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A translation team based in Birmingham, UK, we specialise in a small number of languages: English, French, German and Japanese. Our mission is to help you connect with suppliers, distributors and customers in countries where these languages are spoken.
We're not just good with languages. We're also desktop publishing experts, which makes us a one-stop shop for firms importing from or exporting to France, Germany, Japan and many other countries. Do you need product flyers for the Japanese market (for example)? All we need is your English text and a sketch of the layout, and we'll create a professional-quality PDF for you.
You'll find details of our services and prices below, along with samples of our work and testimonials from our satisfied customers.
Translation
French/German→English
Trade between the UK and the French- and German-speaking countries of Europe was valued at around GB£280 billion in 2016. Whatever changes in the UK's relationship with the EU occur in the next few years, these countries will surely continue to be major trading partners of the UK. That means operator's manuals, contracts, technical papers, marketing literature, product information, corporate websites etc. will all need to be translated into English!
We have completed translations from German and French into English in numerous sectors including rail technology, HVAC, industrial machinery, construction vehicles, forestry, leisure and tourism, and management training. If it's English to French or German translation that you need, feel free to get in touch! We can place your project with our trusted colleagues in Europe.
English→Japanese & Japanese→English
With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on the horizon, all eyes will soon be fixed on the "Land of the Rising Sun". The world's third largest economy in GDP terms, Japan has a trade relationship with the UK valued at almost GB£29 billion in 2016. We can help you break through the barriers to communication with suppliers, distributors and customers in Japan!
We have completed translation projects in a huge range of fields – just about everything from pharmaceutical marketing and firefighter training to toxic waste disposal and home audio systems. All of our translations into Japanese are written by a Japanese native speaker and then checked by an English native speaker, while all of our translations from Japanese to English are written by an English native speaker and then checked by a Japanese native speaker. This strict quality control process allows us to offer translations that are complete, accurate and natural-sounding.
Our Translation Samples
Click the thumbnails to see full-size images.
Desktop Publishing and Other Services
Desktop Publishing (DTP)
Do you need a Japanese version of a product marketing flyer? Well, Japanese has strict typographical rules (about the characters that can be at the end of a line, for example); so, for a professional look, it's essential to send typesetting work in Japanese to people who know the language. Just provide us with your English source files and we'll do the rest, translating your text and then using the world-class design tools in Adobe Creative Cloud to recreate your document in Japanese. Is there no English PDF available? No problem! All you need do is let us have your text and a sketch showing your desired layout, and we'll produce a draft PDF for your approval. We can also professionally lay out any existing text in Japanese, English, French or German.
Editing and Writing
Let us take the headache out of business writing for you by checking spelling and grammar, suggesting more concise and effective wording, formatting bibliographical references and doing anything else needed to give more polish to your business communications. We can also write copy in English or Japanese to your specifications and even create reports from source materials that you provide.*
*Students please note: we DO NOT accept requests to ghostwrite school/college coursework!
Our DTP Samples
Images used with our customers' kind permission. Click the thumbnails to see full-size images.
How We Work
As professional translators, we never write in a foreign language! In line with translation industry best practice, each of us only ever translates into his/her native language.
We often deal with source (original) documents containing technical terms too specialised for inclusion in any dictionary. To translate these terms we have to look at relevant specialist literature. Unlike many other freelance translators, we have access to the resources of a university library. This allows us to consult literature in all fields of science and technology that is not freely available on the Internet.
If we're translating the home page of your company's website, the task for us will be to be persuade visitors that your company is one that they want to do business with. A translation that sounds just as good as the original is what we'll aim for.
we're just fanatical about getting things right!
Testimonials
What our customers say about us:
M&Y Translations translated important documents for our NPO, which assists foreign residents of Japan. We use their translations of a medical history questionnaire and a detailed guide to health insurance every month at our consultation sessions for foreign residents.
Coordinator, Medical Information Center Aichi
M&Y Translations, as Japanese/English translators, copy editors and desktop publishers worked very hard over a long period to help us create a distinctive, high-quality bilingual book entitled Space to Breathe: Thoughts from a Japanese Garden. Michael & Yoshiko's work on placing, text colouring, translation and proofreading was second to none. We cannot speak too highly of their professionalism and attention to detail, and our book would not be what it is without them.
The authors, Space to Breathe: Thoughts from a Japanese Garden
M&Y Translations are the best Japanese/English translation team we have ever used. Their translations are always impeccable and of outstanding quality. We have worked with them for several years now and trust them with all Japanese/English translations as they always deliver a perfect result on time.
CEO, Eularis
M&Y Translations are the most wonderful and professional people to deal with. Their translations into English and into Japanese have always been accurate and delivered on time. We've been using Michael & Yoshiko for over 5 years and would not hesitate to recommend them. Thank you for all your hard work over the years – we really appreciate it.
Director, LBG Jewellers
You'll find 11 positive reviews from people in the translation industry that we've worked with here.
And over 90 favourable evaluations from customers here (top right corner).
Pricing, Charges & Payment
How do we price translation jobs?
Unfortunately, we can't quote a price based only on the number of pages in a document. Therefore, like other reputable translation providers, we need to see your document and count the number of words/characters it contains before we can quote you a price. If your document is a non-editable PDF, we may still be able to create an editable file with character recognition software and then do the word/character count from that. We can offer a fair discount for repeated words in materials that contain a lot of repetition (e.g. product catalogues).
We're sorry that we can't say precisely (to within an hour or so) how long a translation project will take, because translation isn't like mass-producing standardised parts. Every job is different, and we can make only a rough guess of the time required, so please note that all delivery times quoted are provisional.
How much do we charge?
Prices below are in GB £. Please contact us if you would like us to quote a price in JP ¥, US $ or EU €.
| Service | Price | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| English → Japanese translation | GB £0.12 per English word* | For translation plus checking by a second translator |
| Japanese → English translation | GB £0.10 per Japanese character | For translation plus checking by a second translator |
| French → English translation | GB £0.09 per French word* | For translation only (checking by a second translator available for an extra charge) |
| German → English translation | GB £0.09 per German word* | For translation only (checking by a second translator available for an extra charge) |
| Checking existing English → Japanese translation | GB £0.05 per English word | |
| English → French translation | Please ask for a price quotation | |
| English → German translation | Please ask for a price quotation | |
| Certifying** a translation | GB £5 | |
| Correcting English text written by Japanese native speaker | GB£0.05 per English word | |
| Desktop publishing | Depends on difficulty | Please ask for a price quotation |
| English copywriting, report writing | GB £45 per 500 words | |
| Japanese copywriting, report writing | GB £42 per 1,000 characters | |
| Printing and mailing hard copies | GB £5 | Minimum charge |
| Hourly rate | GB £20 | |
| Minimum invoice amount | GB £10 |
*This is a "base word" rate before any discount for repeated text is applied.
**"Certifying" means that we sign, date and stamp a translation, state our qualifications as translators, and affirm that we have, to the best of our knowledge and belief, translated your document accurately and completely.
How can I pay?
For projects with an invoice value under £75/¥10,000/$95/€85, we can accept payment by
- electronic transfer to our bank account in Japan
- electronic transfer to our bank account in the UK
(See our invoice for further details.)
How do we protect you against fraud?
For projects with an invoice value over £75/¥10,000/$95/€85, we'll ask you to work with us via peopleperhour.com, a well-known online platform. This service is absolutely free of charge for you as a customer. We'll send you a link so that you can register for an account there, and you'll be asked to deposit the price of the job with the platform when you place your order. Your money will not be released to us until we have delivered the work to you, and your credit card details will never be disclosed to us. This arrangement means complete peace of mind for us and you.
About Us
Michael
Michael (the "M" in M&Y Translations) is a native speaker of UK English. Since starting French at the age of nine, he has spent most of his life as a language learner, teacher or translator. After studying German and French at university, he took the opportunity to learn Japanese during a 15-year stay in Japan. His qualifications include a 1st-class BA degree in German and French from the University of Reading (UK), a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language, a Certificate of Proficiency in Japanese, a Postgraduate Certificate in Child Speech and Language Difficulties from the University of Sheffield (2013) and a Certificate of Higher Studies in Communication from Birmingham City University (UK). Of all the hundreds of translation projects that he has completed since founding M&Y Translations in 2011, his most memorable one is a collection of letters from French musicians serving at the front during World War 1 (French→English). You can read this on line at https://www.rncm.ac.uk/paris-manchester-1918/.
Yoshiko
Yoshiko (the "Y" in our team) hails from Nagoya, Japan and has lived in the UK since 2010. Her qualifications include a BA degree in Archeology from Nanzan University (Japan), a Cambridge First Certificate in English, an 875 score in TOEIC, a Japan Translation Federation Certificate and a DTP Director Certificate. Among the numerous projects that she has undertaken for M&Y Translations, her favourites are the translation of Mr King's Incredible Journey, an illustrated children's book by David Du Plessis (English→Japanese), and desktop publishing work on Space to Breathe: Thoughts from a Japanese Garden by Koji Takeuchi (Maitreya) and Pauline Bell. She has a strong interest in British history and is a member of the Richard III Society.
Links
Some websites you may find of interest
Most of these sites are operated by friends and colleagues of ours. But we aren't responsible for their content!
Adhoc English specialises in proofreading and English→Polish translation. The owner is a long-time British resident of Poland who can provide expert advice to academic authors seeking to have papers published in English-language life-science journals.
Our Translation Blog
Articles on language, translation and related topics . . .
COMING SOON!
Privacy Policy
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Definitions of terms in this Policy
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Under the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. If you would like to request this, please email us at the address in the “Contact Us” section below. You may ask us to remove or correct any of your personal information that we hold. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (www.ico.org.uk) if you believe there is a problem with our handling of your information.
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This website contains links to other websites. Please note that once you leave this website this Privacy Policy will no longer apply, and you will be subject to the privacy policy of any other website that you visit.
Email marketing messages & subscription
Under the GDPR, we may process information belonging to anyone subscribing to any newsletter or marketing email list that we decide to create. We may also send email marketing messages through an EMS. You have a right to stop us at any time from contacting you for marketing purposes.
Changes to this Policy
We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy, so please check it frequently for updates. This Policy was last updated on 10 October 2019.
Contact Us
We'll be happy to discuss translation, desktop publishing and other projects with you.
Please send us an email with details and a file for a translation/DTP price quotation.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU!
M&Y Translations