May 2008 - The Translation People

Archive for May, 2008

Business Language Champions Workshop

May 28th, 2008

The Business Language Champions (BLC) programme is co-ordinated by the Regional Language Network and is designed to increase uptake of languages in schools. Students at Lyndon School in Solihull learnt the true value of language skills recently when they were visited by Roevin. Liz Athey, Operations Manager visited the school to speak to students about the importance of language skills in the workplace.

solihull

Pictured: (left, back) Frances Pallett, BLC Programme Co-ordinator, Regional Language Network, (right, back) Giuseppa Mirisola-Haines, teacher at Lyndon School, (centre, front) Liz Athey, Operations Manager at Roevin with students from the winning quiz team.

Through interactive presentations, Liz spoke to Year 9 students about the advantages languages bring in the jobs market, the variety of interpreting and translation careers available and the potential salaries of qualified linguists. Students also took part in team quizzes where they had to recognise languages from short paragraphs and guess the most commonly spoken languages worldwide.

The event was well received and enjoyed by all, as Giuseppa Mirisola-Haines, Spanish and French teacher at Lyndon School, said:

“I am very grateful to Liz for taking the time to speak with our students. The presentation and quizzes really got our students involved and they were particularly interested to learn about the variety of roles which demand languages and the salaries they could potentially earn if they continue with their studies.”

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National Launch of Gateways into Languages

May 23rd, 2008

The Gateways into Languages graduate placement programme celebrated its official launch in April at the Institute of Engineering and Technology on London’s Savoy Place.

The event celebrated the success of the pilot phase of the DIUS-funded programme, which aims to improve the employability of students graduating from postgraduate translation courses through work placements in translation companies. Roevin took part in the project in partnership with the Association of Translation Companies , CILT, the national centre for languages, six universities and four other ATC-member translation companies.

Liz Athey, Operations Manager, pictured with Lord Dearing at the Gateways into Languages launch event

The pilot phase of the programme demonstrated that a successful partnership between employers and HE institutions can produce excellent results by improving the work readiness of students and raising their awareness of how the industry works through first hand experience. Three of the nine students who took part in the pilot programme have been offered jobs in their host companies, including our own Natasha Williams, who initially joined us on placement last July, but soon proved herself indispensable!

The project has proved so successful that it has received extra funding from DIUS to develop the partnership further across England.

The launch was attended by students, employers and universities already taking part in the project, along with representatives from other translation companies, who had the chance to see for themselves the benefits of the scheme. Speeches came from Lord Dearing, a long-term supporter of Apprenticeships and Anne Davidson Lund, CILT’s Director of Policy Research.

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Language Spotlight: Serbian

May 23rd, 2008

Gail Owen

Few realise that Serbian and Croatian are actually two separate languages and Serbo-Croatian no longer exists. There is much discussion in the literary world as to whether Serbo-Croatian actually ever did exist as a language. Many Croatian linguists would argue that there never has been a unified language and that Serbian and Croatian have always been very distinct, some Serbian linguists argue the complete opposite.

Whilst the two languages are often said to be mutually intelligible, and do share quite a lot of vocabulary, linguistically they are individual languages in their own right. Roevin guarantees that your Serbian translations will only ever be completed by a native Serbian speaker and never by a Croatian; there are subtle, but significant differences between the two languages, we acknowledge the importance of these differences and ensure the most appropriate translator works on your text.

Opinions are not the only distinguishing factor between these languages. Croats only use the Latin alphabet; whilst Serbian is written with both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. It is difficult to specify exactly what percentage of the population commonly uses which alphabet, but both appear to be taught equally in Serbian schools. Before the formation of The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918 the Cyrillic alphabet was used everywhere. After 1918 Latin became more popular and was used in certain areas of modern day Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia. Jovan Skerlic, a famous literary historian from Belgrade proposed that Latin be deemed the sole alphabet of use to avoid continued literary confusion. However, no official guidelines were put in place to secure this and the confusion did and to some extent still does continue. According to research completed by the Association for the Protection of Cyrillic, over 50% of public inscriptions are in the Latin alphabet.

Today Cyrillic is the official alphabet and is used in all the official documents, reports and the majority of newspapers. However, most university text books are written in the Latin alphabet, although high school text books are still mostly written in Cyrillic. In the main, technical papers, medical reports, press releases and documents which contain a large number of trademarks or foreign loan words appear in the Latin alphabet. Financial, legal texts are found mainly in Cyrillic.

Roevin’s Serbian translators only translate into their mother tongue and our account managers liaise closely with the translators to ensure that they translate into the most appropriate alphabet for your particular document

Roevin provides high quality translations from and into Serbian. For a free quotation please contact us.

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Roevin welcomes Louisa Matthews and Steve Holden

May 20th, 2008

The Manchester branch recently welcomed Louisa Matthews to the team as a Project Manager. Louisa graduated from the University of Birmingham with a BA (Hons) in Hispanic Studies in 2006 and has decided that a career in the translation industry is where her talents and interests lie. Louisa spent her year abroad in Barcelona and, since completing her studies, has spent time in Valencia.

Louisa Matthews, Project Manager

As well as being able to speak Spanish, Portuguese and Galician, Louisa is a prize-winning Latin American dancer! You can contact Louisa at louisa.matthews@thetranslationpeople.com

Earlier this month, Steve Holden joined the company as our new Financial Controller. Steve, who is based in our Manchester office, has 10 years experience in finance and is responsible for the smooth running of all aspects of our accounts function.

Steve Holden, Roevin’s new Financial Controller

Steve is married and when not at work he spends as much time as he can with his 12 month old son, Seth. Steve can be contacted at steve.holden@thetranslationpeople.com

And Roevin says goodbye to…Cathrine Fredriksson who leaves her post as Account Manager in our Glasgow in June to return home to her native Sweden. Cathrine will be missed by us all!

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ITI Regional Network Event

May 14th, 2008

Roevin is a longstanding corporate member of the The Institute of Translation & Interpreting (ITI) which was founded in 1986 as the only independent professional association of practising translators and interpreters in the UK. It is now one of the primary sources of information on these services to government, industry, the media and the general public. It aims to promote the highest standards in the profession. The ITI also has a very well-developed system of networks and regional groups of which some Roevin staff are members. The regional groups organise professional and social events which share good practice and update members on the latest trends in the industry.

The group, pictured admiring the stone houses

West Midlands Regional ITI Group members Natasha Williams and Gail Owen from the Birmingham office took part in the group’s annual winter walk to the stone houses at Kinver Edge. The 6-mile walk and dinner provided an excellent opportunity for discussion and networking for the group which includes freelance translators and translation industry professionals.

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Roevin is Changing…

May 5th, 2008

In Issue 17 of the newsletter, we informed you that Roevin Translation Services had transferred to new independent ownership. To mark our new beginning as an independent company we will be refreshing our brand identity during the summer under a new name: The Translation People. Our website address has already changed in preparation for the name change and we look forward to sharing our new look with you soon!

Your usual team will of course remain in place, providing the same high quality translation and related language services you are used to. We will be letting you know by email and post when the change of name becomes official.