Croatian Post (HP) is one of Croatia’s most recognizable public companies, mainly providing postal services. Since HP works with many international partners and clients, it needs a high level of accuracy and consistency when translating different types of documents – from contracts and internal regulations to creative philatelic texts and official press releases. In its philatelic segment, Croatian Post is especially known for issuing commemorative postage stamps, for which we also handle translation services for the accompanying texts.
Our collaboration with Croatian Post required efficiency, accuracy and consistency in translating various types of documents and texts, including:
It was especially important to maintain high quality while minimizing turnaround time.
To deliver top-quality service with fast turnaround, we implemented:
We have maintained continuous and successful cooperation with Croatian Post, delivering translations that reflect precision, clarity and professionalism – regardless of the complexity or specificity of the subject matter. The translated commemorative texts for postage stamps, often related to history, culture and current topics such as environmental protection or sports achievements, are regularly delivered in Croatian, English and German.
Precision in translating philatelic terminology is crucial for preserving the value and meaning of each issue, especially for collectors and philatelists worldwide. A high-quality translation of accompanying texts requires a thorough understanding of specific terms and their practical application. A perfect example is the “First Day Cover (FDC)”.
As the name suggests, it is not just any envelope but a complete collectible item serving as the “birth certificate” of a postage stamp. It combines three key elements:
In-depth understanding and clear communication with the client allow us to translate creative texts accompanying philatelic issues with expertise and in the true spirit of the field, conveying to the world the story behind each design. This ensures the highest level of accuracy and consistency across all materials.
Do you remember those early days when, full of enthusiasm but short on a plan, you jumped into a business adventure? Every successful story has its chapter of chaos... Days when coffee was your only fuel, and the “plan for tomorrow” was pure science fiction.
How does a functioning, Swiss-watch-like system emerge from such creative disorder? To find out, we went behind the scenes and spoke with Siniša, one of the founders of Sinonim. His story is a candid reminder that the road to success often starts with the sentence: “I have no idea how we’re going to pull this off, but we will.”
When asked what the very beginning of Sinonim looked like, Siniša laughs. There were no directors, no team leaders, no clearly defined roles. There were just a pile of work and a team willing to do anything.
“At the very beginning, we did everything that needed to be done,” he recalls. “Personally, I handled everything from communicating with clients and translators, designing the website, setting up the entire business, to actually translating myself.”
That, he says, was the romantic side of the story; every day was new and exciting, full of challenges they had never faced before. But the romance had another side. “There was also a lot of uncertainty, difficulties and much more stress.” The biggest challenge was figuring out what exactly they were doing, what the goal was, and how on earth to reach it.
Order gradually began to emerge from the chaos, but not by accident. The transition to a structured business happened the moment we realized we needed a tool that didn’t exist on the market, a tool tailored to our needs.
“The biggest digital change was developing our own software to manage nearly every aspect of our business, from projects, offers and invoices to CRM,” Siniša emphasizes. This step, he says, “immeasurably sped up and improved all our processes.”
While grappling with market demands and new technologies like machine translation, we realized a crucial truth: the only aspect we can fully control is our internal organization. That’s where we invested the most effort.
Today, the early chaos is just a fond memory. Every project, from the smallest to the largest, goes through a process shaped by years of learning (and plenty of mistakes). In short, it looks like this:
| Inquiry | Everything starts when you reach out. At this stage, we want to hear all about your project – you send us the document and tell us your desired deadlines and any specific requirements. The better we understand your needs, the smoother the process will be. |
| Offer | Based on a detailed analysis of the text, we send you a non-binding offer as quickly as possible. Once you accept and say “yes,” your project officially moves into execution. |
| Translation | After your confirmation, the project manager takes over. This is where our internal magic happens. Translations are not assigned randomly. Our project manager carefully selects a translator from our database of experts who specializes in your document’s field. This approach ensures that the translation is not only linguistically accurate but also terminologically flawless. After translation, the text is reviewed by another pair of professional eyes for proofreading and final check, because quality always comes first. |
| Delivery of Translation | Once the translation has passed all our checks, it is delivered. The final polished version is sent via email, and for certified translations or as agreed, a physical copy is mailed to your address. Fast, efficient and stress-free. |
“This system,” explains Siniša, “brings peace of mind to everyone.” The client has a single contact for everything, and our team knows exactly who is responsible for what, allowing everyone to be the best at their part of the job.
Looking back, Siniša says it’s hard to pinpoint just one key step – from the first website, to moving into a “real” office, to our own software – each stage brought Sinonim to where it is today. And the future?
“I think there will be a lot of automation,” he predicts. But he immediately adds the crucial point: “Tools like AI and machine translation can help and speed up the process, but they can’t replace humans. Why? Because they don’t have a sense of language and context.”
His vision is clear: the future is a combination of technology that speeds things up and a “human touch that guarantees quality.” This lesson was learned back in the days of early chaos – at the end of the day, it all comes down to people.
(više…)While at first glance a certified translation may seem like any other, the work of a court interpreter is full of specific requirements, rules and challenges that make it unique.
Many people wonder if there’s a difference in quality between a regular translation and one that has a court interpreter’s stamp. The answer is simple: there shouldn’t be. Every diligent translator will approach their work with maximum care, regardless of whether the document ultimately requires a stamp. Still, the translation process itself includes key differences related to formalities and technical details.
The biggest difference is that a certified translation, in addition to a digital version, must also exist in a physical, paper form. While most translations today are delivered by e-mail, certified translations live in the world of paper, stamps and binding.
To be legally valid, a certified translation must follow strict formatting rules:
When it comes to certified translation, the rule is straightforward: every part that can be read and understood needs to be translated. This means even small details that are often overlooked in a regular translation should be included. For example, text found in logos, headers or within images also needs to be translated.
But what happens if part of the text is illegible, such as a handwritten note or a poorly scanned page? In that case, the court interpreter adds a note of illegibility (e.g. “illegible”). Notes are also used in other cases, such as when a document contains text in a third language for which the interpreter is not certified.
To go beyond theory, we asked Mario, one of the founders of Sinonim and our court interpreter for English, what he considers most important in his work:
Mario Džido, Sinonim
“I would say it’s the sense of responsibility. With my signature and stamp, I guarantee that the translation is perfectly identical to the original, and that the document could be vital for someone’s job, visa or inheritance. There’s simply no margin for mistakes. That’s why I focus most of my attention on details and double-check everything I write. It all comes down to the source document. The more precise and legible it is, the more confidently I can guarantee accuracy, which ultimately makes the client more confident and satisfied with the result.”
The work of a court interpreter is marked by a wide variety of materials. In a single day, an interpreter may translate a birth certificate, a criminal record certificate, a machine specification or a financial report.
Additional challenges often come from the formats in which documents arrive. Rarely is it a clean Word file. Court interpreters regularly deal with low-quality scans, blurry screenshots or complex Excel tables that are difficult to process in CAT tools. Because of this, besides the translation itself, a large part of the workday is spent preparing and formatting documents so the final translation looks professional and is print-ready.
Although a certified translation must exist in physical form, the process at Sinonim has been modernized. Clients today usually send document scans by e-mail. Once the translation is completed, we send a scanned copy of the certified translation back to the client. The physical copy is sent by post – ensuring fast delivery.
Need a certified translation you can rely on? Send us your document for a free estimate.
A new academic year is just around the corner. The hallways are busy, the smell of lecture notes and coffee fills the air, and plans for nights out are being made… and there’s that constant question on your mind, whether you’re a freshman or about to graduate: “Am I on the right path?”
Maybe you didn’t get into that one program you dreamed of. Or you’re worried you chose the wrong set of courses. Maybe you’re wondering how you’ll ever find a job in your field after graduation. Sound familiar?
Relax. You’re not alone. We’ve all been there!
Today, we want you to meet Anamarija, our translator, whose story begins right where you might be now – at the crossroads of unexpected decisions and hidden opportunities.
Anamarija is now fluent in languages, but her first choice wasn’t the Faculty of Humanities. “My first choice was actually Speech Therapy in Zagreb,” she admits. “Unfortunately, the enrollment quota was very low, and there was an entrance exam, so I didn’t get in.”
For many, this might sound like a disaster, but Anamarija didn’t see it that way. The Faculty of Humanities in Osijek became just as dear to her, and, as she says, “in the end, everything fell into place perfectly.” By enrolling in English and Pedagogy, she had the opportunity to discover new passions and develop in directions she had never considered before.
Did you dream of an unusual job as a child? Anamarija did.
“As a kid, I wanted to be a meteorologist! I was always checking the forecast and pretending to be Zoran Vakula from HRT,” she laughs. “Even today, I have a ton of weather apps on my phone.”
Her passion for translation wasn’t love at first sight; it developed gradually alongside her growing interest in English. When it came time to choose a focus for her master’s studies, translation was the natural choice.
“I admire professors, but because of my more introverted nature, the translator’s job suits me better. Besides, I was fascinated by the art of conveying thoughts and information in another language – how to express what someone wants to say precisely, but in a completely different linguistic framework.”
Now, the key question: how do you land your first job in the field? Anamarija’s story of finding a job at Sinonim is a perfect example of how opportunities sometimes create themselves – if you’re ready to seize them.
“Sinonim contacted our professor for a recommendation for a student to help with administration. She recommended a colleague, my colleague recommended me, and that’s how it all started.”
At that time, Anamarija’s only experience was volunteering to translate for TED Translators and Translators without Borders. But that was enough. She showed initiative.
“At first, I wasn’t translating; I was helping with administration. But I soaked up everything: how the process works in an agency, how certified translations are done, which tools we use… As the work expanded, I started getting my first translation projects too.”
Today, after more than three years at Sinonim, Anamarija says the best part of the job is the sense of satisfaction after completing a huge project and receiving positive feedback from a client. “It really gives you a boost!”
In this job, she says, you learn all sorts of things. “Every day I research something new. The best example is that now I know how to change a windshield, even though I’ve never done it! Every new translation is a new topic to explore.”
Of course, not everything is perfect. The less enjoyable part? “Everyone dreads those huge documents with tables where you move one thing and the whole Word collapses. I think every translator knows that,” she laughs.
To conclude, Anamarija leaves a few key messages for all future translators and language enthusiasts:
Good luck with the start of the new academic year! Let Anamarija’s story remind you of one thing: your career didn’t start the day you enrolled at university, nor will it start the day you submit your diploma. It begins the moment you decide to take concrete action – translate an article, attend a professional workshop or apply for a student internship. Good luck!
When new slang makes its way into a respected dictionary like Cambridge, it’s not just a linguistic curiosity, it’s a cultural statement. The addition of terms like skibidi, tradwife, lewk, and broligarchy shows how deeply internet culture and shifting social norms are shaping the English language.
Colin McIntosh, Lexical Programme Manager at Cambridge Dictionary, summed it up well:
“It’s not every day you get to see words like skibidi and delulu make their way into the Cambridge Dictionary. We only add words where we think they'll have staying power. Internet culture is changing the English language and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the Dictionary.”
So what do these words really mean and what do they say about us?
A shortened form of traditional wife, the word tradwife has become a cultural flashpoint. It describes women who proudly embrace domestic roles such as homemaking, child-rearing, and supporting their husbands — often showcased on TikTok or Instagram.
For some, it represents empowerment through choice and a return to “simpler values.” For others, it reinforces restrictive gender roles and idealizes a past that wasn’t equal for everyone. The fact that this word made it into Cambridge signals how powerful and widespread the discussion has become.
Cultural spotlight: The “tradwife” movement has sparked intense debates online, with popular influencers like Estee Williams and Hannah Neeleman (@ballerinafarm) showcasing traditional lifestyles that resonate with millions of followers.
Example in use:
“She shares sourdough recipes and homemaking tips on TikTok — she really leans into the tradwife aesthetic.”
Lewk, a playful stylization of look is used when an outfit or aesthetic makes a strong, curated statement. It’s more than clothing, it’s a performance of identity.
The term first gained traction in drag and LGBTQ+ culture, where it was used to describe bold, exaggerated styles that pushed against conventional norms. Today, “serving a lewk” has entered mainstream fashion talk, from TikTok OOTDs to red-carpet breakdowns.
When people talk about a “lewk,” they’re usually pointing out an outfit, makeup look, hairstyle, or overall vibe that feels bold, creative, and impossible to ignore. It’s often tied to unconventional or daring styles that push beyond mainstream or traditional fashion.
Example in use:
“Zendaya was serving a lewk at the Met Gala — that outfit will be talked about for years.”
This portmanteau (bro + oligarchy) describes a powerful clique of male tech moguls. Think Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg — whose influence extends far beyond business.
The word is humorous, but the critique is sharp. Adding broligarchy to the dictionary suggests that even satire can reflect genuine anxieties about power, wealth, and the outsized role of “tech bros” in shaping economies and even culture. Language here becomes both commentary and resistance.
Example in use:
“The future of AI seems to be decided by the broligarchy in Silicon Valley.”
At first glance, skibidi looks like nonsense. Born from the surreal Skibidi Toilet YouTube series, it quickly became a catch-all slang term, thrown around to mean anything from “fun” to “random chaos.”
But skibidi reflects something deeper: the way Gen Z uses humor and absurdity as a bonding language. It shows how inside jokes and memes can gain so much traction that they transcend their origins.
Example in use:
“What the skibidi are you doing?”
Whether you think these words are just trends or legitimate language evolution, adding them serves a clear purpose: documenting how people actually use language.
Ultimately, the addition of these words tells us something profound: language is a mirror. And right now, it reflects a world where digital culture, politics and personal identity collide.
Want to know more about internet slang? We got you covered on many more words and phrases - here.
On the occasion of the grand opening of the Pelješac Bridge in 2022, we were entrusted with translating a richly illustrated monograph that tells the complete story of the bridge across 348 pages. From the initial idea, through political, economic and engineering challenges, to its final completion.
Through the testimonies of numerous people directly involved in the project, the book details all stages and versions of the bridge, explains why the initial attempt at construction failed, and shares stories about the Chinese company that successfully completed this engineering achievement. The demanding work on the access roads, which are among the most complex projects in Croatian infrastructure history, is described in particular detail.
The monograph features as many as 248 photographs that visually document the course of construction and the scale of the project. Its author, Krešimir Žabec, a veteran journalist and transport expert, frequently visited the site, recording stories and events firsthand.
Given the significance and scope of the subject, the monograph was published in a bilingual format (Croatian–English) to make it accessible to both domestic and international audiences.
This project brought two key challenges:
In addition, the book contained a large number of specialized construction and engineering terms that had to be translated precisely, while keeping the text comprehensible for a broader audience.
The final version of the monograph was presented to the public together with the opening of the Pelješac Bridge. Seeing the completed, printed book in hand was a particular source of pride for the entire team – a tangible result of weeks of intense work and collaboration.
This project was our opportunity to contribute, through translation, to the documentation of one of the greatest infrastructure achievements in modern Croatian history.
A freelance career often sounds like a dream: working from anywhere, flexible hours, and the ability to choose your projects. But behind that freedom lies serious responsibility – especially in a fast-changing industry like language services. So how can freelance translators stay competitive and in demand? Below are practical guidelines based on the EMT competence framework and current industry trends.
Freelancing offers many advantages – flexibility, a variety of clients, and the opportunity to develop specific interests. But it also requires:
According to EMT (2022), personal and interpersonal skills are becoming essential: planning, stress management, self-assessment and competence development are crucial for maintaining quality and professionalism.
The EMT model outlines five key competence areas that every successful translator should master:
In the freelance context, the last two areas stand out – personal and interpersonal skills, and service provision. In addition to translating, a freelancer must also handle communication, negotiation, invoicing and client relations.
Research shows that the market and technology are evolving rapidly. In the future, translators are expected to: specialize more narrowly, master CAT tools and technologies (e.g. QA tools, terminology databases, localization software) and work increasingly on post-editing machine translation and less on conventional translation.
If possible, instead of accepting all types of translation work, focus on one or two areas where you can develop genuine expertise (e.g. law, finance, medicine, IT, marketing...).
Why is specialization important?
Clients look for translators who understand the technical language of their industry. Specialization brings many benefits:
It also makes it easier to follow trends and access relevant training, further enhancing your competence.
Practical tip: Create and maintain your own glossary of specialized terms. It will help you ensure consistency and accuracy, and speed up your work.
Basic knowledge of CAT tools (e.g. Trados, memoQ, Smartcat) is now expected. However, added value comes from understanding technical elements like tags – formatting markers in the text (e.g. bold text, hyperlinks). Proper handling is essential for technically accurate translation, especially for websites, software or e-commerce content.
Beyond technical precision, understanding the digital context in which the translation “lives” is increasingly important. This includes:
● SEO and website localization
● Translating within CMS platforms (e.g. WordPress, Webflow)
● Various file formats and their technical requirements.
Understanding these areas helps your translation fit the digital environment and target audience, boosting its effectiveness and usability.
Recommendation: To expand your knowledge, try short online courses on SEO, UX writing or localization. Platforms like Coursera, Hubspot Academy and Lokalise Academy offer quality training tailored to translators.
Being independent does not mean being isolated. Connecting with colleagues and the profession can offer:
Where to connect?
Having an online presence lets potential clients find you, review your work and easily contact you. A high-quality portfolio, an updated LinkedIn profile, and active participation in relevant communities demonstrate professionalism and help foster trust.
Basic steps for building visibility:
Bonus: If you are not keen on being in the spotlight, consider writing a professional blog – a quiet but effective way to build authority.
As a freelancer, tracking trends, handling admin tasks and planning your time are just as important as delivering high-quality translations. Successfully managing all aspects of your work is key to long-term success and sustainability.
Helpful tools for organization:
Important note: Even the most creative jobs need good structure and organization to achieve the best results.
A freelance career in the translation industry offers many opportunities, but also demands proactivity, adaptability and continuous learning. Those who invest in specialization, technology and business skills will remain competitive in the long run and enjoy the freedom to choose projects that suit them.
As a translation agency, we closely follow these changes ourselves. We believe that successful collaboration begins with a broad understanding – from language, to technology, to managing your own career.
Ultimately, no matter where or how you work, together we shape the standards of the profession – and ensure that quality translation gets the value it deserves.
Animals at the Zoo isn’t your typical picture book. There are no written sentences, no text-filled pages. Instead, there are illustrations, characters and sounds. A child moves a digital pen over the images – and the book starts talking.
Over 1,400 audio snippets. Every character has something to say. Some sing. Some get grumpy. Some rhyme. And all of that had to be translated. In a way that sounds natural in Croatian – cheerful, playful, funny and, of course, clear.
Although there are no traditional sentences, language is everywhere in this book, and in its most creative and playful form.
That’s what made this project so special for us – colorful, lively and a perfect reminder that translation is never boring.
Singa is a company that distributes educational and interactive content for children, including a series of products under the brand KUKU – Fun Learning. Their focus is on developing didactic tools that merge play with learning.
Singa approached us with a clear, yet far from simple, goal: to translate a book with no written words into Croatian.
That meant:
And all of it in a way that would make both kids and parents laugh, smile and learn new facts about the animal world.
We started with one rule: nothing in this book should ever sound boring. Translations for children have to be lively, fun and meaningful.
In translation, literal is never enough. That goes for technical manuals as well as for interactive children’s books.
It took a healthy dose of curiosity and a willingness to step into a child’s world to localize the text and make it engaging for the target audience.
This project reminded us once again that translation is a creative craft. It takes knowledge, a good ear, a feel for language and audience. And sometimes, a solid sense of humor, too.
P.S.
Think translation is just transferring meaning from one language to another? Ask Toby the snail how much work we put into making sure that everyone understands him. 🙂
“From the very beginning, it was clear that this project required more than just translation – it needed a real feel for language, children and context. Sinonim was the right partner for it. They captured the spirit of the book and brought it to life in Croatian with ease, creativity and great care. The result? The book sounds like it was originally written in Croatian – and kids love it!”
– Alen Filipušić, Country Director, Singa Croatia
Planning to grow your business or already working across borders? Then you already know the pressure to stand out and truly connect with your audience. Language plays a bigger role than you might think. This isn’t about running your copy through Google Translate. It’s about professional translation that drives results.
In this blog, we’re diving into key global studies that show exactly how well-crafted translations increase your sales, reduce costs and help your business grow.
According to CSA Research, 76% of online shoppers prefer to buy products with information in their own language, and 40% never purchase from websites that are not in their native language.
That means brands without localized content miss out on nearly half of potential customers.
The “Can’t Read, Won’t Buy – B2C” report by CSA Research highlights key insights about language preferences and their impact on sales:
A lack of localization causes businesses to lose up to 40% of potential opportunities. Limiting your content to a single language restricts your market reach and directly impacts revenue growth.
Professional translation is a strategic move – not just for expanding your reach but also for improving operations and long-term customer value.
When content is accurately translated, customers better understand the product, reducing returns, misunderstandings and customer service issues. Satisfied users are more likely to stick around and spend more over time.
In fact, businesses offering customer support in a customer’s native language see 75% more repeat purchases (CSA Research B2C Series).
On the financial side, companies that invest in professional translations:
Professional translations are essential for business success. They directly impact sales, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. If you haven’t localized your content yet, now is the time to see translation as a smart investment in growth.
Don’t miss out on global opportunities – get in touch with our expert translators today and start connecting with customers in their own language!
Contact us now to learn how we can help your brand go global.
When creating a publication, the text undergoes several phases – from planning and writing through editing, proofreading and graphic design to final print preparation. Among all these steps, copy editing and layout proofreading are often underestimated, even though they play a key role in producing readable and professional content.
In this blog, we’ll explain the difference between copy editing and proofreading, and why each has its place and timing in the publication preparation process.
Although many people confuse them, copy editing and proofreading are not the same.
Copy editing is the first level of language processing. It is done on text that hasn’t yet been laid out in a design. The copy editor corrects spelling, grammar and stylistic errors, ensures consistency in language use, clarity of sentences and an appropriate tone for the target audience. For promotional and informational materials like brochures or magazines, a good copy editor ensures not only correctness, but also that the content sounds professional, understandable and suited to the context.
Proofreading, on the other hand, comes only after the design is complete and the text has been placed in layout. At this stage, the focus is no longer on the content itself but on what happened to it during the design process. The goal of layout proofreading is to catch technical errors that may have crept in during formatting.
The proofreader checks whether words are correctly hyphenated, especially making sure there are no line breaks within syllables. They look out for commas that ended up at the beginning of a new line, which looks unprofessional and may confuse the reader. They also check for double spaces that disrupt the neatness of the text, as well as possible sentence repetitions caused by copy-pasting.
Another important aspect of proofreading is checking the consistency of fonts and styles throughout the document, because even the slightest deviation can give an impression of carelessness or incompleteness.
In other words, the copy editor ensures linguistic accuracy, while the proofreader ensures technical precision.
If you skip copy editing, you risk having a brochure filled with language mistakes. If you skip layout proofreading, even a perfect text can look messy, and errors introduced during design can ruin the impression or even the readability.
Let’s imagine you’re preparing a brochure for a new product or promotional event. You’ve got a finished text prepared by your team or an external collaborator. What’s next?
The first step is to send the text for copy editing. The copy editor reads the entire text and looks for spelling and grammatical errors, inappropriate expressions, stylistic inconsistencies or unclear phrases.
Once the text has been linguistically polished, it goes to the designer. There, it takes its visual form: pages, colors, fonts, photos, infographics. At this stage, the final brochure is created, usually as a PDF, ready for print.
But layout is where errors often sneak in. Visual elements can sometimes “swallow” part of the text, a word may break at an illogical place or the same paragraph may appear twice due to a technical glitch.
That’s why layout proofreading follows. The proofreader goes through the designed document and looks specifically for errors that occurred during the graphic design process. They don’t change the content but verify whether everything is displayed correctly in the layout.
In practice, it looks like this:
When proofreading is complete, the designer implements the final changes. The document is reviewed once more (ideally by another person), and only then is it sent for printing or distribution.
In the digital age, many rely on tools like Grammarly, Word’s spellchecker or online platforms. While these are great for initial spelling and grammar checks, they can’t replace human review.
Here’s why:
In short, layout proofreading is the final, and one of the most important, phases in preparing print materials. Without it, even the best-written and designed materials can lose their professional shine.
Every publication, whether a brochure, magazine, catalog or promotional leaflet, deserves attention to every detail, from the first letter to the last word break. Copy editing and layout proofreading are not just steps in the process; they are the foundation of professional appearance and the credibility of your content.
Skipping either phase risks your efforts being undermined by visible errors that can damage the impression and trust of your readers.
A publication is often the first thing someone sees about your company or brand, which is why every detail matters. Carefully edited text not only conveys your message but also reflects the professionalism and quality you wish to represent.
How many times have you spent more time searching for information than actually working on a project? You keep circling around the same questions – who took on the project, which ones have already been delivered, which are still in the queue and who’s responsible for each task… If this exhausting search for answers sounds familiar, it may be time to consider implementing a CRM system – a tool that puts all your essential information right at your fingertips.
CRM, short for Customer Relationship Management, is a tool that helps businesses better understand and manage both their internal processes and client relationships. It serves as a centralized space for storing all key client data, allowing you to track every interaction and manage requests and projects in one place.
By leveraging a CRM system, companies can boost team collaboration, automate everyday tasks and gain clearer insight into their operations. In the translation industry, a CRM platform enables efficient project tracking, translator team coordination, and ensures that no detail is overlooked – leading to more streamlined and organized workflows.
From the moment your company is founded, it’s important to consider implementing a CRM system to lay a solid foundation for long-term success. A CRM enables a growing business to establish efficient client management processes right from the start, resulting in better organization and increased productivity. Adopting CRM early on ensures that all client and project data are centralized, making it easier to track, analyze and leverage that information when making strategic decisions. While the benefits of using a CRM system might not be immediately obvious during the early stages when the workload is still light, over time, its value becomes increasingly clear. It helps maintain organization and efficiency, and makes it much easier to scale operations as the number of projects and clients grows.
Using a CRM system in the translation industry brings a wide range of advantages that make business operations not only easier but also significantly more efficient. First and foremost, a CRM dramatically improves client communication. Imagine a scenario where every interaction with your clients is literally at your fingertips, allowing you to stay fully informed about all communications sent from your company. Whether it’s emails, phone calls or messages, everything is neatly stored and easily accessible, ensuring consistent, personalized and professional communication. Productivity and efficiency gains are another major benefit. Automating administrative tasks reduces the need for manual data entry and frees up time for more strategic and creative work. Faster access to information and documents means less chaos and more structure in your day-to-day operations. With a CRM system, you have all key details related to a translation project in one place – including deadlines, assigned translators, proofreaders and other important information. You can easily track whether the client’s deadline is fixed or flexible, as well as monitor financial aspects such as budgeting and cost tracking to ensure the project is completed on time and within scope.
Whether it’s emails, phone calls or messages, everything is neatly stored and easily accessible, ensuring consistent, personalized and professional communication.
Finally, there’s the power of analytics and reporting. A CRM allows you to effortlessly generate performance reports and track key performance indicators (KPIs). This enables you to make data-driven decisions rather than relying on guesswork. In short, a CRM system brings a level of professionalism, organization and efficiency that every translation company can benefit from.
Implementing a CRM system in your company starts with choosing the right tool – and a key decision you’ll need to make is whether to use an industry-specific CRM, a general-purpose CRM that you can adapt to your needs or a custom-built solution tailored specifically for your business. To select the CRM that best suits your requirements, it’s essential to research the market and compare available options. Some of the most popular platforms include Salesforce, HubSpot, Monday, Pipedrive, XTRF and Plunet. Once you’ve chosen the right solution, it’s important to tailor the CRM system to match your business workflows. This may include setting up specific modules and integrations that support your daily operations. Employee training is critical to the success of your implementation – make sure your team is well-equipped to use the new system. Ongoing support and regular system updates are also key to ensuring everything runs smoothly and that your team stays up to date with new features and improvements.
Ultimately, implementing a CRM system can significantly enhance operational efficiency and internal communication within your company. Whether you choose specialized CRM, a flexible general-use platform or a custom-built solution, it’s crucial that the system is fully aligned with your needs and business processes. With comprehensive employee training and continuous support, CRM can become a powerful tool for boosting productivity, improving organization and optimizing project management. Investing in the right CRM is a strategic move toward increased professionalism and a stronger competitive edge in the market.
If there is a phenomenon that needs no introduction to professionals in the field of translation and journalism alike, it is state or editorial censorship: countless governments and other influential entities of varying degrees of dictatorial nature, as well as publishers with an axe to grind or an ideology to serve, have made the lives of those who produce and adapt the written word extremely difficult. From the soviet interference with Pasternak and Solzhenitsyn to the religious persecution against Salman Rushdie, from Saint-Exupéry's anti-authoritarian sentiment being removed in China to the recent alterations made to render Roald Dahl and Mark Twain more palatable to modern sensitivities, books have always been in the crossfire when it comes to the marketplace (often better described as a battlefield) of ideas. What happens, however, when such an impulse is not born of a drive to serve the original text, but rather from that to alter it out of ulterior motives, perhaps purely personal?
Let's take a look at a field filled with minor works that rarely make headlines or are even noticed by the greater public; nothing as glamorous and grand as the immortal works of world literature, but at the same time something that concerns us more directly, as these lesser projects are what translators are likely to be assigned most of the time. Such works are very vulnerable to a completely overlooked form of censorship because hardly anybody knows it's happening in the first place, and that is personal censorial interference by the translators themselves.
A little word of warning: what follows contains profanity, quoted as-is for illustrative purposes.
Around 2005, acclaimed horror writer Clive Barker (Hellraiser, Candyman) teamed up with Spanish software studio Mercurysteam to produce an action game for Windows PC, PlayStation 3, and XBOX 360. The result, titled Clive Barker's Jericho, released in 2007 to a tepid reception: a mediocre affair which ultimately didn't sell very well, it however remained remarkable for its highly disturbing setting, extreme bloody violence, blasphemous religious themes and use of profanity in a time when language in video games wasn't yet as explicit as it is now. Enter the Italian translator who, if their credited works are anything to go by, had never been assigned to anything so "vile" before. Now, we're not here to cast aspersions on this colleague, who probably worked under the pressure of an unreasonable deadline, but out of duty to report we have to note that on top of delivering a localization of middling quality, featuring a number of glaring oversights, they also evidently refused to translate all of the curse words, which we can surmise clashed with their upbringing or personal views, and instead took the initiative to painstakingly remove all instances of profanity from the game: "shit" became "porc..!" (sic) and "fuck you" became "ma vaff...!" (sic). If you're not versed in Italian, think of those abbreviations as having the impact of a "darn" and a "take a hike" respectively. Please note that Italy has no recent history of state-mandated censorship and the game still has a PEGI rating of 18+ in Italy, with a label warning for "sexual expletives and blasphemy", so this wasn't some kind of top-down order to censor this game virtually nobody even knew or talked about; no, the only reasonable conclusion is that this was a personal initiative by a translator who felt offended by the material they had to work on.
If Jericho sounded weird to you, wait until you hear about Rogue Warrior. Shipped in 2009 by British developer Rebel Storm, and starring Golden Globe winner Mickey Rourke, Rogue Warrior was a bog-standard military first-person shooter, loosely based on the escapades of real-world military man and founder of Seal Team 6 Dick Marchinko. Tying to eat the crumbs of the late 2000s Call of Duty craze, the game was a completely unremarkable production under every conceivable point of view... except for one thing, that is the unending, unrelenting, unfettered and likely unscripted torrent of slurs and profanity pouring out of Rourke's mouth virtually every single second of the game, to absolutely farcical effect. It is quite incredible and such a parody of itself that it transcends any sort of pretense of seriousness and comes off as absolutely hilarious camp, which has turned this utterly unremarkable title into a veritable goldmine for internet memes, and saw it widely featured on many popular YouTube channels that wouldn't have given it the time of day otherwise; in fact I suggest taking a moment to search YouTube for "Rogue Warrior quotes" and see for yourself, just so you have a clear picture in mind for what happens next.
Enter the Italian translator. Now, this one is uncredited, so we have no way to verify whether it's the same person as the previous game we discussed, especially as this is a better localization effort overall, more grammatically correct and somewhat more elegant than what we found in Jericho, though with a significant point of contact: here too, every single instance of profanity was replaced with kindergarten variety insults akin to "fool", "stupid" and, at most, "bastard", where the original had "motherfucker", "cocksucker" and "asshole". Like Jericho, this game is also rated PEGI 18+ in Italy and bears the same "sexual expletives and blasphemy" label, even though these are no longer present.
Can you see the problem? The personal initiative taken by the translator has actively damaged the product they were paid to localize by removing the only ticket to relevancy it possessed. Remember what we said before, that many YouTube channels, some with millions of subscribers, have featured the game for no reason other than the hilarious profanity? This phenomenon, whether by accident or design, has extended the shelf life of the game and amplified its reach, so much so that a huge demographic of gaming enthusiasts are likely to have at least heard of it. Not in Italy though: in that nation, the game is nothing but a boring slog devoid of any personality, unworthy of any attention, and all because of censorial interference by the translator.
Now, Italy is a relatively small market, but let's imagine the parts were inverted and an Italian game being localized into English for the UK, Australian and especially North American markets, which compose an absolutely massive audience. Let's also imagine that the person assigned to the English translation were to decide to do what we have described above, neutering the product of all its appeal on markets so crucial to a game's success. Can you see the damage this would cause to a studio that might have its survival staked on the sales of their game? There is no sugarcoating it: that translator has betrayed the confidence placed in them by the client, interfering with the creative process in a way that's not justifiable under any sort of scrutiny. What's worse is that the client is unlikely to ever know this happened at all: they might see that the game has flopped in a certain geographic area, but the odds they will take the time to investigate the quality of the translation are absolutely minimal. This means that the unfaithful translator will not receive any kind of feedback or repercussion for their actions, probably don't even realize the damage they have caused, and are guaranteed to do it again.
If we as translators discover we have moral, religious or other types of ethical objections that clash with the text we were sent, the only acceptable course of action would be to refuse it, let someone else do the job, and focus our efforts on something we are better suited for.
You may be thinking: "Who cares? Such a big deal about a stupid video game", and if that's the case let me offer some perspective: it is not up to us translators to judge or quantify the product we are localizing. We are not the artist and we are not the target audience, nor are we the gatekeepers of what constitutes art and what doesn't: we are the middleman, no one asked for our opinion, and we should absolutely know our place. In fact, I have selected the two games from the preceding paragraphs precisely knowing they would raise a few eyebrows and be dismissed by some as meaningless. Do we really feel qualified to assess the worth of what we are working on, especially since all we see of it is usually nothing more than an out of context Excel spreadsheet or Word document? What if the person who translated J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit had deemed it a silly children's fable about singing dwarves and not shown it due respect? Perhaps removed or butchered the songs, assuming kids would find them boring. Can you imagine the disaster if a devout translator had looked down on Burgess' A Clockwork Orange as some kind of perverted subversive book, and vandalized it in an attempt to sanitize it, depriving an entire liberal nation of an adequate understanding of one of the defining works on individual freedoms? Do we really trust our judgment to the point that we are ready to risk causing serious, and sometimes permanent, damage? We shouldn't. Do we not care? Then we should leave the work to those who do.
Furthermore, if we take no pride in our work, and dismiss the texts entrusted to us as a load of meaningless tripe that doesn't matter based on our personal tastes, aren't we devaluing ourselves first and foremost? Treating the material we are sent with the utmost seriousness, no matter what it is, is not only a sign of the sort of respect that is always owed the client and the artist, but in the first place it is a sign of respect for our own professionalism. Of course we'd rather be translating a Hollywood blockbuster, or a world-changing novel, but if we can't remain dutiful and faithful to a smaller project, what makes us think we deserve to be trusted with a larger one?
In his 2003 essay Experiences in Translation, world-renowned author Umberto Eco makes the case that a work of literature is a communion of feelings and meanings from the writer to the reader and that, when necessary, the translator must partake in the creative process by adapting the source material in order to preserve those feelings and meanings into the target language at any cost, even if that entails altering the original, for instance when presented with a pun or play on words that cannot be rendered directly. He continues by stating that this dynamic is incredibly important and must be exerted with the most delicate care; as he puts it: "to say almost the same thing". Personal initiative in the localization effort is then not only justified but even encouraged.
However, any alterations we make to the text must be made with extreme care in service of the original, never in spite of it; it is not up to us to decide what goes and what stays based on our whims and opinions, and if we can't abide by that, maybe it's time to consider a different line of work, one more compatible with our convictions. Conversely, a proactive translator with a realistic view of their role can greatly help the author and hugely amplify their reach. Let's do our best to always be the latter, never the former.
