Initial contact
You may explain your matter in your preferred language. We can use translation assistance to understand the request, identify the decision question and determine whether the matter can be scoped responsibly.
Languages & translation
Work with Aperture in your language. English remains the governing professional edition.
The language switch at the top of every page can translate the website for reading convenience. Clients may also communicate with Aperture in another language and may request an agreed translated final document. English is Aperture Research Works' standard, preferred and governing professional language unless a different governing language is expressly agreed in writing.
Website language switch
The selector at the top of the site changes the reading language.
Choose a language from the language control in the header. You may move directly from one non-English language to another. The site will reload the selected language cleanly so that a previous translation does not remain embedded in the page.
The switch is an accessibility and convenience feature. It does not create a separately controlled legal or professional edition of the website. Where translated wording differs from the English source, the English wording governs.
Important
Automated website translation can alter wording, line breaks, spacing and technical terminology. It should not be used as the sole basis for a consequential decision, legal interpretation or technical conclusion.
English remains the authoritative website source.
Client communication
You do not need to write to us in English.
Formal instructions
Where wording is consequential, Aperture may confirm important instructions, names, dates, quotations, legal terms or technical terms in English before relying on them. Ambiguity is resolved rather than silently translated.
Working language
Research, evidence control and professional production may be conducted in English even where the client communicates in another language. This keeps the controlled record consistent and permits reliable cross-source review.
Client-facing language
A translated or local-language edition can be agreed where appropriate. The proposal should state the requested language, whether the translation is for accessibility or substantive use, and whether linguistic or specialist review is required.
Translated deliverables
How a translated final document is controlled.
- The English governing edition is preserved. It remains the reference version unless another governing language has been expressly approved in writing.
- The translated edition is identified as a translation. It is not allowed to appear to be the original controlled English research record.
- The translation method is recorded where relevant. This may include technology-assisted translation, human translation, client-supplied translation or qualified professional translation.
- Independent linguistic review is disclosed. If no independent language review occurred, the document must not imply that it did.
- Evidence meaning must survive translation. Findings, evidence classifications, confidence language, source locators, limitations and reliance conditions must not be strengthened or weakened through translation.
- Legal, scientific and technical meaning receives additional care. Where translation could materially affect legal status, technical instructions, quotations or a reliance finding, qualified linguistic or specialist review may be required before high-reliance use.
- Formatting may differ. Pagination, line breaks, table dimensions and layout can change between languages. Aperture does not guarantee identical page geometry across translated editions.
- The governing version is stated. Where two editions conflict, the engagement terms and governing-language statement determine which wording controls.
Multilingual evidence
Research does not stop at English-language sources.
Where relevant evidence exists in another language, Aperture may search and review local-language material, alternate names, former names, transliterations and jurisdiction-specific terminology. A translated summary is not treated as a substitute for the underlying source when the original is available.
Material quotations are checked against the source text where reasonably possible. If meaning depends on a disputed translation, dialect, specialised terminology or historical language, that uncertainty is recorded and specialist review may be required.
Names and transliteration
Identity must remain traceable across languages.
Names of people, organisations, places and records may have multiple spellings or transliterations. Aperture records materially relevant variants and avoids treating spelling differences as separate identities without evidence.
Where a source uses a non-Latin script, the original form may be preserved alongside a transliteration or English rendering when that improves traceability.
Translation responsibility
What Aperture will and will not promise.
Technology-assisted translation
Useful for website access, discovery, internal comparison and lower-risk communication. It is not automatically treated as certified, sworn or specialist translation.
Professional translation
Where certified, sworn, legal, medical, scientific or other specialist translation is required, Aperture may recommend or coordinate an appropriate external professional, subject to client approval and jurisdictional requirements.
Client-supplied translation
A client may supply a translation, but Aperture does not assume it is accurate merely because it was supplied. Material discrepancies can be queried and the source-language record remains important.
Confidentiality
Sensitive client material is not placed into an external translation service merely for convenience. Translation methods must respect the assignment's confidentiality, security and authorised-use controls.
Languages available on the website
The header switch currently offers the following reading languages.
English, Afrikaans, Arabic, Bulgarian, Bengali, Catalan, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malay, Marathi, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu and Vietnamese.
Right-to-left languages are displayed accordingly where the translation service supports them. Availability remains subject to the translation provider's functionality.
Requesting a translated product
Tell us the language and how the document will be used.
When requesting a proposal, identify your preferred communication language, required final-document language, intended audience, jurisdiction, whether the English edition may remain governing, and whether certified or specialist translation is required. Aperture will include the translation method, review level, formatting limits and any external translation cost in the agreed scope.