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Fast approaching its 30th anniversary, Eulogia has traced a long history. Over almost three decades, it has developed from a mere spark of an idea to a movement. Reaching ever further, enveloping ever more nations, it has grown into a fully-fledged alliance that operates seamlessly across borders, uniting companies in a culmination of shared knowledge and practices. Now, decades on, it has become so much more than was ever expected, and we couldn’t be prouder to have built our network into what it is today: An interconnected web of experts pulling together to strive towards furthering the progress of the translation industry at large.
But how did Eulogia come to be?
Fittingly, Eulogia was born in a place of connections. As multicultural a place as can be, connected to the world at large via hundreds – if not thousands – of flight paths: Heathrow Airport, London.
It was March 1994 when seven individuals, each from a different country, came together at the airport to form what would be the first meeting of Eulogia members:
Instigated by Peter Barber, this meeting sought to form a European Interest Group of Translation Companies. One that would go on to apply for a 12-language contract with the European Community. The draw was obvious, and the members who gathered that day immediately saw the potential of a collaboration.
From the first meeting of seven members, the group saw rapid growth as new members joined, each representing their EU country and language. Even though the combined strength of the group was unable to secure the contract that had initially brought us together – two applications were filed, and the group was only selected as a runner-up – over a short space of time, we found that our strength in numbers actually had much greater potential.
The potential to boost our individual growth and knowledge. To share practices and cement policies. To work together alongside each other. And so that’s what we began to do, year after year.
In fact, we’ve made sure to meet at least once every year since 1994, sometimes twice, taking 3 days out of our busy schedules to gather in one of our member countries. For over a quarter of a century, we’ve been exchanging ideas and helping each other, becoming a dependable group of friends and partners that each gets out as much as they put into our alliance.
20 years on, the world of translation has undergone substantial upheaval, with mergers and acquisitions leading to us lose some of our most valued, longstanding members in 2015. We were, however, unwilling to let go of the connections we’d built, knowing Eulogia could become so much more.
In 2017, our gathering in Vilnius would set the stage for just that: Us taking on the challenge of reinventing Eulogia and ensuring that it became more solid and structured than ever before. This came to being in the founding of the Eulogia Alliance in Malta, where a board was established that would oversee operations and ensure that Eulogia continued to grow.
The first step on the agenda was replacing the members we’d lost, a process that began with a search for strong, energetic translation partners who could bring new ideas and input to Eulogia. Some countries had never been represented, others had lost their representatives, and so the group expanded by invitation only, spreading across Europe…and beyond.
The last decades have instilled strength and pride in every member of Eulogia, both new and longstanding, providing stability and security in numbers as we take on a globalised world. Every industry, not least translation, is facing immense change, but we know that, together, we are fully equipped to take on these changes, developing with the times to face new challenges and provide for new market needs. Working together, as partners, we seek to establish stable strategies to secure our own futures and further the world of translation, ensuring that our companies, collective and industry continue to thrive in our changing world.
To Eulogia, past and future, may we continue to make communication open to all!
