The idea
Good language is not just good grammar, good language means the right words in the right place and time, and good language is also pleasant to read. As the Israeli author Etgar Keret once said, a good translator is like a ninja – unnoticeable, otherwise he is no good. Our mission is to make sure that any written content in any language and about anything is understandable and pleasant to read and that our work results in more linguistically beautiful content in the world.
SUSTAINABILITY (noun) - A subject’s or system’s ability to create conditions for lasting, balanced self-development and, at the same time, an ability to avoid creating conditions that contribute to its extinction or self-destruction.
A translation is sustainable if one can read it without feeling an urge to change it. It is made sustainable also by the process and resources used. A sustainable translation is like quality footwear – its value is revealed in the number of times you wear it and feel comfortable. By paying for a sustainable translation you invest in your peace of mind and compensate for the time and effort put into years of studying and collecting experience.
For us, a sustainable approach to translation services means that:
- we take care of the client’s budget as the translation requires no redoing or editing;
- we take care of the prestige of the translator’s profession;
- we take care of efficient time consumption by doing each job only once and respecting deadlines;
- we take care of our employees by rewarding them appropriately for the work invested.
Why us
"Sonkeigo” is a linguistic term in Japanese describing the highest level of politeness or, in other words, a language style that is used for communicating with clients and superiors. It is a way to express respect and genuine care about another person’s needs. For us, it means caring for our clients’ peace of mind by always making sure that the job is done in the agreed time.
This is what our clients mention as the main reason for cooperation with Sonkeigo - a feeling that everything will be all right, no matter how urgent or complicated is the translation task. The ability to give people such a feeling makes us very proud, and we do everything we can to always meet their expectations. For that, we employ only the best language professionals with sufficient experience and knowledge, and we also use the latest technologies which speed up our work and help us improve the quality.
Professional software tools enable us to process large files, stay consistent in the terminology choice, as well as notice and eliminate errors in good time. On an everyday basis, we use Trados Studio 2021, but our translators are trained to work with other tools as well which means that we can adjust to clients’ wishes in this aspect too.
Many clients have been using our services for years, and we highly value their loyalty. Regular clients of the company include both different technology enterprises, software developers, start-ups, and large, worldwide translation agencies for whom Sonkeigo has been a reliable partner in the Baltic market for many years.
History
Sonkeigo was established in 2011 with the aim to create a translation agency and culture exchange point for cooperation with countries of the Far East. Thanks to like-minded partners we managed to realize these plans in a truly incredible way. The period from 2015 to 2019 was when Sonkeigo not only did many translations into Chinese, Japanese and other languages, but also organized several events, culture and experience exchange projects between Latvia and Mainland China. Among them was the Culture program of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (China, 2015), Latvia’s national stand at the EU-CEEC Culture & Art Festival (Beijing, 2017), and the National stage and booth presentations of Latvia and Estonia at Beijing Expo 2019. At the same time, Sonkeigo was growing as a translation company in the Baltics and Europe. Over the years we have developed close cooperation with our clients in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belgium, France, etc. As a result of changes brought by the Covid-19 pandemics we have narrowed our business to translations only, and the company currently operates in a completely remote mode.
The team
The team of Sonkeigo includes more than 130 translators whose work is organized by two project managers. A project manager in a translation office is the one accepting orders, processing them, planning delivery times, and taking overall care of the smooth everyday activity. Our project managers have been working in the company for a long time and are well aware of the specific needs of each regular client, and are also good at finding solutions in any situation. Their professionalism, responsiveness, and helpfulness are highly valued by both our freelance translators and our clients.
We always think we can do better so we aim for higher and higher standards. And we reach them.
We always look on the positive side and do not search for problems where there are none.
We truly wish for our clients to achieve their goals and we do all we can to make it easier for them.