Are you looking for a quality translation service? -I believe you've arrived.

Welcome to the pages of Pekka Hirvonen's translation service toisin sanoen - in other words. My chief aim is to earn some pocket money by serving clients who expect and appreciate quality in translation: fluency, correctness, authority, and meticulous revision. I offer translation, language-checking, and interpretation services between English and Finnish. I work alone and take personal responsibility for every piece of work. I translate all texts except cake recipes.

I have done translation work professionally only since 1965 and as an authorized translator (both Finnish-English and English-Finnish) since 1987, but I started acquiring the necessary skills a bit earlier. I have been speaking my native language Finnish since 1945 and reading and writing it since 1949, and I have familiarized myself with Finnish culture by participating in it for a couple of generations. My second language English came later; I have studied it at high school and university, written a doctoral dissertation on it, and spoken and written it about 55 years. I have additionally advanced my knowledge of the language and the culture by living and working in the United States for 4 years, by travelling in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, South Africa, and Australia, and by researching and teaching English as a professor (University of Joensuu, Finland) for 32 years.

The translation service toisin sanoen - in other words is always open for business. We have one member of staff and two offices. The main office is in Joensuu, Finland, and the branch office is in a caravan somewhere in Finland, or at least Europe. Both offices have the same staff and the same equipment, offer the same services, and are reachable by cell phone, email, and mail.

On the next pages I present my services and my way of working in more detail.