Argos Translations completed a cosmetics translations project for a client of ours who needed to adapt their web campaign into multiple languages. Argos was asked to perform cosmetics translation, review, Quality Assurance checks along with text insertion via online tools provided by our client. All cosmetics translation work consisted of over 1,400 words of content that was to be adapted into: Dutch, German, Russian, Slovenian, Croatian and Bosnian languages.

Our client also assigned a tight, 3 day deadline for completion of this project. In an effort to quickly yet accurately adapt all of the web content, Argos assigned a team of 13 translators, reviewers and Quality Assurance specialists. Our team managed to translate all portions of the project on time and following our strict quality guidelines.

In the end, the client was extremely satisfied with Argos’ cosmetic translations and exclaimed that they are “happy with the translations and will continue using Argos because of the quality provided”.

Background Information:

1. Client’s Industry - Chemicals / Cosmetics
2. Type of Product - web campaign content (new fragrance)
3. Type of Project - translation, review, QA, inserting text to online tool
4. Languages involved – Dutch, German, Russian, Slovenian, Croatian, Bosnian
5. Amount of work - 1,400 words
6. Time frame - 3 working days

On January 12th, Haiti was struck by a catastrophic magnitude 7 earthquake that left millions homeless and the country devastated. The Haitian government sent out a call for medical, financial, engineering and even linguistic support in dealing with the aftereffects of the earthquake. Because Haiti is a relatively small island whose official language is Haitian Creole and French, language translation services are vital in helping the French speaking nation, its regional governments and foreign disaster relief organizations communicate. In order to limit the effects that language barriers can cause, including organizational and logistics problems, delays in medical aid transport and problems with managing international emergency task teams, Translators Without Borders have offered free translation services assistance to Haiti.

Argos Translations became one of many translation companies to volunteer and take part in this relief effort by offering free translation services that make it easier for people around the world to help the people of Haiti. We would like to encourage any translation company, other translators and language service providers to help with this effort. Any professional translation company can assist by providing free document translation, language translation or localization services. If you are a language translation company willing to help, you can do so by visiting Translators Without Borders and signing up.

Argos Translations is a language service provider (LSP) and a translation vendor to other translation agencies around the world. Oftentimes, Argos is contacted by other multilanguage vendors (MLVs) to perform translations on a subcontractor basis. One such MLV contacted Argos and commissioned us to perform user guide translations of a mobile phone, camera, gateway and a digital frame for a client of theirs. This digital translation project also required translation services from Hungarian into Polish along with file format conversion and PDF review.

In order to complete the project and meet both the client’s expectations and the MLV’s unique guidelines, Argos’ Project Manager set up a team of 4 translators per language. Also, because the MLV provided Argos with a glossary and style guides for Polish and Hungarian languages, our reviewers checked and accepted all the terminology prior to all translation work commencing. Additionally, the client provided us with Translation Memory that Argos then regularly updated and used throughout this project as well as additional projects for the same client.

In the end, all the work also required the use of Argos’ DTP department. Our DTP was mainly involved in checking for correct mif files preparation, while Argos’ Localization department helped with conversion all files from xls, inx or mf format to ttx.

Background Information:

1. Client’s Industry - MLV
2. Type of Product - User guide translation for digital devices
3. Type of Project - Translation, DTP and Localization
4. Languages involved - Polish and Hungarian
5. Amount of work - varies per batch
6. Time Frame - 2-4 days per batch

Argos Translations completed a medical website translation for a client in need of professional medical translation services. The client was looking for medical translations of their website into six languages including: English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Dutch. The client was searching for a professional translation company with experience in completing software and website translation projects. They contacted Argos Translations and provided us with a test sample, which Argos quickly and accurately performed and delivered back to our client’s full satisfaction. Once the sample was complete, the client forwarded us a complete website translation project consisting of over 2,111 words.

Argos went to work on the assignment by attaching a team of experienced professional translators that included 5 translators, 5 reviewers and one Quality Assurance specialist to check all completed work. Because Argos put this project through tested and effective workflow, we managed to complete all of the medical translation work ahead of schedule.

Argos delivered the last translation batch to our client’s surprise at how fast the turnaround for a translation project of this type was.

Background Information:

1. Client’s Industry - Medical
2. Type of Product - Medical Website
3. Type of Project - Translation, QA and Review
4. Languages involved - English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese
5. Amount of work - over 2,000 words
6. Time Frame - under one work week

Argos Translations completed a medical translation project for a pharmaceutical company looking to adapt their online survey into multiple languages. The medical online survey translation consisted of over 5,000 words that needed to be translated into polish. Along with translating the medical content, Argos was also commissioned to review and correct typos and grammar mistakes throughout the client’s source material. The deadline for this project was set at one week and was extended, by the client, due to additional volumes of text added throughout the course of all translation work.

Argos assigned a team of two specialized medial translators and Quality Assurance specialists, who went over the complete translation, ensuring consistency throughout. Because files were delivered in a unique format, Argos also utilized our localization department to prepare and adapt the files for easy copy/pasting purposes. Upon completing all work, Argos provided our client with a QA report outlining all the revisions, changes and updates that occurred in the medical translation document.

Ultimately, Argos completed the full medical survey translation in less than 9 working days, delivering all files back to our client to their complete satisfaction. In fact, our client responded with “Thank you so much for the hard work!!” upon receipt.

Background Information:

1. Client’s Industry - Pharmaceuticals
2. Type of Product - Medical Online Survey
3. Type of Project - Translation, QA and Review
4. Languages involved - Polish
5. Amount of work - 5,000 words
6. Time Frame - 9 work days

Running a translation company in Poland comes with its own unique challenges. As a long-time American expatriate living in Poland for 17 years, I hope that I will be able to provide a unique perspective on this matter. I moved to Poland in 1993 and founded Argos Translations in 1996. Since then, I have experienced many of the ups and downs of running a professional translation company in Poland. While not all of these experiences may easily transfer to other East European countries, I think there are several key themes that do apply to other countries in the region.

When someone decides to move from one country to another, people often mention culture shock and the need to adapt to the new culture. Well, I am not sure you can really prepare anybody for the red tape facing businesses in Poland. The first thing you’ll need to get used to when setting up your business here is the bureaucracy and, boy, let me tell you, it’s fierce! For Americans reading this, it’s like having to go to the DMV (Division of Motor Vehicles, for non-Americans, the definition of a nightmare when it comes to red tape and bureaucracy) and deal with lines, forms and grumpy clerks on a daily basis. Now of course bureaucracy is bad everywhere in the world. I am sure there is no country where waiting in lines and talking to clerks is a pleasant experience. The fundamental difference in Poland is that so many areas of business operations are government controlled. So, what I am saying here is that you have far more contact with the government when running a business in Poland, which means you are in contact with bureaucracy.

The Taxman cometh

Even though I am an American, I have never run a business myself in the US. So, I don’t really have any point of comparison. But, I don’t think the IRS (US tax authorities) strikes fear into the hearts and souls of entrepreneurs quite the way the Polish Urząd Skarbowy does (ooh…, even writing the name sends chills running down my spine…). Why are we so afraid of the Polish tax authorities? Sometimes I wonder myself, but I think you can truly recognize fear in the eyes of others, and, in Poland, everyone is deadly afraid of the taxman. Unfortunately, there is good reason for this. There have been some well-documented cases of the Polish tax authorities bankrupting companies and then admitting, oops, we made a mistake. One of the most famous cases was of Roman Kluska, the CEO of Optimus, a publicly traded IT company. The tax people fined his company and put him in jail because of the way he interpreted the VAT regulations (which are terribly unclear). Then, after a considerable amount of time and damage, both personal and commercial, the authorities admitted that he had been doing it correctly and they just said, sorry about that… Clerks yield huge power without consequences if they err. That is what scares us entrepreneurs and explains why we cower when we face the taxman. He can ruin our lives and we’ve seen him do it.

I am mentioning the fear of the taxman here because I think it’s a fundamental problem. The taxman is king in Poland, and whatever he says goes. When I say the taxman I am actually referring to all clerks who have the power to fine a business here, they don’t necessary have to work for the tax office.

As a result, we do everything the taxman tells us to do, even the absurd because we are constantly scared that he’ll be coming to get us next. When you combine this fear with unclear and antiquated laws, you can imagine the difficult situation business owners face. Anybody you talk to will ultimately tell you there are no shortcuts — just obey the rules, even if they seem absurd. Ultimately it boils down to this: if you want to take advantages of the opportunities of doing business in Poland, then this is the price you have to pay and, in case you are wondering, yes, there are opportunities and benefits of setting up in Poland. I’ll get to these later.

Check, check and double-check

Back in the good ole days of communism there weren’t many free market enterprises around that needed government regulation. But since 1989 many laws and regulations have had to be put together hastily. Needless to say, not all these regulations were completely thought through. This is quite understandable because the task of moving from a communist system to a free market system can be quite daunting, as you can imagine. The result of this quick transition from one system to another is a commercial code that is full of loopholes and inconsistencies. Every year improvements are made, but it’s a long road.

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Argos Translations completed a software translation, proofreading and source review project of a synch application. The project was commissioned by a software development company, whose products help synch data between all media devices and applications such as portable phones, laptops, facebook profiles and twitter accounts. Our client requested that Argos perform an 18 language translation of over 2,500 words of content per language. All work was also scheduled for completion on a tight deadline of only 5 working days.

In an effort to process all of the software translation work on time, Argos assigned 18 teams of translators and reviewers with additional 3 quality assurance specialists to go over all completed code translations and ensure consistency throughout all content. To enhance the translation process, the project was divided into various stages.

In order to clarify all possible problematic points (e.g. what should/not be translated, treatment of UI terms, product names etc.) source review was performed at the start of the project, before the translation itself. All this work was followed by localization engineering that consisted of files preparation, final conversion and Translation Memory maintenance. With such a large amount of languages and linguists involved, proper preparation and project set-up was vital to ensuring consistency over all work performed.

In the end, Argos completed the project on time, adhering to client’s requirements and fulfilling all quality expectations. In fact, when presented with the end result, our client had this to say:

“First of all, I wanted to thank you guys for the quick turnaround on getting these files translated. It is much appreciated. As a follow up, we have a new project that needs to be translated *about 8,000 words into 18 languages”.

Background Information:

1. Client’s Industry - Software Development
2. Type of Product - Software application
3. Type of Project - Translation, source review and Quality Assurance
4. Languages involved -

5. Amount of work - 2,500 words per language
6. Time Frame - 5 work days

The listing is based on Forbes and Dun & Bradstreet’s evaluation of each company’s financial position including annual revenues, net profits, assets, investments and market share growth. The ranking also considers the extent to which businesses increased trade to newly opened international markets and whether they capitalized on EU funding. All these parameters are then combined to determine to what degree they elevated our professional translation company’s net worth. Argos Translations earned its position in this prestigious lineup by concentrating on its core services (incl. document translation, polish translation services and localization services), innovation and cost control.

FREELANCE MARKETING TRANSLATORS & COPYWRITERS
for the following languages:
German, Japanese, French, Canadian French, UK English, Australian English
(native speakers only)

Ideal candidates should have at least 2 years’ experience as marketing translators/copywriters.
Copywriting portfolio is required.
Ability to use CAT tools will be considered advantage.

Interested job applicants are welcome to send their CV and cover letter in English to:
copywriting@argostranslations.com

In the subject line please write the code: COPY in the e-mail subject line.

Please include the following statement: “I hereby authorize you to process my personal data included in my job application for the needs of this and future recruitment processes at ARGOS COMPANY Ltd. Sp. z o.o., ul. Mogilska 100, 31-546 Kraków, Poland (in accordance with the Personnel Protection Act of 29.08.1997 no. 133 position 883).”

Argos Translations regularly completes website translation projects for various companies in the training services industry. One of our clients, an institute that acts as a European partner and organizer for media companies, professional organizations, journalism schools and government bodies seeking to establish activities and projects abroad, commissioned Argos to perform a Croatian to Turkish website translation assignment.

The website translation project revolved around 50,000 words of content to be adapted in under one month. The web site’s goal was to offer online trainings, information and FAQs for media companies seeking to establish network cooperation in foreign locations. Our client requested that the Croatian to Turkish translation be of highest quality because the content was to be immediately used on the ready-to-launch website.

The project was intricate in part, because there is no constituted EU terminology in Croatian or Turkish. So, this website in of itself, was in part responsible for setting up new standards in EU journalism in regard to language and vocabulary.

Argos handled the project by assigning a dedicated team of translators and Quality Assurance specialists who managed to complete all translation and linguistic checks ahead of schedule. We delivered the completed translation back to our client on time, leaving them extremely satisfied with the end result.

Background Information:

1. Client’s Industry - Training Services (Journalism)
2. Type of Product - Website
3. Type of Project - Translation and Quality Assurance
4. Languages involved - Croatian and Turkish
5. Amount of work - 50K words
6. Time Frame - 30 days