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News
Welcome to our UK TechTrans news and information page where we will be bringing you all the latest developments with us as well as keeping you up to date on the complex world of translation.
New International Sales Manager - 29-01-2009
We are looking forward to our new International Sales Manager David Southwell joining us in February. He has been working within the translation industry for the last 15 years. David will be based in Norway so will be taking a close interest in our Norwegian clients but will also be taking care.....
New Brazilian Portuguese Spelling in Effect - 06-01-2009
The Global Watchtower online news site reports on the Brazilian adoption of the Orthographic Agreement, signed by eight countries in 1990.
The agreement was designed to unify the differing orthographical varieties between the Portuguese speaking world. Brazil is the first country.....
Translation/Interpreting - Is it necessary?
We often talk about the United States and the UK being "divided by a common language." This is without adding the rest of the globe into the linguistic cauldron, with the many different cultures and languages that make the world such a colourful place. English is generally known as the most global language and is spoken the most widely, often acknowledged as the language of business. English is the language of computers, air traffic control and it is the official language of more countries than any other language. However, by a ratio of about 2:1, more people actually speak Mandarin Chinese.
Accurate translation is an essential aid to communication in the world today. It is certainly becoming more and more important for companies and organisations worldwide, especially if they want to work and sell across borders. The old adage that everyone speaks English no longer applies, even though many companies may wish that were true. By 2010 at least 50% of the population of New York will be foreign born and may not have English as a first language. At present 34% of business owners in London are from an ethnically diverse background and this figure is set to rise to over 90% in the next ten years, again bringing language, culture and communication to the fore.
With statistics like these, it is hard to envisage a world without language services because international communication could cease without them. That is, unless every organisation has multi-lingual staff (not completely improbable for many today), but it does stretch the bounds of possibility. Realistically, many businesses would be severely restricted and badly disrupted without readily available, quality translation and interpreting services. International trade could easily grind to a halt.
I must stress the word quality when we talk about language services because as we well know poor quality translation can send out entirely the wrong message and become more of a hindrance than a help. There are numerous instances of translation/interpreting errors by politicians, the media and others, such as when CNN was banned from broadcasting in Iran in 2006 because of an error in its simultaneous translation of a news conference by President Ahmadinejad on the issue of nuclear testing. The broadcast included the phrase 'the use of nuclear weapons is Iran's right.'
In fact, according to the official IRNA news agency, what the Iranian president actually said was that 'Iran has the right to nuclear energy.' CNN later apologised, but this is a good example of the potential damaging consequences of less than accurate translation.
On a lighter note, the whiskey based liqueur called "Irish Mist" did not go down at all well in Germany. This is hardly surprising when we learn that "mist" translates into German as "manure." All in all, it is safe to say translation and interpreting will continue to be vital to a wide range of different people and businesses. In spite of the Internet and advances in technology and while we all continue to speak different languages, translation and interpreting services are not likely to vanish in the foreseeable future. In fact, this service sector continues to grow year on year.
UK TechTrans is an EU Supplier
UK TechTrans is now an official supplier to the EU following a successful tender bid.
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Lost in Translation
Lost in translation seems a bit of a cliché in this day and age of global markets. The world is becoming smaller and smaller as communication becomes faster and faster and even the biggest companies make some potentially costly language blunders from time to time. Take Colgate who introduced a.....
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