General Terms of Business for Translators
© Copyright Joyce Trocki - First published 2004
© PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHT.
IN ORDER TO COMPLY WITH THE COPYRIGHT ACT AND FOR THE SAKE OF GOOD ORDER, PLEASE REQUEST
PERMISSION TO USE IT. PERMISSION WILL NOT BE UNREASONABLY WITHHELD.
A. Definitions
1. The word “translator” refers the creator of a translation, a revision or an edited text.
2. The “client” refers to the individual or to the representative of an organization or firm that requests the translation
to be done.
3. The parties may be natural or legal persons.
4. A Translator may act as an “intermediary”. There will need to be one contract between the contracting translator
and client and another contract between the contracting translator intermediary and the actual individual doing
the translation.
B. Format of source material and completed translation
1. Source material should be supplied electronically wherever possible and in hard copy if requested.
2. Source material should be in Word, Excel or PowerPoint and if possible, in a font no smaller than Arial 11 or
Times New Roman 12. Faxed documents or documents in a smaller font are not sufficiently clear for
translation. A translator cannot translate illegible material.
3. Material created in Adobe will need to be converted to Word by the client’s information technology specialist
and will be returned to the client in Word format. The client can then arrange to have the translation inserted in
place of the English version. This is the solution proposed by Adobe.
4. Machine translation is not offered or acceptable.
C. Legal Action
1. The Translator will not be liable if there is any legal action including defamation that may arise because of the
content of the original source material or its translation.
2. The Translator will not be liable if there is any claim for infringement of copyright and/or other intellectual
property rights in all cases.
D. Fees and Payment
1. The fee will be based on a completed computer word count in the target language (the language into which the
text is to be translated). The translator will quote a rate per word. Please note that some languages will probably
be longer than the original English version.
2. The translator cannot quote until he or she has seen the entire text of the source material.
3. If the client has to have a fixed quotation in advance, the client may ask the translator for such a quotation,
subject to clause 9 (iv) below on unforeseen difficulties.
4. If the translator is registered for VAT, the VAT amount will be added to the amount quoted on completion.
5. Quotations will be valid for 30 days only.
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6. The acceptance of the quotation/contract must be signed by the person responsible for payment, preferably the
Financial Director or his or her designated representative for a company or an organization.
7. An estimate is only a guide and is not a binding quotation.
8. There must be an official order number on this acceptance.
9. A higher fee may be charged in cases such as the following:
i.
source text in a format or condition that renders it difficult to read and understand
ii.
specific terms that require additional research
iii.
sworn (for legal or court purposes)
iv.
when, after the translator has started working on a translation, he or she discovers that there are
difficulties of which neither party could have been reasonably aware at the time of offer (the translator will have
to notify the client thereof as soon as he or she becomes aware of these difficulties and the two parties may
amend the quotation and fee accordingly)
v.
urgent work outside normal working hours. The translator will have the right to request and to charge an
additional 50%.
10. If a client decides to cancel a translation once a contract has been signed and the translator/s has/have started
the work, the client will be obliged have to pay for all the work that has been done.
11. In addition, the client will be obliged to pay an additional 20% of the value of the work unless the translator
agrees to waive this as he or she may well have turned down other work in order to do this work.
12. Conferences

If translators are working at a conference, and if translation is required after normal working hours,
there will have to be a second and perhaps a third team of translators to work the late evening and
night shifts. The client should foresee this and arrange one or two additional teams of translators to
work the late evening shift and the midnight to early morning shift.

At a conference, the computers and equipment provided should be up to date and should be loaded
with the language tools for the languages involved. Lighting and space should be adequate and
chairs appropriate.
Other general conditions
13. If the client or an agent of the client sends the same text to two or more translators, the client will have to pay all
the translators for the work done.
14. If any part of the work is subcontracted, this must be made clear and the Client must agree.
15. If the client changes the text while the translation is in progress, the client will be liable for the extra time the
translator needs to make the changes and the delivery date may be delayed accordingly.
16. The client needs to appoint a representative to deal with terminology or other queries from the translator.
E. Delivery
1.
Delivery time should include courier delivery time where applicable.
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2. Electronic translations will normally be e-mailed unless otherwise agreed. If delivery is requested by
courier, the costs will be paid by the client.
3. If the client changes the text while the translation is in progress, the delivery date may be delayed
accordingly.
F. Copyright in translation rights and source material
1. If there is no specific written agreement to the contrary, copyright in the translation remains the property of the
Translator.
2. The Translator accepts an order from the Client on the understanding that performance of the translation task
will not infringe any third party rights.
G. Please note that

Translations by different translators will not be identical. Clients are advised to check on the credentials of the
translator before they assign the work.

Clients should not look for the cheapest quotation. The quality of the translation and the translator is more
important than the fee.
H. Sworn translations and translators
1. Please note that only a sworn translator has been sworn at a court in South Africa. Such a sworn
translator is required for interpreting at a court case or for legal documents, such as identity papers and
certificates and for documents required for court cases, and will be listed on an official court document.
He or she has the right to affix his or her stamp to the document.
2. A certification that the issuer is satisfied that this is a correct translation of the original is not a sworn
translation for legal purposes.
3. In South Africa, a sworn translation has to be into or from one of the official languages. If a sworn
translation is required from one non official language to another, for example from Portuguese into
Spanish, two documents will be necessary, one from Portuguese to English and one from English to
Spanish.
4. Many countries require this sworn translation to be stamped and approved by their consulate or
embassy in South Africa before it will be valid in the relevant foreign country.
If you need an experienced and independent professional translator or interpreter, contact the
Translators and Interpreters Networks of Southern Africa (TINSA) at info@interpreter.org.za
or the Coordinator at Tel: 011 485 2511 Mobile: 083 249 0010 or see the website at
www.interpreter.org.za