How Translation
Works at EKO 4
Every order runs through the same five stages, whether it is one birth certificate or a hundred thousand words of technical documentation. Nothing is skipped when a job is small, and nothing is improvised when it is large.
Here is the whole thing, in order, including the parts most agencies leave out of the description – who checks the work, what you are shown before you pay, and what happens if something needs changing afterwards.
THE FIVE STAGES every order goes through
Quote and analysis
You send a scan, a photograph or a file. We read it, count what actually needs translating, confirm the language pair and the certification the receiving body will want, and send back an itemised price and a delivery date. The analysis is free and there is no obligation – and if you need less than you asked for, we say so.
Team and terminology
Your project goes to an accredited, sworn linguist who works in the right language pair and the right subject – legal, medical, financial, technical, academic or commercial. Names, terms and anything that must not be translated are agreed into a glossary before the first sentence is written.
Translation
The main pass, on our own cloud platform. Because translation and proofreading run simultaneously rather than one after the other, a team can work on one project without the versions drifting apart, and a phrase translated once stays consistent everywhere it appears.
Quality assessment
Three separate checks, not one read-through: accuracy against the source, a full proofread by a second linguist who is a native speaker of the target language, and a final format-and-completeness check. How the assessment works →
Certification and delivery
Where the document needs it, the translation is issued with a signed declaration of accuracy on company letterhead and our wet stamp. It arrives by email the same day it is finished, with a wet-stamped hard copy posted to your address if you need one. Corrections afterwards are free.
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 TO SEND us a document
A scan or a photograph is enough
You never post us an original and we never ask you to. A phone photograph works, provided every corner is in frame and the text is sharp – including the stamps, the seals and anything written on the back.
The formats we take
PDF, JPG, PNG and HEIC for documents; Word, Excel, PowerPoint and InDesign for business files; XLIFF, .po, JSON, XML and CSV for software and website content. If you have something else, send a sample and we will confirm before you commit.
What we need to know
The source and target language, the deadline, and – if it matters – which authority or country the document is going to. That last one decides whether you need certification, a solicitor or notary, or an apostille on top.
What happens to your files
Everything is handled confidentially under UK GDPR, held only as long as the job needs, and never shared outside the linguists working on it. We will sign your NDA if you have one.
HOW LONG it takes
Standard24–72 hours
A standard personal document – birth, marriage, death, police or academic certificate – is normally back within one to three working days.
ExpeditedAs fast as 24 hours
When a deadline is close, expedited service delivers inside a day – without taking the proofreader out of the process.
VolumeUp to 11,000 words a day
Around fifty pages a day across a team working from one shared terminology base, so a long project does not have to mean a long wait.
Legalisation adds to the clock rather than to the translation: an electronic apostille is normally issued in about two working days, the paper route considerably longer. The apostille page sets out the current timings.
FREE with every translation
Four things other companies charge for, or quietly leave out. All four are part of the price here.
Free professional advice
We listen to what you actually need before quoting for it. If a plain certified translation will be accepted, we will not sell you a notarised one.
Free text analysis before you commit
Your document is read and counted, and the price calculated, before you entrust the project to us. No estimate that grows on the invoice.
Professional formatting and DTP
The translation mirrors the layout of your original – tables, seals, signatures, stamps and all – rather than arriving as a wall of text. Included with every language solution.
Free corrections, same or next day
A name spelling, a date format, something an authority has asked for: any iteration of your translation is corrected free of charge.
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
WHICH SERVICE the process ends in
The five stages are the same whatever you order. What changes is what is attached to the translation at the end, and that is decided by whoever is receiving it.
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 →Notarised translation & apostille
An FCDO certificate on the translation we prepared, plus embassy legalisation for countries outside the Hague Convention.
Notarised translation & apostille →Quality assurance
The three-stage assessment behind stage four, the 25-day guarantee, and the standard the whole process is built to.
Translation quality assurance →Some of our clients
As featured on
PROCESS questions, answered
How do I start?
Send the document – a scan, a photograph or a file – and say which language it needs to be in and who is going to receive it. You get back an itemised price and a delivery date, free, with no obligation. Nothing begins until you approve it.
Do you need my original document?
No. A clear scan or photograph is enough for the entire job, including certification. Your originals stay with you, and when a wet-stamped hard copy is needed it is posted to your address.
How do you decide who translates my document?
By language pair and by subject. An accredited, sworn linguist who works in your field is assigned to the project – not whoever happens to be free – and every linguist carries an internal quality rating built from completed work and proofreader feedback.
Who checks the translation?
A second linguist, a native speaker of the target language, reads the whole thing against the source. That is stage four of five and it is included as standard, never sold as an extra.
Can I see a price before I commit?
Always. The text analysis is free and the quote is itemised and in writing, with a delivery date. There is no estimate that grows once the work has started.
How fast can you deliver?
A standard personal certificate is normally back within 24 to 72 hours, and expedited service delivers as fast as 24 hours without removing the proofreading stage. Longer projects run at up to 11,000 words a day across a team.
What if something needs changing after delivery?
It is corrected free of charge, the same day or the next. That applies to any iteration – a name spelling, a date format, a change an authority has asked for – and there is no limit attached to it.
Will the translation look like my original?
Yes. Professional DTP editing and formatting is part of the price, so tables, seals, signatures and stamps all appear where they appear on the source document. Anything illegible is marked as such rather than guessed at.
Is my document kept confidential?
Yes, under UK GDPR. Files are seen only by the linguists working on them, held only as long as the job requires, and we will sign your NDA if you have one.
Do I need certification, notarisation or an apostille?
It depends entirely on who is receiving the document, and it is the first thing we check when you ask for a quote. Free professional advice is part of the service, including telling you when you need less than you thought.
Can I order outside office hours?
Yes – ordering runs 24/7 online. Quotes sent overnight are answered first thing, and the delivery date you are given accounts for that.
Start at stage one
Send the document and you will have an itemised written quote, a delivery date and an honest answer on what certification it actually needs – free, with no obligation, and handled confidentially under UK GDPR.
THE SAME PROCESS wherever you are in the UK
All five stages run digitally, so where you are makes no difference to the work, the timing or 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
