October 2007 - Global View Newsletter
ONE GLOBE, 6912 LANGUAGES: BE UNDERSTOOD, USE A PROFESSIONAL!
A frantic mother brings her baby to the emergency room. Her 10-year-old son acts as an interpreter between doctor and mom. A marketing executive lands a multimillion-dollar worldwide PR campaign. A Human Resources director explains company policies to a non-native employee; he smiles blankly while nodding. A fortune 500 company discovers that its popular logo has been reproduced illegally in Asia. A soldier is notified that in 6 weeks he will be deployed to Iraq. What do all of these above scenarios have in common: The need for a professional linguist.
Our world is no longer bound by the restrictions of travel, time or even money. We all share a globe comprised of over 6 billion people speaking nearly 7,000 languages. The needs for professional translators and interpreters are endless.
Translation and Interpretation is a skill that is studied and perfected just like any other collegiate profession, not simply an act done by a bilingual person. It requires education and experience in translation and interpretation along with expertise in the subject matter at hand. As with other industries, it demands that providers be tested, certified and accredited to ensure the accuracy of the information conveyed.
U.S. Translation Company (USTC) is a Utah based organization that knows the language industry inside and out. It contracts 1400+ top-level linguists worldwide speaking over 100 languages with expertise in nearly every field imaginable. Using their proprietary tracking system, USTC manages projects from small certificates to conventions for 50,000.
Some of the most common projects USTC sees today center around the vast population of immigrants in the United States. Over 40 million foreign-born individuals living in the US comprise 12% of the population. A recent statistic published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics states that, “In 2006, 937 Hispanic workers were fatally injured while at work, a new series high.”
Many believe that the fatality and injury rate for these individuals is higher due to a lack of understanding in safety procedures. To combat this, companies are translating employee manuals and having professional interpreters at important training sessions.
US immigrants also have an impressive combined expendable income. Some reports estimate the US Hispanic purchasing power to be over $1 trillion, spurring companies and firms to target this group directly with multilingual marketing.
The Internet, VOIP and improved shipping practices have made the world a virtual mega mall. In order to reach the world, marketers are getting more creative with brochures, websites, web-casts, PR stunts and more. Translation in marketing goes well beyond a simple exchange of words; culture, attitudes, beliefs, buying habits, regional location and demographics also have to be taken into consideration. Because of this, the translation must be more of a transcultural creation. Many companies have made some severe cross-cultural marketing “faux pas” by using non-professional linguists - just look at the “got milk” campaign that was directly translated into Spanish as “are you lactating”.
National and International companies are also using professional language services more and more in order to meet the European Union’s demanding CE requirements. In order to import many products such as medical and manufacturing equipment, the EU requires that instructions and operation and maintenance manuals be in the country’s native language. Translations for these products are generally technical in nature and require extreme accuracy.
The New England Journal of Medicine published an article in July of 2006 addressing the rise in medical malpractice cases due to the lack of professional interpretation available at emergency and routine appointments. This has sparked several legislative proposals to require professional interpreters when needed.
Law firms are fighting Intellectual Property (IP) infringement cases overseas in product replications, logo misuse, software piracy and more. They need high-level language support not just to fight this, but also to ensure proper IP protection before a product is launched.
For professional multilingual projects, U.S. Translation Company has the expert linguists and experience to tackle any type of assignment, whether it’s local, national or international. They are highly accredited, achieving ISO 9001:2008 certification, are an SBA 8(a) firm and have won the 2007 Small Minority Business of the Year by the Salt Lake Chamber and the 2007 Top Minority Business to Watch by the Hispanic Chamber and Zions Bank.
U.S. Translation Company: Superior quality Interpretation and Translation Services in over 100 Languages!
