Belgian quality

The Belgian Quality Translation Association was founded in 1995. It’s a not-profit making organisation that represents translation companies established in Belgium.

For BQTA, one of the main goals is to foment contact between companies, always respecting a strict professional code of ethics. Other than that, the Belgian translators association wishes to make a contribution to the enhancement of the language services sector’s image. One of the ways to achieve it is to promote greater transparency, which will serve the purposes of both translator and customer.

BQTA also assures the representation of its members in everything concerning national authorities, in everything related to language services.

This association supports the use of modern translation support tools.

One of the association’s main concerns is the safeguarding of the free market and the freedom of initiative among translation and language services in Belgium. In extreme cases, BQTA might intervene – if extremely necessary – “should restrictive and / or inappropriate plans for regulation be put forward”. On the other hand, they will expose “situations involving unfair competition” in the business of language and particularly in the translation segment.

To reinforce their commitment towards efficiency, the BQTA has put together a quality charter with 10 points all member companies must undertake to comply with. Among other things, members must “entrust translation work to professionals with adequate experience in the relevant subjects” and “organise the ongoing training of the various players involved in a translation project”.

The BQTA is a member of the European Union of Associations of Translation Companies, EUATC.

Keep in mind that there are three official languages in Belgium. Dutch is spoken by almost 60% of the population. Even though it’s identical to the language spoken in Netherlands, it is usually referred to as “Flemish”. French is the second most spoken language (nearly 40%) and German is the third, with only 1%. Belgium has around 11 million inhabitants.

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