What academic translation services cover ¶
Academic translation is the translation of research writing, such as theses, journal articles, abstracts, grant proposals and research instruments, so that the argument, terminology and conventions of the discipline survive in the target language. Scientific translation demands subject knowledge as much as language skill, because one mistranslated construct can change a finding.
We work in four directions:
- Arabic to English and English to Arabic
- French to English and English to French
Translation into English is followed by a native-speaker edit from an editor matched to your field, so the text reads as if it were written in English for an international journal. For English text you wrote yourself, our English editing service may be the better fit.
Arabic to English and French to English translation ¶
Send any English article you admire in your target journal. It tells us the register your readers expect.
Arabic ↔ English
Academic Arabic favors long sentences joined by wa and fa, rhetorical repetition and nominal constructions. English journals expect shorter sentences, explicit logical links and topic sentences. Our translators restructure at sentence level while keeping your argument intact. We also handle:
- Eastern Arabic numerals converted to Western digits for statistics and tables
- Consistent transliteration of names and places, using a recognized system such as IJMES where your field expects it
- Hijri dates given with Gregorian equivalents
- Right-to-left layout for English to Arabic abstracts and questionnaires
French ↔ English
French academic prose produces predictable traps for English readers, and the reverse is true for English into French.
| French | Usual meaning | Common mistranslation |
|---|---|---|
| actuellement | currently | actually |
| éventuellement | possibly | eventually |
| la problématique | the research problem or issue | the problematic |
| un mémoire | a master’s thesis | a memoir |
We also convert decimal commas, French spacing before colons and semicolons, and guillemets to English conventions, or the reverse.
Academic Translation
Send your file today and get a quote with a matched editor.
Thesis, article and abstract translation ¶
- Thesis translation: full theses or single chapters, for example a French mémoire you plan to develop into an English article, with tables, figures and reference lists kept consistent.
- Journal articles: translation into English followed by formatting to the target journal’s author guidelines. Our journal submission support can take the manuscript further.
- Abstracts and summaries: English abstracts for Arabic or French theses, and Arabic or French abstracts for journals that require a second-language summary.
- Medical and scientific research: clinical research papers, protocols and lab reports for academic use.
If your article has already appeared in another language, a translated version counts as secondary publication. Journals generally require permission from the first publisher, full disclosure and a citation to the original.
Back-translation and cross-cultural adaptation of questionnaires ¶
A validated English scale cannot simply be translated and reused. Cross-cultural adaptation checks that each item means the same thing to respondents in the new language and culture. Many researchers follow Beaton and colleagues’ (2000) guidelines:
- Forward translation: two independent translators produce versions T1 and T2, one aware of the concepts being measured and one not.
- Synthesis: discrepancies are resolved into a single version, T12, with a written report.
- Back-translation: two translators who have not seen the original translate T12 back into the source language.
- Expert committee review: semantic, idiomatic, experiential and conceptual equivalence are checked item by item.
- Pretesting: the prefinal version is tested with target respondents, often through cognitive interviews.
We carry out stages 1 to 3, document each decision for stage 4 and help you plan pretesting. Psychometric testing of the adapted scale, such as confirmatory factor analysis or Cronbach’s alpha, can be run with you through our statistics help service. Check whether the original developers require permission or their own translation protocol before you begin.
Terminology consistency and native editing ¶
Readers lose trust when one construct appears under three names. Before translating a long document, we agree a glossary with you for key concepts, instrument names and variables, and keep it in a termbase so “self-efficacy” or “الكفاءة الذاتية” is rendered the same way in chapter 1 and chapter 6.
Where a term has no settled equivalent, we keep the original in parentheses at first use and flag it in a margin comment. You receive the translation in Word with Track Changes from the native edit, margin comments explaining choices, and a list of queries for anything ambiguous in the source.
What we do not translate ¶
We do not offer certified, sworn or legal translation. That includes academic transcripts and diplomas for admission or credential evaluation, birth and marriage certificates, immigration documents, contracts and patient medical records. These need a translator whose certification is recognized by the body receiving the document, so ask that body which credentials it accepts.
How it works and what to check first ¶
- Send your document, the language pair, your target journal or institution and your deadline through the quote form.
- We match you with a translator and editor in your field.
- You receive the translation, glossary and query list, and can ask follow-up questions about any choice after delivery.
Turnaround runs from 24 hours for an abstract to 7 days, depending on length. Files are handled confidentially, and an NDA is available on request.
Some universities require a thesis to be written by the candidate in the language of submission, so translated chapters may not be allowed. Check with your supervisor or graduate school, and read our academic integrity policy. You keep full authorship of your work in every language.