Two Decades of Translation, One Consistent Standard
Alafranga Language Solutions has been active since 2002. Every milestone in our history reflects a real operational decision — not a rebranding exercise or a funding round. This is how we got here.
In the early years, we worked alongside a notary office, producing certified document translations. That work shaped how we approached legal and technical content from the start with the precision and accountability the format demands. We also translated a significant volume of technical patent documentation during those years.
Tell us about your project Not sure which service you need? Tell us about your content, your industry, and your target language. We will recommend the right workflow and connect you with the right team, no obligation. You can start with a single document and expand from there.
▮2002 Founded in Istanbul Alafranga was founded by Volkan Güvenç, who continues to direct operations today. → About Volkan Güvenç.Turkish was the founding language pair and remains the core of everything we do. From the first project, DTP was integrated into the translation workflow. A translated document that breaks its layout is not a finished document.
Istanbul was the right place to start. As Turkey's commercial and industrial centre, it gave us direct access to the engineering, manufacturing, legal, and energy sectors that have defined our client base ever since.
▮2007 ]Project Open[ and ATC Membership In 2007, Alafranga became the first translation company in Turkey to implement ]Project Open[, open-source translation management infrastructure that gave us structured project tracking, vendor management, and workflow visibility from day one. The same infrastructure, continuously developed, remains in use today.
In the same year, we joined the Association of Translation Companies (ATC) and its European counterpart, EUATC. We have held this membership for nearly two decades, one of the longest-standing memberships from the Turkish translation market.
▮2009–2010 Beyond Turkish
Our first clients needed Turkish. Then they needed German. Then French, Italian, Arabic. We did not set out to become a multilingual agency, our clients pulled us there. By 2009–2010, we had established working relationships with specialist translators across European and Middle Eastern language pairs, building what would become a 40+ language capability.
Every language we added was driven by real demand, not a product roadmap.
▮2012 ISO 17100 ISO Certified, audited by Bureau Veritas , Alafranga's translation workflows were first certified under EN 15038:2006 in 2012, audited by Bureau Veritas. Certification was subsequently maintained under ISO 17100:2015, the standard that replaced EN 15038 in 2015. This was not a marketing decision. It was a formalisation of quality processes we had already been running and a commitment to maintain them under independent audit.
