Language Empire Avis 42

I had a very disappointing experience. It’s hard to describe this as a professional company based on how they operate. I worked with them long enough to confidently say that their practices feel unfair and misleading.

Every time an issue is raised, they promise to resolve it, but in reality, nothing changes,it just gets delayed repeatedly. This ongoing lack of action is frustrating and exhausting.
I would strongly advise others not to waste their time and effort with LanguageEmpire, as the experience can also take a toll mentally.

Underpayment
They offer and say a salary and then pay £12

Unfair !!

Oh boy! this is really something. During recruitment process I was assured that payments minimum of 15GBP per telephone interpreting is nothing uncommon therefore I went through interview steps ... but as I've completed all steps I was informed they can afford only 12.60 which is a trainee level despite 3 years in interpreting. Next I've received few phone calls "can you renew your criminal report" ... but I won't do that unless the rates are verified and that's not done, so I receive few more phone calls "we urgently need this from you" and when I ask - where are rates of pay? the ones you have sent over are from 2023? it's 2026? why are you offering 12 GBP per hour? The answer is that I do not hold a certificate but correct it's not certificate from their list and they disregard my experience with 1000+ bookings / 3 years. Then I receive a call - recorded call asking me - "what other companies pay you? we make a research why interpreters sign with us but not take any work - please tell me your rates with other companies, travel expenses, time travel, how many pence per mile"??? COME ON !!! It's ridicules. They just won't pay living wage - they want people from London to work for them but refuse to pay London Living Wage.

I have to say that I do have good experiences as remote interpreter.
I earn 0.20p per minute which isnt great but I hope they raise it after certain hours of experience.
1 star missing because I don’t like the constant calls to remind me a bookings

I worked for Language Empire for over 6 years as an interpreter. During this time, I trusted the company and did not initially check every payment in detail. When I eventually reviewed my records, I discovered that my mileage payments had been consistently underpaid. Every single payment was lower than the agreed rate.
I raised this issue repeatedly. Managers acknowledged the discrepancies and promised repayment, yet none of those promises were honoured. I was misled again and again. The issue was never resolved, and the missing money was never paid back.
I have over 15 years of professional interpreting experience, and I have never encountered a company as disorganised, unprofessional, and untrustworthy as Language Empire. Underpaying interpreters, admitting the error, and then refusing to correct it is unacceptable. This goes beyond poor administration, it is daylight theft.
This experience has been shocking and deeply frustrating. I strongly warn interpreters to check every single payment and to think very carefully before working with this company.

This Language Empire company seems very dangerous- they trick you into giving them your sensitive information like bank statements, etc, pretending they are offering you a job, then nothing is offered.

Why do they demand all the sensitive information before the formal offer of a job? Will they use these for identity crimes? How does one get these back? I'm very worried about their furtiveness. Beware!

Warning - Language Empire's Unfair Practices

As a self-employed interpreter, I want to warn fellow linguists about my concerning experience with Language Empire.

**Data Protection Issues:**
Before any formal job offer, they demanded sensitive personal information including passport, National Insurance number, bank details, and driving licence.

**Lack of Transparency:**
Jobs on their portal only show a postcode with three options: INTERESTED / ACCEPT / DECLINE. Critical information is withheld:
- Actual hourly rates (lower than contract rates)
- Complete address and institution name
- Travel allowance details

**The Trap:**
For a job 30+ miles away, I called to clarify payment. Staff offered £40 total (including 1 hour work, mileage and travel time) but refused to confirm in writing before I clicked ACCEPT. They insisted I must accept first, then see full details.

**Penalty Clause:**
Language Empire threatens financial penalties if you fail to fulfill accepted assignments - yet forces you to accept blindly without essential information. This is completely unfair and potentially exploitative.

When I questioned this unreasonable procedure, staff were dismissive, claiming "this is how we operate."

**Conclusion:**
Other reputable agencies provide complete job details before commitment. Language Empire's practice of withholding information while threatening penalties offers zero protection for freelancers. Exercise extreme caution.

Professional companies should operate with transparency and respect.

Based on my personal experience as an interpreter:
Payment rates were low, and the cancellation policy felt unfair. I was booked for four hours, but when the client cancelled, I was paid for only one hour, despite having already travelled to the location and paid for parking.

I contacted the company to ask where this policy appears in their terms and conditions. I did not receive a specific reference, only the explanation that it is company policy.

I was also charged £10 for an ID card that had not arrived after four months. When I followed up, I was repeatedly told it would take 2–4 weeks. When I raised this again later, I was informed that the issue would be passed to another department, but it was still unresolved at the time of writing.

Communication was frequent when confirming assignments, but less helpful when I raised concerns. Overall, my experience was disappointing, and I would not choose to work with this company again.

Ever since I've been onboarded they keep calling at least 5 times a day, they will avoid paying for fuel or parking Which is now affecting me so much, i might as well quit. They owe me just for parking and fuel around £400 and magically I can't get hold of anyone to deal with this. They don't understand 90% of the time and whenever i call and try to sort anything, i actually hang up after not sorting anything whatsoever. Avoid working for them, time and money wasters, they keep calling on weekend from 7am and days off too, even when i was on holiday and repeatedly said to leave me alone, I even shouted at them, I sent an email to stop harassing me but no change. They asked me if i would take a paycut for one booking as well after they are already paying miserably. Absolutely hate this company and my blood keeps boiling the moment i have to call them or they call me. Also their on demand calls kept going through to me even i said probably around 200 times to stop calling. After i finally lost it, i blocked their on demand call number. Don't ever work for them, save your soul and mental health

Just amazing company with brilliant and smooth services. Definitely, I would recommend.

good Linguist company!

Overwhelming! I was invited to an interview by a recruiter on a SUNDAY. Since then, the booking managers haven't stopped calling me, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. they are calling non-stop. I swear to God there were more than 10 calls a day, telemarketing style, insisting, pressuring and being aggressively persistent. The hourly pay is less than minimum wage and they push bookings on you non-stop. When we refuse or cancel bookings, the staff get angry and respond in an insistently rude manner. It's an exhausting job that pays very poorly for freelancers. I'm not surprised that so few professionals are interested in working like this.

A really poorly orgnised, developed and strategically lacking agency.

This agency is one of the worst to work for. I will give you an example to why.

According to their poor rationale and policy. An interpreter can interpret face to face as they have such ability and skill. However, they cannot do on-demand telecommunication interpreting because all of a sudden they lack the same skills they have to enable to do face to face?

What kind of faulty rationale is behind that? Also, the rates they offer are amogst the worst on the market.

Registration is tedious and unnessirly complicated. Work is scarce to non-existent.

Staff or customer support are lovely.

Bootom line, avoid working for them. I am still to recieve a single assignment.

Very poor agency. THEY ask me to pay for PVG and they never paid me back. The worst experience ever and they still send me email asking me to work. I can not believe it, this company works for the UK.

Stay away from this agency, very bad management and customer service, rude communication and low payment in comparison to the other agencies.

This is THE WORST agency I have ever worked for and I wish I had never registered with them. They are harassing me every day by sending multiple text messages which I have to delete. I sent them emails to stop it as I have no intention of working for them but they just ignore it and the texts just keep on coming.
When I try to contact them by phone they just don't speak just hang up.
PURE HARRASSMENT.

A very very poor organisation for Freelance Interpreters. Basic respect is not shown. You pass interview with colours, upload document and then they hit you hard. No respect for experience. They brand and grade arbitrarily so that you are paid less or any poor intention. Your basic integrity is put to doubt. A org that doesn't respect the experience of a Interpreter working for 7 renowned interpreting agencies of The UK and The USA shows how poor and arrogant their approach is. After taking references from other companies as part of documentation for onboarding they again ask for letters for hours of work as a proof. Such a insulting org and their approach.

I have been working with this company for 8 months and I love my job. I don't know why people write nasty things. I get my salary on time. If I do my job right, there are no problems and no fines. If I warn in advance that I can't come to a certain job for some reason, I warn in time.

Look, they are more agency that you can work with pay more with 2 years experience.

After I applied and they said they only pay me minimum wage. which is 11.45 pound.

I am working with Languageline, HITS, Word360, Clearvoice (Home Office)

they pay me from 13 to 16 pound, and customer service is good and friendly.

They called me why I didn't finished the whole application.

The guy in the phone call is arrongant and giggle after he heard me working for 15 pound an hour.

He thought I don't have a stedy workflow, but I have few agency constantly offering works to me.

THEY DO NO VALUE YOUR TIME, THEY DO NOT VALUE YOU, THEY CHARGE NHS AND GOVERNMENT EXPENSIVE BILL AND ONLY PAY YOU MINIMUM WAGE. THESE COMPANY WERE RUN BY DODGY DAVE AND SOUNDS LIKE INDIAN CALL CENTER.

They are disrepectful of this profession and trying to exploit young interpreters.

DO NOT JOIN THEM, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Ridiculous pay. Can't belive they're legit. Would avoid.