What is Odista?
An introduction
Odista is a word in Serbian literary language meaning ‘truly, verily, indeed, in fact’. It also breaks down into ‘od’ and ‘ista’ and suggests the meaning ‘from the same’.
Odista stands for translation that is faithful to the original, authentic and a true reflection of the source.
Who are Odista?
Odista is the brainchild of Mark Daniels, a Slavonic Studies graduate of Nottingham University in the UK, a native speaker of English, bilingual with Serbian, brought up speaking Serbian in England and now living in Serbia since 1996.
We are building a highly skilled team of translators, including a number of native English speakers based in Serbia, who share the vision of excellence in translation. We do not outsource work to unknown or untried translators.
Why Odista?
Odista was born from the conviction that much could be done to improve the standard of translations between Serbian and English, which were often sadly inadequate. The lack of native English speakers involved was all too apparent and thus Mark’s wealth of translation experience made the idea of Odista the inevitable next step. Odista was to be a company specialising exclusively in translation between Serbian and English, with a very strong emphasis on quality control and the employment of native speakers.
Odista was originally known as Bookstream Language Services and comprised a part of the Bookstream book distribution company based in Novi Sad, Serbia. Odista is now an independent company and we are thus able to focus exclusively on what we do best – high-quality translation from Serbian to English and English to Serbian.
Odista – translation from Serbian into English, by the English.
Odista in the jungle
This cheeky chap features in a Serbian-language web ad that Odista is running at the moment.
It asks the question, “Who is going to translate your website, brochure or advertisement into English?” The conclusion is our Serbian slogan, “Leave English translation to the English!” The joke works better in Serbian, but to explain it we would have to mention the name of a certain (copyrighted) jungle-dweller, to whom our character may bear a passing resemblance!
The message should be clear though, don’t entrust your Serbian-English-Serbian translation to just anyone!
Vision, Mission, Values
Vision
“To enable professionals to communicate authentically with other markets and cultures”
Professionals, whether in the commercial world or the non-profit sector, need to communicate in spoken and written form in a way which authentically presents their message to the hearer or reader, who will be a member not only of a different language group, but a different culture. *Odista*’s vision is to make that possible.
Mission
“To strive for excellence in professional English-Serbian translation and interpreting services”
In the medium term our mission is to continue building a high-quality translation and interpreting service for the Serbian language. We make no secret of the fact that our objective is to become the leading specialists in Serbian-English translation services.
Values
- uncompromising quality
- people before profit
- business excellence
- investment in expertise
- transparent and honest communication
We cannot work towards our vision without grounding our activities in sound values. These values centre on the ideas of quality, ability and transparency, whilst putting people – our clients, our staff and others – first, even before profit.
