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About iSay

Barbara Østergaard
Owner and founder of iSay

My name is Barbara Østergaard, and I am the owner of the language and translation company iSay, which I founded in 2013.

Language has always been a natural part of my life. I grew up in an international family in which German, English, Italian and Dutch were spoken, as well as of course Danish, which is my mother tongue. I have always had a special fondness for language subjects, so I did not hesitate to choose a linguistic line in secondary school and subsequently study languages at university.

In all the positions I have held, both before, during and after my university studies, language has been the focus. So you can safely say that it came as no surprise when, after six years as Language Manager at Nets, I made the leap into life as a freelancer, offering a wide range of language services. In my former employment I had primarily focused on strategic language services, but as a self-employed person I spend at least as much time on hands-on tasks – both because I genuinely enjoy it, and because the experience I gain with the varying tasks is crucial in order to acquire insight into the strategic work with language.

Over the years, in order to meet the demand for more services and languages, I have entered into collaboration with a number of carefully-selected English and Nordic translators and language experts who strive for the same high standards as I do. As a result, I can now offer several languages and language combinations – so you can solve your English and Nordic language and translation tasks through a single supplier.

I hold an MSc in English from Copenhagen Business School – also called the interpreter and translator programme.

In addition to my MSc I also hold a BSc in business language, focusing on German and English.

I recently supplemented my education with communication modules at Copenhagen Business Academy, and have completed the modules Communication in Practice, Strategic Communication and Social Media.

In the period 1996-1997 I studied law, EU & business, Literature and German at the University of Sheffield in the UK.

I have worked with language and translation both before, during and after my university studies.

I have held positions as a legal translator, project translator, language assistant, language manager and language department head in companies in the legal and financial sector, as well as in the tourism and toy industries.

In the period 2002-2006 I worked as a freelance translator, and in 2013 I again founded my own company, iSay, which I still run.

The clients I work with are highly diverse, operating in such areas as business and energy, architecture, cleaning and hygiene, software, tourism, entrepreneurship, dating, PC games and game apps, payment services, technology, innovation, cosmetics, fashion and much more.

The services I can offer include translation, proofreading, language revision, text preparation, copywriting, language tool development, language concepts and strategies, strategic advice on languages and language courses.

So far, the focus has been on the languages Danish, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and German, but I am also happy to put you in touch with experts in other language combinations.