Translation in more than 70 languages
in Tournai and Picardy Wallonia
Dutch because Flanders begins twenty kilometres away, English because cross-border projects are written in it, and a good sixty other languages because the families, the building sites and the clients of the area need them. Always towards the translator's mother tongue.
70+
Working languages
100 %
Native translators, without exception
3
Official languages in Belgium
1 h
For the quote on your pair
The main groups we cover
Your language is not listed below? Ask the question: this page shows fewer pairs than our network actually handles.
Dutch
The neighbour's language, twenty kilometres from here. Kortrijk, Flemish retail, the public tenders of the Eurometropolis, the federal authorities. We tell the Dutch of Flanders from that of the Netherlands, because your readers tell them apart too.
English and the big European languages
English, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese. English serves as the working language of European projects and as the language of welcome for visitors to the belfry and to Notre-Dame cathedral.
The languages of families settled here
Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, Arabic, Romanian. These are the pairs that come back most often at the civil status desks and in the nationality files of the sixteen municipalities.
Central and eastern Europe
Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Russian, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak. Building sites, road haulage, posted workers, civil status papers and employment contracts.
Asian languages
Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Hindi, Urdu. Supply contracts, technical documentation, adoption files and civil status certificates.
African languages
Swahili, Lingala, Kinyarwanda, Wolof, Amharic, Tigrinya, Somali. They call for more notice, and they are never turned away on principle.
Which version of Dutch, and which French?
Two texts can be in the same language and still miss. The Dutch of Kortrijk is not the Dutch of Amsterdam: commercial vocabulary, forms of politeness and administrative phrasing differ enough for the reader to sense where the text came from.
In a border town French raises exactly the same question. A document bound for a French authority uses neither the same titles nor the same abbreviations as a Belgian one, and the reverse holds too. So we always ask where the text will be read, and not only which language it has to be written in.
One rule never moves: the translator writes towards his mother tongue. A French speaker does not draft the Dutch, even if he has practised it since childhood twenty kilometres from the border. As for the rate, it follows the scarcity of the pair far more than its grammar.
- Flemish usage or the usage of the Netherlands
- French of Belgium or French of France
- Translation into the mother tongue, no exception
- Sworn status checked pair by pair
Why two languages do not cost the same
Three groups, and one rule that holds for all three. The rate follows the supply of professionals, not the complexity of the language.
The first group
Dutch, English, German, Spanish, Italian. Plenty of qualified translators, short turnarounds, the bottom of the rate grid, and express available almost all year.
The second group
Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Turkish, Arabic, Russian, Ukrainian. Enough professionals exist, the notice needed stretches a little and express stays possible depending on the week.
The third group
Chinese, Japanese, African languages, the languages of central Asia. Few sworn translators exist in Belgium for these pairs: more notice has to be planned, and the rate reflects it.
The common rule
In all three groups the text is written by somebody whose mother tongue it is. That point is not negotiable, including when it makes the search harder.
A pair without French is perfectly possible: Dutch into English, German into Spanish, Ukrainian into Dutch. Take care on sworn papers, though, where the oath covers one precise pair: a Belgian sworn translator is listed for a given combination, not for a language. If yours does not exist in the register, the work sometimes has to route through a pivot language, which adds a step and a delay. We check that before the quote, never after.
How your file finds the right person
Four filters apply in this order, and the last one is never skipped.
- 01
The pair, variant included
Not simply Dutch or French, but for which reader and in which country. The question is asked as soon as you request a quote.
- 02
The field
Legal, technical, medical, commercial or administrative. A translator who is excellent in one subject turns ordinary in another, and it shows.
- 03
The oath
Where the paper has to carry a stamp, we confirm that the signatory appears in the register for that exact pair. An oath covering a language in general does not exist.
- 04
The review
A second linguist with the same mother tongue reads against the source. On a very rare pair we tell you when that second reading is not possible.
None of the six families fits?
Just describe what you need. Many pairs absent from this page are covered by our network.
Six constants from one language to the next
Always a native
The translator writes in the language he learned first. It can be heard on the page, and a foreign recipient spots it within three sentences.
Sworn status checked
For a sworn paper, entry in the register is verified for the exact pair. An entry valid in one direction is not necessarily valid in the other.
Variants respected
Dutch from Flanders or from the Netherlands, French from Belgium or from France, Portuguese from Portugal or from Brazil, Spanish from Europe or from Latin America. The question comes before we start.
Rare pairs taken on
A language is not refused because it is hard to find. We announce longer notice, then we hold the date we announced.
One glossary per pair
Every language pair has its glossary, fed job after job. The vocabulary is not renegotiated with each new order.
Rate stated in advance
The price depends on the pair and appears on the quote before any commitment. The full grid is published on the Pricing page.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Dutch weigh so much here?
For three reasons independent of each other. The language border runs twenty kilometres away, Kortrijk and Flemish retail are natural clients or suppliers, and the Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai Eurometropolis operates officially in French and in Dutch. Add the federal authorities, which write in both languages.
Which Dutch does my document need?
The one your readers use. For a client in Kortrijk, a public tender inside the Eurometropolis or a Belgian authority, it is Belgian Dutch. For a distributor based in the Netherlands, it is the other one. Commercial and administrative vocabulary differs enough for the choice to be noticed: name the destination and we pick the translator.
Will you work between two foreign languages, with no French involved?
Yes, and it happens often: Dutch into English, German into Polish, Ukrainian into Dutch. The only limit concerns sworn papers, where the oath covers one precise pair. If it does not exist in the Belgian register the work has to route through a pivot language, and the quote says so clearly.
Who checks a text nobody at your end can read?
Cross-review: a second native translator reads against the source and flags whatever he would change. On sworn papers the professional liability of the signatory is added, since he puts his register entry on the line. When a pair is too rare for a second reviewer to exist, we tell you before the order rather than after.
Which languages come up most often?
Dutch and English clearly dominate, followed by Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, Romanian and Arabic for civil status and nationality procedures. Polish and Ukrainian come back on building sites and in road haulage. Asian languages appear above all in supply contracts.
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