History of the Oratz Network
The Oratz Network is a recognized online source for language pros. It was established by brothers Richard and Rabbi Yehuda Oratz in April, 2001. The main founder and inspirer of Oratz/net directory was Rabbi Yehuda Oratz. He was a translator, interpretor, lecturer, columnist, member of Marketing Pros Group, and blogger. He also established two worldly-known translation agencies “Pro Lingvo” in Chicago and “Sophia” in London. His elder stepbrother Richard Oratz,  specialized in advertising and public relations. He also has translator experience. He joined Yehuda Oratz a little bit later, in June, 2001. Both Oratz brothers were brought up in a cosmopolitan family. The entire family could speak at least five different languages. However, Richard and Yehuda Oratz achieved success not only because of their unsurpassed cultural background of education, but also due to their talent for business. In 1996, five years before Oratz.net appeared, Richard was recognized as “Advertising Pro of the Year”, and was also awarded by the Committee of independent Public Relations Managers for his contribution into PR development.

Rabbi Yehuda Oratz

At the beginning of 2001 Yehuda Oratz established a forum for translators from all over the world. Having wide experience of translation and management he wanted to share it with his colleagues. He also wanted to give them a possibility to discuss important issues on the Web. The idea came in handy. Three months later the forum had already had 2,670 members and the first page of most SERPs, was easily available to new visitors. Yehuda Oratz did his best to develop the Oratz.net forum, spending literally day and night before the screen..However, very soon he saw that source wasn't so helpful as he intended, it was like a drop in the ocean. Translators shared useful information, talked about their job and encouraged each other, but there was no system which could help any language pro deepen his/her knowledge and find clients as well. This is when he decided to extend the forum a little – actually, it grew to such a point that it became a big online directory with many sections.

Richard Oratz

First Yehuda Oratz operated Oratz.net on his own. However, very soon he needed competent help, and Richard entered the company. As an advertising pro, Richard Oratz mounted an active promotional campaign, having involved all his contacts in Big Business. As for Yehuda Oratz, he focused on attracting clients, making a database of translators, introduced several useful sections, like “Freelancer's job” and “Exchange”, and still continued to moderate the forum. The brothers weren't very familiar to web design, that's why at the beginning Oratz.net looked very unprofessional. Yet rather soon Yehuda Oratz, who had designed his forum in the past, and Richard Oratz, who had been the owner of an advertising agency, managed to create a competitive multi-level site which looked trendy enough to attract more prospects. Later, when the project started making profit, a professional web designer – Liza Parris – was engaged to improve the directory's appearance.

From its birth the Oratz Network had been SEO-friendly. An experienced webmaster, Yehuda concentrated on clear navigation, internal linking, keyword density and content itself, while Richard charged himself with off-page optimization.

Thus, little by little, the Oratz Network was growing. By August 2001 it already had about 3,000 members. The Oratz Network team grew, encompassing system administrator Roy Woodson, web designers (apart from Liza) Collin Mitchinham and Daisy Maison, community manager Peter Harchovsky, Oratz.net developers Matthiew J. Black, Nicolas Dumoulain, Paul Willingnail, Grace P. Bowman and Anita Keit, as well Oratz.net support staff.

Company Growth

Growing by leaps and bounds, in October 2003 Oratz.net featured 41,270 members, supporting 57 languages and serving clients from every corner of the world. In 2005 The International Association of Translators awarded Oratz.net as the biggest translators' directory where a language pro can learn more, have training, share opinions with other translators, find clients and make a brilliant career. As Yehuda Oratz says about Oratz.net: “For translators it's critically to make a good start. I remember myself very well at the beginning of my career. In spite of the fact that I fluently spoke several languages and have an appropriate background, it took me some time to make mere progress. Basically, if you're a good translator, you are 100% creative personality, that means you are used to thinking about words and parts of speech rather than about business and profits. Fortunately, my friends helped me with my first translation agency, giving me the basics of marketing and advertising. Now my only dream is to share this knowledge with other translators, to encourage them and to enable the exchange of experience. That's how Oratz.net was created.” And Richard Oratz adds: “Yeah, we've had a long way. We have known ups and downs, and actually it's difficult to say what motivated us more. At the very beginning, when the Oratz Network didn't have its dedicated moderators, designers and developers yet, Yehuda wasted time on fighting with spammers, and I spent at least several centuries on finding good advertisers. Our way to success was full of thorns and obstacles, but we have never doubted each other. Maybe, if we founded such a company at 20-30 years, we would have failed, I don't know. Today we are especially happy when... no not when our accountant tell us about the six-figure revenue and any stuff like this, but when in the testimonials section we see that the Oratz Network helped some translator to achieve success.”

Nowadays, Oratz.net is much on demand, enjoying ever-growing popularity both among linguists and clients. Such Oratz Network know-hows as Oratz Library, Oratz Training, Oratz Freelancer's Job and Oratz Forum are well-known within translator's community and attract thousands of visitors every day. Yehuda Oratz is currently writing his biography meant mainly to Oratz.net fans. In future the brothers Oratz want to make a short film about their company and its history. They don't want to talk about this project, but one thing is for sure – there will be much humor as both Richard and Yehuda Oratz like jokes. Besides, they both also have some new Oratz.net related projects which must make the directory even more useful and impressive.