Translation Insight
Tips for Language Agencies that Handle Korean to English Translation Requests
We handle unique Korean to English translation requests from a wide variety of clients. Some requests are from major companies faced with lawsuits in Korea. Other requests come from individuals who run or plan to run a business in Korea. There are also clients who are moving from or to Korea and are faced with the obstacles of the Korean language. One of our key clients is translation agencies - translation companies that handle translation requests for many languages.
We have gone through the onboarding process with language agencies several times, and there are always a few obstacles that come up. Korean translation requests are less common than other languages, so we believe that many of these obstacles come from a lack of experience with Korean. Some language agencies use non-certified and non-native translators. Other language agencies use certified translators that are native speakers. What are the advantages and drawbacks in these different scenarios? Is there a better way to do things? Today, we will talk a bit about this.
Korean is a character-based language - it doesn’t have “words”
The most common obstacle we have experienced with language agencies is that they often try to count Korean characters as if they were words. The word count tool in Microsoft Word and the most common translation tools only count “words.” If you are using the word count for your language agency’s Korean to English translation projects, don’t be surprised if you run into quality problems. Your translators will essentially be paid well below the market rate, though they may not realize it right away or during the first few projects. Our best recommendation is that you make sure you are on the same page as your Korean to English translators when it comes to counting characters. Don’t be afraid to get a few opinions until you get the character count right. This is the only way you will find and keep the best translators.
Difficult Korean to English translation projects involving technical fields should have a higher budget and longer turnaround. Only highly experienced translators should work on such projects.
Many times language agencies will offer us a project with a fixed rate and deadline, before we even have a chance to read any of the project files. We understand that likely their client demanded something specific. However, this is a poor practice, it is essential that the translator has at least a partial say in the budget and deadline. Another aspect is budget. Do you pay your Korean to English translators the same rate for all projects? Are they paid the same for a love letter as a highly technical legal document? Our main rule of thumb is that before we set a rate or a deadline, we need to review the source file. Some files may take a great deal more time to translate than others. The best Korean to English translators that we work with expect that their time is compensated for. Budget is always a sensitive topic and in a global marketplace it seems like there is always someone who will go lower. However, based on our ongoing experience with 3rd party review requests, it’s unlikely you will receive an excellent translation when you offer your translation solution a restrictive deadline or unfair rate.
Korean to English translation should be done by native English speakers
To their defense, most language agencies get this one right. Translators should only translate into their native language. This means that Korean to English translation should be done by native English speakers. There are indeed some native Korean speakers who also speak English very fluently. There is nothing wrong with having a native Korean speaker consult on a difficult translation request involving many cultural nuances. However, our principle is that only native English speakers can work as the lead translator on a given project. Even though it may be hard to find a native English speaker that also knows Korean, if you succeed in finding a good partner, you will see improved translation quality with greater client satisfaction for your Korean to English translation projects.
Offer ongoing training and feedback to your Korean to English translation team. Ask them for open feedback in return.
Korean to English is a relatively rare language pair. It’s far easier to maintain the existing relationship you have with your Korean to English translation team than to replace it. The best Korean to English translators receive more work than they can handle, so it’s best to incentivize them to accept your projects. One way to do this is to provide ongoing training and feedback. If your clients have specific instructions or feedback, it should all be passed on to translators. Also, don’t be afraid to ask your Korean to English translation team for feedback. Perhaps there are things your language agency could improve to enhance the relationship.
If your language agency is having difficulty finding a reliable and high-quality Korean to English translation solution, we would like to invite you to work with us. The best translator-language agency relationships involve close communication and mutual cooperation. Even if you already have an existing Korean to English translation solution, feel free to take advantage of our proofreading or 3rd party review services to examine the quality, strengths, and weaknesses of your current translation team.
What's the difference between certification and notarization?
Almost on a daily basis we receive requests from Canada-based clients wanting files to be translated, certified, and notarized. In Korean the word 공증 means both certification and notarization. This leaves many clients, especially Korean clients with Korean documents very confused. Sometimes, they are even led to believe that notarization can replace translation. Just like any certified translator, we are able to provide certified translations, but only a notary public can notarize documents. However, it is important to note that notarization is only required in certain situations, and isn’t required when translating documents.
Not too long ago, before certified translators became recognized in Canada, the process for having documents translated was different. In the past, translations of official documents could be done by anyone as long as they were notarized. As a result, many are still under the impression that notarization is a necessary part of the translation process. However, certified translations do not need to be notarized.
All levels of government and law enforcement in Canada will accept certified translations that are not notarized. Law firms, hospitals, insurance companies, schools, and tax authorities also accept certified translations without any notarization. Certified translations don’t need any additional notarization because the translation is already completed by a certified translator in good standing with their association. Still, some private individuals may insist that translations be notarized, however it is a completely unnecessary and often expensive step.
How do we know this? Well, for starters, we work with notary public offices across Canada who reach out to us for help translating documents. The reason they contact us is that they have clients who go to their office trying to notarize translations, when the client actually should be looking for a certified translation service. The notary publics are aware that their notarization cannot replace a certified translation, so then they contact us for our translation and accompanying certified translator stamp. If they could handle the translation without our help it is unlikely they would contact us for help so often.
In many areas, including the province of British Columbia, the title “Certified Translator” is a protected title, meaning only those who are certified can use it. Even if you see a translator or company using this title, if their name doesn’t appear in the certified translator directory for your province, then they aren’t certified. As the recognition of certified translators increases, the differences between certification and notarization will become more widely known, even in Korean.
We are able to provide a certified translator stamp on translations we complete. Our certified Korean to English translators are certified across Canada. However, if you are in need of a good notary public, please let us know, and we will refer you to them for your non-translation needs.
How to Design a Perfect Translation Test
The perfect balance is to design a translation test that’s not too hard where no one ever passes it, but not too easy to the point of attracting too many qualified candidates.
Since the testing phase doesn’t actually generate any revenue, it’s often viewed as a burden and unnecessary step.
We were recently onboarded as a vendor for a major translation company, and in that process, they had us perform a test translation. After viewing the file for a moment or two, it sounded very familiar. A quick Google search showed that the text was actually a translation into Korean of a recent Hollywood movie. While this content was definitely entertaining to read, it did little to gauge our actual translation ability.
To assess translators’ abilities, it's important to look into many different parts of a language. Here are a few things we found extremely helpful for Korean to English translation tests:
Deter Copy and Paste
Sometimes we’ve observed translators copy and pasting the text for test translations into Google Translate, and then trying to edit it into smooth English. As a result, we recommend providing test translations as an image in PDF. Make sure the copy text function is disabled. Of course, it’s still possible for a candidate to re-type the text into a machine translation engine. Doing this just deters them a bit.
Include Hanja Characters
Have a few Hanja characters (the Chinese characters used in Korean). Koreans typically learn some Hanja characters during elementary school. We usually recommend including two “elementary school level” Hanja characters, and one “high school level” Hanja character on translation tests. A novice translator will likely be scared away by the characters, or not even attempt to translate them. Experienced translators, even if they don’t know the characters right away, will know how to do the research and figure it out.
Include several words and phrases that aren’t in the dictionary. These could be slang, industry terms, or idioms. Including this in the test will help you see how the candidates deal with words and phrases they cannot simply look up on the spot.
Have a Good Length
We’ve found that between 300-400 words is the perfect length when designing a test. Anything less than this is sometimes inadequate when it comes to assessing ability. Anything longer will likely result in decreased interest.
Give Them Time
We recommend providing only 24 hours for test completion. There is a risk that with a longer time window, the candidate will try to collude or outsource the work. However, we’ve found it’s important to respect the schedule of the candidate. The candidate could be asked for a particular day they have some availability, and the test could be sent on that morning. We also recommend scheduling the evaluation of the test to be quick. Candidates will be anxious for results, and having the results to them quickly can show some professionalism.
Have space between retakes
We generally recommend that candidates can only take tests once per year.
We have designed many Korean translation tests across a variety of disciplines. Feel free to get in touch if you are looking to improve your Korean translator screening and onboarding process.
Translation of Bank Statements and Credit Card Statements
One request that we often receive is to provide certified translations of Korean bank statements, credit card statements, credit reports, wire transfer remittance statements, and more. Generally, these translations are required by a Canadian or US bank, mortgage broker, or other organization. We have discovered a few of the unique challenges when it comes to handling these types of documents.
First of all, we have found that formatting is incredibly important to the end client being able to make much sense of the translation. As a result, we typically have such requests paired with our formatting team. This allows the translator to spend their time focusing on the translation component, and allows us to deliver a document that matches the source formatting exactly. The client ends up receiving an accurate translation with everything presented in an organized manner.
In addition, many banks and mortgage brokers prefer to have all the monetary amounts converted into Canadian dollars or United States dollars, rather than leaving them all in Korean won. Whenever a client requests it, we use the reference exchange rate to convert all currency amounts into their preferred target currency. This helps them to better analyze their client’s financial situation in the currency they are most familiar with.
Also, we have found that the names of Korean merchants on Korean bank statements and credit card statements are sometimes shortened. Even words like “debit,” “credit,” “deposit,” “transfer,” “payment,” and “wire transfer,” often end up being shortened on the Korean statements. If you choose a translator who hasn’t handled many financial translations in the past they will likely get confused with these shortened words. The problem is that the shortened words are obvious to Korean accountants, bankers, and brokers - so these won’t be found in any free online dictionaries. Further complicating matters, sometimes the abbreviations vary depending on the bank!
We have translated several types of financial and banking statements from nearly all of the major banks in South Korea. As a result, you can rest assured that our certified translations of Korean financial and banking documents will be thorough, accurate, and easy to read. We are certified across Canada and can send the certified Korean to English translations directly to your bank, credit union, or mortgage broker.
Certified Translation for Canada Express Entry PR Applications
Are you in the process of getting your Korean documents translated to submit as part of your Express Entry PR Application?
If you have any Korean documents that need to be submitted, you’ll need to have them translated and stamped or sealed by a certified translator. Both the Korean source documents and the English translations must be stamped.
In the past translations could be done by any translator as long as they were accompanied by an affidavit from the person who completed the translation.
However, ever since 2021, this is no longer the case. Now, it’s mandatory to use a certified translator. A Certified Translator (C.T.) is a certified member in good standing of a professional association in Canada. The Government of Canada doesn’t accept translations by Associate translators, or translators in the process of receiving their certification.
Submitting your Express Entry PR application is an important procedure. Official Korean government forms and identification documents contain a mixture of legal and general language, Hanja (Chinese characters used in Korean), and unique formatting. It’s important to get it done right the first time around!
Our Korean to English certified translation ensures that these requests are done carefully and accurately. We’re able to make sure your Korean to English translations will meet all the Government of Canada submission requirements.
Certified Translation for Canadian Permanent Residency (PR) Applications
Are you searching for a certified Korean to English translator in Canada to help with your supporting documents for permanent residency (PR) or immigration application?
Did you know that as of 2021, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada only accepts translations performed by certified translators?
Here are the two specific requirements:
“The translation must be done by a Certified Translator, or it will not be accepted.”
“A Certified Translator is a translator who is a full member in good standing of one of the provincial professional translation associations in Canada…”
This is a significant policy change from previous years when nearly anyone could perform translations, as long as an affidavit was attached. Now, only translations performed by certified translators will be accepted. It can be a challenge to find certified Korean-English translators in many provinces and states. It is best to plan ahead and make sure you have qualified Korean-English translator set up to handle all your documentation on time. Don’t be afraid to ask for evidence of the translator’s credentials, so you know for sure your supporting documents will satisfy the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada requirements.
Corey Colling, our in-house Certified Korean-English translator personally translates and certifies all documents being submitted to IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada).
The following are some of the most common documents that customers request certified translations for when preparing their permanent residency (PR) applications.
Korean basic (birth) certificates (기본 증명서)
Certificates of family relationship (가족 관계 증명서)
Death certificates (사망 증명서)
Adoption certificates (입양 증명서)
Certificates of name change (개명 증명서)
Driver’s licences (운전 면허증)
National identification cards (주민등록증)
Criminal (investigation) records check reply (background check (criminal records) certificate (including lapsed records) (범죄· 수사경력 회보서 (실효된 형 포함))
We also specialize in the certified translation of Korean documents that do not appear above.
We are able to certify our Korean to English translations across Canada with an official stamp from a certified translator. Contact us to receive a free quotation for the translation of your documents.
Korean Genealogy Records Translation and Research
Are you a Korean residing abroad doing research into your family history? Is your significant other or in-law a Korean searching for genealogy related information? Korean genealogical records are among the best kept in the world. However, the records often contain Hanja (the Chinese characters used in Korean), old handwritten Korean text, and sometimes even Japanese (especially for records covering the period of the Japanese occupation of Korea a.k.a. 일제강점기). Simply put, the records exist but making proper sense of them is another thing. Access to information is growing every day but there is still a serious lack of English information and resources when it comes to Korean genealogy. We aim to bridge this gap.
If you or someone close to you is searching for information about their Korean lineage, there are a few types of documents that will contain the most critical information.
제적등본 or 제적등본(초본) = jejeokdeungbon (Certified Copy of Family Census Register)
This contains information about the head of the household, children, and details of birth, marriage, and death. This document also contains the name of parents of individuals contained in the record. The family register was most widely used until 2008, up until the introduction of the 가족관계증명서 = gajokgwangyejeungmyeongseo (Certificate of Family Relationships).
족보 = jokbo or chokbo (Family Genealogy Book)
This record is kept and maintained within individual families, generally being passed down from father to eldest son. In many cases such records are handwritten, and in hard copy. There are actually several types of jokbo books that include different parts of one’s Korean lineage. These include: 세보 (sebo), 파보 (pabo), 대동보 (daedongbo), 가승보 (gaseungbo), 계보 (gyaebo), 가보 (gabo), and 만성보 (manseongbo).
기본증명서 = gibonjeungmyeongseo (Basic Certificate)
Sometimes this document is erroneously referred to as “Birth Certificate.” While a Korean Basic Certificate does contain information about one’s birth, the immigration departments in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. only accept “Basic Certificate” as the correct translation. This document also contains information about death, name changes or corrections, loss of citizenship, and family origin, so it can involve a whole lot more than only birth information.
We’ve translated more than 450 different family genealogies to date, and have long-term experience with all these types of documents. Our team is able to read all the possible characters you will come across when doing Korean family history work. If you are struggling to make sense of the family records in your possession, feel free to contact us.
How much should you pay for a Korean to English translator?
Over the past few years we have handled hundreds of review requests as a third party reviewer. There are a few reasons why clients request a third party review of translated files. One of the most common reasons is that one of their clients or customers complained about mistranslations or errors, and now it’s time to determine if their claims have any merit. Another reason is that often clients want to spot check material and make sure that the translations are fully correct and that quality concerns are not creeping into their Korean to English translations.
As more and more people who speak Korean and English enter the Korean to English translation field, filling the increase in demand for Korean to English translators, competition will likely continue to intensify.
When we first started out offering Korean to English translation services more than 10 years ago there were so few competent translators around who understood both Korean and English that clients were willing to pay whatever we quoted. However, we have lost a few big projects to cheaper and less experienced translators, over the past few years. Fortunately, most of these clients have returned at the last minute pleading for us to repair a low-quality translation they ordered elsewhere. Based on the volatility of the economy these days, we absolutely understand companies trying to keep costs low. In the end, it’s clear that there is a temptation to go for the cheapest solution when it comes to translation, often with disastrous results.
We are certainly not claiming that by choosing a cheaper Korean-English translator that the end quality will be poor. There are a number of places in the world where the cost of living is so low that translators could easily support themselves on very low rates. However, many of these regions are outside of the English-speaking zone, and so such translators may not be native English speakers.
The main question to consider is, how important is your Korean to English translation request? Does it involve information you will be using to make a legal, insurance, or financial claim? Before going with the lowest cost translator you can find, make sure you are aware of the possible fallout if they cannot get the job done right. It is likely that someone with somewhat more experience will charge a bit higher than the lowest cost solution. If you try and track down another translator to fix things up, it’s possible they will need to do a fresh Korean to English translation, and the rate may be even higher than Translator A.
We’ll simplify the rate for ease of illustration. Let’s say Translator A was $100. Their delivery didn’t make the cut - it’s hard to understand, and has poor formatting. You then go ahead and contact Translator B. Their quote is $175. Another translator, Translator C, who uses the model below charges $300.
Translator A ($100) + Translator B ($175) = $275.
This is still cheaper than Translator C, but it may take more than twice the time for two separate translators to complete their work.
Based on our experience, Translator B likely has a good flow of work from another of their clients with the following arrangement, so for some requests, it may make sense to choose Translator B instead of Translators A or C. However, for some other cases, it may be best to go with Translator C from the beginning, for added peace of mind on important requests.
Paying more is by no means a reflection of the quality you receive when it comes to translation, so it does pay to shop around and compare options, as well as translation experience and competency. Consider how valuable the end product is to you or your organization, but also how much you value quick and accurate delivery, as opposed to going through a number of options and taking weeks to find the best deal.
Korean to English translator + Korean to English proofreader - monolingual English editor (a good editor who doesn’t know any Korean).
This set-up ensures that the translated file is reviewed from a few angles prior to final submission. Even the best of translators benefit from working in this type of team format. When we started working with this type of model, the feedback we received from colleagues was something that really helped in improving our translation craft.
Translating Korean documents for submission to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Are you needing to translate Korean documents for submission to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada? The most common cases would be application for a work visa, permanent residency, or other forms of immigration to Canada. The guidebook makes everything fairly clear, but once you get started with gathering the necessary documents, and seeking a translation, you may quickly become overwhelmed.
Submission of the necessary documents requires a great deal of time, but also money. There are many smaller tasks that add up quickly. By the time translation comes around, you may be tempted to go with the cheapest translator you can find. After all, if it’s only a birth certificate, marriage certificate, or diploma, what could go wrong?
In general, you will be submitting the following Korean documents with your application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada:
기본증명서 (상세): Basic Certificate (Detailed)
혼인증명서 (상세): Certificate of Marriage (Detailed)
여권 사본: Color copy of Korean passport pages
범죄· 수사경력 회보서 (실효된 형 등 포함)' Criminal (Investigation) Records Check Reply (Including any lapsed records)
Korean birth certificates (official English name “basic certificate”), and marriage certificates contain a few tricky pieces of information. One field is in Chinese (Hanja) characters, which refers to the place of origin of the person’s last name. These documents are usually in hard copy or PDF form, so the Chinese (Hanja) characters cannot be easily searched. To make matters worse, some of places of origin don’t all exist anymore, at least not always with the exact same name. Some characters are very similar, and a novice translator may get them confused.
Some may argue that these characters are not the most important information in the certificate, and that some mistakes will be overlooked, or perhaps never even noticed.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada carefully reviews translations that it receives. Even though it makes the applicant submit their own translation, they are very much capable of reviewing the source text for accuracy. If they notice one mistranslation or overlooked area of the translation, they may reach out for correction. This would allow you to make the change, or seek out a better translator. However, your case file would return to the end of the queue, and you could be waiting at least weeks, and up to many months longer than you had anticipated.
However, some may have the time to wait, and might not see the need to seek out a qualified translator. There have been some cases where Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada rejects an application that has mistranslations, on the grounds of misrepresentation.
When you are seeking out a translation company or a private translator for translating the documents you need to submit to the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, be cautious. Make sure you ask them if they are proficient in the Chinese (Hanja) characters contained in the family origin field. Also, ensure that they are prepared to submit an affidavit with their work, attesting to the accuracy of the translation. In addition, make sure they have the preferred English spelling of names, as displayed on you or your family’s Korean passport. If your potential translation solution doesn’t seem to know what you are talking about, this may mean they haven’t performed such work before.
Have you ever received a poor quality Korean to English translation?
If you get a poor-quality Korean-English translation, it’s a good idea to get a third-party review. Third-party review acts as a safeguard by catching the errors in a document. However, over the past year we’ve received an increasing number of requests to perform work as a third-party reviewer. It has revealed another side of the translation process we didn’t know too much about before. Here’s what we’ve learned about what happens to Korean-English translation projects after they are delivered to the client or customer who has made the request.
The clients making such requests typically have the original Korean-English translation work done by an external translation agency, and sometimes an in-house translator. However, there have been cases where one of the customers or partners of the client brings up an issue with the translation. That’s where we come in as third-party reviewers. The client seeks out our help to figure out what, if anything, went wrong with the translation.
In many cases the “translation issues” involves little more than an awkward sentence, a few stilted phrases, or something that was translated too literally. However, in other cases there are critical issues revealed during our review. Increasingly, we see translations that were completed by translators who are clearly not native speakers, and in many cases, do not appear to have much working knowledge of concepts relating to the field of the source document.
We have a long-term relationship with these clients, and our neutral opinion is relied upon. We know that our decisions could have a direct impact on the language agency and/or the translators in their employ. As such, we take our time to review carefully, and see if something was a stylistic error, or an absolutely critical and objective translation error.
Early on, when we would fill out a report of translation issues, the client would circle back to the original translation agency for corrections, and then show us the end product for final approval. However, it seems that even after these issues are pointed out, the problem occurs again, or is simply ignored.
After a few experiences with reviewing poor translations, we’ve noticed another trend. Some clients will simply look for another translation agency or translator to re-translate the work, rather than trying to go back and forth with the original translation team.
The takeaway is that, even if a client has no knowledge of Korean (or any other language they may be placing a request in), it should not be assumed that translations delivered will be automatically considered accurate. Some clients don’t always have the extra budget to perform third party reviews on all their translations, so indeed, there are often faulty translations that fall through the cracks. In today’s business environment translation mistakes can have immediate and costly consequences. Third-party reviews and spot checks are one way to safeguard the ongoing quality of the Korean translations you are ordering.
Make sure the Korean-English translators your agency is using are 1) native speakers, 2) fully proficient and confident in the subject matter relating to their assigned translation project(s), 3) certified.
Contact us today for our third party review service. We are experienced in identifying and repairing a bad translation.
Pros and cons of splitting large scale project translation requests
“I have a document that’s over 100 pages, but I need it by Monday morning, can you handle this?” This is a common narrative we hear almost every other day. It is true that we have a qualified and extensive translation team. They are able to work fairly quick and accurately after working in the translation field for many years. However, as time goes on, we have grown reluctant to splitting up work in this manner. In cases where we must do this, we have a specific procedure that we follow.
There are some stylistic differences between translators, that may compromise the overall readability and consistency in a document. For example, even basic things such as the spelling of names can be slightly different.
When splitting large translation requests, we only use the translators that are actually qualified in this field. We never consider using, for example, our team of medical translators to suddenly handle an urgent legal request. As a result, our capacity to handle split requests is limited by the actual experts we have on hand.
Even in cases where we do split translations, there is one translator (usually the most senior and qualified) that monitors progress in real time. In all cases this lead translator works to build a glossary of accepted terms and spellings. As a result, each of the translators on the team need to be in close communication and be trained in the course of such projects.
In short, don’t be tempted to go with another vendor, even if they say that “we have one hundred / one thousand / ten thousand translators and can meet your deadline for sure.” While they may actually deliver something to you by the deadline, we doubt that it would be an excellent product. We have had over 140 translators apply to our company as candidates, and only 12 have made the cut. Korean is a relatively rare language pair, and there are simply not that many translators around.
If you search the ATA (American Translators’ Association) website, you will find there are less than 100 Korean-English translators registered in the United States.
It is better to place large and important projects with the correct team from the beginning, rather than wasting days or weeks fixing up a project after the fact.
Contact us today for your large Korean to English translation project and receive an accurate and detailed quote that fully meet our requirements.