Merry Christmas




Dear Citizens of TranslatorsVillage,
It’s traditional at Christmas to review the successes that the year has brought.
2013 has been an important year for TranslatorsVillage. The company was set up at the start of the year, was developed and in recent months has commenced business activity.
In summer we opened the doors to translators and built up a successful community that we have today. We would like to give a huge thanks to every one of you for your confidence, support and participation.
In autumn we gradually built up our client base. These are loyal clients who gladly refer our services to their friends and associates.
All of this gives us high hopes for 2014 full of progress and success; which we would like to share with all of you.
We’d like to finish by wishing you all a very happy holiday season and a prosperous new year.

The Management team TranslatorsVillage

Meeting the needs of a growing international market in the Legal sector





With the UK hosting the Global Law Summit for the first time in 2015, now more than ever is the time to access international expertise.

The significance of dismantling language barriers in the legal system is illustrated by Chris Grayling the Secretary of Justice who declared that the UK’s “legal sector is also one of the most open in the world. [...] the benefits of removing barriers to foreign investment and business are clear with UK legal exports almost quadrupling in little more than a decade”

The number of global takeovers is also escalating, thereby increasing the demand for legal translation.

Language barriers are a great hindrance to legal professionals when aiming to infiltrate into foreign markets. It is important to recognise that messages can be lost or misunderstood when communicating internationally without expert help in translation.

In legal translation an error leading to a different interpretation of the meaning might have serious consequences.

Many countries have not updated laws for years and institutions that exist in one country don’t always have an equivalent in the country where negotiations are taking place. It is therefore essential to approach a translator that specializes in legal translation.

In some cases a sworn translator may be required. A sworn translator is a translator that is authorised by the local authorities to guarantee the accuracy of the translation.

To ensure that important messages and critical communications are not lost or misconstrued, we have selected a team of high quality and professional legal translators including sworn translators that you will find at www.transatorsvillage.com.

At www.transatorsvillage.com we offer the following benefits to support and build your business:
  • A community of 1,000 specialised and certified translators producing quality translations tailored to suit your needs.
  • A secure platform allowing information and communication to be shared in a safe setting. We recognise the importance of security and confidentiality in your profession.
  • Direct contact with your translator lets you build up an excellent personal working relationship.
In just three simple steps you can select your chosen translator and acquire your quality translation.

TranslatorsVillage
By Katrina Hartley. Marketing Officer


Gest Blogger: Manuel José Gonzalez

Divagaciones semánticas y sentimentales de un traductor jubilado al descubrir TranslatorsVillage, el “Poblado del Traductor”


Por Manuel José González*


Superado el consiguiente trauma-acomplejamiento juvenil de inexperto traductor, motivado por el anatema “crociano” (Benedetto Croce) “Traduttore-Traditore”, con el entusiasmo, la constancia y la experiencia de los años, convertime en barquero de barquichuelas, en piloto de naves y navíos, en ingeniero de caminos, arquitecto de puentes y transbordadores, emisario y mediador entre lenguas y culturas, embajador de “alianzas de civilizaciones”. Resumiendo, en orgulloso, “pobre y contento” (ver ilustracion) obrero de la palabra, metáforas que vienen como anillo al dedo al profesional de la traducción.

1ª edicion de la Picara Justina
Medina del Campo  - 1605

Me justifico y explico: El término alemán Übersetzer, culpable de estas elucubraciones, derivado del verbo “übersetzen” designa al que transporta o traslada mercancías o cargamentos varios (entre éstos “palabras preciosas”) de una orilla a otra del rio. Precisamente esta es la labor del translator (inglés), heredero también del patrimonio latino “trans-fero-tuli-latum” (llevar a otro sitio). Y de toda la numerosa familia románica heredera directa del latino TRADUCTOR-RIS, a su vez procedente del tronco “traducere”-duxi-ductum (el que hace pasar de un sitio a otro, de una clase a otra). Ejemplos que lo avalan: traductor (español), traducteur (francés), traduttore (italiano), tradutor (portugués), translador (rumano) etc. Curiosamente la lengua románica más distante de Britania es léxicamente la más cercana en el caso que nos ocupa.

En consecuencia y recopilando: los traductores somos desde tiempos inmemoriales barqueros de barquichuelas a remo como Lázaro González, alias Lazarillo de Tormes, vigilante de la “barca de la vida” cargada de pícaros, criaturas de creación literaria. Y de simples remeros, por la magia del tiempo y el mandato de la vida, nos hemos convertido en ingenieros-arquitectos tendiendo caminos y levantando puentes por los que trasladar de unos países a otros el cargamento de la palabra viva y escogida, convertida en libros. Labor dignísima. Ardua a veces. Responsable siempre.


__________________________________________________________________________
*Manuel José González es el primer traductor de la edición completa de Simplicius Simplicisimus al español. Profesor en Germanística en la Universidad Complutense. Jubilado en la actualidad publica su blog de memorias en http://manueljoseysusmemorias.blogspot.co.uk/


TranslatorsVillage - Toledo


Siguiendo la estela dejada por Alfonso X El Sabio y su Miniatuara de las Cantigas nos fuimos a la ciudad de Toledo, primera piedra en las escuelas de traducción e interpretación, el sábado 14 de diciembre.

Y dejamos nuestra tarjeta en el Café El Legendario


Tips for translators: Profile improvement

You have a voice and something important to say

When you are seeking a professional (e.g a marketing expert) you want to know what they have achieved, what makes them special and in particular what are their specific skills.

The same thing happens to people when they are searching for translators. For them, their translation is the most important thing and they want to choose the translator that best meets their specific needs and understands their business the most.

Everything that makes you different from the rest of your colleagues should be in your profile since it helps you to highlight your unique selling points. Those of you whose headline reads “Source-Target Language Translator” or “Specialized Freelance Translator” are describing a general feature that is already known by the client since they have already made a search according to language preference and specialization.

Remember that you are much more than a "Source-Target Language Translator," you each have your own unique skills that set you apart from the rest and that is exactly what a client is looking for. 

Your profile has fields that the client will carefully read to discover what makes you different and relevant to them: Occupational and academic background, industry/sector, type of experience (bear in mind that the search engine has already filtered you by language combination and specialism). Make it clear why you have chosen those fields and what you can offer them. Clients want to learn about your skills and knowledge.

Don’t be afraid to put that you are “French to English legal translator with 25 years experience as a lawyer” in your headline and then rewrite it in your “Summary” section relating it to your other specialties and additional skills and the description of your last jobs. That’s the idea!

Make sure you always have your profile updated with your rates and availability and also your recent activities. Don't forget to write your profile in both English and your mother tongue. If you are a French to English translator your clients can either be French or English speakers. Our platform will be available in French, Italian and German very soon.

Good luck and we appreciate you being part of the TranslatorsVillage community.

Empresaria de traducción online funda una empresa en Leeds





La empresaria española Blanca González  es el cerebro que está detrás de TranslatorsVillage. Tras localizar un nicho de mercado, esta ex directora de operaciones ha fundado el portal de traducción online desde su base en Leeds. Bdaily le ha hecho algunas preguntas para conocer más detalles.

En pocas palabras, ¿a qué se dedica Translators Village?

TranslatorsVillage es una herramienta que simplifica el proceso de selección de un traductor. Proporciona un listado de los candidatos adecuados que concuerdan con el criterio de selección del cliente, muestra el coste de la traducción con cada uno de los candidatos y permite el acceso de los clientes a la plataforma de Translators Village, al mismo tiempo que garantiza la seguridad de los datos y las comunicaciones.

¿Qué le empujó a crear Translators Village?

La tecnología permite acceder a muchos recursos que antes estaban ocultos, pero puede añadir confusión. Demasiada información asfixia a la información y si se busca un traductor inglés español en internet se obtienen 13 millones de resultados. ¿Cómo elegir al adecuado? Pensé que una traducción no debería ser más difícil que elegir un destino de vacaciones, reservar un hotel o un billete de avión. Y eso es lo que me motivó para fundar TranslatorsVillage.

¿Cómo ha financiado el lanzamiento de la empresa?

Sólo puedo decir que he tenido mucha suerte con el apoyo que he recibido de gente cercana desde el primer momento. La empresa es el resultado de un esfuerzo colectivo, y una gran parte de la inversión proviene de amigos que han ofrecido su experiencia y contribuido al éxito del negocio de  manera completamente altruista. Cuando tanta gente trabaja con tanto entusiasmo el resultado tiene que ser estupendo. El resto de la inversión proviene de los socios e inversión privada. También tengo que decir que Leeds tiene una infraestructura fabulosa para las empresas de nueva creación, y eso ayuda mucho cuando estás empezando. Creación de redes de contactos, seminarios de negocios y también socios comerciales contentos de adaptarse a los presupuestos de empresas pequeñas.

¿Cómo atrae a los "ciudadanos”?

El boca a boca ha sido la causa principal de la migración de ciudadanos. Los integrantes de nuestra red tenían necesidades de traducción y respondíamos a sus necesidades. Pero necesitábamos una estructura que pudiera proporcionarles el servicio que se merecen. He trabajado en el campo de la traducción durante más de 30 años y muchos de mis contactos están aceptando esta nueva idea de negocio. También compartimos conocimientos e información en las redes sociales y pronto tendremos un blog donde los clientes y traductores podrán beneficiarse de la información que compartimos. Periódicamente tendremos invitados para asegurarnos de que comprendemos las necesidades de nuestros clientes. También hemos utilizado la publicidad y las relaciones públicas para ayudar a que más ciudadanos encuentren el camino hacia TranslatorsVillage.

¿Cuáles son sus aspiraciones para la empresa?

La globalización será una fuente importante de ingresos para las pequeñas empresas. Queremos ayudarles a crecer con éxito y apoyarlas con un método de traducción fácil de usar. También queremos proporcionar apoyo a los traductores a nivel de infraestructura y marketing, para que puedan concentrarse en lo que mejor hacen: traducir. El 90% de todos los negocios estás en manos de pequeñas y medianas empresas y el 90% de la traducción en manos de profesionales independientes, así que es un proyecto bastante ambicioso y estoy muy entusiasmada.

Traducción de Beatriz Goyanes




TranslatorsVillage Statistics


Translators in TranslatorsVillage

  • Translators registered: 1200
  • Average years of experience of approved translators: 7,9
  • Languages combinations: 173


 Top 10 languages combinations

Source language
Into how many languages
English
35
Spanish
18
French
15
German
13
Italian
11
Russian
10
Catalan
8
Portuguese
6
Greek
5
Dutch
5



Target language
From how many languages

Spanish
20

English
13

French
12

Italian
11

Portuguese
9

Russian
9

Polish
8

Catalan
7

German
7

Greek
6



Overcoming language barriers in exporting is crucial to success

Leeds, November, 8th 2013
Globalization is changing the business arena. We are all looking to maximise operational efficiencies and contain cost for more competitive production models, in lower cost markets. New markets are also a significant resource of revenue growth for businesses.
The UK’s SMEs, especially the small number of high growth SMEs, are a crucial engine for growth. 99.9 per cent of the UK’s 4.5 million businesses are small or medium-sized and programs like ‘we are international’ from UKTI support businesses looking for export.
Understanding the importing and exporting processes will smooth the path into new markets, increase sales and profits and help business to take advantage of the huge international marketplace. 
Unfortunately there is little support on those programs on how to deal with overcoming the language barrier. Many people think that English is an international language that everyone understands, but this is not always the case. Communication needs to be especially smooth when it comes to dealing with different cultures and can mean the difference in you winning a great opportunity. Good communication at the beginning of a new venture is crucial to the visibility of the company: that is the reason of translation playing a critical role during your exporting process.
Many things need to be taken care of during your expansion process and translation can be a very simple step: planning a budget for it, having the awareness of the cost (read time as well) involved, can only help you to succeed. The big challenge comes when you have to make a decision as to what the best translation choice for your company might be. The market is so atomized, and making a sound decision without experience is not obvious.
This is where the new translator’s marketplaces like TranslatorsVillage come into the picture. Marketplaces allow you to make direct contact with freelances, but provide the quality standards the platform adheres to. They facilitate the selection process and give you the opportunity to choose from different budgets, like other industries and service providers already do (booking hotels is quite popular in the net). TranslatorsVillage adds a unique value is a secured platform for information sharing and payment processing and a budget calculator. We know how important data protection is, so we add to the service an online secure platform that keeps track of all the translation process. Transparency of what you can get and at what price and timeframe is our delivery in goal.
There are thousands of stories, some funny, others quite dramatic about what poor translation can entail. From Coca-Cola to manufacturing industry - hundreds of mistakes that have triggered long legal processes and cost far beyond the cost of a good translation.
Remember that making your information accessible so that everyone can read it will improve your message toward your audience. It means that you recognise the difference of others and that you respect this difference. Providing access to this multilingual information will benefit your business. We invite you to visit our web page where you can easily check how much it can cost.
Whatever your decision is when it comes to choose a translator, make sure you choose a site with clear information on quality standards, data protection and secured delivery. That will help you to get your product in the target market at the quality level it deserves.

Tips for translators: Your recommendations

Recommendations are the best way to build reputation and word of mouth is one of the best ways to build it. Receiving recommendations from your clients enhances your TranslatorsVillage presence and from our experience, translators with references are more often selected by our potential customers.

Just think for a moment like a customer and think about your buying process. What would be your preferred choice in the following situation?



It is difficult to build reputation in a brand new page. This is the reason why TranslatorsVillage offers the option of building your reputation from your previous experience.

By sending us the contact information of your former clients, we will ask them for a recommendation of your work and we will include it in your profile, so don't miss the opportunity to do it.

Suggestion: Contact the people that has recommended you on LinkedIn or other sites and ask them if you can use their recommendation in TranslatorsVillage.

Translators meetings

We believe that meetings people is the best  way of sharing information. Therefore we keep organizing meetings to meet with anyone interested in translation. 

We have organised five meetings so far (one in collaboration with Proz). They have been all a great experience,  we've always come back with hands full of ideas, interesting information and things to share. 

These were the meetings held so far:

    • Leeds October 10
    • Madrid September 4
    • Salamanca August 29
    • Paris June 14
    • Leeds June 5



At the moment we are announcing our meetings on Facebook. (http://www.facebook.com/TranslatorsVillage).



All those meetings have been informal gatherings around a drink to chat about translation stuff, but some people prefer the idea of ​​thematic meetings. Your opinion is important to us, so please add your comments below should you be interested in getting something specific out of a meeting, or write us to hello@translatorsillage.com with any suggestion.

In our future meetings we will write a short article about the ideas that came out in our conversations and we will share the information with you in this forum.

Since our meeting have been taken place in different cities, the most recurring questions was if there was going to be a recurrence of those meeting within the same city. Since we are not a very big team, we won't be able to join the translators in every single meeting, but we are looking for volunteers that we will help to organise translators meetings. 


Are you interested interested in organizing a translators meeting? We would like to hear from you. Organizers will benefit from a discounted rate in the platform and will also gain visibility, which is always a nice to have. Write us letting us know your interest at hello@translatorsvillage.com.



Tips for translators - Your picture


Why is your picture more important than you thought?



We all know the sayings: "A picture is worth a thousand words". I think it exist in almost any language I know, so there has to be a reason for it being so popular.

The reason of it being so important in your profile is that it is the first think that everyone sees when your profile shows up on the screen. Buying patterns in the internet, make this even more important. Would you book an hotel that does not have pictures on the Internet?  It is absolutely true that for translation you use your brain and not your image, but image provides the confidence of dealing with a person, and makes the client think that this person is not hiding anything,  People buy people, and when it comes to virtual networks, pictures bring forward our human side.

Sometimes an example worth more a thousand words:


Can you see the difference? Which one would you choose?


Photo Competition

Do you like photography, are you a photography enthusiast? If so, then this competition is right for you!

In this section we want to include pictures of places we visit or places we live in. We are aiming to put TranslatorsVillage all around the globe.

We are gathering picture of places where you can leave a TranslatorsVillage business card (you can download the PDF version from our Support Centre).  We want people to get familiarized with our brand name and every little helps.

Any ideas of where to put the business card? Start thinking about it. It is easier than it looks like.
We will publish the picture with the name of the person that has taken it (optional). We are planning a competition for the end of the year among all participant.

Help us to put TranslatorsVillage in the map and send us your picture. We only need your name (let us know if you want your picture to stay anonymous), your picture  and the place it was taken. Our email as usual:  hello@transatorsvillage.com.

Below our first picture:



In September we were on a typical huarique in  Lima, Peru - Blanca Bernabe



Guest bloggers

We are currently looking for bloggers who are looking to get their name out there and generate exposure to their profile. Blog post will be announced in our home page and will help translators to gain exposure in our site.


Our blog will talk about all aspects of the translation process, and we are open to your suggestions on blog topics, however, the content must be related somehow to language barriers and how to overcome them. If you want to talk about your hobbies, this is not your space, unless they are related to languages.

We want to see our translators and our clients telling us their stories or their thoughts, challenges they have phased, tips or lessons learned, anything that might inspire translators and clients.


Submission guidelines: 

  • Posts should be around 500 words in content 
  • Content should not be reproduced anywhere else on the web including your own blog (neither party benefits from duplicate content).
  • Links within the article must be relevant resources to the article and topic discussed. 
  • Author bio at the bottom of the article will include direct link to his profile in TranslatorsVillage. 

Benefits: 

  • Higher exposure of your profile. The chance to show your skills to new prospects. 
  • Link to this post will be included in your profile.
  • Your rates won't be topped up with TranslatorsVillage commission during the 3 months after publishing.

How to apply

Submit your requests at: blanca@translatorsvillage.com.

Online translation entrepreneur launches Leeds-based business


Spanish entrepreneur Blanca Gonzalez is the brains behind TranslatorsVillage. The former operations manager founded the online translation portal from her Leeds base after spotting a gap in the market. Bdaily put some questions to Blanca to find out more.
In a nutshell what does Translators Village do?
TranslatorsVillage is a tool that simplifies the selection process of a translator. It provides with a panel of suitable candidates that match the clients’ selection criteria, shows the translation cost for each candidate and grants clients access to TranslatorsVillage platform, securing communication and data.
What prompted you to set up Translators Village?
Technology is providing access to many resources that were hidden before, but this can add confusion. Too much information kills information and when you search for an English Spanish translator on the internet you get 13 million results. How do you make the choice that is right for you? I thought translation should not be more difficult to choose from than a holiday destination, booking a hotel or a flight. And this is what prompted me to build TranslatorsVillage.
How have you funded the business startup?
I can only say that I have been extremely lucky with the support that I have received since the very early stages from people around me. The company is the result of a collective effort and a great part of the investment comes from friends that have offered their experience and contributed to the business success in a completely altruistic form. When so many people work with so much enthusiasm, the result has to be a great product. The rest of the investment comes from the partners and private funding. I should also mention that Leeds has a great infrastructure for startup businesses and this is very helpful when you are starting. Networking events, business conferences and also business partners that are happy to accommodate to small business budgets.
How do you attract your "citizens?"
Word of mouth has been the main source of citizen migration. People in our network had translation needs and we were responding to their demand. But we needed a structure that could provide them with the service they deserve.  I have worked in translation for more than 30 years and many of my contacts are embracing the new business idea. We are also sharing knowledge and information in social media and will soon have our blog where clients and translators will be able to benefit from the information we share. We will be regularly inviting guests to make sure that we understand our client needs. There is also some advertising and PR to help more citizens to find their way to TranslatorsVillage.
What are your ambitions for the business?

Globalization will be a great source of revenue for small businesses. We want to help them grow successfully and support them with a simple to use translation solution. We also want to provide marketing and infrastructure support to translators, so they can concentrate in what they do best: translation. 90% of all business is in SMEs hands and 90% of translation is in freelance hands, so this is quite an ambitious project that I am really excited about.

TranslatorsVillage - Removing language barriers


TranslatorsVillage brings together the best practices in translation business: the selection process and quality standards used in corporate business combined with a direct access to translators. We gather more than 1,000 translators in more than 100 language combinations. They have been carefully selected for you and they are all committed to adhere to our community values.
The market for outsourced translation is worth more than £20k billion handled by 30,000 translation companies (covering 10% of all translation business) and freelance translators (covering the remaining 90%). In such a huge, atomized network, it is very difficult to make the right choice for your translation needs.
In TranslatorsVillage we believe that finding the right translator should be easy and therefore we have developed a tool that provides the required support to do so.
When requiring a translation you need a tool that helps you to choose among translators based on your preferred combination of background, expertise, availability and, last but not least, your budget.
TranslatorsVillage incorporates a Support Desk to help find translators in rare language combinations, providing the extra support sometimes needed during the selection process.
TranslatorsVillage is built in a secure server where clients and translators share the information, because we understand how important it is to keep your data safe and secure.
More than 50% of consumers say that having information in their own language is more important than price and making the information of your company available in a different language has never been easier.

Pitch for TranslatorsVillage

Company / App Name: TranslatorsVillage


http://www.translatorsvillage.com
twitter @TranslatorVille
public — September 10, 2013

What does it do?

TranslatorsVillage is the most straight forward marketplace for translation. We grant access to high-quality specialized translators in over 75 languages, helping companies to make the journey of translation with just baggage enough.

Why do we need it?

A key step to get the global reach companies are looking for, the site makes globalization journey easy and secure. Our team of expert language providers and translators, our passion for languages and excellence, at easy reach.

Who is it for?

Business and individuals that are looking to expand globally and want quality service in their multilingual deployment, leaving the selection and qualification process of translators with the experts in the domain.

What makes it stand out from the crowd?

TranslatorsVillage combines the best of all marketplaces. You will now be able to know how much your translation might cost and choose from a panel of suitable candidates in just a few clicks.

What’s next?

Just visit our website and start using it, or get in touch with us through our support desk, should you need assistance.


You can also find us in facebook http://www.facebook.com/TranslatorsVillage

Presentation published in The Startup Pitch, Sep. 10th 2013