Translation Services for Business, Law and Life in South Africa

One translation agency, every specialisation

A translation is only as good as the translator's understanding of the subject. A word such as "consideration" means one thing in a contract and something else in a marketing brief; "discharge" has different meanings for a hospital, an engineer and a court. For this reason Ellipse World does not run a single pool of generalist translators. Ellipse World organises its translation services by specialisation, and assigns each project to a linguist who has professional experience in that field and who translates into their native language.

Every service described on this page follows the same core process. Ellipse World analyses your file, confirms the purpose of the translation and the requirements of the recipient, prepares a glossary for recurring terms, translates, revises, performs final quality checks on numbers, names and formatting, and delivers in your original layout. This workflow is aligned with ISO 17100, the international standard for translation services, which requires qualified translators and a revision step by a second qualified linguist.

Below you will find an overview of each service. Each one has its own detailed page with the document types covered, the languages most frequently requested and practical advice for South African clients.

Marketing, financial, website and business translation

Marketing translation and transcreation

Marketing copy is written to persuade, and a literal translation rarely persuades anyone. Ellipse World's marketing translators adapt slogans, headlines, cultural references and calls to action so that your campaign feels native to its audience. For South African brands this often means producing campaigns in English, Afrikaans and isiZulu at the same time; for exporters it means reaching French-speaking West Africa, Portuguese-speaking Mozambique and Angola, or European consumers. Ellipse World also translates packaging and labels, keeping in mind local consumer protection and labelling rules.

Financial translation

Ellipse World translates integrated annual reports, financial statements prepared under IFRS, audit and review reports, investor presentations, fund documentation, insurance policies, banking agreements and credit applications. Financial translators at Ellipse World check every figure, date and currency format, and respect the terminology of IFRS and of the receiving market.

Website and software localisation

A website is often the first contact a foreign customer has with your company. Ellipse World localises websites, WordPress and WooCommerce stores, Shopify shops, SaaS platforms and mobile apps, working directly from export files (XLIFF, JSON, PO, CSV) to avoid copy-paste errors. Ellipse World can also optimise translated pages for local search terms, so your translated site is found on Google in its new market.

Business translation

Day-to-day corporate content also deserves professional translation: employee handbooks, HR policies, codes of conduct, health and safety notices, training programmes, internal newsletters, tenders, presentations and correspondence with partners. In a country where many employees work in a second or third language, translating key HR and safety documents into the languages your teams actually speak improves understanding and compliance.

AI translation with professional post-editing

For large volumes of lower-risk content, such as product catalogues, knowledge bases or internal documentation, Ellipse World offers machine translation post-editing. A secure translation engine produces a first draft, and a professional linguist corrects and validates every segment. The result is faster and more affordable than full human translation, with human accountability for the final text. Ellipse World will tell you honestly when a document is not suitable for this approach, for instance legal, medical or certified content.

Desktop publishing and formatting

Ellipse World returns translations in the same format as the source: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, InDesign, PDF or web files. Layouts are adjusted for text expansion (an Afrikaans or German translation is often longer than the English original) so the translated document is ready to print or publish.

Translation services by industry

Ellipse World combines its services with sector knowledge, because the same document type reads differently from one industry to the next. These are the sectors Ellipse World serves most often in South Africa.

Law firms and legal departments

Attorneys, advocates and in-house counsel rely on Ellipse World for cross-border contracts, evidence in foreign languages, sworn translations for court filings and translations of foreign judgments for enforcement in South Africa. Ellipse World respects the confidentiality that legal privilege requires and can sign a non-disclosure agreement before receiving any file.

Mining, energy and manufacturing

Ellipse World translates documentation for mines, smelters, renewable energy projects and factories, including safety induction material for multilingual workforces and technical files from foreign equipment manufacturers. Consistent terminology across hundreds of pages is ensured by client-specific glossaries.

Healthcare, pharmaceuticals and research

Hospitals, clinical research organisations and pharmaceutical companies use Ellipse World for patient-facing content in the official languages and for regulatory and clinical documents in English, French, Portuguese and German.

Government, NGOs and education

Public bodies, universities and non-profit organisations ask Ellipse World to make information accessible in the languages of the communities they serve: public notices, health campaigns, bursary information, research questionnaires and annual reports.

Private clients

Individuals come to Ellipse World for sworn and certified translations when they apply for a visa, a permit, citizenship, a foreign university place or a job abroad, or when they marry, inherit or buy property across borders. Ellipse World explains each step in writing so that the process is clear from the first message.