Why the layout matters as much as the words
A contract is not a block of text. It has numbered clauses, a table of goods and prices, a payment schedule, signature lines and sometimes two languages side by side. When you or your partner refer to "clause 7.2", both of you need to be looking at the same clause.
Many owners translate by copying the text into a chat tool and pasting the answer into a new file. The words may come back, but the numbering breaks, the tables turn into lines of text and Arabic sentences end up running in the wrong direction. Rebuilding the file by hand takes longer than the translation itself.
For a trading company that deals with a supplier in China and a client in the Gulf, this happens with every quotation, purchase agreement and agency contract.
How an AI translator keeps the file intact
The difference starts with what you send. Instead of copied text, you send the original file: Word, PDF or Excel. The translation is written back into the same structure.
For each document, the work goes like this:
- The original file is read as a file, so headings, clause numbers, tables and signature blocks are kept where they are.
- The text is translated between Arabic, English and Chinese, in the direction you need.
- Your glossary is applied, so your product names, units and payment terms are always translated the same way.
- A person checks the result before it is delivered to you, looking at both the meaning and the layout.
You receive a file that looks like the original, in the other language, ready to read, share or put next to the original for review.
What the glossary does for you
In a contract, one word translated two ways can cause a long argument. If "delivery" is one term in clause 3 and a different term in clause 9, the other side may read two different obligations.
A glossary is a short list of your own terms and how they should appear in each language. For example, the name you use for a product, the unit you sell in, or how you write your payment terms. It is built with you at the start and it grows with every document.
| Without a glossary | With your glossary |
|---|---|
| The same term translated in different ways | One fixed translation for each term |
| Product names changed by the translator | Your product names kept as you write them |
| Each new contract starts from zero | Each new contract reuses what was agreed |
This is also useful outside contracts. The same glossary can serve your quotations, packing lists and product sheets, so your supplier and your client see the same words every time.
What it does not replace
It is important to be clear about the limits, especially with contracts.
This is not a certified or sworn translation. When a court, a bank, an embassy or a government office asks for a certified translation, check with that authority about who is allowed to provide it.
It is also not legal advice. The translator tells you what the contract says in your language. It does not tell you whether a clause is fair, whether a term is common, or what you should sign. Those questions belong with your lawyer. The same goes for anything about customs or import rules mentioned in a contract: check with your customs broker or the authority in your country.
What it does well is the part that wastes your time: turning a contract you cannot read comfortably into one you can, in the same shape, without retyping anything.
How we set it up with you
The AI translator is one of our back office AI employees. According to its package on our site, it works in Arabic, English and Chinese, keeps the layout of Word, PDF and Excel files, is checked by a person before delivery, and keeps a glossary of your own terms. It is not a certified (sworn) translation. You can see the full package and the current price on our services page.
At the start we agree on the languages you work in, the documents you translate most often, and the first terms for your glossary. We then translate one document you already know well, so you can judge the result against something familiar.
A practical tip while you decide: keep the original files of your contracts and quotations, not only screenshots or printed copies. An original Word or PDF file always gives a cleaner translation than a photo of a page.
If you have a contract waiting to be translated, send us a message on WhatsApp and tell us which languages it is in and which you need.