Four ways into English
A paper written in one language, needed in another. There are four common ways across. Each is a reasonable choice for someone. None is right for everything, Tolayda included.
Writing it again in English
The author rewrites the paper in English themselves. Nothing is lost in translation, because nothing is translated. The meaning stays with the person who holds it.
The cost is time. Amano et al., writing in PLOS Biology in 2023, found that early-career researchers from countries of moderate English proficiency spend a median 50.6% more time writing a paper in English than native speakers. The ideas were already finished. The extra time sits in the crossing.
A general translation tool
Fast, widely available, and often good. For a quick sense of a text, or a first draft, a general tool is hard to beat.
It is built for every kind of text, not for an academic paper in particular. What comes back is the English. Whether it still says what the author meant is a question the tool leaves to them, and a discipline's terms are where meaning most easily slips.
A paid editing or translation service
A person with subject knowledge reads the work. For a paper going to a journal, that judgement is worth a great deal, and some situations require a certified translation that only a qualified person can give.
It costs more, and it takes longer. The paper also leaves the author's hands for a while. What returns is a finished text, and the author's part is to accept it or send it back.
Tolayda
Tolayda is built for one thing: carrying an academic document into English while the original stays in view.
The English sits beside the source, block by block, with headings, paragraphs, captions, and table cells in place. The author reads both sides and edits until they trust it. Classmates at the same university can work on it live. A lecturer can receive a locked, read-only copy. Underneath, SeventyTwo takes several passes over the text and calls nothing final until those passes agree.
What it does not do matters as much. Tolayda does not certify a translation, copy-edit for a journal, or grade the work. Those stay with the people responsible for them. Today it works from a Word file, and accounts come through a university licence.
Side by side
| Who decides it is right | Original in view | Built for academic papers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Writing it again | The author | Not needed | Yes, at the cost of time |
| General translation tool | The author, unaided | Depends on the tool | No |
| Paid service | The editor or translator | Not usually | Often |
| Tolayda | The author, beside the source | Yes | Yes |
These can be combined. A paper translated in Tolayda can still go to an editor before submission. The point of the comparison is not that one way wins. It is to be clear about who holds the meaning at each step.
How a paper moves through Tolayda is on the product page. The writing-time figures are in the note on the tax.