Name of your website?Genial Translations
Your name?
Lucais Sewell
Your Location (city, etc)
Berlin
Please give us a short summary of your website?
We translate stuff to and from English, German, and French, particularly business, technical, and scientific texts.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
Germany is the world's leading exporter (even beating out China in terms of total value of good exported) and there's a tremendous need in Germany for translation services so these goods can be sold is foreign markets. We're here to help companies succeed in their international endeavors. Translation is also fun.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
We launched Genial Translations in the spring of 2007.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
It was a drawn out process. A main criterium was that it had to make sense in German, English, and French. In French and German, genial means "ingenious" - so for most of our customers, our name is actually understood as meaning "ingenious translations"
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
We offer a high-quality, custom service. Our translators are good. Other companies' translators are often not so good.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
To grow the company and have fun doing it.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
We've been very successful so far - the translation industry is currently experiencing an annual grow rate of approx. 5%.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
I can't think of anything we'd change at the moment. We want to keep the site simple and easy to use.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
We often have to turn away customers for lack of capacity. The challenge is finding qualified translators to work with, and balancing that with demand.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
The German tax system is a nightmare.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Balancing work with free time.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Word of mouth, although we're slowly having more success with Google.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
It's a lot of work!
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
The site has been online since this spring. I don't envision us taking it down anyime in the next few years.
Won't machine translation put you out of business at some point?
Certainly not. Translation is far too complex and context-based. It involves questions of taste and style. Ask me to reconsider my answer to this question when - and if - someone ever designs a computer program that can write best-selling books.
What is your website address?
Genial Translations
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