Translation
Quality Assurance
Anyone can write “100% accurate” on a web page. What decides whether a translation is actually right is who checks it, how many times, and against what.
Every EKO 4 translation goes through a three-stage assessment before it is released, on top of the five-stage service process the whole order runs on. Both are set out in full – the service process on How It Works, the quality assessment here.
The guarantee
25 days of quality cover on every translation
For 25 days after delivery, any problem with the content of your document is put right free of charge. That offer is only possible because of what happens before delivery: a five-stage service process, a three-stage quality assessment, and confidentiality and security procedures that run across the whole job.
THE THREE-STAGE quality assessment
Three separate passes by different people, in this order. A translation is not released until all three are clear.
Accuracy against the source
The first check is not a read-through for style. The translation is compared against the original, segment by segment, for meaning, numbers, names, dates and anything that has been added or dropped. On a certificate a transposed digit matters more than an elegant sentence.
A full proofread by a second linguist
A different linguist – a native speaker of the target language, working in the same subject – reads the whole thing again. This is where fluency, register and terminology are settled, and it is included on every project as standard rather than sold as an upgrade.
Format and completeness
The last check is the one most often skipped elsewhere: does the translation mirror the layout of the original, are stamps, seals, signatures and marginal notes all accounted for, is anything illegible marked as illegible rather than guessed at, and is the certification wording right for the authority receiving it.
THE STANDARD we work to
Our language department works to ISO 17100:2015, the international standard for translation services. It sets requirements for the qualifications of the translator, for a revision of the whole text by a second competent person, and for the processes and records around both.
If you have seen EN 15038:2006 quoted for translation quality, that was its European predecessor. It was withdrawn when ISO 17100 replaced it in 2015, and the newer standard is stricter about exactly the part that matters most: the independent second linguist who revises the whole text.
Qualified translators
Accredited, sworn, fully bilingual philologists and linguists – qualification is a requirement of the standard, not a preference of ours.
Revision by a second person
ISO 17100 requires the whole translation to be revised by someone other than the translator. That is stage two of our assessment, on every job.
Defined process and records
Each stage is logged against the project, so a question about a translation delivered two years ago can still be answered properly.
Corrective action
The standard expects a route for putting things right. Ours is free corrections, same day or next day, for 25 days after delivery.
WHAT YOU GET with EKO 4 Translations
- Accredited and sworn, fully bilingual philologist and linguist human translators
- An additional native-speaking proofreader on every project for quality assurance
- Professional DTP editing and formatting, so the translation mirrors your original
- A signed affidavit and declaration of translation accuracy
- The company wet stamp for authenticity
- Official certification on company letterhead
- Full compliance with the ISO 17100 quality standard
- A physical copy with wet stamps and company letterhead where one is needed
- Nothing of yours has to travel – a scan is enough, and hard copies come to you
- Any iterations, corrections and editing free of charge, same day or next day
HOW QUALITY is built into the process
Quality assurance is usually sold as a stage at the end. Most of ours is in how the work is organised in the first place.
One proprietary platform
Our own translation platform rather than a rented one, which saves you up to 6% of the content price. The more you translate with us, the more of the memory is already yours, and the more you save.
Translation and proofreading at the same time
Simultaneous cloud translation and proofreading, instead of one waiting for the other to finish. That is what lets us guarantee a delivery date without taking the second linguist out of the process.
Meaning loss controlled in real time
No more “lost in translation”. Our system flags loss of meaning in the translated content as it is produced, so a drifting sentence is caught at the point it is written rather than at the end.
Up to 50 pages a day
A team can work on one project at up to around fifty pages – roughly 11,000 words – a day, from one shared terminology base, so volume does not cost you consistency.
Efficient coordination
The project management side is ours too. Less handling per project means a lower price for the same work, and one named person who knows where your order is.
Up to 50% off repeat document types
Similar documents in the same order are discounted by up to half – a set of certificates for one family, or a batch of the same form, is not charged as though each were unrelated.
CONFIDENTIALITY and security
Confidentiality
Your text and documents are handled confidentially under UK GDPR for the whole of the work process, seen only by the linguists assigned to them, and we will sign your NDA if you have one.
Security
Files move and are stored through our own platform rather than being emailed around a network of freelancers, and are held only as long as the job and your right to free corrections require.
Originality
Content we write – as opposed to translate – is verified as original through our own assessment and proofreading mechanisms before it reaches you. Not spun, not reworded from a competitor, not assembled by a machine.
Traceability
Every stage is recorded against the project. If an authority queries a translation, we can say who translated it, who revised it, and what was checked.
0 +Years of Excellence
0 +Happy Customers
0 +Official Translators
0 Countries Approved EKO 4's Certified Translations
At EKO 4 Translations we guarantee 100%
- Document Acceptance
- Accuracy and Quality
- Delivery on Time
- Free Corrections
WHERE THIS applies
The same assessment runs on every kind of work we take, and on every one of the 76 languages. What changes is only what is attached to the finished translation.
How it works
The five service stages an order runs through, from free text analysis and a fixed quote to certification and delivery.
Our translation process →Certified translation
A signed declaration of accuracy on company letterhead with our wet stamp – what the Home Office, UKVI, courts and universities ask for.
Certified document translation →Business & corporate translation
Contracts, reports, tenders and technical documentation, priced per word and assessed exactly the same way.
Business & corporate translation →76 languages
The full European and Asian lists. The language decides which linguist does the work, not what standard it is held to.
Translation languages →Some of our clients
As featured on
QUALITY questions, answered
What does the 25-day guarantee actually cover?
Any problem with the content of the document you were delivered. For 25 days after delivery it is put right free of charge, same day or next day. It is not a refund window with conditions attached – it is a commitment to fix the work.
Who checks my translation?
A second, different linguist – a native speaker of the target language who works in the same subject as the translator. They read the whole text against the source. That revision is required by ISO 17100 and it happens on every project, not on request.
What is ISO 17100, in plain terms?
The international standard for translation services. It sets requirements for the translator's qualifications, requires the entire translation to be revised by a second competent person, and sets out the process and record-keeping around both. It replaced the older European standard EN 15038:2006 in 2015.
Are you certified to ISO 17100 or compliant with it?
Our process complies with the standard: qualified translators, full revision by a second linguist, defined stages and records, and a corrective-action route. If you need a copy of a certificate for a tender or a procurement questionnaire, ask and we will send you exactly what we hold.
Do you use machine translation?
Not as the product. Our platform holds a translation memory and a shared glossary, which is why terminology stays consistent and why you are not charged twice for a phrase you have already paid to translate. The translating is done by an accredited human linguist and revised by a second one.
How do you keep terminology consistent across a long project?
Terms are agreed into a glossary before the first sentence is written, and the whole team works from that one base on our platform. A phrase translated once is translated the same way everywhere it appears, including across later updates to the same project.
What happens if an authority rejects my translation?
Tell us what they said and it is corrected free of charge. Certified translations carry a signed accuracy declaration, company letterhead and our wet stamp, and we guarantee acceptance – if something is wrong with the certification, putting it right is on us.
Is my document kept confidential?
Yes, under UK GDPR, for the whole of the work process. Files are seen only by the linguists assigned to them, move through our own platform rather than around an email chain, are held only as long as the job and your correction window require, and we will sign your NDA.
How can you be fast and thorough at the same time?
Because translation and proofreading run simultaneously on our platform rather than one after the other, and because coordination is in-house. A team runs at up to fifty pages a day from one terminology base without the second linguist being dropped to hit a date.
What if my document is partly illegible?
It is marked as illegible in the translation rather than guessed at, and we tell you before delivery so you can send a better scan if one exists. Guessing at a name or a date on an official document is the one thing that cannot be corrected later.
Do you apply the same standard to marketing copy and websites?
Yes – the same three-stage assessment, with the emphasis shifted. For campaign copy and localised sites, stage two is about register, idiom and whether the text reads as though it were written in the target market, rather than only about literal fidelity.
Put it to the test
Send the document and you will have an itemised written quote, a delivery date, and the same three-stage assessment behind it whether the job is one certificate or a hundred thousand words – free to ask, with no obligation, and handled confidentially under UK GDPR.
THE SAME STANDARD wherever you are in the UK
The assessment does not change with your postcode, and neither does the price. Send a scan, approve the quote, and the finished translation comes back by email – with the wet-stamped hard copy posted to your address when you need one.
Certified Government Translation Service Near You
Looking for a certified government translation service near you in London? Look no further, we've got you covered!
124 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX
