Understanding interpreting and translations
What is the difference between translations and interpreting?
Interpreting is the act of communicating verbally through someone’s home or preferred language. You will most likely be booking interpreting services for meetings and assessments.
Translations are the act of translating documents through someone’s home or preferred language using text. You will most likely ask for documents to be translated to support understanding and ensure informed consent.
What is the difference between onsite face-to-face and online face-to-face interpreting?
Onsite face-to-face (F2F) involves an interpreter to attend physically to your actual meeting, either in the home, at school or in an office.
Whereas online F2F involves an interpreter supporting the meeting through Teams, Zoom or similar platform. The benefit of online F2F interpreting is that the team can support in over 50 languages and there is more flexibility to suit your diary needs. There is also a lower cost for this service and many multilingual families express this makes them feel more comfortable as there are less ‘bodies’ in a room.
Why do translations take so long?
EDEAS staff have at least a level 3 qualification in translating and interpreting and this is to ensure that documents are translated correctly, as well as using recognised methods. There are many different forms of translations and techniques.
For translations we use the recognised Literal technique. The primary distinction between a literal translation and word-to-word translation is that the latter seeks to create a translation that is as close to the original words as possible, while the former seeks to maintain and retain the text’s original meaning.
We often misjudge how long it takes us to write a page in English and all the terminology that is common to you, might not be to others. Everyone also has their own style of writing and so the translator will need to first understand that style, then mimic the style using the Literal translation technique, which naturally takes longer than it would for you to write it in English.
It is also important to understand that many languages place verbs at the end of sentences, don’t use articles (such as the, an, a etc) and write in a different direction, with often more complex letter formation. Formatting, such as tables and graphs can often take longer to translate for many languages due to these complexities.
Due to terminology being very bespoke for each team, a translator will often need to research certain words to gain an understanding of their meaning or seek supervision through their line manager to ensure they are understanding the content correctly.
The Universal translation service suggests a translator can translate around 2000-2500 words in 6 hours, but that timings are dependent on the project and language complexity.
Once the translation has been completed, the translator will then check every sentence to ensure it corresponds to your written words.
If the time it takes to complete the translation is less than we quoted, we will inform you of any hour differences and anything less than an hour, we will bank for your future use within the same financial year.
Bookings and technical support
What languages can EDEAS support with?
EDEAS review the demands for languages and regularly update the languages on offer inhouse to meet the changing Devon demographics. Currently EDEAS has over 20 languages inhouse, who can deliver onsite face-to-face, online face-to-face and translation services. EDEAS also has access a 100s more for online face-to-face interpreting and translations.
How do I arrange an interpreter?
Step 1) Complete a booking request form.
- Read the form carefully, including the front page so that you can ensure you know what services you can access.
- You will need to have a date and time in mind, and we will do our best to arrange it for then. Aim to give us at least 5 days notice please.
- If you are arranging Online F2F you will need to first create the meeting in your Outlook calendar, so that you are able to include the link in your booking request. If you aren’t sure how to copy and paste the link, please see the guidance below for help.
- You should ensure you have your line-managers permission and costs can be found on the first page of the booking form.
Step 2) You will be contacted to confirm the booking or discuss alternative dates.
Step 3) You will then be sent clear instructions to purchase the time via the Devon education services shop. If you haven’t used the shop before, you will need to first register, but any future purchases will be easier. For DCC staff you don’t need to raise a purchase order. Instead ask you line manager for your budget code and enter this in the ‘reference’ section on the shop – we then arrange an internal recharge for you.
Step 4) You receive the service. If you book an 1hr of interpreting, please ensure you start promptly and finish on time. As you will be charged for any over time in blocks of hours.
We are aware that on occasions you may receive the service before purchasing the time via the shop, this is perfectly fine, as long as the shop purchase is done as soon as possible.
Step 5) If you would like to provide any feedback please email this to educate.educationbilingualsupport-mailbox@devon.gov.uk.
How do I arrange for a document to be translated?
Unlike external providers we don’t charge the 10p – 15p per word for a translation, plus a surcharge, but the time it takes to complete the translation. EDEAS’ current rate is £62 per hour, which is considerably cheaper and fairer than charging per word.
Step 1) You can receive a free quote by emailing the document to educate.educationbilingualsupport-mailbox@devon.gov.uk and informing us of what language you would like it translated into.
Step 2) We will then respond with a quote and if you agree to have it translated, we will agree a deadline with you.
Step 3) It is suggested that any identifying content is removed from your document. If you choose to remove information, please ensure you inform us of the gender that this document relates to, as many languages have gender specific termonolgy.
Step 4) You will then be sent clear instructions to purchase the time via the Devon education services shop. If you haven’t used the shop before, you will need to first register, but any future purchases will be easier. For DCC staff you don’t need to raise a purchase order. Instead ask you line manager for your budget code and enter this in the ‘reference’ section on the shop – we then arrange an internal recharge for you.
On occasions you may receive the service before purchasing the time via the shop, this is perfectly fine, as long as the shop purchase is done as soon as possible.
Step 4) If you would like to provide any feedback please email this to educate.educationbilingualsupport-mailbox@devon.gov.uk.
How do I create a Teams link?
It is important to note, that often coping the ‘join now’ blue text option, doesn’t actually send a link and especially on the booking form. Here are the steps for creating your Teams link for the booking form. It is useful to know how to generate the link for online face-to-face interpreting.
Step 1) Create the Teams meeting in your Outlook calendar like normal.
Step 2) Open your Teams platform. This has the icon of two blue heads and the letter T. This is the same platform where you send messages and access your Teams groups.
Step 3) On the tab on the left select ‘Calander’.
Step 4) Locate the meeting and then right click over the meeting and then select ‘copy link’.
Step 5) Open the booking form and then if you have selected online face-to-face interpreting it will ask you to include the Teams link. You can right click and then click ‘paste’, or press they keys ‘Ctrl’ and ‘v’ at the same time to paste it in.
If you are using other platform, a quick search or asking AI to provide instructions will help you to generate and copy the link.
Failure to include the correct link will delay our ability to arrange the booking for you.
Who do I contact to change my booking or if there are any problems?
For enquiries and additional support please email educate.educationbilingualsupport-mailbox@devon.gov.uk or call 01392 237223.
What is your cancellation policy?
EDEAS will always do their best to minimise the cost of cancellations, however if a service can’t be cancelled in time please see the information below.
Transaction services
Once you have agreed to the quote for the translation you will be liable for the full cost of the translation.
Interpreting services
As per DCC Education services T&Cs – 8.1.4 For interpreter arranged by Devon County Council’s EDEAS team, the cancellation notice period is 36 hours and the client will be liable for 100% of the charge if a cancellation is not received 36 hours prior to delivery.