About
My name is Danaë Hosek-Ugolini and I founded DZM Translate in 2013 to provide bespoke translations of legal, business and maritime documents. The language combinations I offer are:
French into English
English into French
Greek into French or English
I am an expert legal translator with professional experience as an English-qualified solicitor since 2006 and experience as a legal translator since 2013. I focus on what I know best: legal, commercial and maritime documents.
My clients are law firms, businesses and carefully selected translation agencies. I also translate on a pro-bono basis for some human and/or environmental rights NGOs.
I offer quality translations as well as a personal and highly professional service. For me, it is all about expert competence, efficiency, reliability and integrity. Above all, my aim is to build friendly and long lasting relationships based on trust and understanding. I will strive to proactively help you, adding value to your documents and contributing in the improvement of your business, reputation and documents.
I am half Greek, half French, born and raised in France. I lived in the UK from 2003 to 2017, before relocating to Prague in the Czech Republic in 2017.
Unlike many translators who begin their career with degrees in translation, I began my career as a lawyer. I received my Master’s Degree (Maîtrise) in private law from the University of Paris II in Paris. After spending a year at the Oxford University for a postgraduate Diploma in Legal Studies, I decided to qualify as a lawyer in England rather than in France due to my interest in international trade and shipping.
In 2006, I started working for one of the top 50 City law firms in London and qualified as a finance solicitor in 2008. I gained experience in various areas, in particular banking and asset finance, shipping, corporate, litigation and arbitration. I then specialised in ship finance. During this time I also assisted colleagues by translating legal documents.
After years of high-level legal practice, I decided that I wanted to start a new career as a translator. Being a translator has enabled me to combine my passion for languages with my considerable legal experience. I have completed postgraduate translation courses at City University London and Westminster University, London and obtained the Diploma in Translation from the Chartered Institute of Linguists.
I have been translating professionally since 2013, alongside my legal support work for the ship finance department of Stephenson Harwood LLP.
| 2013-2017: | Chartered Institute of Linguists Educational Trust Diploma in Translation
City University of London and University of Westminster, Londres |
| 2004-2006: | Legal Practice Course with specialisation in commercial and banking law Conversion course (GDL), with Merit University of the West of England (Bristol) |
| 2003-2004: | Diploma in legal studies combined with a French Maîtrise Subjects: Contract, Tort and International Trade, with distinction Université Panthéon Assas (Paris II) / University of Oxford (Worcester College) |
| 2000-2003: | Undergraduate degree in Law (DEUG and Licence), with Merit |
I take my professional development seriously
Interview - 10 minutes with Danae Hosek-Ugolini
What business are you in?
You could call me a lawyer-linguist, although there are various definitions to this term. I simply see myself as a lawyer and a translator. I specialised in Legal, business and maritime translations (French, Greek and English).
What kind of organisation are you?
Friendly, conscientious, trustworthy, reliable, down to earth.
Where is your business based?
I have just moved from London to Prague in the Czech Republic. What is great about my business is that it can follow me wherever I go.
I am an English-qualified lawyer with extensive high-level experience in one of the top city law firms in London. In fact, I still have a foot in the legal sector. I live and breathe the law and understand lawyers’ needs, requirements and way of thinking. I am also familiar with the underlying legal documents I am asked to translate and have first-hand experience in drafting these. But even more importantly, I have been in the business world so I know the level of professionalism expected by clients.
What do you do that is so genuinely different and innovative in comparison to your competitors?
I don’t know about being different or innovative, but I certainly offer a balanced service: quality in the translation, quality in the client service and fair value. I also understand what my clients talk about when it comes to legal documents, timelines and procedures. Finally, I can foresee issues and add value to their source documents by spotting inconsistencies.
In life and in business, what values do you stand for?
Efficiency, reliability, integrity, competence, respect. I also really stand for fairness (which is not a value per se).
What values in others do you most oppose?
I cannot stand unfairness (for example when someone takes the praise for something he/she did not do), nor rudeness or looking down on others. I try to live my life with humility and gratitude.
What are some of the things that you see as a threat to your industry and why?
The increased perception that translation is a commodity and only requires software such as Google Translate. Like lawyers using automation softwares to produce complicated documents. Man cannot be replaced by a machine for complex documents. A word can have different meanings depending on the context.
Also in terms of pricing, agencies are driving the prices down by offering translation as a commodity. People should not forget that it takes knowledge and thinking to translate, the same way as drafting a contract or a statement of claim.
How do you add more value to your customers than your competitors do?
I always try to go the extra mile for my clients, because it is in my DNA: I am a hopeless perfectionist! I will point out typos and inconsistencies in the source text and highlight mistakes (such as the incorrect year being quoted for a particular piece of legislation for example), even if my clients did not choose the premium option (although I try to keep this urge under control for the basic package). In a way, I see my clients like colleagues: both striving to make something work, so I try to be proactive and find solutions to any issues that may arise.
What character traits make you such a great person to work with?
I am reliable, friendly and easy to talk to. I strive to reply within 24 hours of an email. Finally, expect me to be honest and to talk my mind.