This Directory exists for some very simple reasons. First, because we believe that agencies (especially the mammoth agencies that have been been chewing their way through the industry in recent years), large online clearinghouses, and fee-based translator exchanges have largely failed to protect the livelihoods and dignity of freelance translators and, as a result, have become more harmful to the profession than they are helpful.
Second, because we believe that professional translators and interpreters deserve to earn a decent, appropriate, fair living for their work, we’re convinced that direct contact between a client and a translator or interpreter, with no additional layers of bureaucracy in the middle, is the best way to achieve that end. This means that translators and interpreters must learn to be better businessmen and -women, but it also means that clients will have the opportunity to understand more clearly what our work actually entails.
And, finally, we recognize that the only proper “exchange” for decent pay is truly professional performance. The most secure way for a client to be assured of finding high-quality translation or interpreting services is to make direct contact with a language professional, negotiate directly, and monitor the working relationship directly.
The TNT Directory is a way for language professionals and clients to find one another, a simple, straightforward tool that doesn’t involve profit-minded middlemen, publicity, subscriptions, or other costs.
Because we believe it is a sign of professionalism, we have asked each of the translators in the TNT Directory to make an ethical commitment to offer written translation services solely into his or her native language.[1]
We’ve done so because, in the translation environments in which we live and work these days, the lack of respect for native-target-only translation has become an urgent ethical and professional issue.
In fact, no existing translators’ association, online directory, service, or clearinghouse currently upholds this standard, no matter how “professional” they say they are. Not one.
Naturally, we cannot control what hundreds of translators do in the private conduct of their businesses; we can only monitor how they present their services on the TNT Directory.
Regardless of where you choose a professional for written translations, however, the TNT Directory strongly advises you to work exclusively with a language professional who is a native of the target language you need. (By the way, dual citizenship, parents of different national origins, or diplomas from more than one country are not, by themselves, proof of the ability to write expertly in a target language.)
There are three simple ways to use the TNT Directory. First, you can choose a source language from the drop-down “Source Language” menu banner (which appears on every page) and then click through to see the combinations our members offer.
Alternately, if you know the two-character ISO 639-1 language code for the combination you are seeking, you can find it in the alphabetical list on the right side of your screen.
Finally, you can use the search box at the top of the right-hand column. Enter the name of a language, a combination (e.g., “Spanish to English”), or a translator or enter any other keyword to search this site.
We look forward to a future of direct, open collaboration between clients who need language services and the professional translators and interpreters who can provide them. The TNT Directory exists to help facilitate that exchange. Don’t hesitate to let us know if you can suggest a way for the Directory to be even better.
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[1]Just to avoid misunderstandings: We apply the native-target-only standard to written translations only; interpreters naturally and normally work among multiple languages.
