Sworn Translation in Bingöl

The difficulty a small province has in describing its produce

The volume of translation work reaching us from Bingöl is low, and there is nothing to be gained by making it out to be more than it is. What does stand out is the character of the work that arrives: the province’s honey production and livestock farming create a need bound up less with the product itself than with how the product is presented and how it is documented. When a small-scale producer sets out to sell outside the province, or abroad, two things come up at once – on one side technical papers such as analysis reports and certificates, on the other the texts that will present the product. The second is usually skipped, yet it is very often what convinces the buyer. In the files that come to us from Bingöl we give both sides the same care.

The documents and texts that arrive

On the technical side come analysis reports for honey and dairy products, business registration and approval certificates, veterinary certificates, sales contracts and support application files. On the promotional side there are product labels, packaging texts, catalogues and trade fair presentations, together with registration and promotional texts relating to geographical indications. Labels and packaging texts call for particular care: the statements about contents and storage have to be written in the set forms laid down by the legislation of the buyer’s country, and a free rendering is not accepted. The third group is personal papers – civil registry records, diplomas and academic transcripts, criminal record certificates, powers of attorney and visa files.

Why Kurdish and Arabic are asked for

Kurdish is widely used in everyday communication in the province; texts in it are requested for the information notices of producers’ associations, for cooperative announcements and for local promotional material. The source of the demand for Arabic is commercial: the region’s food products reach Middle Eastern markets through the distribution and export channels of the provinces to the south, and the buyer on that line wants both the certificate and the label in Arabic. Added to this are the school, civil registry and residence papers of families who have settled in the region. English, meanwhile, comes up mostly at trade fairs and in correspondence with international buyers. Three languages, then, mean three separate sets of counterparties. The per-page rates all sit in one list on the languages page.

The points we watch in promotional texts:

• Claims about the qualities of the product are not overstated; no property absent from the source text is added.
• Statements of geographical origin are kept consistent with the registration text.
• Measurements, packaging and shelf-life details are carried over exactly.
• The same product name is used in a single form across the catalogue, the label and the contract.

Preparing for a trade fair or a first meeting with a buyer

The place where a producer from Bingöl first describes the product to a buyer from outside the province is usually a trade fair or a promotional event. The material prepared for these meetings is more often than not put together in a rush: there are a few photographs and a price list to hand, but no orderly text setting out what makes the product distinctive. And that is precisely what decides the matter for the buyer. Writing a short product description, an account of the production method and, where there is one, the registration information in the right language and without overstatement also lays the ground for the technical documents that follow. Because these texts are short their cost is low, while their effect is out of all proportion to it.

Few files, the same care

It may be that only a few files a month come from Bingöl; that does not mean the work calls for any less attention. We set no minimum order condition, and single-page documents go through exactly the same process. Our office is in Ankara Kızılay and we have no branch in Bingöl; the process runs remotely from beginning to end. You upload the document from wherever you are, the fee and the delivery date appear at once, the sworn signature and, where required, notarisation are completed in Ankara, the electronically signed copy reaches your inbox the same day and the wet-signed copy arrives at your address by courier. You can send your first file through the quote form and compare the types of service on the services page.

The information here summarises the process; the notarisation and apostille steps are completed in Ankara. It would be as well to check the current requirements against an official source.