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Freelance translator vs a team of translators

2011-04-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

Every year business companies invest a lot of money in outsourcing their translation projects to either freelance translators or translation companies.

According to figures, only one third of these businesses are pleased with their language services providers.

The odds show satisfaction from freelance translators vs. translation companies been 1:4 in advantage of translation companies.

Professional translation companies have in-house IT, DTP, project management and quality assurance departments.

Translation companies as a rule prefer to work with national teams of translators rather than with individual freelancers. Team work is now gradually becoming the norm in translation companies.

What is a team of translators?

A team of translators usually consists of:

Translators

Translators are native speakers of the source language. They input all available resources into the material for translation. In their work, translators interact with a translation facilitator.

Translation facilitator

Translation facilitators contribute with linguistic and/or technical help.

Translation consultant

Translation consultants are experienced translation facilitators. They provide language-specific and industry specific expertise and monitor the translation quality.

Translation reviewer

A translation reviewer is a native speaker of the source language who checks the draft translation and gives feedback and recommendations.

Freelance translator vs a translation company

A freelance translator is usually an expert in one or couple of languages and is not suitable for multilingual translation needs. A translation company can handle large-scale multilingual translation projects.

A freelance translator is not suitable for large scale projects with tight deadlines. While teams of translators at translation companies mean faster turn-around times, even on larger and complicated projects.

A freelance translator typically has expertise in one or couple of industry areas
and can not deal effectively with various specializations (legal, commercial, technical, medical, financial, IT, chemical translation etc). By contrast, a translation company has a big pool of translators who have linguistic and translation education as well as practical work experience with a specific industry field and will pick the most qualified and suitable one for your industry specific translation need.

To be successful, a freelance translator has to also be a computer expert (in a way) investing money in buying and learning how to work software as text from clients may be sent in different electronic formats. Nowadays, desktop publishing and website localisation services are a must. A translation company on another hand, will typically have an in-house IT team of experts who support all the well-known DTP programs and are capable of working with any file format given and in any language.

Few freelancers offer project management services as well as valuable additional services such as proofreading, editing, back translation, transcription and glossary creation. A translation company supports and offers all of the aforementioned services.

If a freelance translator offers proofreading services, then there is the quandary of proofreading one’s own work. The same applies to quality assurance control. It's often hard to verify the quality of an independent translator, and they are not on call as are a fully-staffed translation company. Unlike individual translators, translation companies work with teams of professional translators. This ensures that your documents are reviewed by several eyes and assures the final output’s quality.

Freelance translators often use an inflexible price list, while translation companies have enough capacity to offer flexible pricing. Lastly, translation companies offer accountability and follow a policy of building intensive and long-standing relationships with clients.

Nikolova writes for translation services agency EVS Translations, a leading company for financial translations. Technically perfect simultaneous interpreting services. Visit website: http://www.evs-translations.com.

Translation Services for the Renewable Energy Sector

2011-02-22T07:15:00.000-08:00

Renewable energy is energy which comes from renewable (naturally replenished) resources.
Renewable sources of energy are wind power, solar power (thermal, photovoltaic and concentrated), hydro- electric power, tidal power, geothermal energy and biofuel and biomass energy.

Renewable energy technologies offer significant advantages over conventional ones for meeting energy needs worldwide.

With the steadily increasing demand for renewable energy worldwide, it has never been more important to find a translation company with a familiarity in the terminology of the renewable energy sector and a proven expertise in the field. A translation company that has capacity to handle large scale multi-language projects and meet tight deadlines.

Global challenge

With the increasing worldwide demand for energy, the development of renewable energy has become one of the most important issues facing the global community nowadays.

World summits and conferences are being held all over the globe in an attempt to ensure that future energy demands are met in a more sustainable way by using renewable sources of energy.

For example, the European Union sets ambitious targets for all member states, such that the EU will reach a 20% share of energy from renewable sources by year 2020.

The success of such a global challenge is based on the ability of all international shareholders and stakeholders to intercommunicate and interact.

Language barriers can pose a great obstacle to the efficient communication and cooperation of all interested parties.

Based on this international symbiosis comes the need for professional translation services providers with expertise in the field of renewable energy.

Logistics/transference of energy

Most renewable energy projects are large-scale and they cross national borders.

For example Niagara Falls provides energy for both Canada and the USA.

The same applies to the HydroQuebec project. Successful professional translations allow different language groups and cultures to communicate effectively with each other and share the benefits of renewable energy.

Renewable energy production

While most of the management communication can be carried out in English, there are vertical communication streams that contribute to the production process. The workers involved in the renewable energy sector must clearly understand what they are being asked to do and how to ensure a safe working process.

One badly translated line in a document can send out the wrong message, possibly resulting in life-threatening situations for the workers in the renewable energy industry.

Renewable energy marketing

There are significant opportunities for companies that operate in the renewable energy technology development industry to market their activities internationally. Accurate translation is therefore the most effective way to reach these rapidly expanding international markets.

Successful product launch requires that advertisements and informational materials along with technology and all supporting documents be available to customers in their language.

Changing technology/New terms and concepts

One of the biggest challenges in the renewable energy sector is the constant change and development of terms and concepts. Those terms and concepts must be communicated consistently and accurately into the target Language/languages. The world of renewable energy is rapidly evolving, resulting in the need for parallel synergies in both translation quality and technology.

Subject matter expertise

A thorough vendor selection process is crucial to ensure high quality translation. Often with vendors having to prove their capabilities in translating and localising the key technical terminology, abbreviations and phrases common to the renewable energy industry.

Specific areas of expertise can include:

Biofuel and biomass energy

Geothermal energy

Engineering

Hydropower

Photovoltaics

Solar thermal power

Water and tidal treatment

Wind power

Examples of some documents related to the renewable energy sector that often require language translations.

Annual reports translation

Data sheets translation

Energy security reports translation

Environmental studies translation

Functional specifications translation

Feasibility studies translation

Health & Safety reports translation

Legal acts translation

Marine ecology studies translation

Ornithological and other wildlife impact studies translation

Resource assessments translation

Technical specifications translation

Wind farm reports translation

Renewable energy translation process. Best practice

Renewable energy translation project management and evaluation.

Renewable energy translation project to be assigned to an experienced project manager who to perform the project management and coordination.

Project manager to analyse the translation project and decide on the resources needed, both in human and technical terms, as well as, to create a schedule for each stage of the translation process.

Renewable energy translation process

Project manager to cooperate with experts in the field (most often technical engineers) and prepare the translation project localisation documentation and to establish the standard vocabulary.

To select the members of the renewable energy translation team. Native speaking translators and experts with proven subject matter expertise and in-depth understanding of the renewable energy industry and terminology used in it.

Renewable energy translation quality control

Proofreading, sampling assessment and periodic review to be performed throughout the translation process stages.

To find out how EVS Translations can help with you renewable energy related documents translation or to request a free quote, please contact UK Sales Manager – Mr Gregg Babbs, either by phone 0044-1159-644283
or visit website http://www.evs-translations.com.

REQUEST A QUOTATION FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY TRANSLATION

Nikolova writes for translation agency EVS Translations, EVS produces excellent energy translations for diverse language pairs, their qualified renewable energy translators, linguists and interpreters have many years of experience of translating renewable energy industry specific documents and are reliable and accurate.

Legal translation services: requirements and issues

2010-12-14T14:45:00.000-08:00

Legal translation is the translation of texts within the field of law.

Globalisation and the increase in international business relations and political and economic integration, which led to integration between legal systems, made the demand for legal translations higher than ever.

Successful legal translation must meet the following requirements:

Accuracy and attention to detail;

Knowledge of the legal systems, both of the source and target languages;

Familiarity with the relevant legal terminology;

Confidentiality;

Timely delivery of your translated documents.

Accuracy of a legal document translation depends largely on word selection and syntax. The formal language contained in a document shall be used in the same order. A slight paraphrase can change the legal meaning of a document. Highest accuracy includes identifying the local language requirements and proofreading documents before delivery.

Accurate legal translations can be delivered only by highly specialised translators who have a comprehensive working knowledge and experience in the legal industry.

A legal translator not only translates from one language into another but also translates from one legal system into another and must understand local culture and have an in depth knowledge of the legal system in place in the country for which the translation is intended.

Legal translation is often more difficult than other types of translation because each system has its own legal terminology.

A good legal translator shall have extensive knowledge of the relevant legal terminology in both the source and target languages and be a specialist in a particular legal area, such as:

International law

Civil law,

Corporate law,

Property law,

Tax and accounting law,

Insurance law,

Patent law and etc.

Since many legal documents contain sensitive data, all law translations are to remain strictly confidential.

Legal translators shall accept confidentiality and security issues very seriously and be able to provide a non-disclosure agreement.

Most legal documents have deadlines in court and are useless after those dates.

All law documents have to be translated and delivered before the deadline. A stringent approach to quality control can ensure the delivery of stylistically consistent translations on time even under the most pressing delivery schedule.

When it comes to legal translation, a translator is required to have an extensive knowledge of law and to understand local cultures and sociological nuances of those cultures in order to convey the message across sufficiently.

Successful legal translations must also meet the requirements of accuracy, confidentiality and punctuality.

Visit this website to read more about our legal translation services.

Desislava Nikolova is a freelance writer and currently works for translation company EVS Translations.

Video games translation and localisation services

2010-12-14T14:42:00.000-08:00

The video game industry is the economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sale of video games.

Video games are liked by all age groups and they can be enjoyed by global audiences if they are accurately translated and localised to fit the needs of each market.

The demand for entertainment software has prompted game developers to realise the value and importance of game translation and localisation.

Video Game Translation

The quality of video game translation services depends on the ability of a translation company that:

use the services of in-house native speaking experts. Native speakers will ensure text adaptation in the best possible way;

use translators who have relevant linguistic qualifications as well as experience in video game translations that will translate all the text and audio to accurately represent the content of the game;

use experts who have technical knowledge and understanding of specific terminology (consoles, platforms, accessories);

has an in-house IT team, which comprises of software experts who can work with any platform including PC, Mac, Nintendo Wii, Xbox, PSP and all handheld devices;

makes the most out of the usage of CAT (computer aided translation) and TMTs (translation memory) tools;

can accept a variety of formats including source and database files and can ensure that files will be delivered in the client's desired format;

has a Quality Assurance Department, which will carry out in-depth quality control guaranteeing compliance with the quality standards and the deadlines.

Video Game Localisation

Game localisation is a linguistic and cultural adaptation to guarantee that every aspect of a video game, from packaging to software, will fit the local market.

Main aspects of video game localisation include:

Linguistic localisation - packaging, product description, user manuals, instructions, tutorials, help information, hardware and software specifications, subtitles, in-game texts;

Software localisation - websites, animation, user interface, scripts;

Graphics, audio, video localisation.

To give players a genuine gaming experience and successfully market their products, video game developers must pay close attention to the quality of video game translation and localisation.

Visit our website to request a quote for video game translation services.

Desislava Nikolova is a freelance writer and currently works for translation agency EVS Translations.

Translation services for the energy, oil and gas industry

2010-12-14T14:37:00.000-08:00

The oil and gas industry operates on a worldwide scale and connects some of the world’s largest countries. As the oil and gas industry evolves we have seen a resurgence in new exploration activity ranging from Greenland, Suriname, Brazil, Venezuela, Angola to name but a few.

This growth has in turn brought a significant demand for oil industry-specific translations in a variety of languages which can cause difficulties for those parties involved.

Selecting an accurate translation expert is critical to companies serving the energy sector, but oil and gas translation is one of the most difficult types of technical translation.

Key points to look out for when seeking a translation company for oil and gas translation services

A translation company with a proven track record working for oil and gas companies and having experience in the major exploration projects worldwide.

The company shall be able to provide evidence of expertise in the field, such as customer references and projects implemented.

A translation company with an experienced pool of technical translators, who also have certain economic and legal knowledge.

When translating documents for the oil and gas industry it is essential that only the most experienced technical translators are used.

Translators need to have knowledge on the basic processes in the oil and gas industry such as: mining of gas and oil fields, exploration, drilling, building of pipelines and booster stations, gas processing, oil refining, gas and oil recovery, flow metering, transportation and storage, description of the oil and gas equipment, retail marketing and etc.

Performing oil and gas translations, translators deal with documents such as: operation and maintenance manuals, equipment manuals, drilling expedition reports, performance data of installations, environmental impact assessments, social impact assessments, technical proposals, technical specifications, tender documents, insurance policies, international standards, weight measures and etc.

All those types of documents contain specific and complex technical and financial terminology, along with symbols and abbreviations, which are not standard.

Translators working with legal documents for oil and gas operations must have a general understanding of the rules and laws which govern oil and gas leases, royalties, land ownership and contracts and legal agreements for drilling and pipeline installation and usage.

Translating terminology and jargon used in the oil and gas industry presents many unique challenges.

For a successful translation, extensive knowledge in technical oil and gas terminology is required, along with certain economic and foreign oil legislation knowledge.

The languages requested most often by the oil and gas industry are Arabic, Russian, French, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch, meaning a translation company must have specialist translators in all these languages and many more.

Specific issues arise for professionals in the Russian language, who have the added responsibility of ensuring that their work, not only reflects the most commonly accepted terminology for this field, but also adheres to the codes and standards of the Russian Federation.

A translation company that uses up-to-date glossaries of technical terms, petroleum industry dictionaries, international petroleum terminological standards and terminological databases.

Accuracy is vital to good technical translations and a good glossary of terminology is the key to accurate translations.

Registered in the global network of First Point and Achilles oil & gas supplier databases in various countries and regions around the world.

FPAL - UK & Netherlands

JQS - Norway & Denmark

RPP - Venezuela

SICLAR - Argentina

FPAL works to identify, qualify, evaluate and monitor suppliers on behalf of its members.

A translation company that is able to work to tight deadlines for tenders and provide accurate and precise translations even under strict deadline delivery terms.

Tenders have bid deadlines and in a multimillion pound industry, there is no allowance for poor or late translations.

A translation company shall have a Quality Assurance Department that can tailor a workflow procedure for you so that no matter what language combination or deadline it will not seriously affect the quality of the translation that you receive. An experienced project manager will oversee every aspect of your oil and gas translation project to ensure all of your requirements are met and any unforeseen changes or amendments can be implemented smoothly without causing disruptions to the overall result.

Translation of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA)

Energy companies are facing increasing pressure to improve their social and environmental performance.

Environmental Impact Assessment and Social Impact Assessment has been the mechanism to address these requirements. EIA and SIA set a framework for evaluating the environmental, social and cultural effects of large-scale energy, oil and gas infrastructure projects.

Requirements for environmental and social assessments are contained in treaties, national laws, oil and gas industry guidelines, and are imposed as conditions of lending and assistance by international financial organizations (e.g. World Bank).

Assessments are a subject of public hearing and provide opportunities to the public and affected parties to present comments and recommendations to the decision-maker. This brings out the need all communication to get translated and documents changed accordingly before they can be resubmitted for approval.

Preparing EIA and SIA is a lengthy and costly process and requires the involvement of an expert translation services provider. A translation company that can ensure expertise and accuracy in oil and gas technical translation along with financial and legal translations.

Hiring a professional translation agency specialisied in oil and gas translation services is critical for ensuring credibility of assessments’ results.

As an FPAL registered translation company, EVS Translations is your specialist for all oil and gas translations. To find out how EVS Translations can help you with your EIA and SIA translations please call +44 1159 644283

or Visit this website to request a quote for oil and gas translation services.

Energy translation services

Desislava Nikolova is a freelance writer and currently works for translation agency EVS Translations.

Translation and authoring of chemical Safety Data Sheets in accordance with REACH, CLP and GHS

2010-12-14T14:34:00.000-08:00

With only a month left until the first deadline (1 December 2010) for registering chemical substances under Europe's REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical Substances) legislation, manufacturers and importers are under increasing pressure to comply with the new requirements for Safety Data Sheets preparation.

The new regulation for SDS formatting applies to chemicals and chemical substances that are to be shipped to the European Union and/or placed for direct sale on its market.

Safety Data Sheets are reviewed upon import and chemical substances producers and importers whose SDS do not comply with the latest regulatory requirements will not be permitted to distribute or sell their products on the EU market.

One of the main differences between the Material Safety Data Sheets previously used and the Safety Data Sheets currently applicable under REACH is the requirement that a SDS (including Exposure Scenario) should be supplied in an official language of the Member State(s) on whose market the substance or preparation is placed (unless the Member State(s) concerned indicate otherwise).

The aforementioned EU legislative amendment will require that companies operating in the chemical industry use professional language translation providers.

A translation company should be familiar with the new REACH Regulation, Annex II (which provides a guide to preparing Safety Data Sheets) and translate all SDS and MSDS required in accordance with this.

Since SDS need to be authored in the official language(s) of the country they are intended for and comply with the laws of the jurisdiction of the member state in which they are to be used, direct translation of the documents is rarely sufficient.

Rather than translating SDS or MSDS directly from the source to the target language, a translation company can take the existing document and author a new set of data sheets in the necessary language(s) that are compliant with the local regulations.

To perform the task of MSDS authoring, a translation services company shall have an in-house pool of translators with senior qualifications in industrial chemistry and hygiene.

Furthermore, translators should be experts in data sheet translations and familiar with the local industry-specific regulations and national legislation.

The proper and accurate localisation and translation of MSDS or Safety Data Sheets will ensure that all official translations as published in the EU Official Journal are used (i.e. mandatory heading titles, proper classification, hazard statements, risk and safety phrases, Exposure Scenario, Risk Management Measures, Toxicological and Ecological information, etc). In addition, SDS will be accurately localised for national occupational exposure limits, hazard classifications and other regional requirements.

The format and content of the original data sheet often need to be modified. A translation company shall have the resources to support different formats, conversions and produce SDS in PDF format to facilitate distribution via e-mail and the internet.

ECHA (European Chemicals Agency) amended the requirements for Safety Data Sheets under REACH Annex II, which covers the introduction of Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) information into the Safety Data Sheet.

The deadline of 1 December 2010 applies to substance classification in accordance with the European Community Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures (CLP).

This Regulation aligns previous EU legislation with the United Nations’ Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) and aims to ensure that hazards are described and labelled in the same way all over the world.

Any manufacturer, importer, distributor or user of chemical substances and mixtures must classify, label and package any substance or mixture in accordance with the CLP and only those labels and packages which comply with the CLP Regulation rules will be accepted in the EU.

Here, the role of a translation company is to:

• Translate product labels in accordance with the regulations of the local marketplace.

• Ensure language translation and localisation of hazard labels and packaging in accordance with the GHS system.

Although many pictograms are similar to the existing EU system, they have been redesigned and new signal words have been introduced, along with new packaging requirements. Any translation company worth its salt shall be up to date with those changes and, if necessary, assist its clients in complying with the latest regulations.

• Offer desktop publishing solutions and, if required, be able to produce the final, clear and legible layout of labels and packages, including attention to wording, spelling, font size and design. After all, labels are supposed to be read and used in adverse conditions, which makes design and word selection extremely important.

The aforementioned legislative amendments only apply to cases of import into the European Union, but it is believed that within the next 5 years every Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) or Safety Data Sheet will need to be re-written in order to comply with the GHS system.

European translation companies shall specialise in conversions from different national standards formats to the Globally Harmonized System (e.g. from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) format to GHS).

To ensure access to their products, it is critical that companies operating in the chemical industry create SDS, product labels and packaging that meet the requirements of the country for which the product is intended (whether within or outside the European Union).

SDS and labels must also be written in the official language of this market and properly localised.

Most chemical companies operate on multiple markets and require multilingual translation services. Furthermore, some countries have more than one official language (e.g. Dutch and French in Belgium; English and French in Canada).

Working with a professional and highly reputable language translation company is the solution.

If you require any of your safety data sheets to be translated please feel free to contact translation company UK Sales Manager – Mr Gregg Babbs, for a detailed quotation either by phone 0044-1159-644283
or by email

Chemical SDS translation

Market research: start with language translation

2010-12-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

An average organisation spends between 20 and 50 percent of its annual marketing budget on research activities.

The aim of a market research is to interpret the market characteristics, translate the marketing problems and opportunities, evaluate and develop marketing strategies.

Market research questionnaires and surveys are the most common mechanism for collecting marketing information.

As more organisations pursue global business strategies, the need to conduct market research on an international scale is rapidly increasing.

International market research projects require multilingual surveys and therefore multilingual professional language translation and localisation.

Ideally, a translation vendor is involved in the market study design process.

A translation company works together with market researchers to determine target languages required (multilingual markets, minority language users), usage of appropriate glossaries, cultural adaptation, word selection and formatting. Key objective: to help identify problems and make questionnaires more suitable for target population.

In practice, however, translation is rarely seen as part of the questionnaire design and it only begins after the source questionnaire is finalised.

TRANSLATION OF QUESTIONNAIRES

Initial translation of questionnaires

The most common problem in questionnaires involves translation into other languages. The source language questionnaire may be difficult to translate because equivalent language concepts do not exist, or because of differences in idioms, colloquialisms and syntax. Using a team of professional translators with experience in market analysis and assessment together with the client is the right solution compared to relying on one person to provide an accurate questionnaire translation.

The language experts, required in the questionnaire translation process are translators and translator reviewers.

Translators need to have an excellent command in the source and target languages, to have experience in market research and survey translations and have an in-depth insight of the cultures in question. Additionally, translator reviewers shall be familiar with questionnaire design principles and be qualified in the field of market research.

Marketing translation should be done in a manner that target users understand the translated questions as easily as the source population for whom they were designed. Often this requires a translator to utilise creative prowess rather than just simply providing customers with a literal translation.

Back translation

In order to ensure that information is conveyed as intended, market researchers often order questionnaires to be back translated. Back translation is a helpful quality assessment tool for both marketers and translation companies and is the most commonly used technique to ensure accuracy, tone of voice and client requirements have not been compromised in the translation process.
Back translation is simply translating a text that has already been translated, back to the source language.

Back translation is carried out by an independent translator, who did not participate in the forward translation process. Here the translator should not be exercising any creative abilities because the idea is to give an indication of the correctness of the translation.

Revision of translation

The original translators and the client shall compare the back translation with the original version. Differences should be noted for discussion in a focus group.

Focus group

A small group of people representing the study population are asked to complete the questionnaire. Translators will also discuss these results to determine the possibility of any language, comprehension or socio-cultural problems.

Final translation

The results from the focus group’s survey shall be taken into account. Any problematic terms shall be revised and solved.

These steps will lead to the final version of the required language translation.

TRANSLATION OF SURVEY RESPONSES

When market information is collected through a questionnaire in different countries or regions with different native languages, the data gathered needs to be translated to the original source language of the marketing research company so that all the results can be collated and analysed.

Structural and lexical differences, along with response scale design can pose multiple difficulties to translators.

Yet the main difficulty is to find the right translation for a concept across languages.

Survey results will be affected by the audience’s social and cultural characteristics.

The fact that words do not match or exist in different languages is often less of a problem than the fact that certain concepts do not match across cultures.

Further difficulties might arise when market information is gathered through hand written responses because it might be difficult to interpret certain characters/words/phrases or might include spelling mistakes, abbreviations or slang.

Furthermore, if a market survey is conducted online, a translation company should also translate all supporting materials (introduction email, instructions, web content). A language translation services provider should also be able to work with electronically submitted survey responses.

To end up with a correct evaluation and true statistical representation from a market study performed in another language/languages and be certain that results are going to reflect what consumers meant to convey in their own language, the survey translation must be performed by experienced native speaking, in-country translators that understand the study objectives and the target audience.

If you require marketing translation services please feel free to contact translation company EVS Translations UK Sales Manager – Mr Gregg Babbs, for a detailed quotation either by phone 0044-1159-644283
or by email

Visit website: http://www.evs-translations.com

Desislava Nikolova is a freelance writer and currently works for translation company EVS Translations.

Translation and localisation challenges for the pharmaceutical industry in the EU

2010-12-14T14:25:00.000-08:00

Language barriers should not prevent people from having access to and accurately understanding information about medicines.

The most important and comprehensive document which details the purpose and characteristics of a given drug is the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC).
The SmPC is a full, official description of a pharmaceutical product, which lists the name of the active substance, its composition, uses, dosages, pharmaceutical forms and known adverse reactions.

The SmPC is produced for the approval and development of medicines and is the basis of information for healthcare professionals, such as doctors, nurses and pharmacists, and explains how to use and prescribe the medicinal product safely and effectively.

SmPCs are written and updated by the Regulatory Affairs Departments of pharmaceutical companies and are based on their research and product knowledge.

The SmPC is checked and approved by the local or European Union medicine licensing authorities.

The SmPC is then used as the basis for the Patient Information Leaflet (PIL). It is inserted into the drug pack, and includes information about how to use the medicine safely and correctly. The PIL has essentially the same information as the SmPC, but must be written in language that is easily understood by non-professionals.

Drug packaging and internal and external labelling texts are reduced versions of the PIL.

SmPCs and PILs issued by pharmaceutical companies have to meet the requirements of the drug regulatory authorities in the country/countries where the drug will be sold. For European Community countries, on top of the requirements of the country’s own drug regulatory authority this also means meeting the requirements of European Medicines Agency (EMEA).

For medicines EMEA and the various national medicine evaluation agencies require that the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC), the Patient Information Leaflet (PIL), and the packaging and labelling texts be presented at least in the official language or languages of the Member States in which the medicinal product is placed on the market.

When more than one language is used, all the texts must be in each individual language and the contents of all language versions must be identical.

A manufacturer cannot apply for a drug registration without submitting the relevant translated and properly localised versions of these documents to the European or national regulatory authorities.

Language translation and localisation challenges for pharmaceutical industry in the EU

• 23 official EU languages

Pharmaceutical companies manufacturing within the boundaries of the European Union need to make the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC), the Patient Information Leaflet (PIL), and the packaging and labelling texts available in up to the 23 official languages of the European Union.

• Languages of the European Economic Area, new EU candidate countries and recognised minorities

Additional languages are those countries which are non-EU but EEA members (Norway and Iceland), candidate EU countries (Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia).

Other possible required languages are those of recognised minorities in the EU (such as Catalan, Corsican, Frisian and Welsh).

• 20 days to produce translations

EMEA sets a strict time frame of 20 days allowed for translated versions of all documents to be submitted.
Within 5 days after the marketing authorisation is given by the CPMP (the EMEA committee responsible for assessing marketing authorisations), initial translations must be provided. By the 20th day, the final revised versions of the translations must be provided to the EMEA in their final publishing format.

• Culture specific translation and localisation problems

Differences in norms and conventions of the source and target culture (e.g. legal guidelines for PIL, differences in PIL usability regulations, differences in expressions, symbols and pictograms established by Member States).

• Multilingual PIL readability testing

Each language version package leaflet must be written in clear and understandable terms for the patient as well as being comprehensive and legible. PIL readability testing is the procedure by which PILs are tested and reformulated to ensure they meet the aforementioned requirements.

• Product updates

Updates to product information can result from changes in legislation or product changes through new discoveries. Such updates generally take place a couple of times per year.
In each case pharmaceutical company must go though processes quite similar to those when applying for the initial drug approval. For this reason, translation is again required.

• Consequences of mistranslations

When it comes to medicine specifications, usage, dosage and side effects, incompetent translations and mistranslations can lead to disastrous consequences.

Developing a new medicine is a costly and long process. A faulty translation can result in market delay or lead to product recalls. In some cases, it can even lead to product liability lawsuits.

To eliminate any possible risk, Regulatory Affairs Departments of pharmaceutical companies need to work together with professional language translation providers, preferably on a long-term basis.

Key factors that demonstrate that a pharmaceutical translation provider is an expert in SmPC, PIL, and drug labelling language services

• Ability to structure SmPCs, PILs and drug labels in all EU languages in accordance with the EU directives and guidelines of good practice and requirements of BfArM, EMEA, MedDRA and EDQM standard terms.

• A large team of in-house medical translators who are experts in European regulatory submission and have experience with the latest Quality Review of Documents Groups (QRD) Templates.
QRD templates are a set of documents whose main objective is to set out standard phrasing, terminology, and stylistic preferences for product information as well as to provide guidance on layout. These documents are currently available in 25 languages (23 EU languages, plus Icelandic and Norwegian).

• Assisting pharmaceutical companies in conducting Readability User Tests by participating in the questionnaire creation, translation and localisation for the target group in question, providing relevant language interviewers and interpreters.

• Usage of a coherent content management strategy.
Maintaining area-specific dictionaries and glossaries, enabling the reuse of repetitive content across drug approval-related documents.

• Providing accurate localisation and language adaptation of SmPCs or PILs in accordance with specific project requirements and official legislation requirements, whether in a national or centralised registration or a mutual recognition procedure.

• Delivering precise translations in high volumes and within tight deadlines.

If you require pharmaceutical translation services please feel free to contact translation company EVS Translations UK Sales Manager – Mr Gregg Babbs, for a detailed quotation either by phone 0044-1159-644283
or by email

Visit website: http://www.evs-translations.com

Pharmaceutical translation services

Translations for the Construction and Architecture Industry

2010-12-14T14:20:00.000-08:00

Nowadays the need for translation services plays an important role in construction and architecture industry.

All participants in the construction business such as construction developers, architects, engineers, investors and general contractors need professional and accurate translation services.

Language translations are required for all types of construction documents.

Construction documents include building plans and drawings, specifications and any supporting documents created or accessed during the completion of a building project.

Building plans and all relevant architectural, structural, mechanical, plumbing and electrical drawings are the industry standard documents used to outline the project.

Specification manuals cover materials and methods to be used when constructing the project.

Today outsourcing is a common practice in the construction business. The US and Europe are looking for locations where skilled architects can prepare all the necessary documents that are required. But this trend raises the need for the design information to be translated into the native language of the architect or a universal language like English and later to be translated back to the original language.

Example:

A UK developer needs a building plan for a construction project to be executed in France and hires a Spanish architect.

The information required for preparing the plan must be delivered to the architect in English and/or Spanish. The architect must also receive the guidelines of the local government authorities in France for making the structural design. Those guidelines will be available in the French language and therefore need to be translated into English and/or Spanish.

Design documents must be submitted by the architect to the developer/owner for approval as the project is being constructed. In some cases, documents might be changed in some manner by the owner or architect. These written changes will become an official part of the construction document set.

All the aforementioned requires that through the designing process, all documents to be available in English and Spanish languages. Once the completed set of building plans is ready to be submitted for review by the local government authorities in France, all documents must be translated into French language.

Incomplete or incorrect translations at this stage might result in developer not obtaining a building permit. Translation services providers can assist construction developers in precisely filing a building permit application form in cases where it is to be filed in a different country.

Large industrial construction projects require the involvement of many professionals through the design process. A team might include architects, civil engineers, mechanical, electrical, structural, fire protection engineers, surveyors, interior designers and more. It is possible that the team is assembled by specialists from different countries, hence again the importance of translation services.

Once the design process is complete, the construction project is ready to be sent out for bids. Construction developers produce a list of requirements for a project, giving an overall view of the project's goals and start an open call for tenders. At this stage it is possible that face-to-face tender negotiations be conducted with potential contractors; in certain cases this will require the need of using a professional interpreting services provider.

A translation company should

1) translate the tender documents into the language of the general contractor;

2) understand the requirements and precisely prepare the bid response;

3) back-translate the bid response into the language of the construction developer that published the tender.

Developers select and sign construction contracts with the appropriate contractor. Often, it is not just one contractor, but a consortium of several contractors working together. The construction contract is a legally binding agreement between parties on the details and cost of a construction project. The contract must be available in the native languages of all parties involved.

Construction documents provide comprehensive instructions to the contractor/contractors as to how the project shall be constructed. All documents shall be available in language/languages that can be understood by contractor/contractors.

Large-scale construction projects often requite external financing and complex financial management. Mortgage bankers, accountants and cost engineers are likely participants in creating an overall plan for the financial management of the building construction project. All financial documents shall be precisely translated and available in all possible languages in order to reach and attract a large scope of potential investors.

The need for professional language translations services for all participants in the construction industry can be best met by a translation company that:

Has a proven track record of completed technical translation and interpreting services projects for international companies in the building and construction industry.

Hires an in-house pool of industry-specific translators and interpreters, with background in construction or architectural engineering and that has the knowledge and experience to respond to the needs of any architectural or construction company.

Uses translators that have access to up-to-date industry specific dictionaries and glossaries and that are familiar with the terminology used in the construction industry. Construction business has its own unique terminology, and familiarity with the terminology is essential for accurate and consistent translations.

Has an in-depth knowledge of legal concepts and terms. Translating documents for the construction industry does not solely require knowing industry-specific vocabulary. Legal terminology used in construction contracts, building permits and tenders can be complex. Experienced legal translators can ensure that no legal aspects are lost in translation.

Has a team of professional financial translators. The construction business requires an understanding of financial management and investor relations in construction business.

Hires structural engineering specialists that have the skills to ensure that every technical detail and every nuance of even the most complex and challenging texts is accurately translated into the required language.

Has a Quality Assurance department, that will carry out in-depth quality control, assign a project manager to perform the project management and coordination and hire a technical engineers who to review the project on a regular basis.

Has experience in working with construction design software: 3D, Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Engineering (CAE), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) etc.

Can work to tight deadlines for tenders and provide consistent and tailored professional language services even under strict deadline delivery terms.

If one were searching for an argument which would strongly support the vital importance of good translation in the service of providing first class construction one would have to search no further than building the Tower of Babel. Imagine if those ancient architects had the access to professional language translation services when they were trying to build a tower to the heavens. Maybe history would have been different!

If you require construction/architecture/engineering translation services please feel free to contact translation company UK Sales Manager – Mr Gregg Babbs, for a detailed quotation either by phone 0044-1159-644283
or by email

Desislava Nikolova is a freelance writer and currently works for translation company EVS Translations.

Video Game Translations: Mistakes and Challenges

2010-12-14T14:17:00.000-08:00

The video game industry is worth billions. Nowadays, more than fifty percent of the revenue generated by the industry comes from international markets.

Although most video games are developed in English and Japanese, the new global market requires that video game developers translate their products into many other languages.

Until recently, the need for professional video game translation and localisation was not recognized and incorporated into most video games' international releases, which resulted in many memorable translation mistakes.

Examples:

"Conglaturation!!! You have completed a great game. And prooved the justice of our culture. Now go and rest our heroes! " (Ghostbusters)

"All your base are belong to us." (Zero Wing)

"A Winner Is You." (Pro Wrestling)

"Congratulations. This story is a happy end." (Ghosts N' Goblins)

"Being the wise and courageour knight that you are you feel strongth welling in your body." (Ghosts N' Goblins)

"Destroy the mother brain the mechanical life vein." (Metroid)

"See your face upon the clean water. How dirty! Come! Wash your face!" (Final Fantasy I)

"Somebody set up us the bomb." (Zero Wing)

"Do not be angry each other, love is the power supreme." (Samurai Showdown 2)

”All creature will die." (Samurai Showdown 2)

“You invaders get you the hot bullets of shotgun to die" (Battle Rangers)

"Take Joe to the exit while avoid spikes! While you are magnetised, the neighbour magnetic cells attract you!" (Magnetic Joe)

While the aforementioned examples only refer to bad translations of in-game text content, such poor translations are also a common practice in video game marketing campaigns.

For example:

"Death Trap is a horror action game that the terrifying graphics will make you enticed with surreal illusion." (Death Trap marketing text)

Adapting a video game to different markets is a highly complex process, and translation and localisation service providers play an important role in it.

There are several components, called "assets,” that need to be translated and/or localised in a video game:

the in-game texts (user interface);

the audio assets (voice over, scripts for dubbing and subtitling);

the art assets (graphic art that contains text);

the printed materials (product description, user manuals, instructions, tutorials, packaging).

Challenges in video game translation and localisation process:

In-game texts

Different languages use different characters, there are right-to-left and vertical-reading languages. Another issue is the length of words. The on-screen text in video games is usually subject to strict character restrictions (often the target language shall not exceed the length of the source language), because of the limited space on the screen.

Nowadays, video games are very interactive and contain many detailed menus and options for controlling game features, these characteristics pose further challenges.

Audio assets

Dialog for dubbing consists of written scripts and sound files.

Dialog for subtitling consists of oral texts that have to be presented in a written form.

Usually video game dialogues are very complex and translators shall carefully study the game in full and be familiar with all game characters in order to be able to determine if the participants in a particular dialogue are men or women or a group of characters and accordingly use masculine, feminine, or plural equivalents in the target language.

Translators face further issues, such as reproducing the original dialogue in a written form, lip-synching, number of characters per subtitle, etc.

Dialogues and music, used in video games, shall be localised to reflect the target market culture in a way that the final player can identify with the game and enjoy the playing experience.

Art assets

Video games contain multi-layered graphics.

Cultural adaptation in video games is unique because it goes beyond words and requires the modification of the graphics and DTP as well.

Translation of variables

Video game source code contains many variables that allow players to build characters and strategies by choosing between many available options.

In most cases, the strings that need to be translated are just one or two words completely out of context. Translators have to be very careful which strings belong to the source code and shall remain untouched and which have to be translated, since even changing one letter in the source code might result in the video game not functioning properly or even crashing.

Coordination challenge and best practice

The best practice is that video game developers work together with the translation and localisation service provider from the early stage of game development, as opposed to sending a video game for translation after it has been completely finalized.

Developers shall write the software with translation in mind. Translators can request modifications to game assets when they deem it necessary to better reflect and reach the targeted market.

A good practice is that during the development process, a glossary is created that includes all the terms that appear in the game (names, characteristics and attributes of characters, places, items, weapons, levels, scenes, buttons, game options, etc.).

The glossary shall be the first thing to be translated and localised. Once approved, the terms in the glossary shall be used in the translation of all materials related to the game.

If you require video game translation services please feel free to contact translation company EVS Translations UK Sales Manager – Mr Gregg Babbs, for a detailed quotation either by phone 0044-1159-644283
or by email

or Visit this website to request a quote for video game translation services.

Desislava Nikolova is a freelance writer and currently works for translation agency EVS Translations.

Translation services for the tobacco industry

2010-12-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

The tobacco industry involves those persons and companies engaged in the production, advertisement and distribution of tobacco products.

Tobacco is grown in more than 100 countries, and tobacco products are consumed all around the world.

As an industry that operates on the global market, the tobacco industry is in demand of professional language services.

An experienced full-service translation company can:

Assist its tobacco industry clients in understanding the local market regulations and restrictions when it comes to tobacco advertising.

Tobacco advertising is now one of the most highly regulated forms of marketing. Every country has its own regulations regarding tobacco advertising where some or all forms of tobacco advertising are banned.

Tip: A translation company that has experience in working with tobacco advertising legislation.

Assist in the creation of marketing campaigns, which match the tobacco advertising regulations of the market it is intended for.

For example, the EU Tobacco Advertising Directive bans tobacco advertising in the print media, on radio, and over the internet. It also prohibits tobacco sponsorship of cross-border events or activities, but advertising in cinemas and on billboards or using merchandising and tobacco sponsorship at local events is allowed.

Tip: A translation company that is specialised in marketing translation services and works together with market researchers.

Accurately localise the marketing campaign to successfully reach the targeted audience and achieve its core marketing purpose.

The intended audience of the tobacco advertising campaigns has changed throughout the years, with companies now targeting a particular demographic (age, sex, social status or other).

Tip: A translation company that can ensure text adaptation and localisation in the best possible way that can:
- comply with the targeted demographic and socio-cultural groups,
- reach the campaign’s purpose whether brand introduction, brand awareness, brand preference or increase of customer loyalty.

Translate survey and survey results

- Translation of survey questionnaires
- Involvement in survey interviews whether by phone or face-to-face
- Translation of survey responses (collected online or offline)

Tip: A translation company that has experience in survey translations and market study projects.

Translate health warning messages

Tobacco packaging warning messages are health warning messages that appear on the packaging of cigarettes and other tobacco products. Warnings used in different countries try to emphasize the same messages, but every country has implemented the usage of different healthy warning messages.

Tip: A translation company that has experience in translating packaging and labeling texts and is aware of the tobacco related pictograms and warning messages adopted and used in the targeted market.

Translate health related researches and internal company documents

The tobacco industry is doing its own health-related scientific researches on smoking.
Research results have to be interpreted and communicated to the interested parties.

Tobacco industry legislation has forced tobacco companies to make most of their internal documents available to the public.

Tip: A translation company that is specialised in medical and scientific translation services and interpreting research results.

Assist in lawsuits

Lawsuits against tobacco companies have been increasing in the last few decades. Companies might require court interpreters or translations of legal documents.

Tip: A translation company that is specialised in legal translation services and follows a strict policy of confidentiality and data protection.

If you require tobacco related translation services please feel free to contact translation company EVS Translations UK Sales Manager – Mr Gregg Babbs, for a detailed quotation either by phone 0044-1159-644283
or by email

Visit website: http://www.evs-translations.com

Desislava Nikolova is a freelance writer and currently works for translation agency EVS Translations.

Language translation services along the automotive supply chain

2010-12-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

Auto manufacturing is more international than ever with newcomers like India and Korea the latest new members of the global auto industry.

As the automotive OEMs break into new markets and new manufacturers emerge, this leads to a development and relocations for the key Tier 1 and Tier 2 sub-suppliers that aim to be within a close proximity of their customers.

How to sift through the impressive amount of information about auto parts (both made by the manufacturer or from independent aftermarket manufacturers) is more important than ever.

Supporting and developing the potential worldwide markets of auto parts depends on clear, informative and accurate translations for every link in the wide parts suppliers’ network.

Each link between an OEM and a supplier is a connection. The suppliers of the automotive industry are being shown the way by the OEMs, which specify which technologies and business practices must be implemented.

In order for the suppliers and the OEM to collaborate efficiently they need to share precisely translated and interpreted information.

Automakers are constantly under pressure to identify consumer preferences and expectations; determine reliability and performance standards of vehicles; government trade, safety, and environmental regulations; implement new technologies and gain new market shares.

The implications of these factors are vast along the automotive supply chain.

Traditionally, the automotive supply chain integrates five major groups of players:

original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that design and assemble the vehicle,

first-tier suppliers that manufacture and supply components directly to the automaker,

sub-tier suppliers that produce some of the individual parts that would be included in a component manufactured by a first tier supplier,

raw materials and infrastructure suppliers,

engineering firms, dealers and advertising agencies.

To better understand the complexity of an automotive supply chain:

A typical supply chain in the automobile industry consists of thousands of companies.

A typical motor vehicle consists of approximately 15,000 parts and accessories that must be compatible and integrated.

Because the automotive industry supply chain management is part of a much larger network of international OEMs and with smaller national independent manufacturers servicing the industry, translation services must be honed to the different nuances and needs of each of the language markets and participants in the supply chain.

The automobile translators should be able to support clients throughout the automotive supply chain. The translators should be able to understand the requirements and language needs of OEMs, automotive parts suppliers, advertising agencies, dealers, engineering firms, etc.

For a successful communication between the automotive supply chain links, an automotive translation services provider shall:

Hire professional translators that have knowledge across diverse technical fields.

These fields include, but are not limited to: mechanical & electrical engineering, automation technology, electronics and microelectronics, navigation systems, board computers, wiring, air conditioning, paneling, service and diagnostics.

This would ensure that all the technical terms used in the translation are in accordance to the standards familiar to the local market assembly workers, mechanics, engineers, suppliers and end-customers.

Hire in-house native speakers that have knowledge in logistics, finance, R&D research, marketing, insurance, client relationships, etc.

By being able to effectively communicate both upstream and downstream, a supplier can better integrate its actions to work seamlessly to meet the needs of a client company on any terms, instead of the terms of business being dictated by language barriers

Ensure that all translators used for an automotive translation project have shared real-time access to dictionaries, specialised glossaries and translation memory systems.

And in cases when the customer provides its own translation support tool, to held training courses and teach automotive translators how to use it.

Apply stringent project management and quality assurance control.

Assigning a Subject Matter Expert (SME) to the automotive translators’ team and appointing multiple translation quality managers to perform internal quality control procedures through all the stages of the translation project which also covers the computer-based translation processes.

Obviously, translators involved in automobile translation projects need to not only understanding the technical aspects of the products they are dealing with, but must also be aware of the market in which they are being marketed. The difference between technical language and market/retail language is large and important.

The best practice will be the integration of a translation company in the supply chain processes. When working at several levels of the automobile supply chain i.e. for OEMs and suppliers, the language service provider will get familiar with the internal glossary and preferred vocabulary terms, translation support tools and style guides and will successfully apply the language requirements from one link of the chain to another.

It’s always best for the translation services provider to be embedded into the manufacturing supply chain in order to be able to aptly understand it from inside and accurately interpret the important aspects of the lucrative international auto parts industry and its successful marketing.

If you require automobile translation services please feel free to contact translation compant EVS Translations UK Sales Manager – Mr Gregg Babbs, for a detailed quotation either by phone 0044-1159-644283
or by email

The EVS Translations automotive translation service portfolio

Automotive translation services

Desislava Nikolova is a freelance writer and currently works for translation company EVS Translations.

Involvement of a language services provider in the process of founding and managing a European Company (SE)

2010-12-14T14:01:00.000-08:00

Involvement of a language services provider in the process of founding and managing a European Company (SE)

The European Company (Societas Europaea (SE)) Statute enables companies to operate their businesses on a European-wide basis and be governed by a supra-national European law directly applicable in the Member States, rather than by national law.

Registering a European company can be a profitable business decision, which can improve a company’s global competitiveness, reduce administrative and legal costs, and make decision-making processes faster and more efficient.

A European Company's governing body shall convene general meeting of shareholders and either a management board and a supervisory board (two-tier system) or an administrative board (single-tier system).

SEs can be formed in the following ways:

By merger of national companies from different Member States.

By the creation of a joint venture between companies in different Member States.

By the creation of a SE subsidiary of a national company.

By the conversion of a public limited company previously formed under national law.

However a European Company is formed, it cannot be registered and brought into existence unless an agreement on arrangements for employee involvement has been concluded, or if the period for negotiations has expired without an agreement having been reached.

EU member states differ in the degree of worker involvement in corporate management. In Germany, most large corporations are required to allow employees to elect a certain percentage of seats on the supervisory board. Other member states, such as the UK, have no such requirement. In those states the normal procedure is adopting the standard rules.

Involvement of employees in the decision-making process guarantees the right of employees to influence decisions to be taken within the company using the mechanisms of information, consolation and participation.

Employee involvement in an SE is governed by the provisions of EU Directive 2001/86/EC.

After the management bodies of the participating companies draw up a plan for the establishment of a European Company, they shall take the necessary steps to start negotiations with the representatives of the companies' employees on arrangements for the involvement of employees in the SE.

For this purpose, a special negotiating body (SNB) shall be created. Its members shall be elected or appointed in proportion to the number of employees employed in each Member State by the participating companies and concerned subsidiaries or establishments.

SNB is responsible for negotiating an agreement establishing a European Works Councils (EWC) or setting up a Representative Body (RB) similar to an EWC.

Negotiations may take up to six months and can be extended up to a total of one year.

When and if an agreement is concluded, then the general meeting of shareholders steps in the approval of the formation of a Societas Europaea.

The registration of a European Company must be disclosed in the Official Journal of the European Communities. Every SE must be registered in the State where it has its registered office, in a register designated by the law of that State.

Involvement of a language services provider in the process of founding and managing a European Company (SE)

In preparation for any of the meetings, of establishing a SNB, RB and EWC, a translation company shall translate all background documents that have to be presented and discussed at the meeting, along with the draft agreements and meeting’s agenda.

When management and employees’ representatives negotiate on an agreement for establishing European Works Councils, all those meetings have to be documented with translations into all languages of the participants.
Participants in those negotiations are managers and employees from each Member State of the participating companies and concerned subsidiaries or establishments.

Often independent experts and trade unions are also involved in the negotiations process.

This means that the language translations needed can reach to and even exceed 23 languages.

For all of the aforementioned meetings, at least 2 interpreters per language shall be available.
Every participant must be able to communicate with all the others.

It is advisable that simultaneous interpretation is used, instead of consecutive interpretation. Consecutive interpreting can slow down the meeting in times.

Meetings for establishing European Works Councils are similar to multilingual conference ones and similar techniques to conference interpreting apply.

It is not advisable to rely on a single interpreter per language, because one interpreter cannot effectively interpret for more than a couple of hours at most.

Interpreters must work in team of at least two interpreters per language using the most suitable for the event simultaneous interpreting techniques and relevant technical equipment.

As a practise, European Work Councils meet couple of times per year and all those meetings require the involvement of relevant interpretation and language translation professionals.
Best practise will be to use the services of the same translation company for every meeting and this way ensuring consistency year on year.

After meetings, it's important that every participant has an accurate record of what was said and what was agreed upon.
A translation company must provide full translations of the minutes and the meeting’s executive summary report along with a full transcript which to be used for archiving purposes.

Finally, the negotiated agreements must be translated in comparison to the prior translated draft agreements.

The need for professional language services in the process of founding and managing a European Company (SE) can be best met by a translation company that:

It is preferable that the translation company is based in Germany.

The idea of employee participation in SE was taken from, and based on the German model of involvement of employees in corporate management.

Germany is the country with the highest number of active EWCs. According to the Database on European Works Council Agreements, currently there are 969 active EWCs and 315 of them are active in Germany.

It can be assumed that a Germany-based translation company will have the most experience working for establishing and managing EWCs and SEs.

Has excellent knowledge of SE and Works Councils legislation at European and local level.

A translation company shall be specialised in the relatively new legal form of European Company and employee involvement models and be familiar with the relevant European Union legislation.

The main characteristics of the Societas Europaea are determined by the European SE Regulation 2 and SE Directive 3; however certain characteristics are governed by national law.

An EWC agreement is always signed under the EWC legislation of the country where the parent company is established.

A translation company must have knowledge of SE and EWC legislation applicable in various Member States.

Has a satisfying knowledge of the Member States Trade Unions legislation (especially applicable in countries, such as Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, which have strong, centralized trade unions).
Involvement of trade unions on equal footage with employee representatives in the negotiations process is a common practise. It is they who must negotiate the level of employee participation and make it a reality.

Has the ability to access a large team of in-house and freelance translators with a proven track of experience in SE and Works Councils negotiations.

Has a professional pool of simultaneous interpreters with experience in interpreting for EWC and/or multilingual conferences.

A translation company shall be able to provide interpreter teams for all of the 23 official EU languages to accompany the European Company foundation proceedings and the work of the newly founded SE Works Councils.

Has access to suitable simultaneous conference interpreting equipment.

If required, a translation company shall also be able to provide the necessary interpreting technical equipment (traditionally those are soundproof interpreter booths, interpreter consoles, wireless headsets, etc.)

Offers high quality meetings’ executive summary reports, translation of minutes and transcription services.

Executive Summaries contain the highlights of a meeting, listing the main facts and the opinions of the participants (couple of pages per hour of audio).

Translation of minutes refers to conference minutes at the time.

It is advisable that every meeting is both audio and video recorded and later the data is used for carrying out the transcription process. Transcription is the conversion of a spoken language source into written form.

The transcript (a full record of the meeting) is kept in archives for future references.

Offers Desktop Publishing Solutions
A translation services provider shall offer a full set of desktop publishing solutions, so that the meetings’ reports, minutes’ transcripts and meeting negotiations are ready for immediate distribution.

Accepts confidentiality and security issues very seriously and is ready to sign a non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements.

If you require Works Council meeting translation services/ conference interpreting services please feel free to contact translation company EVS Translations UK Sales Manager – Mr Gregg Babbs, for a detailed quotation by phone 0044-1159-644283.

Nikolova writes for EVS Translations, a translation company that is specialisied in Works Council translation. Conference interpreting services. Simultaneous interpretation.

Desislava Nikolova is a freelance writer and currently works for translation company EVS Translations.

2007-09-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

Дайте своето мнение за Наградата за Български Роман на Фондация ВИК

2007-09-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

Фондация ВИК. Награда за Български Роман на Годината.

Гласуване за Български Роман на Годината

"Български роман на годината" е единствения литературен конкурс в България, в който читателите участват пряко. Петият член на журито е читателският вот.
Тази година читателите ще могат да дадат своя вот от 1 септември до 15 октомври чрез талони публикувани във в."Дневен труд"

и на http://www.vickfoundation.com/bg/glasuvane.htm

Смятаме, че по този начин българските читатели ще имат достатъчно време да се запознаят обстойно с 6-те заглавия и да дадат своя вот в литературната надпревара
Участието им в "Български роман на годината" предоставя възможност да спечелят разнообразни награди.

Може да дадете гласа си тук:

http://www.vickfoundation.com/bg/glasuvane.htm

2007-09-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

Vick Foundation.

Vick Prize for the Bulgarian Novel of the Year

Vick Foundation was established by Edward Vick in February 2004
Its purpose is to assist, develop and promote Bulgarian fiction inside and outside Bulgaria.
The objective of its founder is to attract interest for works of contemporary Bulgarian writers.
The focus is the Vick Prize, an annual competition for the best Bulgarian novel of the year

The prize is BGN 10,000, with the option of a free translation of the novel into English.

It is awarded to the author of the best bulgarian novel as determined by the jury.The responsibility of the jury is to determine the qualifying books from which a short list of six is selected.

2007-09-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

EVS Translation company

One of Europe’s Largest Translation Providers

The EVS Group is one of Europe’s leading translation companies providing professional translation services, localisation and interpreting services. From its headquarters in Offenbach am Main, the steadily growing company employs more than 40 in-house translators and project managers in addition to coordinating more than 1,350 freelance translators worldwide. EVS Translations has a further three offices in Germany: in Berlin, Cologne and Munich, as well as branches in the UK, Spain, Bulgaria, Poland and the Ukraine. Additional offices in Italy and France are in the pipeline.
EVS Translations provides project management and coordination across various industries. Operating managers and native speaker project managers handle at least 10,000 orders every year, providing services to over 1,000 customers. Charts of accounts for two key German state banks are translated, each with over 5,000 entries. Since 2000, over 40 annual reports have been translated each year. EVS also creates dictionaries and glossaries in line with customer requirements with as many as 35,000 entries. These cover areas such as automotive, insurance, marketing and engineering, as well as one of the largest IAS and IFRS databases for financial documentation.
IT solutions are provided by the in-house EDP department. Its main objective is accelerating and simplifying processes for both customers and translators. New formats, translation memories, data conversion and translator tools optimise quality and performance.

Services:
- Financial/Banking translation
- Technical translation
- Advertising translation
- Legal translation
- Automotive translation
- Literary translation
- IT/Website translation
- Construction translation
- Pharma/Chemical translation
- Translation localisation
- Interpreting services
- Desktop publishing

http://www.evs-translations.com

2007-09-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

Web design.Web marketing and SEO. Web and IT services.Offshore IT outsourcing Eastern Europe

From basic website design and maintenance to web marketing and promotion, Design ZN offers a variety of services to effectively establish your presence on the Internet। To meet your online goals We offer IT outsourcing options to Eastern Europe

Design ZN's services aren't just limited to website design and web marketing।We also offer other services, such as: database design, flash and multimedia, e-commerce services, software development, web hosting, domain name registration, as well as other web and IT solutions।

We are a relatively small company that provides cost-effective solutions for your internet needs। Compared to hiring a larger Western European development team, Design ZN can save you up to 40-50% of the cost and also provide you with better and more attentive service.

Based in Eastern Europe, we offer IT outsourcing services, include software outsourcing, application development outsourcing and web design outsourcing। By oursourcing to Design ZN, you can have the same if not better service for lower prices than almost anywhere in Western Europe or the USA. With Design ZN, you can be assured of high quality services at a very reasonable price.

Read more: http://www.design-zn.com/

2007-09-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

Translation company EVS at the Language Recruitment Fair in London

Business at EVS continues to go from strength to strength and the company is focusing on expanding its operations across Europe. Naturally, this process also calls for innovative ways of attracting suitably qualified staff. To this end, EVS will be exhibiting for the first time at this year’s Language Recruitment Fair in London, which runs from November 2 to 4। Aimed at multilingual specialists with a cross-cultural background, the event represents the ideal forum for EVS to meet directly with suitable candidates and make contacts. For more information about the fair, visit http://www.languagerecruitmentfair.co.uk/

Translators wanted

EVS Translations to attend largest staff recruitment fair for the first time

EVS, one of Europe’s leading translation companies, will be exhibiting for the first time at The Language Recruitment Fair in London, the industry’s largest staff recruitment fair। From November 2 to 4, EVS will be represented at its own stand (stand 72).

“We are particularly interested in employing highly skilled and experienced translators who will support our continued expansion. We don’t set any upper age limit on candidates – quality and commitment are what matter to us”, says Edward Vick, Founder and CEO of EVS Translations, explaining the aim of the company’s participation at this year’s event।

EVS Translations has expanded rapidly since its foundation in 1991। With a current staff of over 40 in-house translators, the company also works with 1,350 freelance translators worldwide. Together, they supply a comprehensive range of language services to over 1,000 clients drawn from all sectors. In addition to its German headquarters in Offenbach am Main, the company has offices in Berlin, Cologne and Munich as well as European branches in Nottingham (UK) and Sofia (Bulgaria). The company also plans to open offices in Spain, Italy and France.

Visit at
The Language Recruitment Fair
November 2 – 4, 2007 in London
Ground Floor, Stand 72
(Olympia 2, Hammersmith Road, London, W148UX)

You can also order free tickets here:

http://www।languagerecruitmentfair.co.uk/free_ticket.php