration, good standing, insurance cover, project references, method statements, safety policies and staff CVs. Tender dates do not move. A pack that arrives in pieces is what makes translation late. Send the whole thing at once and we work to your submission date.

Your incorporation papers and articles for the registry. A power of attorney for the local lawyer who files them. Then the client-facing layer. Engagement terms, service agreements and fee schedules. Indemnity cover and staff qualifications are often asked for too. Tell us the country and we will say which need certifying.

Labelling is where the risk sits. Ingredients, allergens, nutrition, storage and origin must all appear in the local language. The wording is often set for you rather than free. Add health certificates, supplier declarations and customs papers. If your adviser has already fixed any wording, send it. We use it exactly as written.

The interface and the help centre for your users. Then the commercial layer. Subscription terms, service level agreements, data processing agreements and privacy notices. Opening an entity rather than selling remotely? Add the company registration papers. We can run the product and legal content as one project, so the wording matches.

The franchise agreement and the operations manual are the big two. The manual is usually long. Add brand guidelines, training material and trade mark records. Some countries also want a disclosure document before a franchise is sold. The manual repeats a lot of wording, so the cost per market drops sharply after the first.

Your agency licence and registration. Client terms of business, candidate agreements and data protection notices. Then the employment papers for the people you place. Those usually have to be in the worker's own language to be enforceable. We handle both sides as one account, so the wording stays the same.

Instructions for use, labelling, packaging, clinical files and quality records. These markets are tightly regulated and every line is checked. This is not work for a general translator. Send us anything your adviser has already approved. We apply it word for word rather than translating it again.

It depends on the destination. Get it backwards and you pay for the whole chain twice. Some countries want the UK original apostilled first, then the apostille translated with the document. Others want the translation certified and notarised, with the apostille placed on that. Tell us the country and the receiving office first. We confirm the order in writing.

Strictly, on neither. The FCDO stamps the signature of a UK public official. In practice a solicitor or notary certifies the document or the translation. The FCDO then apostilles that signature. So it sits on the finished set as a whole. We tell you which arrangement your country expects before we start.

Often yes. It is issued in English and French, and Convention countries are supposed to accept it as it is. In practice many registries still want it in their own language. It is a short document, so it costs very little to add. If the registry is vague about it, translate it and remove the risk.

Allow about two weeks for an apostille route. Translation is two to three working days. A notary adds a day or two. The FCDO takes around a week on standard service. An embassy route can run to six weeks, because queues vary. The FCDO has a faster premium service, and we price both if your date is fixed.

No, and you should see that clearly on the quote. Those fees are set by the FCDO and the embassies, not by us. We pass them on exactly as charged, with the receipt attached to your invoice. Our own fee covers the translation, the certifying, and getting your papers there and back.

Some refuse it. Several EU countries only accept a translation from a translator sworn before their own courts. Others take a UK certified translation with an apostille. There is no single EU rule. It changes country by country. We check yours before you order.

For notarising and legalising we need the physical paper, because those steps work on the original. We use tracked courier both ways, and tell you where your papers are at each stage. If you only need the translation, a scan or a clear phone photo is enough.

Most want one issued in the last three or six months. Plenty refuse anything older, even with a perfect apostille on it. The apostille does not expire, but the document underneath it goes stale. Order the certificate close to your filing date, not at the start.

Send us the rejected set and any correspondence. It nearly always comes down to a short list of causes. The entity type was changed to a local equivalent. The stamps were not described. The original was not filed with the translation. Or the legalisation was done in the wrong order. We will tell you what we can see.

Whichever one the contract says is binding. So make sure it says something. Most cross-border contracts name one governing language and treat the other as a courtesy translation. Settle that with your solicitor before signing, not after a dispute starts. We set the clause out clearly in both versions.

Yes. Dual-column or facing-page bilingual contracts are common for cross-border deals. They make signing much easier, because both parties read the same page at the same time. Tell us at quote stage, as the layout work differs from a standard translation.

For most products sold in the EU, yes. Safety information and instructions generally have to reach the buyer in the official language of the country of sale. Warnings and hazard statements go to a specialist here and are checked independently. That is where the real liability sits. If you have fixed regulatory wording, send it and we apply it word for word.

Left unchanged. Part numbers, model codes, SKUs, chemical names and standards references are locked and carried across untouched. Translating an identifier makes it useless to the engineer reading it. It is one of the worst errors in technical work. Units stay as they are too, unless you ask us to convert them.

In many countries, yes. France, Poland and Belgium among others expect the contract to be in the employee's language. An English-only contract can be unenforceable there. We translate the contract, the handbook and the policies as one set, so the terms match across all three.

Usually the parts that create obligations, which is most of it. Safety rules, discipline, hours, pay and leave all have to be understood by the person following them. Sections on UK-only benefits can often be dropped. Send us the handbook and we will mark up what you do not need to pay for.

It depends on the document and the destination. Invoices and packing lists often pass with a professional translation. Certificates of origin, licences and anything the authority formally relies on usually need certifying. Tell us the document and the country and we confirm before you order. A document stuck at a border costs money every day.

Translation for anything factual. Transcreation for anything meant to persuade. A tagline converted word for word usually falls flat, or means something unfortunate. Transcreation rebuilds the message so it lands the same way on a new audience. Most brochures need both, and we will tell you which parts need which.

A glossary is built at the start and applied across every language and every file. The same translators stay on your account. Without that, your product name ends up written three different ways, and your distributors notice. Consistency is part of what we deliver, not an extra.