The ATC’s Member of the Month in September 2024 is TextPartner, a regional language vendor based in Poland, with a passion for industry engagement and ISO standards, and a boundless sense of curiosity.

We caught up with TextPartner’s Managing Partner Marek Gawrysiak, to talk about the value of industry associations, the road to ISO certification, and what busy language service company owners get up to in their spare time.

Building industry relationships

TextPartner is a member of the ATC, a founding member of the Polish language services industry association POLOT, and a member of the European language service company network Eulogia.

“For us, investing in building industry relationships and actively participating in association work is a no-brainer,” says TextPartner’s Managing Partner Marek Gawrysiak.

“As a regional language vendor, we work as a supplier to other language service companies, and industry connections and events are crucial for building long-standing relationships that are based on mutual trust. Over the years, we have made many friendships, and faced many challenges with the help of the associations we are active in – and the old adage of ‘you get what you give’ is certainly true for making the most out of becoming a member of an industry association!”

The road to certification

TextPartner is certified to ISO 17100 for translation services and ISO 18587 for machine translation post-editing with ATC Certification, the ATC’s industry expert ISO certification body.

“The TextPartner team consists of thirteen in-house linguists, three project managers, three revisers, a DTP operator, and a coder. For the past 23 years, we have remained true to our original values of integrity, service-mindedness, and continuous development. In 2020, we put our money where our mouth is, and sought certification to the two most well-known industry standards for translation, ISO 17100 – already established by then – and ISO 18587 – as one of the first companies in Europe to get certified to this emerging standard for MTPE,” Marek explains.

For TextPartner, the ultimate goal of the undertaking was to create an environment which would rely on transparency, ergonomics, high automation of checks, and which would provide a sense of prestige and professional accomplishment for its users. Partnering with ATC Certification, TextPartner gained a certification body with an understanding of the language industry and the challenges faced by modern translation teams which also resonated with my team members.

The what culture?

Today, TextPartner continues to surf the waves of agile localization, and technology-enabled, quality-minded language services. But its owners, Marek and Ewa Gawrysiak also share another passion: viticulture.

“Viticulture and translation are, to me, twin crafts—both require precision, a respect for tradition, and an appreciation for subtle nuances,” says Ewa. “I don’t really want to choose between them, so I immerse myself in both.”

“Wine carries the essence of the land it grows from, and language is the expression of a culture’s soul,” shares Marek. That’s why every estate can offer unique expressions in their wines, while the local language can describe them uniquely, drawing from both history and culture.

Ewa and Marek have both completed post-graduate studies in oenology at their local university. Now, they travel through Europe during the warm season to gain more hands-on experience in both viticulture and wine-making for a bigger project they have in mind. “The wines made in our town used to shine brightly: in the mid-nineteenth century, Grempler Sekt won international awards for best sparkling wines in Paris, London, and Vienna. But those wines vanished from the world scene for over sixty years. We want to become part of the local group that recognises this beautiful tradition and showcase the potential of local viticulture once again. At the same time, we want to continue growing our language business through new opportunities and services, giving it most of our attention throughout the year.”

Curiosity and a passion for a job well done have taken TextPartner this far, whether it’s in localization or viticulture, and while the shifting sands of an AI-powered future for the language services industry continue to ripple, it is curiosity and passion that will take the TP team into a bright future.

Marek Gawrysiak was in conversation with ATC CEO Raisa McNab.