logo image
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Localizing at Scale for International Growth
    • Design Thinking May 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs
MENU
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • SlatorCon Remote May 2021
    • Localizing at Scale for International Growth
    • Design Thinking May 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs

Register Now for SlatorCon Remote on May 13th!

  • Slator Market Intelligence
  • Slator Advertising Services
  • Slator Advisory
  • Login
Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Advertisement
Danish Police Urges Calm as Row Over Interpreting Contract Intensifies

2 years ago

April 12, 2019

Danish Police Urges Calm as Row Over Interpreting Contract Intensifies

Industry News ·

by Marion Marking

On April 12, 2019

2 years ago
Industry News ·

by Marion Marking

On April 12, 2019

Danish Police Urges Calm as Row Over Interpreting Contract Intensifies

Nationwide public sector framework contracts for interpretation are an unlikely object of passionate public debate. But after the Ministry of Justice saga in the UK took years to resolve, Denmark now appears to be following suit as it grapples with the fallout from awarding the country’s entire justice system interpreting volume to a single vendor.

In a statement sent Slator dated April 11, 2019, EasyTranslate Co-founder Frederik Pedersen wrote, “The new cooperation between EasyTranslate and the Danish National Police regarding interpretation services has gotten a reasonably successful start as expected. We are satisfied with the achieved delivery rates considering the contract has only been active for 9 days.”

EasyTranslate landed one of the language industry’s biggest public sector contracts of 2018, an USD 80m (DKK 520m) four-year contract that combines all language requirements from Denmark’s Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Immigration and Integration. The Danish National Police led the tender process.

Advertisement

Even before the contract’s official start date on April 1, however, the Danish LSP already drew some heat. Back in December 2018, we reported that more than 400 linguists signed a petition in protest over the lower fees offered them under the new contract. The petitioners said they would refuse to make themselves available under the new terms; of those who signed, 300 linguists reportedly provide interpretation and translation services to the National Police.

As of press time, the number of petitioners had risen to 684, and some appear to have made good on their threat.

Member of the Danish Parliament Kristian Pihl Lorentzen, in a letter dated April 10, 2019, asked the Minister of Justice to explain why “driving schools and their (foreign language) students experience major problems with the use of interpreters for driving tests.”

In the letter seen by Slator, Lorentzen enumerated the following problems: the interpreter provided often speaks a different language than what is required; the interpreter’s qualifications are “significantly lower than before”; previous “well-functioning interpreters can no longer be used for tests”; and, often, the interpreter does not make the driving test at all.

Meanwhile, news reports out of Denmark over the past few days highlighted a couple of incidents. In one, a court interpreter did not show up making everyone wait for hours at a hearing over an organized crime case. In another, the police released a shoplifter because they could not get an interpreter.

“On Tuesday, delivery rate on interpretation was at 95%,” noted EasyTranslate’s Pedersen in his April 11 letter to Slator. He was quoting Thomas Østrup Møller, Commissioner for Corporate Management at Politiet, who Pedersen said also pointed out that, “any interpretation job that is cancelled has consequences, no doubt about it. But there are a lot of interpretation jobs that are carried out successfully. My point is we need to stay calm.”

Pedersen said over 750 interpreters have already joined EasyTranslate’s ranks, and “458 of these are from the list of interpreters used by the authorities prior to the start of the new contract.”

He admitted though that they had indeed “experienced some challenges.” According to Pedersen, “Former police interpreters have contacted interpreters working under the agreement on the job, during breaks or after court hearings in the hope that these interpreters would stop working under the contract.”

He also said some interpreters would sign up for work and accept a job only to deliberately not show up, while others “booked under the previous agreement for interpretation jobs in April have then cancelled very late, which has forced us to urgently assign other interpreters.”

As for the petitioners’ complaint over lower fees, Pedersen said, “As a natural part of a competitive tender process, prices have been reduced, which has resulted in a reduction in interpreter fees.”

According to Pedersen, “EasyTranslate won the tender because its bid contained the best combination of quality and price. EasyTranslate’s bid was not the cheapest.”

TAGS

boycottcourt interpretationcourt interpretersDanish Ministry of Immigration and IntegrationDanish Ministry of JusticeDanish National PoliceDanish PoliceDanish RFPDenmarkDenmark interpreter boycottDenmark interpreter strikeDenmark Ministry of Immigration and IntegrationDenmark Ministry of JusticeDenmark petitionDenmark protestDenmark RFPEasyTranslateFrederik Pederseninterpretationinterpreter boycottinterpreters boycottKristian Pihl LorentzenMinistry of Immigration and IntegrationMinistry of JusticestrikeThomas Ostrup Moller
SHARE
Marion Marking

By Marion Marking

Slator consultant and corporate communications professional who enjoys exploring Asian cities.

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SLATOR WEEKLY

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

SUBSCRIBE

SlatorSweepSlatorPro
ResearchRFP CENTER

PUBLISH

PRESS RELEASEDIRECTORY LISTING
JOB ADEVENT LISTING

Bespoke advisory including speaking, briefings and M&A

SLATOR ADVISORY
Advertisement

Featured Reports

See all
Pro Guide: Translation Pricing and Procurement

Pro Guide: Translation Pricing and Procurement

by Slator

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

by Slator

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

by Slator

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

by Slator

Press Releases

See all
MasterWord Services Inc. Names Jeanette Stewert as Vice President of Operations

MasterWord Services Inc. Names Jeanette Stewert as Vice President of Operations

by MasterWord

XTRF Welcomes Roberto Ganzerli to Its Advisory Board

XTRF Welcomes Roberto Ganzerli to Its Advisory Board

by XTRF

Venga Reshapes Language Review with InQA Cloud Application

Venga Reshapes Language Review with InQA Cloud Application

by Venga Global

Upcoming Events

See All
  1. SlatorCon Remote May 2021

    by Slator

    · May 13 @ 3:00 pm - 8:00 pm

    A rich online conference which brings together our research and network of industry leaders.

    More info $110

Featured Companies

See all
Sunyu Transphere

Sunyu Transphere

Text United

Text United

Memsource

Memsource

Wordbank

Wordbank

Protranslating

Protranslating

SeproTec

SeproTec

Versacom

Versacom

Smartling

Smartling

XTM International

XTM International

Translators without Borders

Translators without Borders

STAR Group

STAR Group

memoQ Translation Technologies

memoQ Translation Technologies

Advertisement

Popular articles

Google Translate Not Ready for Use in Medical Emergencies But Improving Fast — Study

Google Translate Not Ready for Use in Medical Emergencies But Improving Fast — Study

by Seyma Albarino

The Slator 2021 Language Service Provider Index

The Slator 2021 Language Service Provider Index

by Slator

Why Netflix Shut Down Its Translation Portal Hermes

Why Netflix Shut Down Its Translation Portal Hermes

by Esther Bond

SlatorPod: The Weekly Language Industry Podcast

connect with us

footer logo

Slator makes business sense of the language services and technology market.

Our Company

  • Support
  • About us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Subscribe to the Slator Weekly

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

© 2021 Slator. All rights reserved.

Sign up to the Slator Weekly

Join over 13,800 subscribers and get the latest language industry intelligence every Friday

Your information will never be shared with third parties. No Spam.