Translators' FAQ

Dialexy's translation process is as follows:

1. When we receive a document for translation from a client, we get in touch with you to request a quote and time scales (get guidance on providing a quote and time scales). 

2. Once you provide us with your quote and timings, we send a quote out to the client based on this.

3. The client has 7 days to either accept, decline or ask questions about the quote. 

4. If a quote is declined, we will let you know. Please delete their documents if this happens.

5. If the client has questions about the service or wishes to negotiate times or rates, we will ask you if we can't close the deal without your help.

6. If a quote is accepted, we will request payment from the client and send you a purchase order as soon as the funds reach us (if we receive payment after the quote is expired, we will contact you to get a new deadline from you).

7. Once we receive your translation (in word format), we send it for proofreading and revision by the client. 

8. If the proofreader or the client raise issues that we cannot address or request changes to the translation, we will get back to you for guidance.

9. Once all parties are happy with the translation, we certify it and send it to the client.

10. You can send your invoice at the end of the project or you can bundle up several projects at the end of the week/month/quarter. Get guidance on sending my invoices. 

All of our translations, unless specified otherwise when we ask for a quote, will be used in the United Kingdom.

Please follow these tips as much as possible when doing translations for Dialexy:

• Please keep the date formats as they are in the original. Do not convert them to your country's format or change the format (e.g. don't change 08 AUG 2010 to 08/10/2010 or 08.10.2018 or August 8th, 2010)
• Abbreviations and stamps are to be translated.
• Mark text that you cannot read as [illegible].
• For university modules/names/degree titles - please check the website of the institution that has issued the certificate as very often the terms have an official English translation.
• For diploma supplements – these are usually multilingual and there is a lot of info on this online. You can find educational terminology in various languages when searching for a supplement.
• If the text mentions any piece of legislation, check whether they have been already translated (in particular European legislation)
• You can find information on regulated professions on the EU Regulated professions database.

Get guidance on formatting translations for Dialexy.

The translation of official documents requires replicating the formatting of the original text so that the receiver can identify the information in the original when putting it next to the translation. 

However, some official documents are extremely complex and replicating all items can be counter-productive.

To save us all some time, here are some tips on what we expect about the final translations:

• We never include images/seals/signatures/logos/stamps in our translations as this may infringe copyright. When these elements appear, just mark them with a note in brackets: [signature] [Stamp of the Ministry of Education] [photograph] [Logo of the University of Edinburgh] [Coat of arms of Romania]
• We never print the translations in colour so replicating the colours is not required. We only use black font.
• We do not use borders.
• We use a standard font throughout the document.
• Font size 9 works well for 90% of the documents we translate, with translators notes in font size 8.
• Handwritten text is marked in italics. If underlining or bold are used in combination in the original, please replicate.
• Tables made with tabulations are a real nightmare when adding comments or tracking changes during proofreading, please use tables wherever possible.

Get guidance on translation tips. 

On the majority of occasions, we will not need the translations to be certified.

When we do require them certified, we will make this clear when asking you for a quote and let you know of the required wording for the certification, the number of copies, the delivery method, etc.

A purchase order (PO) is a commercial document containing an official offer from Dialexy to their translators for the buying of their translation services. It describes the service and details the quantity, time scales and price of the offer. If you are paid in a currency other than GBP, the description will also contain a note with your currency. 

Our purchase orders are always based on a quote the translator has provided beforehand. The quote request number will follow the format QDLX-XXXXXX. If you have received a purchase order from us, look through your emails for the quote reference number included in your PO to locate the job.

Timescales can vary depending on the projects so please do let us know what suits you best and we will try to accommodate where possible.

Review the details of the purchase order and if any amendments are required, let your project manager know as soon as possible by emailing translate@dialexy.com. If you are happy with the terms of the PO, please confirm acceptance in writing to your project manager.

Please do not translate any documents for which you do not have a PO as we won't be able to pay you for this work.

We are very happy to try to help you during the translation process. We often have the expertise to answer your questions as we see many documents like the ones you are translating every day. When we don't know the answer, we will ask the client on your behalf.

If you can please send any queries before the due date of the purchase order, this allows for us to contact the client and hopefully not cause too much delay in delivering the final translation.

You can find a quote number in the description of your purchase order for the project. This quote number will match with the subject line of the email you were sent containing the documents that need to be translated.

If you cannot make the delivery date stated in your purchase order, please let us know as soon as possible before the due date of the PO.

Please do also let us know when we can expect the translation so that we can re-organise our work and allow time to proofread the document.

At Dialexy we specialise in certified translation of official documents. While this is a minor area for most of the agencies you may work with, it is the core of our business and, therefore, we expect much more than your other clients in terms of quality and speed. 

When specifying time scales for completion of a project, please consider the following:

• We aim to deliver final translations within 2-3 working days from the client paying, so we expect most translators to be able to return a translation between 1-3 pages within a day or two.
• For larger projects we aim to deliver within 4 working days.
• Several days can pass between our quote request and the client approving the quote, therefore, when providing us with time scales, let us know how many 'working days from approval' you need to complete the job, rather than an exact date.
• We love expiry dates on quotes! If your quote is expired and the client approves our quote, we will get back in touch to check your availability. 
• We are based in Edinburgh, United Kingdom and our time zone is UTC/UTC+1:00. If you are in a different time zone, please let us know when providing your quote and time scales.

At Dialexy we specialise in certified translation of official documents. While this is a minor area for most of the agencies you may work with, it is the core of our business and, therefore, we expect much more than your other clients in terms of quality and speed. 

When sending a quote to Dialexy, please consider the following:

• We expect a professional service so when receiving a document please check to see if this is an area you specialise in. If it is not, then do not provide a quote or take on the project.
• We contact you personally through a professional body directory. If you operate as an agency and you outsource your work to other translators, do let us know and send us your company's terms and conditions of business.
• You can decide the method in which you quote to us (per word, per page, per hour, etc.), but please keep it consistent.
• Typically, translators quote a minimum charge for 1-page documents and longer projects are usually charged on a price per word.
• When quoting on a price per word, please use source word count or estimate and provide a final target word count. We won't accept quotes based on an open target word count.
• If you choose to provide a quote based on word count, it is your responsibility to figure out the word count. While we try to help when we can, it is not always feasible for us to provide a word count for every project we receive. If we can't afford the time to provide you with a word count, we will contact another colleague who can provide a final quote for the job.
• Regardless of the method, we are looking for a clear final quote and timescale from you for the entirety of the work. While we appreciate and value transparency, if you have not provided us with a total amount, we won't be amending any potential mistake we may have introduced when doing your calculations.
• Our quotes to the client include a mark-up onto your quote to us, as well as 20% VAT.
• If you are quoting in a currency other than GBP, then please stick to the same currency for all quotes.

Our quotes to the client are active for a week. If a quote has been declined, we will contact you to let you know. 

Within a few days of sending a quote, we follow up any quotes that have not been responded to. If a quote has expired but the client wants to go ahead with it, you will be emailed to check that you are still available to take on the project. 

Please note that some clients can take weeks or months to get back to us and that very often we do not hear back.

We follow up all of our quotes after a week and do our best to keep translators informed of the outcome. However, we request hundreds of quotes every month and it is not always feasible to reply to each individual translator.

The most common reasons for quotes not being accepted by clients are:

• time scales being too long
• prices being too high
• translations not required anymore

To ensure a professional service, we don't negotiate your rates and time scales and we base our quote to the client on our your proposed rates and timings. Only when time scales or prices are an issue to the client, we will get back to you to see if we can reach an agreement that will be acceptable for all. However, oftentimes clients don't get back to us when we follow up our quotes and we can't provide you with more information.

Sometimes your quote to us reaches us too late and we've sent a quote to the client based on another colleague's quote. If you are unsure whether this is the case or whether your time scales or rates are appropriate, feel free to ask us. We can let you know our typical quoting time to client and the range of prices/time scales that we normally see accepted. 

Please check that your invoice meets the requirements for processing of invoices.

Our default payment terms are 30 days from invoice date - assuming we receive your invoice on or around the invoice date. We will try to pay your invoice by its expiry date but given the amount of invoices we receive, this is not always feasible.

If you have sent your invoice to billing@dialexy.com and CCed translate@dialexy.com, if your invoice meets all the requirements for processing and if 30 calendar days have passed from the invoice date, then please email the billing department to check what may have happened. 

Payments to translators are normally made on Fridays so make sure you get in touch before that day so that we can sort it out in time for payment.

You can only invoice Dialexy if you have received a Purchase Order from us. The Purchase Order will contain our invoicing details (company name, address, VAT number, etc.) The total amount of your invoice must match the amount specified in the Purchase Order. 

Please make sure you include your business name, address, VAT number where applicable, date and invoice number, Dialexy's purchase order number and the total and VAT amounts. If you send a cumulative monthly invoice, please quote all purchase order you would like to include.

Once you are ready, send your invoice to billing@dialexy.com copying in translate@dialexy.com. Given their work load, we can't guarantee your project manager will forward your invoice to the billing department so if you don't send your invoice to billing@dialexy.com, you will not be paid. However, please do keep your project manager in copy so that we have a back up in case your email doesn't reach the billing department for some reason.

We pay overseas translators straight into their bank accounts using Transferwise. If you would like to get paid through PayPal, please send a PayPal invoice (money request) not just the email address that is linked to your PayPal account.

You can reach us on the phone between 9 am and 5 pm UK time, but the best way to speak to us about any translation queries is through the following emails: 

translate@dialexy.com - This is a joint account that all project managers at Dialexy can see. While you will usually work and communicate with your dedicated project manager through this email, any other colleague can step in when your dedicated project manager is off sick, on holidays or needs to share the workload for any reason. 

billing@dialexy.com - This is the account that you should send your invoices to and any queries about payments. The billing department check emails from Tuesday to Thursday so please be patient if your email has not been answered yet.

If you are experiencing technical issues with our platform, please let you project manager know and they will direct you to the relevant IT contact.