Our name is derived from the Greek word metamorphoun, which means ‘to transform’ or ‘to change shape’. We believe it is a suitable name for a translation agency; after all, that is exactly what we do: transform your text so that it reappears in a new shape. Indeed, language itself is in a constant state of flux. In addition to transposing your text into a different language, we ensure that its style and terminology reflect the evolving needs of your target group.
Our company name also alludes to ‘Metamorphoses’, a work by the Roman poet Ovid from the beginning of the Christian era. In this epic, Ovid describes the genesis of the earth and humanity as a series of violent transformations in which the gods change themselves and human beings into animals, trees or even pillars of salt, as it suits their purpose, and in which the world transmutes from one state of chaos into another. The poem originates in an awareness of the transitory nature of all things – a truly modern view that currently pervades society more than it has ever done before.
A translator is a craftsman, not a poet. However, by transposing a text from one language into another, he does change its shape in a metamorphic sense. From that point of view, to translate is really to ‘metamorphose’ a text.