A great interest in various areas of knowledge, an eagerness to learn about different cultures, a passion for literature and languages and a liking for communication and trips, make up this load of preferences that can explain the reason for my translation university studies. Fortunately, in 1979 when I left university with my degree of Certified Public and Literary Translator, I did not realize that my ideal world had little to do with the reality of a translator’s daily job. I decided to start going along that path, with the strength derived from the new challenges, knowing that I had to look for and knock on several doors, and try that they would open, and –above all– that I still had a lot to learn.
That search in the local setting, became broader little by little. The social changes and the technological development made it possible that what at first was only an utopia of a professional project, became more and more possible and real: the more accessible nature for traveling and finding cultural exchange spaces, and –what turned out to be essential for our profession– the technological development that not only made the continuity and depth of this exchange possible, but also the possibility to carry it out on a large scale keeping up –at the same time– the special care for details that we necessarily had to comply with in those first “handicraft” assignments done in heavy type writers.
That interest for the various areas of knowledge, which I mentioned at the beginning of these lines, together with the investigation possibilities brought about by the Internet, led the translators to undertake new translation projects on a wide variety of subjects. A decade ago, we had to focus our efforts to studying and training ourselves in the programming software languages, in order to move comfortably in that sea of chains of characters and texts, and we did so. We made up teams that were properly and thoroughly qualified to deal with any project of companies with the most sophisticated technology (with expert consultants, when the subject required it). With no continuity solution, we also began to receive a flood of different types of advertising that required an adequate translation so as to attract the Spanish-speaking market –in constant growth– of North America and Latin America. As far as the Hispanic market in the United States is concerned, the figures are very significant: the current presence of Hispanics in such country amounts to more than 38,500,000 and the future projection of their purchasing power for 2008 is estimated that will come to 9 billion dollars; these factors create the need of translating manuals and sheet instructions of the most varied devices, machinery, and so on. Furthermore, we must think about the social security programs, health plans, the companies’ human resources policies, etc. In the era of communication, the use of the appropriate language is as necessary as technology.
We mastered the languages of competence; we accepted the challenge of technology. We had to find the way of facing translation and localization projects of great volume and related to the most diverse subjects: working groups, specialized by areas, which are updated permanently both in the field of technological tools –that ensures quality and productivity, with the subsequent cost reduction–, as well as in the specific terminology of the areas of competence. Added value: the knowledge of the culture of origin and destination of the material that is to be localized.
The background and experience acquired throughout these years of hard work enable us to continue offering our services in the different domains, since we count on our teams, which continue to update their areas of competence. At the same time, always keeping an eye on what affects our society in a direct and positive way because of the historical moment, we have decided to put special emphasis in two areas: the social development plans (an area in which we have been working with deep and heartfelt enthusiasm for two years) and children's literature (an irreplaceable vehicle to consolidate and strengthen their respect and value for cultural differences, etc., from an early age). If the translator’s task is to create bridges between cultures and countries, we understand that we cannot be oblivious to the historical moment our global society is going through. With our work, we want to reinforce the efforts of so many institutions and individuals in favor of the social inclusion of the more unprotected sectors, and the education as from an early age of those who will have the task of building the future of our
