History and titbits | Translation Agency

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About the Company
History and titbits

Tradition and experience for more than 60 years.

The founder of our company is Jan Jutrzenka-Trzebiatowski (sitting with a rose in his hand), a certified German translator, President of Zespół Tłumaczy in the years 1957-2009.

1955 – a draft statute of the Sworn Translators Agency sent to the Ministry of Justice.
1957 – a conference of Translators Agencies at the Ministry of Justice and the approval of the statute by the Minister of Justice, commencing operations of the Sworn and Technical Translators Agency no. 1. the 60’s – struggle to further the operations of Translators Agencies nationwide, attempts at creating an independent translators’ organization.

1976 – cooperation with the Polish Writers Union regarding affiliation with the International Federation of Translators.
1981 – establishment of the Polish Translators Association, the President of our company was appointed Member of the Board.
1987 – establishment of the Szczecin Division of the Association, whose domicile to date is our office.
1988 – our President was awarded the Gold Badge of the National Association of Trade and Services.
2005 – our office moves from ul. Jagiellońska 8/4 to Al. Wojska Polskiego 56/4 (how to find us – see contact).
2006 – open a new branch in Wrocław (how to find us – see contact).
2008 – open a new branch in Poznań (how to find us – see contact).
2012 – open a new branch in Warsaw (how to find us – see contact).

Historical titbits:

It did happen that our clients brought materials for translation packed in several cars. These included extensive manuals and technical specifications containing many drawings and diagrams. Today, the contents of several hundred binders can be stored on a single DVD or memory stick; in the past, all documents required paper form.
Today, we cannot imagine work and private life without the Internet. And what was it like not so long ago? Our company bought its first Internet domain in 2001. Then, the Internet was still relatively unknown. You could surf with a 56 kbit/s modem. For comparison, today’s modems have a bandwidth of about 450 Mbit/s – they are about 8000 times faster! In 2000, only 8% of Poles over 14 years old used the Internet. In the beginning, our website was only a business card and had no sub-pages. Many people tried to convince us that it was an unnecessary expense. “Who is going to browse the Internet searching for companies??” E-mail communication was also in its infancy. “It will not work, translations ought to be received in person; alternatively they can be sent by fax or post” – we heard repeatedly. And what is it like today? 🙂
Today it is much easier to count characters or words; it suffices to check the statistics of words in your word processor. In the past, most of the translations were written manually, and the typists were responsible for the ‘clean’ transcription. Experienced typists knew when the verse they were typing reaches 60 characters without counting the characters punched on the machine. A typed page contained 30 verses.

The Internet was not existent in the world until the 90s. Therefore, all office activities had to be performed differently. All transfers had to be made in a branch of the bank. The peak of technology was the possibility of sending texts for translation by fax. Clients had to bring every document for translation or valuation personally. The second visit was made upon receipt of the document. These more frequent personal contacts were especially pleasing).
In the 50s and 60s, there was a significant shortage of apartments. It also applied to business premises. Our first office was located in a private apartment at 3 Maja Street above the bakery. On business days, clients were attended to there. When the office closed at 16:00, the apartment owners came back from work and got on with their normal domestic life.