What is Linguaquote?

Linguaquote is a translation agency with every aspect tuned for efficiency and simplicity. It takes the complex process of translation and makes it simple for the user to navigate. Through its platform users can reduce their email load by at least 50%. They can talk to multiple team members at once, share information and organise translation projects from a single point. All while ensuring confidentiality and security through the platform.

Quality is ensured through working directly with experienced, vetted translators. Users communicate their feedback and requirements and translators are free to ask questions to clarify any ambiguities.

Linguaquote is transparent, built on open source software and has been heavily optimised for speed, security, robustness and simplicity. The principles of open source transparency, internet neutrality and accessibility are embedded in Linguaquote's core values.

We share technical information on the creation and optimisation of our customised Drupal framework, our tuned Nginx server stack and our business practices. We want the site to load quickly at all times and be easy to read and navigate. It will always remain doubly backed up in various sites and client storage, sessions and passwords will remain encrypted using best-in-class techniques. We share how we do this on the news pages.

Linguaquote's mission is to offer a new model for quality and integrity in the translation industry. The translation industry continues to grow at over 10% year on year, at over $50bn in size as of 2019. Linguaquote wants to help steer the industry in the right direction in the future.

Who's behind Linguaquote?

Luke Spear, Linguaquote

Luke has been working on Linguaquote alongside running a translation agency (since 2008), following the launch of linguistdb.com. This aimed to offer a free listing of pre-qualified translators. Linguaquote improved on this by adding project management tools, enabling freelancers to rely less on agencies, benefiting translation buyers in the process.

Linguaquote is trading from England under the UK company Accentor Ltd., 07476048.

Luke's background

He has been a professional freelance translator since 2004. A little longer if you include the university startup effort 'Spearhedd Translations'. With ~100 published works and tens of millions of words translated, he is no stranger to the translation industry. He has been a full member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists since 2009 and has a degree in French Studies from the British Institute in Paris (now known as ULIP). His book on translation sales was well received by fellow freelancers in 2011.

He lived in Canada as a child, sparking an interest in French (and a little of the old Klingon from those Star Trek days). Then followed that up during and after school with trips and finally studying and working in France. Then came Sweden for a time, before coming back to England. He now lives and works in the UK with his wife and 2 children. He is still trying to add a few languages to the stack, namely Korean, Chinese, Irish and an eternal fight with German.


Why trust your vetting process?

Luke has been involved in the translation agency for the best part of the 21st century. He has seen it move almost entirely online, while taking note of the gaps in the market for buyers and suppliers alike. Managing large-scale projects for DHL, Primark, Saatchi+Saatchi, UK Trade and Industry, and many other household names, while also freelancing for agencies and direct clients, he has had exposure to all of the strengths and weaknesses of the current industry arrangements.

Linguaquote is the result. In order to work with trustworthy colleagues, Luke has had to spend hours poring over CVs, profiles and carrying out background checks on thousands of linguists. One central location featuring only trustworthy linguists, with easy search and project management tools is long overdue. There are other platforms online, but none that take the time to filter out the non-starter translators. All providers must meet the strict criteria set out or they are not approved for an account. They cannot just buy access to the platform, they have to join associations, gain qualifications and experience and be able to prove these.

How can you guarantee a quality translation?

By sorting the good from the bad, you already have a pool of top translation talent to work with in hundreds of language combinations. This ensures you will not face the dozens of issues that can trip up translation project managers every day, such as: false profiles, low-bidding unscrupulous agencies or inexperienced translators over-stating their abilities. From there we match on expertise and experience in the field. We then conduct extensive rounds of proofreading as a detailed check of each sentence for meaning and technical quality. This is what we present to you, then remaining on hand to field any final queries before signing off the project.

Why work with Linguaquote instead of a local, brick and mortar translation agency?

  1. Agency quality standards vary - our standards are based on our direct contact and thorough vetting of freelance translators
  2. Agencies charge 1/3rd or more for project management, asset creation (custom memories, glossaries), plus their margin to cover their extremely high overheads - we charge a single price for all work, without adding on hidden costs, with no need to cover expensive rents and salaries - online operations offer the best value for money
  3. Issues and questions often go unasked between freelancers and agencies because of the extra link in the chain, weakening the work - you can easily discuss your project in private with your translator on the site, with no need for lengthy email chains
  4. Agency staff can be overworked and put undue pressure on translators, weakening the work - you work directly with the translator, removing this weakness
  5. Agencies have little regard for security, emailing your project to many recipients for anyone along the chain to view - Linguaquote is a secure platform for file sharing and discussion, with only your selected translator and PM able to see your files.

So in summary, you save money, save time, get a higher quality end result and all in a secure environment (no emailing files, full encryption of transfer and storage). It's one of those decisions that folks sometimes call a 'no-brainer'.


Accentor Ltd.
Nr. Derby, UK

Support: contact@linguaquote.com
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