Language services for the central administration

If you work in the central administration (or the Rector's Office, CED, E&I or AIAS), AU Language Services is your one-stop language services shop. We provide high-quality non-academic translation, proofreading/text revision and subtitling to staff and managers, as a rule free of charge. 

This page provides an overview of our services and walks you through how to order translation, proofreading/revision and subtitling.

What language services do we offer?

  • Translation between English and Danish, primarily. We translate from Danish to English in-house.  Our translation bureau handles English-Danish and other language combinations.
  • Proofreading/revision of texts in English. Depending on your needs and our assessment of the quality of the text, this can range from a light polish to a total rewrite.
  • Advice and input. We can provide useful input on English names for new units and places, job titles, and the like, as well as help with translations of tricky terminology.
  • Subtitling videos in YouTube (Danish-English, short-form only).

What can we do for you?

We'd be delighted to translate any and all of the following forms of communication. In fact, we highly recommend that you let us handle them for you: we’ll make sure your text has an authentic AU voice in English and tailor your message to your audience.

  • Web texts (particularly on high-traffic/high-profile pages and information with a long ‘shelf life’)
  • Mass emails and announcements to staff and students
  • External communication and marketing/PR
  • Presentations and teaching materials aimed at larger groups of staff and/or managers
  • Policies, strategies, guidelines
  • Newsletters
  • Legal documents and contracts
  • High-stakes correspondence with external stakeholders
  • Programmes for high-profile international conferences and events
  • Banners, signs, campaigns
  • Software/systems used by staff and students
  • High-profile video content with a long ‘shelf life’ (short-form only)
  • Templates and forms

Of course, we’re also happy to edit any English texts/translations you produce yourself, either from scratch or using AI. However, we do recommend that you let us handle any translations ourselves: it’s almost always quicker for us, and the final product will be more polished and have a more authentic voice. This applies to larger jobs with short deadlines as well: we have access to state-of-the-art machine translation tools and have a lot of experience using them, and as trained language consultants, we will be able to produce a fit-for-purpose translation more quickly and efficiently than non-specialist staff.

If you’re not sure whether your text(s) need to be translated, you'll find a set of principles that will help you decide here: Communicating at a multilingual university: guidelines for AU Administration 

What do you need to handle yourself?

  • Day-to-day, low-stakes email correspondence, especially internal
  • Low-stakes web texts and announcements with a short shelf life
  • Internal presentations
  • Internal conference programmes
  • SoMe and LinkedIn content

You’ll find tools and resources to help you with your English communication on our webpage.

LINK to recommended tools and resources

How much does it cost?

As a rule, nothing. We offer translation and proofreading services for projects (individual texts or a bundle of related texts) under 5,000 words free of charge.

For larger projects, we may still provide free services on a case-by-case basis, particularly when generous timelines allow. When we cannot accommodate larger projects internally, we partner with our translation bureau. In such cases your unit would need to cover the translation costs. We’d be happy to provide detailed quotes upon request. Feel free to contact us in advance to discuss the options if you are planning a larger translation project.

How long does it take?

We have the greatest respect for deadlines and will make every effort to accommodate your timeline. To ensure the best possible service, we do appreciate advance notice—especially for larger projects, tight schedules, or complex texts requiring additional research. The more lead time you can provide, the faster we can deliver.

As a rule of thumb, we typically complete smaller projects (under 2,000 words) within one working week. In emergency situations or critical incidents, we can expedite even quite substantial projects with quick turnaround times.

How do you order translation, proofreading or subtitling?

Simply email us at sprogservice@au.dk. We monitor our inbox closely during normal working hours and will do our best to get back to you quickly.

In the event of an emergency or an extremely tight deadline, you’re also welcome to call either Sarah Jennings (93521377) or Lenore Messick (21702812). Leave a message and we’ll get back to you as quickly as possible.

Before you send us a text for translation, we also ask that you review it to make sure that everything is as it should be. This will save us a lot of time. The text you submit should be:

  • Clean (no comments or tracked changes)
  • Correct (no typos or grammatical errors)
  • Accurate (links work; dates, numbers, proper names etc. are correct)
  • Editable (no PDFs, please). If you need us to translate a PDF that was originally created in InDesign, please provide both an IDML source file and a PDF for reference.

What information do we need from you?

For all jobs

  • Your timeline and deadline(s). Please be specific (‘the morning of 3 March’ or ‘any time next week’ rather than ‘as soon as you can fit it in’).
  • Background information about context and audience.  Giving us an idea of how the text will be used and who it’s aimed at helps us select an appropriate tone of voice and level of formality for the English version. For example, we often use simpler, more direct language in texts aimed at international students or staff to accommodate the many non-native speakers in these groups. (Obviously, if you regularly send us comparable texts aimed at the same audience, we will only need this background information once.)
  • Who to contact if we have content-related questions.
  • Any special requirements or restrictions. For example, the terminology used in a translation may need to align with the terminology on a particular website, or there may be limits on the number of characters in a software string.

For some jobs

  • Web texts: Please send us a Word file containing only the text you need translated along with a URL for reference.
  • Files containing non-editable graphic elements and images: Please paste any text elements you’d like us to translate in the left-hand column of a table with two columns in a Word file. We’ll paste the translations in the right-hand column. You will then need to create an English version of the graphic element/image.
  • Excel: Do you want us to translate the entire file?
  • PPT: Do you want us to translate the notes?
  • Sentences/excerpts from longer texts: Please provide the entire paragraph/a URL so we understand the context.
  • ‘Do not translate’ elements: Does the file contain any text that should not be translated, such as macros or instructions on how to complete a template?