At Lingua Brasilis Übersetzungsbüro Fabio Said a huge amount of personally identifiable or confidential information related to my clients is processed every day. During translation processes, data privacy and confidentiality are taken very seriously.
In addition, I, Fabio Said, am bound by the Sworn Translation Laws of the German states of Bavaria, Hamburg, Saxony, Hesse, Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia – where I am registered as a sworn translator – to maintain confidentiality.
Specifically, I have taken the following measures to ensure protection of your personal data in my translation business:
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No handling of enquiries over Facebook/WhatsApp
Job enquiries are never handled over Facebook, WhatsApp or Social Media. The only way to contact for translation jobs is by using the professional Online Assistance tool, which fulfils data protection requirements and is available around the clock.
That may be not so convenient for some clients. But most of my clients in Germany with higher purchasing power, who are more discerning and aware of the serious issues that such free internet platforms have, value confidentiality through secure email communications.
Moreover, WhatsApp is the preferred communication channel for a certain kind of annoying people who never read or write more than one line of text at once:
- they start with: “Hello” [just like that, not a single additional word]
- and then one day later: “Are you a translator?“
- a week later: “My documents are not ready yet, where can I get them?“
- one month later: “I’m moving to Europe next year, are you available for a translation?“
- and then three months later: “I changed my mind, I need translations for Italy, not Germany, can you do that?
- and so on, and on, and on…
These are the kinds the people who live their lives in a completely chaotic way (most of them are also penniless). So exchanging WhatsApp messages with these people is just a waste of time.
Self-hosted emails
First of all, the most important information:
Communications via my email address as well as client data management are handled in a secure self-hosted environment – never resorting to free email providers such as Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail.
Secondly, in more than 30 years as a professional translator, I leaned one thing: Most email enquiries are nothing but a waste of time, for reasons such as:
- the sender has no immediate plans on hiring me as a professional translator/interpreter – they just want general information, which is easy to find on this website, or
- the sender has evil intentions, or
- the sender just wants to chat about personal things or other things that are completely different from the services I sell.
Therefore, I’ve implemented the following rule for my business:
Personal support via my email address is only available to paying customers and/or after using the Online Assistance tool, which secures compliance with European data protection legislation and answers the most common questions within a few seconds.
I am aware that the rule above will discourage many people. But that is exactly the idea!
On the other hand, serious, high-level customers who really need my professional services don’t want to waste time: they always use the Online Assistance tool before anything else and are very happy to receive a fast, professional and detailed translation proposal with well-structured information based on their personal options. Straight to the point!
Local data
All business and client information is stored in a local computer, never in a network computer, much less on a free – and therefore not secure – cloud solution.
Caution:
Translators with no permanent business address usually keep data saved on Dropbox, Google Drive or icloud drive, services that are located outside Germany and, therefore, are not subject to Germany’s stricter data protection regulations.
No subcontracting
In my translation business there is no subcontracting whatsoever. If I can’t execute a translation job myself, I refuse it or recommend a trusted colleague. This results in a reduced risk of data being accessed by third parties and confidentiality being violated.
Attention:
When you hire a translation provider in Germany without knowing who exactly is going to perform the translation, the provider could send the document to be translated by unknown translators in other countries such as Brazil, and they will have unauthorised access a to your personal data such as name, taxpayer number, marital status, address, financial information, etc. without your consent.
Unfortunately, this happens often with translation providers who work with a “team” or “network” of freelancers.
Paper shredder for printed documents
I ensure that printed documents containing personally identifiable or confidential information are always shredded – such as translation drafts, invoices, quotations or printed copies of scanned documents to be translated.
Instead of throwing these documents in the paper trash, I use a P-5 security level shredder (see the image that illustrates this article). It shreds documents in such a way that no one will be able to read them.
Please rest assured: In my translation business, your personally identifiable information and your documents are in very good hands!
For further information on data privacy at Lingua Brasilis, please refer to the Privacy Notice.
