There are currently 48 permanent employees (project managers, in-house translators, customer consultants, IT experts) and a team of around 350 core freelance translators.
The company is headquartered in Freiburg im Breisgau with four additional branch offices in Germany: Munich, Saarbrücken, Heidelberg and Schramberg. We support international customers and their foreign branches with our multi-national project managers.
GE|tra|Net| incorporates 13 full-service translation agencies, which have successfully established themselves over many years as recognised specialists in their respective segments. Joint management means that these agencies are closely linked, so that the group’s full synergies are utilised in the customers’ best interests.
GE|tra|Net| works both with in-house translators as well as freelancers, who have qualified themselves via our internal selection procedure and have been working closely with us for many years. Our project managers, who are permanently employed, are also qualified translators and linguists, who are responsible for such things as quality assurance.
We select our translators/proofreaders according to the following criteria:
• native speakers
• qualified translators (Diploma, Master’s or state examination)
• specialist training or at least five years’ professional experience
• the use of translation memories and technical equipment
We use the same core translators for our customers over many years, which enables them to develop an individual level of knowledge which is constantly improved and increased through feedback with our customers. In addition to expanding and continually updating the TMs, every translation forms the basis for a consistently high quality.
The basic functions include:
• quote, job and invoice management
• flexible job and workflow management
• administrating dates, documents and partners
• exchanging files and direct access by the customer
If a long-term team of specialist translators is to be set up for a new combination of languages, we will propose three translators. These all receive a sample text to translate, which is then sent to our customers for review. You, as the customer, can then select the version which best suits the quality requirements and style of your company. The chosen translator then becomes the core translator for the new language pair.
In a normal working day, a specialist translator can translate around
250 standard lines (this is roughly 1,800 words). Deadlines for bigger and urgent projects are agreed upon in consultation with our customers.
1. Selecting the translators based on their qualifications
2. Question management (if the translator has any questions)
3. Review, conducted by the qualified project manager, who checks every translation for plausibility and completeness
4. Customer feedback is incorporated into the TM
5. Translators are always provided with up-to-date TMs
6. Proofreading by a second translator, if requested by the customer
1. The translator is provided with a form for questions for each job, which is sent to the customer if necessary to obtain answers.
2. The answers to the questions are sent to the translator.
3. If a text is being translated into several languages, all translators involved in the project are sent the information.
1. Every customer complaint is recorded in our internal program, Plunet, and assigned to the relevant translator.
2. The complaint is forwarded to the native translator for him or her to examine and improve the translation, if necessary.
3. The translator’s feedback is discussed with the customer.
4. A second native translator is involved, if necessary.
5. Subsequent changes are incorporated into the customer-specific TM.
6. Justified complaints may lead to the relevant translators being removed from the translation team.