Last updated: 5 November 2026

This privacy policy explains how Bosphorus Translation collects, uses and protects your personal information when you visit this website, contact us or use our translation services. We take confidentiality seriously: many of the documents our clients send us are personal and sensitive, and we treat them accordingly.

1. Who we are

Bosphorus Translation is the trading name of Ali Yıldırım, a Chartered Linguist (CIOL No. 42759) and Qualified Member of the Institute of Translation & Interpreting (ITI No. 8695), based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, United Kingdom. For the purposes of UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018), Ali Yıldırım is the data controller responsible for your personal information.

You can contact us about anything in this policy through our iletişim sayfası or by phone on +44 7356 217476.

2. What information we collect

Information you give us

  • Your name, email address, phone number and any other contact details you provide through our contact form, by email, by phone or on WhatsApp.
  • The content of your messages and enquiries.
  • Documents you send us for translation or a quote (for example birth, marriage, divorce or death certificates, passports, driving licences, diplomas, criminal record certificates, legal or medical documents), and the translations we produce from them.
  • Billing information such as your name, address and payment records when we invoice you.

Information collected automatically

  • Technical information such as your IP address, browser and device type, pages visited and how you use the site, collected through cookies and similar technologies (see section 7).
  • Information used to protect our forms from spam and abuse.

3. Sensitive information in your documents

The documents you send us may contain special category data (for example information about health, religion or ethnic origin) or information about criminal convictions. We only use this information to carry out the translation you have asked for. We process it on the basis that you have provided it to us for that purpose and, where required, with your explicit consent, and where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. We never use the content of your documents for marketing or any other purpose, and we do not share it with anyone except as described in this policy.

4. How and why we use your information

We use your personal information, and rely on the following lawful bases, to:

  • Reply to your enquiry and prepare a quote – to take steps at your request before entering into a contract.
  • Carry out and deliver your translation, including certification – to perform our contract with you.
  • Issue invoices and keep business and tax records – to comply with our legal obligations.
  • Run, secure and improve our website, and understand how visitors use it – our legitimate interests, or your consent where cookies require it.
  • Send you occasional updates, only if you have chosen to receive them – your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.

5. Who we share your information with

We do not sell your personal information. We only share it with trusted service providers who help us run our business, and only as far as necessary:

  • Hostinger – website hosting.
  • Google – email (Gmail), website analytics (Google Analytics via Site Kit), spam protection on our forms (reCAPTCHA) and display of our Google reviews.
  • Microsoft – Microsoft Clarity, which helps us understand how visitors use the website.
  • WhatsApp (Meta) – if you choose to contact us on WhatsApp.
  • Automattic (Akismet) – checking contact form submissions for spam.
  • Professional advisers, such as an accountant, and public authorities where we are legally required to share information.

Where you ask us to, we may also share a translation with a third party on your behalf, for example a solicitor or an organisation you are applying to.

6. International transfers

Some of our service providers (such as Google, Microsoft and Meta) may process data outside the UK, including in the United States. Where this happens, the transfer is protected by appropriate safeguards recognised under UK law, such as UK adequacy regulations or the UK International Data Transfer Agreement / Addendum.

7. Cookies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies. Some are strictly necessary for the site to work. Others, such as analytics cookies, are only used with your consent. When you first visit the site you can accept or decline non-essential cookies using our cookie banner, and you can change your choice at any time using the cookie settings option on the site or by clearing cookies in your browser.

8. How long we keep your information

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it:

  • Personal documents you send us for translation – deleted once the job has been delivered.
  • Invoices and accounting records – 6 years from the end of the relevant tax year, as required by HMRC.
  • Analytics data – according to the retention settings of the relevant provider.

After these periods, we securely delete or destroy the information.

9. How we keep your information secure

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including encrypted (HTTPS) connections on this website, password-protected and access-restricted accounts and devices, and professional confidentiality obligations under the codes of conduct of the CIOL and ITI.

10. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

  • ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
  • ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
  • ask us to delete your information;
  • ask us to restrict or object to how we use your information;
  • ask us to transfer your information to you or another organisation;
  • withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent.

Some of these rights are subject to legal limits; for example, we may need to keep invoices for tax purposes. To exercise any of your rights, please get in touch through our iletişim sayfası or by phone on +44 7356 217476. We will respond within one month.

11. Complaints

If you have a concern about how we handle your information, please contact us first and we will do our best to resolve it. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK data protection regulator: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or 0303 123 1113.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be on this page, with the date it was last updated shown at the top.