Why we started.
Cosse-le-Vivien, Mayenne. Since 2019.
"Translation fails when a generalist meets specialist terminology they have never encountered in practice."
The problem we saw
For several years, we worked in and around specialist fields, mainly administrative law, humanitarian work and cross-border property. What we consistently observed was that high-quality translation for these sectors was incredibly difficult to source. Not because agencies lacked translation skill. Because they lacked domain specialists.
A general translator encounters a Dutch property deed that needs to go to a French notary. They do their best. But they do not know that Dutch cadastral terminology does not map directly to French terminology. They do not know that that specific legal term is contested in Belgian case law but accepted in France. The document gets translated, the notary returns it, the process stops.
How we approach it
We founded youTranslations in 2019 from a different starting point: recruit domain specialists who are also qualified translators, rather than recruiting translators and training them into specialist domains. The difference is significant. A domain specialist understands the context in which the document will be used. They know what the receiving authority expects to see.
We started with two domains and three translators. By 2025, we work across six domains with specialist teams in each. No one crosses between teams. A civil registry translator does not do humanitarian work. A property specialist does not do HR contracts.