Lilia Borissova

ABOUT THE COMPANY

3:30 pm Linguistic Solutions is run by Ms. Lilia Borissova – a Bulgarian national settled in Düsseldorf. Erkrather Str. 64, Düsseldorf, is the registered seat and management office of the company.

What do we do? We offer translation and localisation services with high quality and reliability at very competitive prices with project management made in Germany. We are a full-service LSP with a focus on Eastern European languages from English and German. The company philosophy is based on Total Quality Management (TQM) and strives to produce high quality linguistic services and translation solutions through excellent project management to help companies and institutions alike get their message across. We achieve this by continuously improving the work processes, employing CAT and QA tools as well as carefully selecting and properly training our resources.

3:30 pm Linguistic Solutions is a proud member of GALA. Obtaining EN 15038:2006 certification is a top company objective set for the early spring of 2012. With excellence in mind, we believe solid preparation and a convincing amount of clearly traceable data is a must before inviting the quality assurance auditors. Anything else would not do this wonderful EU quality standard any justice and would undermine its value.

WHY 3:30 PM? IMMANUEL KANT’S AFTERNOON WALKS

Immanuel Kant, the 18th-century German philosopher, is the last prominent philosopher of modern Europe who occupied himself with the theory of knowledge during the Enlightenment after Locke, Berkley and Hume. He continues to be a major influence on both analytic and continental philosophical thought. His magnum opus Kritik der reinen Vernunft (The Critique of Pure Reason) is considered one of the most influential works in the history of philosophy.

If there is one thing which characterises the illustrious German philosopher Immanuel Kant and his philosophy, it is precision. Such precision that his works are indeed notoriously difficult reads. His life was no different. Kant was indeed a creature of habit. It is said, people would set their watches by when he left his house for his regular afternoon walk, at precisely 3:30 pm.

Hence, 3:30 pm Linguistic Solutions! We, therefore, strive to identify with the Kant cherished: punctuality, reliability, consistency, and, of course, excellence.

SERVICES

Below is a list of services which we offer clustered in logical groups:

1. Translation with CAT tools
2. Fast Translation
3. Premium Translation
4. Test-piece translation

5. Editing
6. Proofreading
7. Final pre-print proofreading

8. Linguistic testing and quality inspection
9. Linguistic Sign-Off
10. Commentary on translation

11. Desktop Publishing – standard (including translation of graphics and graphic design)
12. Desktop Publishing – complex (text extraction, repagination, full DTP (InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, MS Word, FrameMaker), PDF creation, conversion to HTML)

13. Web localisation– web content, HTML formatting
14. Software localisation – online help, documentation, GUI compiling and testing

15. Glossary work – glossary creation and glossary translation
16. Terminology work – terminology extraction, terminology research
17. Translation Memory work – TM file conversion,  preparation, pre-translation, clean up, TM alignment

18. Digitisation of offline documents (OCR)
19. Typesetting
20. Compiling documents and summaries
21. Text processing

22. Web and graphic design

23. Consultation on intercultural and multicultural matters
24. Corporate branding
25. PR
26. Social media image
27. Globalisation
28. Internationalisation

29. Project management
30. SWOT analysis
31. Management consulting

LANGUAGES

As an MLV we offer linguistic services involving many different language combinations.  We also continuously look into expanding our portfolio and add more and more language pairs.

In the tables below we have listed the language combinations by source language, target language group and then the actual target language breakdown.

New additions to our portfolio:

Language combinations currently under development:

KEY PRIORITIES AND HYGIENE FACTORS

Quality

We share the TQM philosophy and implement it throughout the entire project life cycle. We are process-focused and we continuously improve our processes and quality assurance systems through internal monitoring and evaluation as well as through feedback both from the customer and the linguist.

We work only with native speakers in order to ensure smoothness and natural flow of the target language as well as to maintain the local or regional specifics of the native language in translation. On the other hand, the client can opt to use native speakers as proof-readers who are able to catch any awkwardly translated sentences or phrases. Whenever possible we add value by assigning dedicated linguists for recurrent updates or workflow type of jobs, which is very important for achieving overall consistency and allows shorter time for post-translation and synchronisation jobs. We give preference to native-speaker linguists who predominantly live in the target language country since they will be the closest to the latest trends related to their mother tongue.

Moreover, we apply careful and strict selection process. The linguists pass through rigorous testing and must have considerable experience and suitable qualifications. Their performance is continuously evaluated and necessary training is provided.

Quality assurance

To uniformly ensure the highest possible quality, 3:30 pm Linguistic Solutions applies a multi-level process of quality assurance which includes and is revealed through the main stages of our work prior to delivery: preparation, glossary creation, translation, editing and proofreading, and finally – formatting. These are explained in more detail further below. By passing each project through four quality management checkpoints as described above we achieve both linguistic and terminological consistency. For larger projects we create glossaries and instruction guides to locate and define non-standard and proprietary terminology.

Technology

We follow up and invest in the latest technology on the market. CAT tools, thanks to the TM modules, can save a lot of money and time to the customer and ensure maximum consistency though the translation as a single project as well as over long periods of time and multiple updates (the workflow type of jobs). In this way the translation projects are neater, more structured and the workflow is streamlined and organised. We use most CAT and QA tools and also take the time and effort to train our resources to use them to their maximum capacity.

We use a German translation project management system to keep jobs, quotes, and requests easily managed and traceable, and to keep a vigilant eye on that deadline. It also takes care of our invoicing and payment reminder systems which are streamlined so that the financial part of it all does not leave a bad taste in an otherwise mutually rewarding partnership.

Security

We have our software and hardware insured and we strive to protect, backup and archive properly and regularly the volumes of data we process and store. Confidentiality is of extreme importance and to this end we have legally binding NDAs with our language service suppliers. We also use UPS to keep the power surge under control, use original parts, services and applications to name but a few other items in this regard.

WHY CHOSE US? THE MOTIVATOR FACTORS

Project management

We pride ourselves with excellent project management skills. It is the project management that can make or break an otherwise outstanding piece of work. How many times have you had to deal with chaotic and poorly organised projects? How many times have you not had any idea what the status of the project is because of an unresponsive and uncooperative project manager? How many times deadlines are messed up by untrained project managers who fail to recognise the critical path of projects, or are unable to crash some of the activities on this critical path to make up for lost momentum? Through our experience, common sense and PM training, we are able to account for the complex sequence of all the various stages that the project has to go through and keep you updated of the progress at all times.

Problem-solving

Even businesses that by and large perform well on providing quality translation services still have to deal from time to time with problems. Although the first law of quality might be defined as ‘do it right the first time’, no quality-minded business can afford to be without contingency plans for how to act when things do go wrong. Cutting communication with the customer is not acceptable as a strategy. Acknowledging that problem-solving is an integral part of any successful project management, at 3:30 pm Linguistic Solutions we do our outmost to minimise such occurrences by employing cause-and-effect and Pareto analysis, flowcharting and control charts, feedback to linguists and timely corrective action – all with the objective of eliminating a repeat of the problem especially if it has been caused by controllable, internal forces. This is problem-solving made in Germany.

Competitive price

The rates and price schemes we offer have two characteristics: they are flexible and customer-oriented (read competitive). We are able to offer extremely good value for money through our network of local language specialists, thus arriving at a really good price at no expense to quality. Thanks to our excellent project management skills we add value by minimising your non-financial costs such as time costs and psychological costs (read hassle and uncertainty). Depending on your individual needs we can always find the right price solution for you.

Personality

Communicative, proactive and Mediterranean friendly all the way, we are committed to building long-term partnerships as we sign-up to the philosophy of relationship management which is embedded in our business practices. We respond to requests in a timely manner and continue the communication with the client all the way through until delivery of the job and after that. We are always available for any follow up or corrections that might be needed until maximum client satisfaction has been achieved. A crucial principle here is communication and accessibility: we are committed to communicating in a clear, honest, and timely manner and this holds even more so when problems crop up and things go wrong as they sometimes can do.

The 3:30 pm Linguistic Solutions Project manager is responsible for the following tasks and activities:

• Planning projects and distinguishing tasks and responsibilities to create an efficient translation process
• Supplier selection and assignment of tasks according to the requirements of the job
• Preparation and provision of data, terminology and reference material
• On-going supplier management and regular progress checks
• Client-specific terminology management to ensure consistency
• Communication and support for both suppliers and clients
• Regular status reports
• Time management to ensure that all deadlines are met
• Formalised quality assurance checks
• Editing of the revised text to provide the required format
• Successful and secure delivery on or before deadline by email, web form, fax or hard copy
• Incorporation of client feedback into future projects
• Regular feedback to linguists, evaluation of performance and monitoring of corrective action(s)
• Efficient problem-solving and conflict management (as important as all the points above!)

We trust we have managed to describe in detail who we are and what we stand for and we hope this has not taken too much of your valuable time. However, if you have any further questions or comments, please, by all means, feel free to get in touch with us. Upon request, you can also get more detailed information on the exact work processes (TEP) and their sequence which we have adoped.

We hope we can find common objectives towards which to cooperate in a mutually beneficial partnership.

3:30 pm Linguistic Solutions

Erkrather Str. 64

D-40233 Düsseldorf

Germany

Promoting German project management in Eastern Europe! 

www.three30pm.de

• Adobe Acrobat
• Adobe Illustrator
• PASSOLO
• PowerPoint
• SDLX Translation Suite
• STAR Transit