Tolk2Go brings Airbnb's service to the interpreting world: for companies, municipalities and private clients

Tolk2Go... time to shake up the interpreting industry in the Netherlands

By combining all the good elements of the interpreting industry with simple solutions to all the elements that were not working well, Tolk2Go was born!

Our story begins with Svetlana Mikelevich. The first of three powerful elements that contributed to the perfect storm that shook up the interpreting industry. And it was much needed!

Svetlana has more than 20 years of experience as a Russian-Dutch interpreter and has seen and experienced it all. She has personally experienced how the services of once efficient public services are eroding and interpreting services are being outsourced bit by bit to large intermediaries. Focusing mainly on large government contracts, these companies pay little attention to business and private clients.

Svetlana's experience and insight were the driving force behind Tolk2Go. As an interpreter, she had to go to great lengths to get paid a good rate. A rate that a competent, qualified and experienced interpreter deserves. And that while the clients she came across were actually paying far too much, for cumbersome, bureaucratic and substandard services.

There was also often a complete lack of transparency about the price. Clients usually did not know in advance how much the interpreting service would cost - until the invoice arrived... And once they had found an interpreter they liked, the booking system often made it very cumbersome or even impossible to hire this person again. Both interpreter and client had to jump endlessly through bureaucratic hoops. From pillar to post, for days on end. Only to finally be told, "No, that's not possible!"

An interpreter service is as quick and easy to book as an AirBnB - at a fair price for the client AND the interpreter!

The idea for Tolk2Go arose from the desire to solve the problems mentioned above and others; solutions that the big interpreting agencies were not interested in. We decided to build a kind of AirBnB website for interpreters.... a web shop where customers can book an excellent interpreting service at a fair price. Fast and easy to use:

• ANY customer (private or business) can find suitably qualified interpreters
• Interpreters can take on assignments at a suitable rate (which our interpreters determine themselves!)

This was our dream.

Thanks to smart, easy-to-use technology, with Tolk2Go this dream has become reality....

Jaap van den Eersten is married to Svetlana, forming the second part of the perfect storm. He has worked in IT for many years; including decades at IBM and TNO. He is the technical mastermind behind the Tolk2Go platform. His experience in taming complex systems proved especially useful. He managed to integrate new and evolving technology into the system. He likes nothing better than tweaking and finding the perfect solution to technical problems so that users can use the technology without any problems. User-friendly and intuitive...

The third piece of the puzzle that completes the perfect storm is Kristian Koopman, Svetlana's son. He came to the Netherlands when he was four and knows from personal experience the difficulties newcomers face. He knows what it is like to be an outsider at school and to have to overcome challenges. To adapt, learn the language, adopt habits and take exams. To go through the integration process to... make a successful contribution to society! He shows how to achieve success as a newcomer.

In November 2018, after a year of preparation, Tolk2Go launched. Through the website Tolk2Go.com, the first 50 sworn interpreters signed up almost immediately. There is also an interpreter app, which can be found in Apple's App Store and on Google Play.

BOOK INTERPRETER DIRECTLY

Everyone loves Tolk2Go, because everyone earns and pays a fair rate there!

And now, in 2024, we are taking another step forward. We want to shake up the interpreting industry. The number of interpreters in our database has increased from 50 to more than 900, and every month we receive more and more interpreting requests. Clients almost always rate the interpreting service with 5 stars. High-quality interpreting services at a fair price; for both our clients and our interpreters.

Since the recent changes in the Integration Act, we have been working with municipalities to help newcomers integrate as successfully as Kristian.

Flexible, quick match with an interpreter. Freedom of choice of interpreter and culture-sensitive interpreting advice. And a fair rate for the interpreter. in short, a great party to work with! Martine Pieters Integration team coordinator at the Municipality of Leeuwarden

Give Tolk2Go a try... We can always discuss a fair contract afterwards...

Companies that use the interpreters of Tolk2Go are very satisfied with the speed, convenience and transparent prices

How theTolk2Go platform compares with other providers of interpreting services