The most famous Estonian translation agencies are located in Tallinn (the largest number of them is concentrated here), Tartu, Maardu, Narva and Saue.
Almost all bureaus have their own sites on the Internet, presented, in addition to Estonian, at least in Russian and English. Some sites including https://lingvanex.com/english-to-nepali/ have versions in German, French, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Finnish and Swedish.
Most of the Estonian translation agencies appeared in the early 2000s.
The main languages that Estonian translation agencies work with are Estonian itself, Russian, Latvian, Lithuanian, English, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish. European languages are widely spoken. Some bureaus offer translations in African and Oriental languages, among which Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and Turkish are especially common. Separate offices offer translation into rare languages such as Gaelic, Basque, Catalan, Icelandic, Maltese and others. Some bureaus work with only a few languages, most often Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Finnish and Russian.
The services offered by Estonian translation agencies always
include translation, but not all of them offer interpretation. You can also order text editing, subtitling, translation of audio and video materials, localization. The main areas of translation are medical and translation in the field of computer technology. Technical translation is widespread in the petrochemical and heavy industries, as well as in shipbuilding.
Prices for translation depend on the volume of the order (many bureaus provide discounts), its type (interpretation or translation), language, whether or not it is included in the editing of the text. The cost varies from 10 to 144 euros.
Large translation agencies have branches not only in their own country, but also in Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Finland.
According to the Union of Estonian Translation Bureaus, there are about 400 translation services companies operating throughout the country, 60 percent of which are based in Tallinn.
On average, Estonian translation bureaus employ 5-10 people, and 2.5% of the bureaus employ over 10 people.
The annual turnover of translation bureaus ranges from 64,000 to 640,000 euros.
Currently, translation prices are falling due to high competition and the emergence of new technologies in the field of machine translation. Specialists who know how to work with various translation programs have become more appreciated. The need for medical and technical translations has increased.
Today in Estonia there is an abundance of translators from the English language, so it is more difficult for such specialists to find a job. The main demand is for translators from Finnish, Swedish, Russian, Latvian, Lithuanian, German, French, Spanish. The number of languages offered by translation agencies is growing, and the success of a company depends on how many languages a company offers.