If you want to commission a patent translation, you can choose from many providers, and it is not easy to find the one that is best suited for you. Here we would like to give you some questions you can ask a potential translation provider to make the decisions easier.

1. Are your Translators Experts in the field?

 Good patent translation requires not only excellent translation skills but also technical expertise in the field of patent application. Therefore, it is necessary that the translator has translation experience and technical knowledge in their field.

At transeuro, we employ a respective number of carefully selected in-house translators who have 10 to 35 years of experience in patent translation in the fields of electrical engineering, chemistry, and mechanical engineering. In addition, we also have about 150 freelance translators registered to meet the increasing demand and cover other fields such as medicine and biosciences. Our translators are specialists for English and German and can translate directly from German and English into Japanese and vice versa.

2. How do you choose Translators for a Patent Translation Project?

Correct selection of the translator who translates a patent application is very important. Is the translation company simply choosing any freelance translator that is currently free or even outsourcing the translation to another translation company and leaving the selection to that company, or does the company carefully select a suitable translator?

We select our translators based on their experience and knowledge in their respective fields of expertise. After analysing the patent text to be translated, we select a translator who is familiar with the respective field. As a matter of principle, we do not outsource translation work to other companies and therefore know who did which translation.

3. Is the Translation formatted according to the formal Requirements of the respective Patent Office?

A patent translation must always conform to a certain format specified by the respective patent office. Some translation companies only translate the text without adjusting the format accordingly, so that additional formatting work is required.

Our patent translations are always formatted so that they can be submitted to the patent office without any further adjustments. The format of a Japanese patent translation may seem unfamiliar to you at first, as it differs in some respects from German or U.S. applications. We have listed examples of these differences in this blog article. If you have any other questions about the format, we will be happy to answer them.

4. Can you also prepare the Drawings accordingly?

Most patent translations contain drawings. If these contain text, the text might have to be translated via image processing. If image processing is required, you should make sure whether the translation company can handle it.

At transeuro, we can also translate and edit drawings that contain text. However, there are additional charges that apply for image editing. If you want to do the image editing yourself or let your law firm handle it, we can optionally provide the translation only in text form.

5. How do you ensure the Quality of Patent Translations?

For a translation that is legally significant, the quality of the translation is critical. The translation company should have a quality assurance procedure with at least two linguists working on a translation.

At transeuro, there is always a translator who does the translation work and a reviewer who checks and corrects the translation in comparison with the original text. Finally, the finished translation is checked by the quality assurance department using a checklist that is specifically adapted to the respective subject areas and languages.

We hope that some of these questions turn out useful for you. If you would like to test the quality of our translations, we can offer a free test translation of up to 500 words. Just check the corresponding checkbox in our contact form.

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