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Slovenia has numerous translation agencies, but merely a few of them are truly successful.
One can find a vast supply of translation services in Slovenia. Unfortunately, this does not mean that all service providers are up to standard. Biro 2000 has an optimised method of operation, we are constantly educating ourselves, we attend conferences on topics that are relevant to our clients, and we monitor the trends in the translation industry. We work in accordance with the ISO 9001:2008 quality assurance standard as well as the EN15038: 2007 translation standard. This means that as a translation company we have made a step further towards ensuring quality for our clients.

Your company has been on the market for 20 years. Have you noticed any changes in the translation industry over this period?
Translation is certainly a growing industry, and the overall translation process and work methods have also been changing. Professional translation companies that follow the trends in the industry are aware that the use of translation tools, so-called CAT tools, has improved the translation process in terms of text consistency, greater translation speed based on repetitions in the document, and, finally, reduced costs for our clients. We translate from most European languages, and over the recent years the number of orders for translations from and into Eastern European languages has been on the increase. The demand for these languages has increased greatly.

Who are your clients and what types of documents do you translate?
We have specialised in the following fields: medicine and pharmaceuticals, technology, legal and financial texts, mobile telephony and texts for the automotive industry. Of course, we also translate other types of documents, but the majority of our team of translators is specialised in these areas. The vast majority of our clients are large companies and multinational corporations with affiliates throughout the world; we also translate for established Slovenian companies, which export their products or do business with foreign countries. They need translations regularly, almost on a daily basis, and quality is their main concern in their communication with foreign business partners; this is followed by the quick response time of our project managers and fast delivery of the translation; the price is their final concern. The fact is that quality and price go hand in hand, and our company, which employs both project managers and translators at its headquarters, has given priority to quality.

What is the profile of the translators at Biro 2000?
The translations are done by native speakers of the target language with knowledge of the professional field in question. It is important for the client to know that our company works with people who are familiar with the expert terminology and are thus able to translate the text to an appropriate standard. Biro 2000 primarily selects translators with professional backgrounds rather than those who were trained as translators. However, both provide high-quality services. Translations into foreign languages are provided by native speakers. As we are members of various associations such as the ALC (American Association of Language Companies), ELIA (European Language Industry Association), Taus-TDA and Inttracom, we can also provide quality services in a number of language combinations through our foreign partners.

You have mentioned computer-aided translation and reduced costs for your clients. Can you tell us a little bit more about this?
Due to the ever increasing size of projects in multiple language combinations and the market-driven time considerations team translations are increasingly becoming a necessity. The advantage of this is that the final translation is uniform even though it was performed by a group of translators, and that it is produced faster (for example: 500 pages translated over a period of a few days). Of course, this is a big advantage we have over smaller translation companies that cannot offer such services. Also, the costs to the client are significantly lower than with a company that does not have the equipment we have. This is why many of our clients choose us. Biro 2000 invests heavily into software; we have also hired several project managers, we work with several hundred translators and offer our clients assurances that their projects will be taken care of quickly and with the quality they have come to expect.
 

Can you describe one of your major projects?
For example, a foreign client asked us to translate manuals for navigation devices into 12 languages, and provide dubbing services in a number of languages. Altogether, we translated over 3,000 pages and recorded more than 30 hours of material for this single project. We also designed the layout for the manuals and printed them. The client was thus able to obtain a full service in one place. Given the pace of life today, time is certainly an important factor, and as the client left all the work to us, they were able to focus on their business and the details that were important for the company's operations.
You are celebrating 20 years of operation. Where do you see your company in the years to come?
Even though we are celebrating our 20th anniversary, this does not mean that we will rest on our laurels. This year we will be just as active as in the previous years; nothing will change. My motto is: do what you are good at, and if you do it well, you can be a winner. And in my opinion 20 years in this business is confirmation that we are good at what we do.