PORTUGUESE TRANSLATOR/INTERPRETER
Oil & Gas, Power Plants, Contracts, Mining & Steel
FAQ, or Frequently Asked Questions from clients
What is your rate? I translate from 1500 to 8000 words a day depending on deadline, target language, format, complexity and subject matter. Word doc and Excel files into English go fastest. Scanned images into Portuguese take longer, and extra stuff costs extra. I answer questions about documents both of us are examining.
What do you charge? Show me a sample and let me know your expectations, your deadline, how promptly you intend to settle and I'll send you a bid.
How do I hire you? If you like my estimate I send you a signed bid stipulating a retainer, total fee and deadlines, for you to also sign and return. Most clients pay the retainer via a PayPal invoice I send out. Those two things together bind me to do the work. My NDA and W9 are typically included too. I also offer guarantees.
Will you sign our forms? If they contain hold-harmless clauses, liability beyond the contract amount, market-allocation agreements or venue restrictions, no. But I will charge an extra dollar a word for each page of legalese you seek to make binding on me. Nothing over two pages is ever worth going after.
Will you retranslate something botched by others? Yes. I do salvage work, retranslation, bilingual document comparison and emergency repairs to mangled output on an hourly basis, after I look it over.
Do you proofread documents done by others? No. Proofreading is marking (not correcting) errors in a document (not two). I do not offer that monolingual service outside my network of colleagues.
Do you edit documents done by others? No. Editing is correcting errors in or improving a document. I do not offer that monolingual service outside my network of colleagues.
Do you work on weekends? Yes. There are fewer interruptions then.
Do you translate into European or Angolan Portuguese? For Angolan oil exploration only. I translate both ways, including into Brazilian, African and European regional variants. I charge extra to cover edits to Portuguese not for Brazil, and they take longer.
Is Brazilian Portuguese very different from European? 80% of all Portuguese in use today is Brazilian. Of the remaining 20%, ALL watch Brazilian soap operas on teevee. The most important difference is the pronunciation. People who affect the European dialect sound like Mr. Dooley to the ears of the vast majority.
Hungarian linguist Paulo Rònai arrived in Brazil in the early 1940s after a stopover in Portugal--where he didn't understand a word anyone said--and was delighted to discover that Brazilian speech is free and clear of European impedimenta held over from the Dark Ages.
I need 50,000 words translated in three days. If I am paid in advance I will assemble a team of linguists to take on a large project. Given more time I might handle it by myself.
Will you make me glossy brochures in 7 languages? For that you need a reputable agency, not a freelance translator. Would you like me to refer you to someone?
Do you do certified translations? Yes. I am ATA-certified from Portuguese into English, Spanish into English, and English into Portuguese. I produce complete translations formatted to resemble the originals, include the originals and add a signed certification of translation with my stamp added, usually on the back of each page. These are for immigration, federal law-enforcement agencies, colleges and certain professional licensing entities.
What is a tradução juramentada? That is an official translation signed by a licensed Brazilian public translator such as www.juramentada.us. Only Brazilian citizens may apply for the license. Consular officials hire me to interpret, and to translate certain travel documents. I do official translations for United States government agencies. Visit Speakwrite.com.br for Brazil.
Do you do word-for-word translations? No. I produce complete legal translations that are concept-for-concept and meaning-for-meaning, and prepared with professional competence. Under no circumstances will I have anything to do with any entity that stipulates that translations must be word-for-word.
Do you translate the legal, financial & engineering clauses that go into international agreements? Yes. I've translated many bid documents, annual reports & financial statements, mainly for oil and power companies; I'm familiar with physics and math, the laws and the agencies administering them.
Are you available for ongoing projects? Sure.
By ongoing I mean constant interruptions for tiny translations of difficult material on real short notice and you also give us the TMX memory, OK? On second thoughts, no. I'm not available for that at all except maybe as a prepaid sight interpreter on an ad-hoc basis.
Are you available to travel? I routinely travel on interpreting assignments within Brazil and the USA.
Do you interpret in federal courts? Yes. I've been interpreting federal court work since 1998. Visit portugueseinterpreter.com for details.
Do you interpret for Texas state courts? Yes. Contrary to false allegations, no license is required. See TexasTranslator.com. Lobbyists are trying to change this.
Have you any credentials? Yes, three ATA certifications, three Abrates certifications, a Bachelor's in Portuguese and others you may see by clicking credentials. I also translate Spanish to Portuguese, for which there is no direct ATA accreditation.
Do you have a language degree? Yes, a Bachelor's in Portuguese/Spanish. To see the diploma click credentials then click the thumbnail for a larger diploma image. Before that I majored briefly in Engineering & Mathematics and worked for a nuclear scientist. Other test credentials are on the credentials page.
How long have you been in business? Since 1987; more formally, with a registered dba and commercial account for Brazilian Translated, since April of 1990.
Do you accept credit cards? Yes, most major cards, via Paypal.
Do you use CAT tools? Yes, memoQ, Logiterm, Omega-T Cafe Tran and a number of ancillary utilities.
You use Trados, right? No I do not, nor have I ever used Trados. I use memoQ and Omega-T.
Do you use Deja Vu? I use the graphic PDF interpreter. The CAT tool by the same name did not pass quality control and I got rid of it.
Do use SDLX? No. I received it as a gift once and promptly returned it. I use memoQ fror Windows, Cafe Tran for Mac and Omega-T
Why no reply at my résumé? All emails sent to Dear, Manager, noreply, etc... are marked as spam. If you have your own website and translate Portuguese - Spanish - English I will visit your site. I do not hire beginners but sometimes need to divvy up large assignments.
Q: More questions? A: Ask and I'll answer.

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