After many years of doing written translations in Bogotá and the rest of Colombia, the highest number of “translation scams” occur in the academic sector.

What is a “translation scam”?

A “translation scam” involves a person translating a document and doing a terrible job. Often they just pass it through Google Translate or DeepL and then send it to the client. Usually, the client doesn’t know enough of the target language to immediately identify that they have been scammed.

Why are there so many scams involving academic translations? 

There are a number of reasons why academics fall victims to scammers:

1. Academic translations are really hard. You need to know how to write in academic language, you need to have basic knowledge of the subject matter, and you need to be aware of the different style and grammar guidelines requested by research journals.
2. Academics (generally) don’t require many translations. Many academics haven’t previously worked with a translator. This means that they can be susceptible to people who promise the world but are really just looking to take their money without delivering a high quality translation.
3. Research Journals are really demanding. In my experience, a research journal will always request changes to a research article before it is ready for publication. No article is ever perfect. These can include corrections, changes to texts, adjustments to references and grammatical mistakes. In some cases, a Journal can take up to a year to request these changes, which means that the translator has to go back to a job they completed a long time ago and make the requested changes. Many translators don’t like doing this, especially if they are not going to receive an additional payment for this work.

As a result of these factors, scammers promise academics a high quality translation, take their money and give them a very dodgy article in the target language that is then rejected by a Journal.

Why is there more demand for academic translations?

Right now in universities in Colombia, there is a lot of pressure on professors and researchers to obtain publications in indexed research journals in order to keep their jobs. Given that there are many more journals in English compared to Spanish, it makes sense that academics in Latin America are looking overseas to find a suitable publication where they can disseminate their work.

How can you avoid getting scammed with an academic translation?

So that you can avoid a “translation scam”, here are some things to look for in an academic translator:

1. Experience is always the best thing. Ask them what other articles they have translated for indexed journals.
2. If you are going to do an academic translation, you should have written a thesis yourself, or at least studied at a university level. Real life experience as a student and researcher makes a big difference.
3. It is a great sign if your translator has done academic translations in different fields. No translator is going to be an expert on a specific field, but if they are adaptable and can translate both an engineering research project and an in-depth analysis of Foucault’s writing, then they are going to be able to adapt to whatever you need them to translate.
4. Fair price. Alarm bells should be ringing if the price quoted for an academic translation is too low. Ask your colleagues about what they have been charged in the past to get an idea of the average rate.
5. With this type of work, you want your academic translator to be a great communicator. Be aware of how fast they get back to you when asking for a quote and talk to them on the phone so you can see what their communication style is like.

Good luck! Academic translations are a growing sector and are really important for sharing scientific knowledge around the world. Hopefully this article can help you find the best translator for your needs.

ONG Traducciones provides high quality academic translations. You can find out more about this service by clicking here.