I earned my l10n spurs as a translator at a small software company based in South West Germany, working on the AS/400 platform. While at this company, and working on my own initiative, I implemented a series of process changes that allowed the complex AS/400 document formats to be translated using PC-based translation memory systems, such as Trados Translators Workbench and Deja Vu. In the early stages of development, the job also entailed working closely with developers to ensure applications were fully internationalised - identifying areas in which international aspects had been overlooked.

Exposure to the AS/400 platform meant having to deal with a wide range of issues relating to character conversion, and I managed the translation-related aspects of localisation projects into UK & US English, as well as a number of Eastern European languages. I also worked with the Greek development team to provide a communications channel to the German developers, and helped to implement an online translation system for Greek translators based in Athens, working on the main AS/400 systems based in Germany. See our page on IT translation for more information.

Since starting to freelance in 1999, I have built on my localisation experience gained in Germany, and now provide consulting services to streamline localisation processes. This work includes designing strategies for dealing with various file formats, such as XML, as well as other embedded formats (e.g. a strategy for dealing with RTF-formatted text embedded within XML documents). See our page on translation process consulting for more information.

Since being joined in my work by my wife, Louisa, who is also a fully qualified translator, we have added the fields of finance and law to our portfolio. Louisa has wide ranging experience of translation for various German, Luxembourg and Swiss investment banks, in both inhouse and freelance capacities, and her contribution to the success of our business cannot be underestimated. See our page on financial translation for more information.

Our understanding of each other's fields and the fact that we share language combinations means we are able to check each other's work in house. We already offer this second-person check process as a value-added service to many customers, and thus can already comply with one of the major criteria of the new EN 15038 standard on service requirements for translation services.

To find out more about us, see our web site: www.translutions.co.uk.
As well as being a Qualified Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (MITI), I am also the webmaster of the ITI Scottish Network regional group. See also Iwan Davies' profile on the ITI Scottish Network website.