Quality in German

The German Association of Quality Language Services (Qualitätssprachendienste Deutschlands, QSD) was founded in the Spring of 1998, to represent the interests of the German translation industry, especially outside Germany, in the rest of Europe, in particular.

This translators association aim to strengthen professionalism within translation and interpretation and to establish a lobby “for the strongly expanding sector of language services within the globalised economy”.

QSD has joined together a number of “quality-conscious translation companies”. Many of these already have audited quality assurance systems (DIN EN ISO 9001:2000 certification). The translation association provides an opportunity to prepare and implement these of similar quality assurance systems.

Following a quality-oriented policy, QSD does not seek the creation of barriers, as it intends to disseminate quality awareness and to help understand all the complex issues surrounding translation. It is a particular concern of the association to achieve this “by taking a public position on some negative, and not always unjustified, opinions of translation services expressed by those commissioning work”.

There is a very active co-operation between QSD members and the DIN (Deutsches Institut für Normung, Berlin) standardisation committee, and that, according to the association, “deserves a special mention”, as it is “shaping the future European standard for translation services”.

QSD has also defined the “development of the next generation of interpreters and translators” as a key area. It is also a priority to achieve better communication between the parties involved in the whole translation process.

All German translation companies committed to the enhancement of the image the sector holds are welcome at QSD. There is a need for further improving of the translation industry’s professionalism, and that must happen through “a continuous process of improvement”.

To realise these and other objectives, the German association has established the objective of providing further training opportunities for translators.

Members of QSD, all of them extremely experienced in specialised translation fields, seek to make an important contribution towards the training of translators in universities both within and outside Germany by offering” placements to graduates of several universities and training institutes. Candidates will be selected according to relevant language combinations, for the practical training placement “lasting between two and six months”.

As far as quality itself is concerned, associate companies of QSD may offer an introduction to quality control, procedures and working practices in areas such as commercial order processing or translation.
As a member of QSD, you may benefit from a lot of advantages. The first one derives from the important part QSD plays at European level. As a member, you can get first-hand information about legal and economic developments in the European translation industry”.

The association also maintains strong liaisons with other national associations throughout Europe. That may benefit you when you handle multilingual translation projects. Moreover, another point of those relationships is to improve relations between translation companies and freelancers.

QSD’s focus in on professionalism and high quality standards. Therefore, the certification requirements for members are quite demanding. The QSD symbol is nowadays a distinction in the eyes of clients. QSD is happy to assist its members “in their own search for additional business”.

The German translators association treasures “the exchange of information and joint development of strategy regarding issues of quality assurance and optimisation of work processes”. It challenges “false preconceptions” and provides the next generation of translators with the above-mentioned placements and other opportunities.

Translation tools, as well as other aids to the profession, may be tested through QSD, many times with discounts for members or on loan.

QSD organises events and is happy to participate in other happenings like congresses, symposia, seminars and workshops, from which you can benefit as a member of the association.

Keep in mind that German is the official language of Germany. It is related to English and Dutch and has around 98 million native speakers. It’s also official in Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Belgium and South Tyrol, in Italy.

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