There are good translators and then there are Compliance Translation Certified™ translators. This exacting certification, developed and administered by ForeignExchange Translations, requires that linguists are experts in a particular industry, pass a rigorous exam (and probation period) and are sensitive to regulatory requirements.

In addition to expert translation services, we provide start-to-finish project-management services.

Translation style guides and conventions for source and target languages are a key to ensuring translation consistency. If such translation guidelines do not exist, we can assist you in developing and maintaining these documents.

A translation style guide is neither a dictionary nor a grammar resource. It is a reference guide in which standards for regulatory compliance and culturally appropriate translations are set. The purpose of the style guide is to harmonize standards and to assure consistency from document to document.

ForeignExchange Translations regularly employs Trados Workbench, the industry-standard translation-memory and terminology management tool. Translation-memory tools may, depending on factors such as writing style, be very effective in the translation of high-volume documentation.

Translation memories aid in accomplishing three objectives:

• substantial improvement in translation consistency
• sizeable reduction in turnaround time
• significant reduction in translation cost

ForeignExchange Translations provides comprehensive support for all Trados components, including:

• S-Tagger (for FrameMaker files)
• WinAlign (to recycle legacy translations)
• MultiTerm (terminology management)

We offer turnkey translation-memory solutions, including alignment and proofreading of past translations as well as database maintenance, storage and archival.

One of the cornerstones of the Multilingual Compliance Process is the consistent application of up-to-date, client-approved terminology. For clients without multilingual glossaries, we can develop and maintain an up-to-date terminology database.

Translation glossaries developed by ForeignExchange are comprehensive (they often run to 100 pages or more per language) and become the sole property of the client, for use by in-house linguists and overseas offices.

Client translation reviews enable the client's overseas operations to participate in the translation process, offering them a voice and a sense of buy-in. Second, translation reviews are often required from a regulatory perspective, establishing signoffs and paper trails similar to English documents. Third, reviewing translated documents provides the client with control over quality and timing of the translation.

ForeignExchange Translations manages all communication with reviewers (including regular status reports, timetables and reminders), helps clients find qualified reviewers and assists with the training of translation reviewers.

Many clients rely on us to analyze all changes made by the client's designated translation reviewers. This step is especially important for companies in regulated environments and provides for a closed translation loop.

Under this option, the reviewed and translated text is analyzed by ForeignExchange Translations linguists for adherence to client-specific project and regulatory guidelines. We will accept all review changes except for those introducing errors, mistranslations, additions or omissions to the text, or those raising safety/efficacy concerns. We then submit any questionable review changes to the client's regulatory affairs department for resolution.