Translating Into Profits.

Coto Interpreting's business booms as growing U.S. immigrant population provides market for a network of language-based company, social services 

THE roots of Coto Interpreting & Translating Inc. grew out of co-owner Melanie Coto-Trevor's horrifying experience soon after arriving in the United States from Costa Rica in 1983.

Living in Tucson, Ariz., she was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery by a doctor with whom she could not communicate.

"They had no interpreter so I had to say 'yes' to (surgery) even though I didn't know what they were going to do to me," she said. "I didn't know what was wrong with me, if I was going to die. I was very scared."

But after her surgery, she had an idea for a business. Today, with a staff of 45 and a network of 8,000 independently-contracted interpreters and translators who speak 150 languages, Coto Interpreting and its subsidiary, Tele-Interpreters, are expected to generate $11.6 million in revenues this year, up from $1.5 million in 1998.

Coto Interpreting provides on-site services, as well as translation of any printed and computer-based documents sent to its Glendale office. Civil litigation represents 75 percent of the business, but Coto also is called upon for doctors' appointments and insurance investigations.

Nationwide phone bank

Tele-Interpreters is basically a phone bank of 5,000 interpreters nationwide who do translations through conference calls set up by operators in Glendale. "We're having double-digit growth each month largely because of Tele-Interpreters," said Coto-Trevor.

Coto-Trevor got a taste of interpreting when she answered calls from Latinos for a law firm in L.A. in the 1980s.

In 1987, she began contracting her services as an interpreter and translator to the handful of agencies that were specializing in this field. But the agencies were slow to pay and she went out on her own.

She hired 150 translators and contractors she had met through two years of trials, depositions, doctors appointments and insurance claim meetings. Her business generated $80,000 to $100,000 annually.

In 1991, she met Daniel Trevor, who owned a consulting firm in Studio City. Within a year they formed a business and were married.

"I saw that it was a very fragmented industry." said Trevor. "Most of the companies were mom-and-pop operations that didn't have a marketing presence."

Trevor established relationships with the state's largest court reporting firms insurance companies, in some cases offering reduced rates for bulk work. Within a few years, Coto had expanded into a statewide operation that provided translation services in 175 languages.

The competition

Fees vary, with translation of rare languages costing more. Coto charges $390 a day for Spanish, $550 a day for other common foreign languages (Russian and Japanese), and $600 to $2,000 for rare-language services (Navaho and Swahili). Coto's on-site translators make from $200 to $1,000 a day depending on experience, what language they speak, and whether they are state certified.

The 'price charged for translating documents ranges from 15 cents to 40 cents per word, depending on the language.

Much of the business comes from Tele-Interpreters, which will generate $10 million of the company's projected $11.6 million in revenues this year. Formed in 1997, the subsidiary offers 24-hour-a-day interpretations by phone for $1.69 per minute, regardless of language.

Translators that contract with Tele-Interpreters make from $500 to $1,000 per week depending on the number of hours they work.

"Their services are essential," said Derek Straatsma, a partner at Goldman, Magdalin & Krikes, a North Hollywood workers' compensation law firm.

"There's got to be someone who can communicate on behalf of the patient. Legally, we can't proceed without interpreters in court proceedings."

Tele-Interpreter maintains a list of each translator the company contracts with, the foreign language they speak, and the time they will be available each day. During that time, the interpreters are required to be at home, alone in a room with no distractions.

Recently, an interpreter talked a Vietnamese woman through a difficult birth through a speaker phone in the Northern California hospital delivery room. "Some (interpretations) are more serious than others," said Claudio Kuis, a Newbury Park resident who has conducted Spanish translation and interpretation services for Coto.

This summer, a doctor in a New York hospital called Tele-Interpreters regarding an elderly Latina woman who wanted to request that her priest give the order to disconnect her from a life support system if the heart surgery she was about to undergo .went awry.

Tele-Interpreters is setting up a second phone bank system in Tucson, after clients requested a backup for the Glendale operations.

Coto Interpreting & Translating Inc.

Year Founded: 1992

Core Business: Language interpretation and translation services

Revenue in 1992: $300,000

Revenue in 2001: $11.6 million (projected)

Employees in 1992: 2 (full-time only)

Employees in 2001: 45 (projected)

Goal: To set up a back-up phone bank in Tucson, Ariz., by December and expand the overall operation into Europe by late 2002.

Driving Force: The nation's estimated 33 million people who have limited or no English proficiency.