Virginia Language Services

Frequently Asked Questions

No. Since no two pages contain the same amount of text, graphics or other components, any price quoted from sample pages is almost guaranteed to be off. We don't want to charge you more than necessary, and with sample pages this is very likely to happen.

Do you charge more for one language than another?

Every language we offer bills for the same amount, with the exception of Oriental languages, which consistently are slightly more expensive. Other services vary their charges depending upon the language. This makes no sense to us. Why should Polish cost more to translate than Spanish? The fact is that it doesn't. Our rates are based on the length of your document in the source language and the degree of technicality. Obviously, a machine manual will be more complicated and take longer than a business letter, and these have to be taken into consideration when determining the cost. Services that take the source or target language into account when working up a price are overcharging you, and they know it. Why pay more than you have to? It's your money and your decision. You have the right to choose which service to use. Come to us for flat rate pricing, regardless of language.

How do you charge?

For translations, our rates are quoted per page in the source language. A page is defined as 8 1/2" x 11" typed, double spaced, containing an average of 200 words. Some charge per word in the target language, but that only gives the translator a financial incentive to be verbose, without any assurance of accuracy. A service that charges a different rate for each language is basing its charges on how much it estimates a language inflates or shrinks in translation  (just another way of charging per word in the target language).  

A good translation is concise, clear and direct, and we feel that per page pricing based upon the source language is the best, most honest method we know of. Why pay more than you have to? Come to us for realistic pricing on translations.

How about confidentiality?

All of our translators and interpreters are required to maintain strict confidentiality in all projects not a matter of public record. If you have a confidentiality agreement you require, we will, of course, be happy to execute that as well.

I've seen translation software in the stores. Why can't I use it instead of a service?

Even the best translation software produces unexpected and often confusing results. They operate by assigning a one to one equivalency to words in both languages and are incapable of distinguishing the context the words are used in. Language is a human activity. Even within American English, consider the multiple meanings of the word "buzz." It can mean a noise ("There is a buzz coming from that speaker"), gossip or news ("The buzz around town is that Mary got a new job"), a pilot flying low to the ground ("Ralph buzzed the field in his new plane"), to call someone on the phone ("Give me a buzz when you get a chance"), among others. Also, a German who says that he is "a little blue" does not mean that he is sad, but rather has had too much to drink, a distinction entirely lost on a software package. The point is that no computer program can read a sentence and get the context right in translation. That requires human effort and intelligence. Save your money. When getting it right makes a world of difference, depend on Virginia Language Services!

Which word processing formats do you support?

We work in Word Perfect, Microsoft Word and Lotus Word Pro word processing formats. We can also export your files into any current word processing format.

Are your translations and translators certified?

When required, as for example, in the case of birth certificates, transcripts, or other documents where the requesting body requires it, our translations are notarized. In almost all cases. this is sufficient. Who, after all, is the certifying authority and does anyone recognize the name? Courts, academic institutions and other organizations will frequently issue "certified copies" of transcripts, legal documents such as wills and the like, meaning that what you hold in your hands is an exact copy of what they have on file. This makes sense, but a "certified translation?" In reality, there is no such thing as a "certified translation." It sounds impressive, but means nothing.

There is a lot of confusion concerning certified translators. For the record, private certifying bodies frequently require that you maintain membership in their organization to maintain your certification. In effect, they are saying that if you're not one of them, they won't say you know what you're doing. While the testing they require for certification is very good, we simply disagree with requiring membership for certification. The federal and some state courts also have certification programs for interpreters. In most cases, this certification is voluntary and the list of languages certified is very limited. 

I've seen web sites claiming membership in a professional organization. Doesn't that mean that their translators are certified?

No. If you click on the logo or google the organization, what you will find is that the company you're looking at has bought a corporate membership. It doesn't mean that all or any of their translators are certified although they certainly may be. You just can't know without asking. While many if not most of these companies produce fine results, the fact is that the corporate membership and logo are there to make you feel comfortable and are not an assurance of quality.

But I've seen other translation services' web sites talking specifically about "certified translations." How do you explain this?

If you read their explanation carefully, what you will find is that they are offering notarized copies just like we do, then they shift gears and talk about their translators being certified, which probably is true, but being a certified translator does not mean that the resulting document is a "certified translation." There simply is no such thing. To be clear, when a client requests a certification on their document, we insert the following at the bottom of the document:

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