Getting work while GATT is good. (International Communication by Design Inc.) (Company Profile)

Trade agreements boost business for language translation firms

When Catherine Deschamps-Potter and Dany Olier were classmates at Ecole de Commerce et de Gestion near Paris, they never imagined they'd be in business together.

Yet that's exactly what happened. In Milwaukee, of all places.

Increased interest in world trade has been a boon to the translation and interpreting business.

Deschamps-Potter, 30, and Olier, 27, expect recent trade pacts like the North American Free Trade Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade will generate big gains for their firm, International Communication by Design Inc.

Last year, sales at the 3 1/2-year-old firm more than doubled - due at least in part, the owners say, to the trade agreements.

Translating languages used in packaging, technical documents, instruction manuals and advertising is …