Pavel Kraus

What I've actually done

The first decade was translation and proofreading — heavy on technical and engineering content, building specialization in automotive, machinery, and medical. Daily 4,000-word output became routine. Six international automotive brands became regular clients.

The second decade added scope. CAT tool trainer for in-house translation departments. Localization engineer for clients whose source files were broken in ways the translator was supposed to "just deal with." MT post-editor — eventually certified by RWS in 2025 — with five years of production MTPE practice before the certification arrived.

Throughout, the early lesson stuck. I started my career when "the translator" sometimes also meant "the courier." I've personally driven sworn translations between clients in Prague and stamp-bearing translators across town, waited at the desk for the stamp, driven back. I've been every link in the chain. That's how I know the chain.

How I work with clients

Project scale

I work primarily with mid-size and enterprise clients who need professional Czech and Slovak localization at scale. Typical project sizes range from 5,000-word marketing pieces to 80,000-word multi-product documentation, plus ongoing engagement retainers for SaaS platforms requiring consistent string localization over months and years.

My capacity is 2,500–4,000 words per day for translation, 5,000–8,000 for MT post-editing. For larger projects or tight deadlines, I scale through trusted colleagues — senior translators I've worked with for years and whose quality I can vouch for.

Risk and continuity

Sole proprietor relationships come with continuity risk. I address this through a documented backup protocol: for ongoing engagements, I maintain a small network of senior translators in my language pairs who can step in for vacation coverage, illness, or capacity overflow. Long-running clients receive an annual review of this backup arrangement.

Compliance and contracting

Kraus Media s.r.o. is an EU-registered legal entity, fully GDPR-compliant by architecture. Standard B2B contracts including mutual NDA are available on request. I work under client MSAs where required, and provide my own standard project agreements for smaller engagements. I'm also experienced with sworn-translation procedures for regulated documents (notary-stamped, court-recognized).

Fit and posture

I work best with clients who value craft over commodity. If you're sourcing translation at the lowest possible word rate, I'm probably not the right fit — and I'm happy to refer you to colleagues whose pricing matches that goal. My pricing reflects 22 years of accumulated expertise, certified MT post-editing methodology, and senior-level project management included by default. For most mid-to-enterprise clients, this works out cheaper over a 12-month horizon than rotating through cheaper vendors with quality variance.

Credentials & certifications

• Certified Machine Translation Post-Editor — RWS (valid from February 2025)
• Master's Degree in Economics — Institute of Finance and Administration, Czechia
• Degree in German Language & Linguistics — supports DE → CS / SK pairs at full professional proficiency
• Programming certificates — Python, JavaScript, React, Django, SQL, HTML5, CSS3 (W3Schools / ITNETWORK)
• Ongoing: Full-Stack Web Development with Python (ITNETWORK); Python, ML & Big Data Processing (W3Schools)

Outside the work

History, open-source software, real estate, economics, cinema, and some serious time spent in the garden. I read about systems — financial, ecological, linguistic — and I find that the patterns rhyme.