Barinas Translation Consultants, Inc. was founded in 1980 to provide Fortune 500 companies with superior translations and conference interpretations that would enhance their competitiveness in global markets.

Before long, discerning government agencies and international associations began to approach us, seeking the same exceptional quality we were providing our corporate clients. In 1991 we moved our offices to San Antonio, Texas and concentrated our efforts on the meetings and conventions industry in the San Antonio, Austin, Houston, and Dallas area.

Over the next few years, we developed one of the most comprehensive simultaneous interpreter networks in the world, complemented by simultaneous interpretation equipment and soundproof booths of unsurpassed quality.

In 1998, our success story was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine.

Among the changes brought by the new millenium, we noticed a trend toward simultaneous interpretation by community, non-profit, and faith-based groups and an expanded demand for the rental of simultaneous interpretation equipment by associations, businesses and governemnt. In response, we expanded our simultaneous interpretation equipment rental department and added an extensive array of equipment, including state-of-the-art digital infrared and multi-channel microphone systems.

Today, in addition to our extensive equipment rental activities, we continue to provide translating and simultaneous interpreting services into most languages and fields of specialization and have become worldwide dealers for the most prestigious manufacturers of simultaneous interpretation and sound equipment.

We maintain our commitment to  superior quality through our comprehensive and meticulous project management, strict process control and, most importantly, by working with the top translators and simultaneous interpreters of more than 70 countries.

Sonia Barinas, the founder and president of Barinas, is a translator and simultaneous interpreter with more than 30 years of experience. She was educated at Rutgers and the Sorbonne, and has worked in Europe, Africa, and Latin America, as well as the US.

In the 80's, she pioneered the concept of applying quality management principles to the translation process, and has lectured and written on the subject widely.

The Buyer's Guide on this site is an abridged version of her presentation to the 1986 World Conference on the Economics of Language Use, Center for Research and Documentation on World Language Problems, United Nations, New York.