Language translation and training blog

In operational terms, translation has changed more than language training over the years. Technical advances, translation memory tools, email and the internet have all made their mark. 

Our training is still face-to-face, not because we have shied away from using IT resources, but because we firmly believe that to use a language at an intermediate or advanced level, you need to work with a real person; otherwise it’s a bit like saying that you can learn to swim by reading the instructions in a book: yes, you can, but you will probably have an unpleasant experience when you have to jump into the water. Movement of people and the development of a rich multi-cultural society has meant that companies around the world (not just in UK) need languages from India, Eastern Europe, Far East  and  most recently China. This brings its own challenges but adds to the range of work.

What keeps us going? We enjoy the business. I think we both need to be doing something that we feel is of value to people,

Helping a family settle happily into the UK by teaching the spouse and children English. 

Translating the medical records of someone who has been injured on holiday. 

Helping a company take its products to market and grow more successful in their exporting. 

Providing the translation of evidence in a fraud case which will mean that justice might be done.  

One of the interesting developments over the years is the popularity of certain languages created by changes in social, economic or political changes worldwide. Demand in UK for French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch exploded in 1992 with the lifting of export restrictions in EU, then the same happened for languages such as Polish, Hungarian and Czech and again in more recent years, membership of the EU has made a significant difference to language demands, with Estonian, Latvian, Maltese, Slovakian and others becoming essential.  

Japan was the target for businesses large and small for many years and our Japanese cultural awareness training was hugely popular for a while. Its economic crash frightened investors and businesses and at the time Japanese all but disappeared from our training. Chinese soon became the dominant requirement and led to us taking on our Chinese in-house project manager, Xin two years ago. In the UK, our wonderful cultural diversity gives rise to many language needs. Sylheti, Swahili, Somali – every corner of the globe. And of course, lots of Polish! 

So what of the future? 

I think in our industry there will be further consolidations and some companies will not survive. But Robertson Languages is in a very strong position with a wealth of language and business experience, a first-class in-house team and a network of almost 3,000 excellent translators and trainers worldwide. There is huge demand for language training at the moment as companies are making sure that their staff has the highest skill levels possible in preparation for grabbing sales opportunities as they arise. 

And finally….

We would like to offer a big thank you to all our clients who have entrusted their language training and translation to us over the past twenty years. We hope you will continue to work with us and recommend us to your colleagues and friends alike.  Here’s to the next twenty years!

The economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China continue to grow fast. Their governments are stimulating consumer spending and this creates opportunity for UK companies to sell goods and services.

“Countries such as India and China have been able to grow because of heavy investment in raising living standards, providing water and housing, and all this has created an affluent middle class. Combined, the two have an affluent middle class of about 400 million people and they now desire cars, houses, and financial products such as pensions, healthcare and education.” Says Richard Scase, Professor at Kent University and author of Global Remix: The Fight for Competitive Advantage.

Expanding into these markets may mean anything from sourcing a new supplier in Brazil to setting up a new manufacturing plant in China. Taking business into BRIC means not just doing business, but also understanding localisation, languages, and cultures. In addition doing business in the BRIC Countries requires an understanding of how they do business which might be different form how UK/US or other Western Countries do business as examples

·         In Brazil, there is a preference for face-to-face meetings rather than written communication. To a Brazilian, the individual he is dealing with is more important than the company. However, when it comes to business agreements, Brazilians insist on drawing up detailed legal contracts. It is advisable to have one side of your business card translated into Portuguese and present your business card with the Portuguese side facing the recipient.

·         In Russia, attitudes to time mean arriving for meetings later than scheduled is of little significance to Russians. However, they will expect you to be on time. Paperwork and written documentation are essential working practices. They generally have little faith in unsigned documents. Business cards are essential. Ensure that one side is printed in Russian and one side in English.

·         In India, at a first meeting make sure you present and exchange business cards. Have one side translated into Hindi, more as a sign of respect as opposed to linguistic necessity. Be sure to receive and give with your right hand. Make sure the card is put away respectfully and not simply pushed into a trouser pocket. Meetings in India will generally begin with friendly small talk. This may include personal questions about family and is seen as a way of building rapport and trust before business.

·         In China, asking for help is seen as a sign of incompetence or weakness. Teamwork isn’t natural. And employees prefer direct orders from the manager on what to do. Relationships are even more important to getting business done. The Chinese have a term for these relationships: guanxi. Guanxi literally means connections or relations, but also refers to the socio-emotional bond that ties people who do business together.

In all these countries English is not a first language and (apart from India) you might meet people who cannot speak it at all. In these cases, how you communicate with your partners, suppliers, customer and employees is a major concern. Your organisation must ensure people who work in BRIC countries can communicate effectively in the “day to day” language of the relevant country.

For help and advice on language training and translation or details of business etiquette that will help you move into the BRIC economies contact RLI on 0118 934 6000.

A recent story reported by the FoxNews website (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,512781,00.html) sounds like it could be an April Fool (honestly, governments should avoid introducing legislation on 1st April). It is reported that computer games sold in Quebec with an English version must also be sold in French if there is a French version in existence elsewhere in the world. This seems straightforward enough, but, as France apparently uses one video format and Canada uses another, it can mean a significant delay while the French version is converted to be compatible with the Canadian format, during which time many fans will just order the English version from neighbouring states/provinces, with the result that sellers in Quebec lose out.

Now, I’m all in favour of legislation that increases work for translators (although this one seems more likely to favour programmers), but you’d like to think that such legislation would be a bit more logically thought through.

Should we introduce similar laws relating to Welsh and Scots Gaelic? I look forward to people’s thoughts on the subject.

We are celebrating a big birthday this year. Robertson Languages International is 20 years old in 2009.

Our business was formed just as a bright new era was dawning over Europe.

• The Berlin Wall came down
• The fall of communism in the Eastern Bloc was gaining momentum
• Mobility across all parts of Europe increased
• Europe was opening up
• Buildup to Treaty of Maastricht in 1992

All this created new levels of opportunity as companies were seeing the potential of moving staff around and recruiting more flexibly than had previously been possible. With this flexibility and mobility came a need for companies to understand more about the cultural differences and similarities that existed across the new frontiers. In addition, individuals wanted to further their career by offering languages as part of their skill sets.

Bob and I had a background in language teaching, both at secondary schools and to adults in business. Bob also had national experience in designing language teaching and assessment programmes. It was an ideal combination for us and there were plenty of people at that time who were willing to put great personal effort into building their language skills. Within a matter of months it became apparent that language training was only one part of the picture. There was a demand for good-quality translations and interpreting. Although we were both graduate linguists with translation experience, we recruited a specialist translation manager and built our knowledge further in this area. Liz began to concentrate on the translation side of the business while Bob developed the training side.

As active networkers, we joined the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce and when someone suggested that we put ourselves forward for the Thames Valley Business of the Year award, we decided to give it a go. We were genuinely amazed to win the prize and this gave us good publicity in the region. This gave us the impetus to enter the UK Trade and Invest (then the DTI) award for Best Language Provider. Winning the national award followed by three years of the regional award was very exciting.

Very quickly we were obliged to rent offices and hire staff. Building a team who shared our vision was very important, and we have worked with many very skilled and creative people over the years. We embraced the technology age from the outset and chose Apple Macs as the company computer system, because they were easier to use if hideously expensive and ideal for the (then) newly invented art of desktop publishing, This meant that we were way ahead of the competition in being able to produce documents in non-Roman scripts. It was still challenging to produce French accented characters in a desk-top publishing package if they had come from a PC environment, let alone Russian and Arabic.

Differentiating yourself is always difficult for a service company, and we saw the need to prove our commitment to quality and know-how by gaining certification to ISO 9001 in 1996. We were the first company language services company to be certified in both training and translation services.

Although this was, and remains, very useful, we saw that there were specific areas that should be monitored in the translation process if the company is really to provide the quality outcomes desired by clients. Liz was already part of the European Association of Translation Companies and worked with others in the association to develop a new European standard for translation services. This was a very slow process and finally culminated its publication (EN 15038) in 2006. We are one of the few translation companies in the UK who has been able to certify to this standard.

For Liz, being involved in the professional associations for translation has been interesting, and she was thrilled to be elected as President of the European Association (EUATC) for two years, 2006-2008. Liz was awarded the tile of Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, which was a real honour and highlight.

Check in for part 2 of our story in a few days’ time and see what the future holds.

Do you want a quick explanation of Robertson Languages’services without having to read through all our web pages?

Perhaps you are looking for a languages training or translation service for your company. If so, may we suggest this audio series as a first introduction?

This issue covers:

• Who we are
• Overview of services
• …and a salutary translation story…

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