Quality & Security Quality that holds up in an audit.
Quality can be claimed or it can be evidenced. tolingo holds four ISO standards covering translation, post-editing, quality management and information security, audited by TÜV Süd and LinquaCert. Behind them sit a documented process, a fixed team and a 35-day correction window on every specialist translation.
Four ISO standards140,000 clients have trusted tolingo since 2007
The quality section
All quality pages at a glance
Filter by area or view everything. Each page goes a level deeper and shows the evidence, the workflow or the safeguards in detail.
Quality process
Five stages from briefing to handover, with the four-eyes principle under ISO 17100. Plus the question of which quality level your text actually needs.
Our translators
Qualification under ISO 17100, how we select people, fixed language teams and an annual review through the vendor score.
Case studies & client voices
Three worked case studies from e-commerce, staffing services and special-purpose machinery, plus comments from live accounts.
Certifications
The four ISO standards with their scope, audit cycle and audit history. Every certificate is available there to download.
ISO/IEC 27001 in detail
The standard behind our data security: scope, auditor and the certification history since 2018.
Translation to ISO standard
For cases where a tender or a compliance rule calls for proof of conformity on each individual job and the company certificate alone will not do.
Security & data protection
EU servers as standard, ISO/IEC 27001, NDA and DPA. Plus the security levels, up to processing with no server storage at all.
VS-NfD translations
Documents that carry an official classification follow a separate procedure under the German VSA, kept apart from the standard process.
GDPR translation
Personal data in contracts, studies and CRM exports, processed under Art. 28 GDPR with a data processing agreement.
- Certification: Four ISO standards, audited by TÜV Süd (ISO 9001 since 2016, ISO/IEC 27001 since 2018) and LinquaCert (ISO 17100 since 2015, ISO 18587 since 2022). Annual surveillance audits, with the certificates available to download.
- Process: Five documented stages, with the four-eyes principle at the ISO 17100 level. Leaner stages for texts with lower demands, set out in detail in the quality process.
- Security: EU servers as standard, with servers in Germany only or processing with no server storage on request. Classified documents run through a separate VS-NfD procedure.
- Commitments: A 35-day correction window on every specialist translation, a reply in around 10 minutes within business hours, and one named contact per account.
Quality is an overworked word in the translation market. It only becomes verifiable once three questions have answers: which standards apply, who has audited them, and what actually happens to my text. The quality section is built around exactly those three questions. This page gives you the map; the individual pages supply the evidence.
Which page you need
Evidence, workflow or confidentiality
Most enquiries fall into one of three directions. If you need evidence for a tender, a supplier approval or an audit, the route leads to the certifications, where every certificate sits as a PDF. If you want to know how the work is done, meaning who touches the text and who reads it back, that is what the quality process describes.
Where confidentiality is the question, the answer depends on how much protection the material needs. Ordinary company documents are covered by the standard set out on Security & data protection, including the levels available on request. A document that carries an official classification instead follows a separate procedure with its own rules. If you are unsure, your contact settles it in the initial call, before anything moves.
The four ISO standards
What each one governs and who audits it
A single standard says little on its own. It is the combination that adds up to a quality system: ISO 17100 governs how a translation is produced. ISO 9001 makes sure that workflow is followed across every department. ISO/IEC 27001 protects your documents while they pass through our systems. ISO 18587 covers the special case of machine translation with human post-editing.
| Standard | Governs | Auditor | Certified since |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 17100 | Translation services: qualified translators, revision by a second specialist, documented project management | LinquaCert | August 2015 |
| ISO 18587 | Post-editing of machine translation: the qualification of post-editors and the depth of revision required | LinquaCert | August 2022 |
| ISO 9001 | Quality management across the company: process orientation, complaint handling, continuous improvement | TÜV Süd | September 2016 |
| ISO/IEC 27001 | Information security: technical, organisational and contractual measures to protect confidential data | TÜV Süd | September 2018 |
The current certificates from TÜV Süd and LinquaCert sit on the certifications page, ready to attach to tenders, supplier approvals and internal compliance checks. The scope and audit history of the information security standard are on the ISO/IEC 27001 page.
Three firm commitments
Correction window, response time, named contact
Three points that come as standard and are not negotiated project by project.
On every specialist translation under ISO 17100. Report substantiated changes within 35 days of delivery and we correct them at no extra cost. Fourteen days is the industry norm. How that works in practice is set out in the quality process.
Your project management team acknowledges every enquiry within roughly 10 minutes during business hours. Where the job is clearly defined, the full quote follows the same working day.
One person in project management per account, with a direct line and a direct email address. They know your terminology, your deadlines and your team. No anonymous ticketing system.
Answers for your buying team
Compliance, IT, procurement and the specialist department
In most companies, no single person decides on a translation partner. Here is what the four most common roles actually get:
ISO certificates as PDFs on the certifications page, documented workflows for supplier approvals, an NDA template and a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR. Certified translations for companies run through Juristra.
Information security under ISO/IEC 27001, encrypted transfer, role-based access. EU servers are the standard, Germany on request. The detail and the levels are on Security & data protection, and you can connect through our API.
Prices per word: post-editing from €0.05, specialist translation from €0.12. Framework agreements are possible, you get one named contact per account, and repeated sentences are paid for only once through the translation memory.
Native-speaker specialist translators for each language and sector, consistent wording through terminology management, and fixed language teams on ongoing work. Express in 24 hours where you need it.
Are you assessing tolingo as a supplier?
Tell us which evidence your process calls for. We will send the matching paperwork, usually within one working day.
Free · No obligation · Reply in ~10 minutes (within business hours)Common questions about quality
Standards, evidence, audits and liability
How is the quality section organised?
Into three areas. Evidence and standards gather the certificates and their scope. Process and people describe how a translation is built and who works on it. Security and confidentiality cover data protection, server locations and the special case of classified documents. Each of the nine pages belongs to exactly one of these areas.
What is the difference between ISO 17100 and ISO 9001?
ISO 17100 governs the professional side, how a translation has to be produced: qualified translators, revision by a second specialist, documented project management. ISO 9001 governs the structural side, how the company manages quality: processes, audits, improvement loops. An agency holding only ISO 9001 is not obliged to have a second specialist check each translation. An agency holding only ISO 17100 may not have anchored that standard across the whole business.
Can I get the ISO certificates as evidence?
Yes. The current certificates are available to download on the certifications page, for instance as an annex to tenders, framework agreements or compliance checks. For a single combined PDF pack, an email to service@tolingo.com is enough.
How often is tolingo audited externally?
Every year. TÜV Süd audits ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 27001, LinquaCert audits ISO 17100 and ISO 18587. Recertification takes place every three years, with surveillance audits in the years between. Audit reports are documented internally and the findings worked through.
Where is our data processed?
On servers in the EU by default. On request we can set a project up so that it runs on servers in Germany only, or with no server storage at all. Which levels exist and what they mean is set out on Security & data protection.
Who is liable for errors in a translation?
tolingo works with documented complaint procedures under ISO 9001 and ISO 17100. Where something is queried, a third specialist reviews the text again. Corrections are made at no extra cost where the fault lay with tolingo. Liability itself is governed by our terms and conditions. A translation replaces neither legal advice nor your own sign-off on the content.
Glossary
Terms around quality and evidence
- Four-eyes principle
- Two specialists work on the same text: the first translates, the second checks it against the original. At the ISO 17100 level this is mandatory.
- Revision
- The bilingual checking step under ISO 17100, in which target text and source text are read side by side. Distinct from monolingual proofreading.
- Correction window
- The period after delivery in which substantiated complaints are corrected at no extra cost. At tolingo it runs for 35 days.
- Surveillance audit
- The annual external check between two recertifications. It confirms that the certified system is still being applied as described.
A project that has to stand up to scrutiny?
Tell us what it involves and which rules apply. We will suggest the right quality level and name the price and the delivery date.
ISO 17100 · ISO 18587 · ISO 9001 · ISO/IEC 27001 · 35-day correction window