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Translation FAQ

I put together a few answers to common translation questions in this translation FAQ. Feel free to contact me in case there is anything else you’d like to know.

Contact

I’m Michail Strijov, a technical and marketing translator for English, German and Russian with seven years’ experience. I’m also a licensed Civil Engineer in Germany, with an excellent degree from one of the leading technical universities in Germany. You can find out more about me here.

I’m a freelancer and not an agency – which means that I stand behind my work with my own name. I listen to your translation requests not as someone who manages a project, but rather as the person who does the translation. I’m simply closer to the work at hand, and that directly translates to less overhead costs (and thus higher quality).

General Questions

I work with most common file formats, including scanned images and PDFs.

When working with web and software files, I use specialized software to preserve the order and function of tags and ensure that your code doesn’t break.

Below you can find some common file formats I work with.

  • Office: PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, Open Office, Plain Text / RTF
  • Desktop Publishing: Adobe InDesign, Illustrator; Quark xPress, FrameMaker, PageMaker
  • Web: HTML, PHP, CSS, JSP, ASP, ASPX, JavaScript, Ruby, Python, XML, General CMS like WordPress, Joomla etc.; WooCommerce
  • IT: C, C++, C#, Java, MySQL, Oracle, Access, SQL Server, XLIFF, Perl, Python
  • Technical: AutoCAD, Allplan, Revit, SAP2000

Common Office apps like Word, Pages and Excel offer word calculating functions. For Word documents, please read on here. If you do not know the exact word count, don’t worry – just send me your file and I will contact you ASAP.

Don’t worry, translation software automatically shows how many words are repetitions (or close matches), so you will end up paying only once for any translation (which, obviously, goes without saying).

I mostly translate English to German and sometimes Russian to German or German to English (although any English I write has to be proofread by a native speaker). If you would like a translation to/from other languages, I will be happy to put you in touch with a trusted colleague.

I mostly specialize in technical, IT/software and marketing translation. However, the great thing about our profession is that you get to work with all kinds of different content. So it’s quite common for me to translate a computer game or a TV spot for a children’s toy as well.

Of course. I can work directly within your Content Management System, with your source code or with extracted text. If you’d like me to, I can also upload and publish the translations right away so they are ready for browsing. If you would like to know how much that might cost, I have written extensively on website translation prices here.

I mostly work with SDL Trados, the leading tool for computer-aided translation (CAT), along with Phrase (formerly MemSource) for translation memory and termbase functionality. In order to open your documents for viewing (or editing), I use all relevant software, including MS Office, the Adobe suite and more.

I’m happy to work with you, whether you’re a commercial enterprise, a private individual, a non-profit or a flying spaghetti monster.

For any translation delivered to you, I go over the finished document in order to ensure the target layout matches the source. If you’re not happy with how the translation looks I will rework it until you are 100% satisfied.

No, I’m not a certified translator; however, if you need a certified translation for a document, I will be happy to put you in touch with trusted colleagues.

Prices

Roughly 0.15 € per source word (when translating from English to German). Please keep in mind that prices can vary depending on a set of factors – the type of content, urgency, format etc. I can send you an exact and binding quote if you send me your document.

Contact me at any time through my contact form – I will get back to you within an hour during my office times (workdays 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.)

Yes. I start billing at 100 words, so anything below that will be counted as a 100-word-translation.

Delivery & Turnaround

I consistently translate around 2,000–3,000 words per day; turnover times of less than 24 hours are possible for orders of that size (as long as I’m not busy for the day). Feel free to contact me so I can send you a binding deadline for your project!

Of course!

If I’m late you get your money back. Period.

Payment

  • For orders below 1,000 words, you can pay after delivery, within a week.
  • For orders above 1,000 words, I ask for a 50% payment upon order placement and another 50% after delivery.
  • For orders above 5,000 words, I ask for 25% payment upon order placement and another 75% after delivery.
  • Online payment: PayPal, Skrill, Veem
  • Bank Transfers: transfer to my US, UK or German bank account.

Guarantees

  • Experience: I have been working as a translator for almost ten years (and I have independent customer reviews to back that up)

  • Customer Satisfaction: Almost all of my customers are very happy with my work

  • Pay After Delivery: I trust my customers – you can pay after delivery for smaller projects

  • Reworking Your Translation: If there is anything you’re not completely happy with, I will rework my translation until you’re satisfied. However long it takes.

If you receive your translation and are not completely satisfied, I will rework the document and incorporate all of your requests. If you are still not happy, I will do it again. And again…for as many times as it takes.