To request a quotation please fill in our quote form. The more information you provide us with the more accurate our quotation will be. We aim to deal with your request as soon as possible and will send you a personalised quote within 24 hours.

Our quotation will be valid for 15 days. If you accept our conditions please sign the quotation document and send it back to us immediately so we can initiate the project.

Quotations are free of charge and without obligation.

Yes. All documents you provide us with will be treated with complete confidentiality and privacy. They will never be shared nor stored in any kind of database.

Sphera Editing Services will adopt the necessary measures to guarantee and protect the confidentiality and privacy of all your documents.

Documents can be sent by:

• Attaching them to our quote form.
• E-mail (as an attached document).
• Fax: +44 (0) 114 207 0292.
• Regular post.
• Courier service.

We always reply to all messages sent to us and acknowledge receipt of all materials received.

If you do not hear from us within 24 hours after having sent your message and documents (if sent by fax, e-mail or through our quote form) or after a reasonable time has elapsed (if you have used the post or a courier service), please contact us again. It probably means that we have not received them.

Projects will be delivered on the day and time specified on the accepted quotation and via the means chosen by the customer (e.g. fax, e-mail, hard copy via courier, etc.).

Yes. Final documents will be returned in the same format in which they were originally sent to us, unless advised otherwise. For instance, if you send us a document in excel format it will be returned to you as a translated/proofread excel document. Likewise, structure, typesetting and all other original characteristics will be kept unless specified otherwise.

Delivery time for translation, proofreading, copy-editing or any other linguistic services varies depending on the length and the type of text we are dealing with. Although we aim to deliver all projects as soon as possible, we would never compromise on quality in exchange for a fast delivery.

We will take into account any delivery dates suggested by our customers. In case they are not feasible, we will do our best to reach an agreement.

Any requested service for which it was agreed that we will need to work outside normal working hours (at night, during weekends or on a bank holiday) to meet the deadline will be characterized as "urgent" and will thus be charged accordingly (i.e. a surcharge will be applied to the total price). The surcharge will depend on the service requested.

Sphera Editing Services reserves the right to refuse any project considered "urgent" whenever its characteristics will not allow us to guarantee the quality of the service.

Yes. A surcharge for urgency will be applied to the final price, which will depend on the text type, the service requested and the agreed deadline.

Sphera Editing Services reserves the right to refuse any urgent project whenever its length or text type will not allow us to guarantee the quality of the service.

We do not offer urgent writing services, as we do not wish to compromise the quality of the final product.

There is no minimum volume for translation, proofreading or any other type of service. However, there is a minimum charge which will depend on the type of service and the document(s) to work on.

There are several factors which can affect the price of translation, proofreading and writing services. The main ones are:

• The language combination (in the case of translation services).
• The technicality of the text.
• The text length (number of words).
• Delivery time requested (i.e. if it is urgent or not).

On our quote we will include the total price of the project provided we can assess the original document. If for any reason we are unable to check the total word count of the original document, the translation price will be worked out according to the resulting word count (i.e. the total number of words contained in the final translation). In that case, the initial quoted price should just be taken as an approximation.

Our quotations are free and without obligation.

Jobs are invoiced as follows:

• Per word, for translations.
• Per day and per hour, in the case of interpreting services.
• Per thousand characters, in the case of proofreading and copy-editing services (also available per word, page or hour).
• Per page, for writing and typesetting services (also available per word or per hour).
• Per hour of audio or per word, for transcriptions.

Yes, depending on the linguistic service you request and on the type of text. For instance, in the case of translation, you can benefit from a 5% discount over the final price for projects over 15,000 words. We will apply the same discount to our writing services for projects over 3,500 words.

Please contact us to receive more detailed information about our applicable discounts.

• Bank transfer or deposit.
• Credit card. To be used on our website, through PayPal (you do not need a PayPal account). Online payment is safe and your card information will not be disclosed to us.
• Banker's draft to our bank account in England.
• Cheque, if you live in the United Kingdom.

You will find all the necessary information as well as all the payment methods available on the invoice that we will send to you.

Yes. There is a 14 day guarantee from the receipt of the completed assignment. Please raise all your issues regarding errors or omissions within that period. We will endeavour to rectify those issues as soon as possible. We will not take responsibility for any third parties.

A terminological glossary is an organised catalogue or list of terms containing the exact translation and definition of those terms for a specific field of study or action and/or for a customer in particular.

Glossaries are important because they promote the internal coherence within a document, as well as consistency with respect to any previous documentation.

Computer Assisted Tools assist translators in their work by creating translation memories containing already translated texts. These translated texts are segmented in small syntactical portions. Translation memories are specially useful when the text involves some degree of repetition, easing the update of the documents (since they allow reusing previously translated text) and helping ensure consistency throughout big projects.

These tools should not be confused with automatic translation tools, which require cautious use due to their lack of reliability.

At Sphera Editing Services we use computer assisted translation tools but never automatic translation tools.

Whenever the terminology used in new translations needs to be coherent with previously translated documents, the customer should provide us with all the necessary background documentation and, if necessary, with any relevant glossaries to be used in the new translations.

If you already have a glossary (for instance, in case you deal with very technical texts), please send it to us so we can adapt your text accordingly.

If your company or customer uses a specific style guide or relies on a piece of work considered exemplary, it is important that you send us any relevant material so our proofreader can adapt the proofreading, standardization and unification of the text according to the rules contained therein.

If no reference materials are needed, our proofreader or copy-editor will adopt the rules considered appropriate according to current guidelines and to the characteristics of the text. Together with the completed assignment, our customers will be sent a report with detailed information about any decisions taken and the reasons for those decisions.

That applies also to writing services.

Copy-editing consists in proofreading a text from a linguistic, grammatical, lexical and semantic point of view, paying special attention to its coherence, expression and structure. The objective is to adapt the text to the recipient and to the purpose for which it was initially created.

Within the publishing process, copy-editing should not be confused with proofreading, since the latter has a different objective and is carried out later.

It should not be confused with checking of content and editing either, since that task needs to be performed by an expert in the field.

It is important that you specify the type of proofreading or editing required. If you need any clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Proofreading aims to check and proofread orthographic and grammatical errors, to rectify any typographical mistakes, to determine the use of diacritics and to check elements related to layout. It is the proofreader who should know, among other things, how international publishing rules and editorial criteria are to be applied (depending on the type of customer and on any guidelines previously agreed) and also about the standardization of titles, paragraphs, hyphens and quotation marks as well as about the use of capital letters, the application of orthographic signs, syntactical and punctuation mistakes, etc. To summarize, the proofreader should get rid of all the errors in a text, normalize and standardize it.

Within the publishing world, proofreading follows the copy-editing process. Sometimes a second proofreading is done, in order to verify that all the necessary changes have been incorporated and that there are no errors which need to be removed.

During the proofreading process there is a standard set of signs and symbols which is used to mark and attract attention to mistakes that need to be corrected in the text. Obviously, both proofreaders and printing and publishing houses need to understand these marks in order to enable a fluid communication. There are several criteria regarding the use of these standard sets of signs and symbols, although they have been unified under a UNE standard (Spain), NP-61 standard (Portugal) or BS-5261:2 (United Kingdom).

Sphera Editing Services offers several types of proofreading:

• Content editing.
• Copy-editing.
• Proofreading.
• Proofreading and copy-editing.
• Checking of translations.

Both the working method and the delivery of the final document will depend on the type of customer and on the type of proofreading requested:

• In the case of printing and publishing houses and upon customer's request: we work both with marks on original manuscripts and on screen (by activating the “track changes” option) in order to speed up the process. You may request a partial service (editing, copy-editing or proofreading for instance) or a complete service (editing, copy-editing, proofreading and second proofreading if applicable). Final documents will be delivered according to the option previously agreed (i.e. working on paper or screen). We will carry out our job according to the style guides provided or to the guidelines agreed with the customer.
• In the case of private customers, and unless advised otherwise, we will hand in the proofread final document in the format requested together with the relevant report. Private customers may chose between editing, copy-editing, proofreading or a combination of those. If you have any queries about the type of proofreading needed, please do not hesitate to contact us. All agreed guidelines will be taken into account during the proofreading process. If no guidelines are provided, the proofreader will apply those considered best according to his/her own professional judgement.