Skinner Language Services
Specialist translation for legal, financial, technical and editorial clients. AI where it serves. Human judgement where it counts. Where confidentiality requires it, documents stay in Switzerland on systems we control.
The problem with AI translation
AI doesn't make translation errors. It makes fluent ones.
Machine output reads well. That's the risk. In a legal contract or a financial disclosure, a fluent mistranslation is harder to catch – and more costly – than an obvious one. Human oversight isn't a luxury. It's what the workflow requires.
What we do
01
No machine in the loop. For clients who require – or whose clients require – a guarantee of pure human work. Contracts, regulatory filings, sensitive communications.
No AI at any stage.
02
AI-assisted translation with a specialist at every stage. The speed of AI. The judgement of someone who knows what's at stake. The human isn't a final check – they're part of the process throughout.
AI-assisted, human-led throughout.
03
Proofreading, post-editing and quality review for existing translations. Whether the source is in-house MT, a previous supplier's work or an earlier version – we tell you what it needs.
Independent quality review.
Who we work with
Legal
Contracts, litigation documents, regulatory submissions. Every word has consequences.
Financial
Disclosures, reports, fund documentation. The numbers – and the language – have to be right.
Technical & Scientific
Manuals, specifications, engineering and life-science documentation. Terminology that holds across languages.
Editorial & Brand
Journalism, analysis, long-form publishing, brand and marketing copy. Writing that reads as though it were written, not translated.
slangs atelier
Public AI tools aren't built for sensitive material. Traditional agencies don't know your terminology. Generic machine translation forgets every correction you've ever made.
slangs atelier runs differently. You send a document. A specialist works from a machine-assisted draft, checks it against your terminology, and reviews it before it comes back to you. One system holds that translation memory, terminology and review together – so what we learn on your first document still applies to your fiftieth.
New clients start on our strictest residency tier: translation runs entirely on our own server in an ISO 27001-certified Swiss data centre, and no document reaches a public AI vendor. Loosening that takes your explicit sign-off – it's never the default.
Request a demonstrationContact
Outline your project – we'll review it and advise on the appropriate approach.
About
Based outside Zurich in Schindellegi, Switzerland, Skinner Language Services is a boutique language services consultancy established in 2011. For fifteen years we have served clients across Switzerland, the EU, the UK and the US in the legal, financial, technical and editorial sectors.
We operate under strict confidentiality protocols. All documents and source materials are handled with the discretion that sensitive legal, financial and technical content demands. We do not share or retain client materials beyond the requirements of the translation workflow, and non-disclosure agreements are standard practice.
We translate into English and German, from German, English, French, Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian.