Questions people ask us

Official documents are $19.95 a page. Business text is $0.05 a word, or $0.075 a word with a full review by a person, with a $5 smallest order. Copywriting is priced by product on the prices page. You see dollars and are charged a fixed price in yen, at about ¥150 to the dollar. Orders are open for Japanese to English and English to Japanese, for official documents, business text and copywriting. Every other language pair is Coming soon. All prices

By characters, turned into English-equivalent words, so a word costs the same in every language. Burmese, Khmer and Lao are priced by a person.

Official documents are $19.95 a page, and the certificate of accuracy is included. You see the total before you pay, shown in dollars and charged in yen. All prices

Each document is priced on its own, and you can send up to 10 at once in a basket for one payment and one download. Sending official documents for your own clients? 10% off from 10 documents a month, 15% off from 20 and 20% off from 40, on work we produce ourselves and not on a document done by a partner translator (sworn or certified). Long business texts: 5% off from 5,000 words, 10% off from 20,000 and 15% off from 50,000. All of it is Coming soon.

What the quote says is what you pay. If something about your document means the price no longer holds, we stop and tell you before anything is charged.

No, not on official documents: every one comes back with it. On business text it is $3.50 if you ask for it.

Standard is $0.05 a word, and Advanced, which adds a full review by a person, is $0.075 a word. The smallest order is $5. Paste your text on the Business counter to see the price as you type. Business counter

Each product has one price, for example a menu is $155, a Google business profile is $100, a product description is $17 and a website is $470. The full list is on the Copywriting counter. You can order copywriting now for Japanese to English and English to Japanese; Taglish copy is Coming soon. Copywriting counter

Yes. On copywriting, which you can order now for Japanese to English and English to Japanese, priority delivery is the price × 1.3, a second language is 60% of the first (English or Japanese), an extra page on a website or company profile is 50% of the product price, and photo captions are $5 a photo. Every copywriting delivery already comes as text and a Word file, at no extra charge. On official documents priority delivery is $8 a document, and on business text it is the price × 1.5 with a certificate of accuracy for $3.50: those extras are Coming soon. Printed copies by post and notarisation are not offered. All prices

Yes, several products sold together at about 18% less than buying them one by one. Open to visitors (menu and Google profile) is $209. Restaurant launch (menu, Google profile and listing copy) is $275. Online shop (English website, five product descriptions and Google profile) is $537. New to Japan (Japanese website, company profile and press release) is $697. Hiring pack is $234, launch day is $431, community launch is $426, brand start is $1078 and audit and rewrite is $615. All of it is Coming soon. Copywriting counter

Open "Check and correct your draft line by line" under the sample, on your order page. Lines we are not sure of are yellow, for example a name we wrote in katakana from the letters on your document. Press Looks right if a line is fine. If it is wrong, tap it, type the right spelling, and press Save. Press Add a note to tell the translator something about one line, or use the box at the bottom for the whole document. The translator sees what you changed and your notes, and the sample shows your corrections when you open it again. This is open until you accept the price. For a document from a country whose form we have, such as a Philippine marriage certificate, we also ask you to confirm the country, and the draft then follows that form's own boxes. Boxes we have not filled yet say that our translator completes them after payment.

Photograph it in daylight, flat on a table, straight on with all four corners in frame, one document per photo. Please send every page and both sides, since a missing back side is the most common reason a document gets sent back. JPG, PNG or PDF, up to 12 MB each. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, text, WebP and iPhone (HEIC) files are accepted too, and so is any other file: if our system does not read it, a person opens it. More details

A faint photo is not turned away at once: we clean it up and read it again, and if that is what let us read it we show you the cleaned copy (we do not keep it). If it still will not read, try another photo in good light with the whole page in frame; our free photo tool can straighten, crop and brighten it in your browser. Or choose 'Send it to a person instead': a person reads it and writes back within 1 business day with your price and a draft you can look at before you pay. The draft arrives by email as a secure link to a watermarked PDF, so you can check your name, dates and numbers; nothing is charged until you decide. We keep the file for 17 days so they can read it, then delete it. More details

No, you see the price before you make an account. To see your orders later there is no password: enter the email you ordered with on Your orders and we send you a link, then press the button on the page it opens. Leave "Keep me signed in on this device for 30 days" ticked and next time you go straight to your orders; "Done" signs you out. More details

Every order gets a progress link in your email that shows which stage it is at. If you lost it, open Your orders with the email you ordered with and we send you a fresh link, or just tell us. More details

Yes, by card through Square. You see dollars, and your card is charged a fixed price in yen, so your own bank may add its own conversion step or fee, which we do not control. Orders are open for Japanese to English and English to Japanese, for official documents, business text and copywriting. Every other language pair is Coming soon.

On the global side credit is counted in credits only. It is Coming soon: a review will earn 3 credits, and a friend you refer will earn 5 credits when their order is delivered, and they get 5 too. How credit will work

Your own bank may convert the yen amount and add a fee. We cannot see or change it, and we do not refund it. The yen amount is shown before you pay.

Getting a price is free, and you pay nothing while you look. You pay after you have seen the price, checked the details we read off your document, and seen and approved a draft of the translation, never before. Work on the final version begins as soon as your payment reaches us, and we write to tell you.

Yes, a receipt is attached to the email that confirms your payment. If you need it sent again or made out to a company name, write to hello@polyfetti.com with your order number.

We do not notarise documents or issue apostilles; a notary does the first and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the second. We are not a government body: a certified translation is a signed statement of accuracy by a named translator, nothing more. More details

We cannot promise that, because acceptance is always the receiving office's decision. Every order comes with a destination notice saying what that office publishes about translations and the date we checked it, so please confirm with the office before you submit. More details

A certified translation comes with a signed statement from the translator or company that it is complete and accurate. A sworn translation is made by a translator registered with a court or ministry in their country, and carries their official stamp. A notarised translation has a notary confirm the translator's signature. An apostille is a different thing: a stamp a government puts on the original document. Which one an office wants is for that office to say.

No. Official documents come back with our signed certificate of accuracy, a statement that the translation is complete and accurate. It is not a sworn translation, and it is not made by a translator registered with a court or ministry. Some offices accept only those. We plan to offer sworn work through registered partners, and we will say so on the page the day it opens.

Your translation as a PDF. Official documents come with our signed certificate of accuracy, a statement that it is complete and accurate, included in the page price. On business text the certificate is $3.50 if you ask for it. It is not a sworn translation.

Yes, as a Small and a Large next to the full size on most copywriting products, and a second language for 60% of the price, in English or Japanese. You can order them now for Japanese to English and English to Japanese. A second language other than English or Japanese is Coming soon. All prices

Menus, Google Business Profiles, stay and product listings, English and Japanese website copy, company profiles, press releases, job postings, Taglish campaign and social copy, monthly social, newsletters, naming, brand voice guides, and audits of copy you already have. Pick a product to see its price, then send your brief. Copywriting menu

Those are things we do not write: documents for a public office, contracts, advice on what a document means, financial statements, and CVs. We will happily translate a CV you have already written. We do not translate contracts for now. More details

Not for now. We do not translate contracts or agreements at the moment, on either side. We translate certificates and records, and business material such as listings, manuals, reports and websites.

Yes, write in the language you are comfortable in. Japanese and English are read directly, and in Vietnamese, Filipino, Chinese and Portuguese we will understand you and reply clearly. More details

English into Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, and each of those back into English, with many more languages into English. Orders are open for Japanese to English and English to Japanese, for official documents, business text and copywriting. Every other language pair is Coming soon. We say so on the page the day each pair opens. The counters

Only the person who translates it and the person who reviews it see your document, both bound by confidentiality. We delete your source file 17 days after delivery and the finished translation 30 days after delivery, and we never sell or share your information. If you only asked for a price, we keep the photo for 24 hours so you do not have to send it again if you order, then it is deleted. More details

Yes. You can delete your saved spellings and contact details yourself on Your orders, or email hello@polyfetti.com and we reply to privacy requests within 10 business days. Some records of the transaction itself have to be kept for tax purposes. More details

It depends on how far the order has got. Full refund: you cancel before our translator starts, we cannot deliver, or our mistake is still wrong after 2 corrections. 50% back: you cancel after work has started and before we deliver, and the rest pays for the work done. No refund: a correct translation has been delivered, or an office declines your document for a reason that is not in our translation. Refund policy

Our translation is a certified one: a signed statement of accuracy, not a sworn translation. If you need a sworn translation and do not tell us at the start, we do not refund it. If you tell us before we begin, we say what we can and cannot provide, and you decide whether to go ahead. Refund policy

If we cannot deliver on the day we gave you, you can have a full refund. The cost of a late partner is ours, not yours. Refund policy

Yes, we keep a roster of partner translators. Each job shows what you will be paid for it before you accept, on a cycle you choose. Joining starts with an entrance test that uses no real customer documents. The roster is open to applications; jobs are not being sent to partners yet. Work with us

I'm Fetti, Polyfetti's helper, and I answer common questions from what is on our site. For anything about your own order, write to us and we reply by email within 1 business day. We have no phone line. More details

I cannot advise on that; the office asking for the documents is the one to tell you exactly what they need. Once you know, I can help you order the translation, or a person can reply at hello@polyfetti.com. More details

Email hello@polyfetti.com, or use the form on our contact page. We reply within 1 business day. We do not take telephone calls. More details

Yes, free tools that run in your own browser, with nothing to sign up for and nothing uploaded. The photo tool straightens, crops and brightens a crooked or dark photo of your document, and the scan check tells you whether a photo is readable before you send it. The PDF tool joins separate files into one, splits one into pieces, turns a sideways page the right way up, or makes a PDF from photographs. The signature tool places a picture of your signature on a PDF; it is a picture only, not an electronic signature in the legal sense. There are also counters and a price quote, a date converter for the calendar on your document, name tools (how we print your name, a name card, spelling variants and a transliteration preview), a glossary of terms on civil documents, and a sample of what our certified translation looks like. Use them before or during your order whenever a file or a date is not working. Document Tool Hub

There is no app to download: Polyfetti is a website, and it works the same on your phone. To keep it one tap away, add it to your home screen. On an iPhone, open polyfetti.com in Safari, tap the Share button and choose Add to Home Screen. On Android, open your browser menu and choose Add to Home screen, or Install app. The home page also has a card that shows you how, and on a computer it has a QR code: point your phone camera at it to open Polyfetti on your phone. More details

We count business days in Japan, and any time we give is Japan time. When we confirm your order we say which day to expect your file.

The date is on your quote before you pay, and it depends on the language pair and the document. The When will it be ready? tool shows standard and priority dates side by side for any document, business text, copywriting product or bundle, with a live countdown. Business days are counted in Japan and leave out weekends and Japanese public holidays. When will it be ready?

As a PDF through a download link we email you, at no extra charge. Please save your own copy: the finished file is deleted 30 days after delivery and the link stops working then. Printed copies by post are not offered.

We copy it exactly as it is printed on your document, and show it to you to check before you pay. If your other papers spell it differently, tell us which spelling to use.

Pick your languages and a counter, photograph your document, and the price comes back before you make an account. You check every name, date and number we read, correct anything, and only then pay. Your translation comes as a PDF by a secure download link in an email. Orders are open for Japanese to English and English to Japanese, for official documents, business text and copywriting. Every other language pair is Coming soon. The counters

Yes. Before payment you see every value we read off your document, such as names, dates, numbers and addresses, and you correct anything that is wrong. Nothing is produced until you say the list is right, and you see a watermarked draft of the translation before you pay.

On the home page pick the two languages you need, then choose a counter: Official for documents, Business for text, Copywriting for writing. The price is on screen before you pay. The counters

Official is for certificates, diplomas and records that an office, school, bank or employer asks for. Business is for websites, reports and company material, priced by the word. Copywriting is for menus, profiles and campaigns, written new for your readers and priced by product. The counters

The top bar has Counters, Prices, Translation in Japan and Your orders. On the home page the side menu lists the three counters and folds down to icons.

This side is for English to and from other languages. Translation in Japan, in the top bar, is for people living in Japan. Your orders page works for both. Translation in Japan

Birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates, diplomas and degrees, transcripts, police clearance certificates, bank statements, driver licences, employment letters and medical records, plus websites and company material. We do not translate contracts for now. Anything else is welcome and a person prices it. Orders are open for Japanese to English and English to Japanese, for official documents, business text and copywriting. Every other language pair is Coming soon. The counters

Yes, it is welcome. A person looks at it and comes back with a price before you pay anything.

The terms, privacy notice and refund policy for this side are open now, linked in the footer, together with the Cookies and Accessibility pages. Terms

What your device stores is explained on the Cookies page. Cookies page