You want your brand to be a success. So, it makes sense to use suppliers who are professionals.
If your business is expanding abroad, you’ll probably need translation services. If you’re a student in Ottawa interested in having your documents translated, you may be asking:
- Are translators needed in Canada? Translators are in demand in Canada. This is primarily because of the multilingual demands of Canadian businesses and consumers, so the demand for translators has increased throughout the years.
- How much should you pay a translator? Or, what is the hourly rate for translation? – You should pay attention to the rates of these services. The hourly rate for translation in Canada is $27 per hour. So, you’re looking for services that reflect this rate, more or less.
- Can anyone certify a translation? Translations can be certified by professional services through their membership of Canadian or international associations. Certified translations must be in the national Canadian languages of English and French.
So, to answer your questions, here is an up-to-date guide to the best translation services in Ottawa, specifically for students around the world who are planning to study in Ottawa as well as Ottawa graduates involved in foreign businesses.
Importance of Translation Services for Students in Ottawa in 2021
For Canadian students, English as a second language (ESL) or French as a second language (FSL) is natural to their academic programs. You usually learn these two languages as well as others if you’re a student in Canada.
If you’re an international student interested in going to Ottawa, you will be joining the more than 400,000 international students admitted to Canada in 2020. These students included China, France, Nigeria, the US, and India. The Building on Success program, an initiative of the Canadian government in 2019, budgeted $147.9 million dollars for the goal of international students in Canada.
Either you’re a Canadian student looking out for a prospective job in multicultural and multilingual international firms in Ottawa, or you’re an international student looking to navigate the social, cultural, and educational life in Ontario, you may find yourselves needing translation in your day-to-day life or work. For example, many international businesses are constantly looking out for the Canadian market, because of the effectiveness of foreign language education–many Canadians speak two or more languages.
Thus, Ottawa-focused translation services offer the benefit of navigating the different languages of a multilingual country. The capital city of Canada, Ottawa, is home to many languages and hosts many people from around the world.
Ottawa, in particular, is the hotspot of English and French, but also Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, and Italian languages. Thus, there is a need for translation services in Ottawa in 2021, due to the influx of these foreign mother tongues. Below, we have the best translation services available for Ottawa.
Criteria for Being The “Best” Translation Agency
In any method of ranking, you have to consider what’s best. That is, what does being “best” mean, or, in this case, what do the “best” translation services offer to the community of Ottawa? What types of services or specialties should they ideally be offering? How many languages should they accommodate? What technologies should they be using?
For the purposes of this article, “best” is defined as:
- Services that provide fast and quality translation
- Services whose focus includes the Ottawa locale
- Services operating with many language pairs
- Services with varying specialties in different fields, such as medical, technology, etc.
We’ll take a look at four companies in particular in-depth. We’ll compare and contrast them, show the disadvantages of one or advantages of another. We’ll see which consumer needs fit which company well. So, here is the round-up of the best translation services for Ottawa.
1.Fox Translations
Fox Translations is a native Canadian company. They specialize in US companies looking to branch into the Canadian market since they already have the knowledge base of Ontario. Since they’re located on the political side of Canada, that means they translate for both the Canadian government, US firms, and the general public.
Advantages: They translate from English to French and French to English in almost any area imaginable, including business and finance, law and politics, technology, and the general public. They even have translators in the energy and oil sector.
Disadvantages: Since their focus is translating from English to French and back again, they have limited language pairings. Thus, what works for them are Canadian English and Canadian French translations, specializing in Canada or the US only. They are not branching out worldwide or branching out to accommodate many other languages.
2.Alexa Translations
Alexa Translations is based in both Canada and the US. Like Fox Translations, they focus on translations specifically between these two countries. Since many Canadian firms interact with US firms, this is a good strategy.
Advantages: They specialize in business needs, from financial institutions to legal firms, from the managerial to the consumer base, they’re great for business needs. They utilize a high level of technological expertise, such as using AI and neural machine translation, and CAT tools. Their US-Canadian focus is also an advantage.
Disadvantages: They also do not have a wide variety of language pairings. And, while the Alexa Translations A.I. is definitely a huge advantage, technology is constantly evolving, so hopefully, their AI evolves along with future trends.
3.Gengo Canada
Gengo is an international company based in Japan, but Gengo Canada is their French Canadian site. They have a huge reputation, known in the translation industry for being one of the best international translation agencies, but their focus on Canada started in 2015.
Advantages: Gengo Canada, unlike Fox Translations or Alexa Translations, has over 70 language pairings. They have a turn-around time of under two hours, so they’re incredibly fast.
Disadvantages: Gengo Canada doesn’t cover some fields, such as medical translations. They also focus on human translations, such as freelance translators, even if they use technology. Another disadvantage is that they’re not a Canadian company.
4.Tomedes Translations
Tomedes Translations is an international company with various locations in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. Tomedes has two offices in Canada: Ottawa and Toronto.
Advantages: They have many fields of translation services, as well as 100+ languages, unliked all of the agencies on this list. They also have an emphasis on technology, like Alexa Translations, serving over 50,000 business clients with AI and human translation combined. Their fields include political and legal documentation, like Fox Translations. They specialize in medical translations, unlike Gengo. And, although they have similarities with Gengo, they have more language pairings.
Disadvantages: They are similar to Gengo in that they’re an international company branching out to Canada. But, unlike Gengo, their specific locale in Canada is in Ottawa. And, they are now fully integrated into the Canadian market, such as the Canadian companies on this list.
The Take-Away
There are different ways to measure the effectiveness of translations. I haven’t even included freelance translators and interpreters on this list. However, if you’re looking for efficiency and quality, professional translation services should be high up on your list. So, if you’re a student in Ottawa or looking to relocate to Ottawa, these translation agencies should be on your checklist of the best of the best in translation.
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