Nottingham-based translation company, SanTranslate has been working with De Montfort University in Leicester providing interpreters for a video they have developed showcasing the experience that some of their international students have enjoyed whilst studying there.

We provided interpreters in Mandarin, Thai, Lithuanian and Polish to help in the production of the video – the first time that De Montfort has used this medium in its campaign to attract students from overseas.

UK universities are popular with international students and it’s great to see De Montfort tapping into SanTranslate’s experience of working with the higher education sector in such a creative way.  Take a look at their video here.  De Montfort provides a wide range of support for international students to help them settle into life in the UK as well as assistance in improving their spoken and written English.

SanTranslate can also help international students through our certificate translation service which students may find useful when applying for visas.

At SanTranslate we are dedicated to finding ways to improve our customer service.  This means that, not only do we have procedures in place to communicate clearly at all stages of a project, our back room processes are also geared towards ensuring that the service our clients experience is second to none.  We’re thrilled to be one of the very few Nottingham based translation companies to have achieved this standard.

We also benchmark ourselves against other translation and interpretation providers so that we can learn from what they do right – and sometimes from what they do wrong.

It’s important to us – and to our clients – that the service we provide is not just good but that it is consistently good.  We want our clients to know that we’ll look after them every step of the way throughout a translation project, time and time again.  Which is why we’re delighted to say that the effort we’ve put into developing customer-focused systems has resulted in SanTranslate being awarded ISO9001 certification.  This process can take a long time to go through so we were thrilled to achieve the accreditation in just one month.

ISO9001 is a stanard that is a quality management standard achieved by just 5% of UK businesses and we’re proud to have achieved our certification at our first application.  ISO9001 accreditation does not assess how customer-friendly our process are – it’s our job to care about that and to take client feedback on board – but it does thoroughly test that we stick to our procedures consistently, and that’s what’s important to us and to you.

We’ve seen a recent flurry of enquiries for certificate translation from Chinese into English – because more Chinese professionals are migrating to the Nordic region to work.  The translated certificate is required for their visa application.

SanTranslate can, of course, translate certificates into any language and our comprehensive certificate translation package includes a Company Declaration, a duplicate of your source copy and our translation to confirm that the translated text is a true and accurate copy of the document submitted to us.

An interesting recent trend has been an increase in enquiries for translation from and into Romanian.  Romanian is the official language of Romania, Ukraine and of Moldova where, for political reasons, it is known as Moldovan.  It is also, we were surprised to read, spoken by 5% of the population of Israel.  It is spoken by about 24 million people.

While there are differences in dialect in spoken Romanian, the written language is standard throughout the areas it is spoken.

We’re happy to say that SanTranslate is able to provide translation into and from Romanian for any business who needs to communicate with these countries.

The East Midlands-China Business Bureau is inviting East Midlands companies and education institutions a one day event to gain insight into the business opportunities in China for 2010.

Withspecialist information on Shanghai World Expo 2010, China’s Fiscal Stimulus programme, the East Midlands Market Visit to China in October 2010 it’s an event not to be missed if trade – or are thinking of trading – with China.

The afternoon will include break-out sessions on protecting your IP; setting up in China; market research and choosing the right partner; and communicate effectively with your Chinese partner.

Date:   25th June

Time:  09:00 – 15:00

Venue:  Holywell Park, Loughborough University

Price:  Free for East Midlands business and organisations

For more information about the event, call   0115 947 1766 .

A little while ago we translated a Chinese tender document into English for a construction sector client.  It’s a major project so it’s important that all parties are of the same understanding.  As always with major tenders of this sort, there is a lot of ongoing correspondence as contracts are negotiated.  As communications continue and legalities come into the picture, accurate legal translation is essential to ensure that both client and contractor understand each other clearly and that both are protected.

The tendering and contracting process can be fraught with difficulties at the best of times and with differences in language, culture and legal systems can become very complex.  Whilst good quality legal translation may look like an additional cost to bear in a process that can cost around £5,000-£10,000, the costs of errors arising from misunderstandings can be much greater so it’s worth factoring in the support of a translation company that will assist the smooth running of your negotiations.

EMITA, the East Midlands International Trade Association, is running a workshop on Thursday 8th July giving businesses 25 tips to improve their international web marketing.  Web marketing expert, Susan Hallam, will be sharing ways of using search engines, social media and advertising to increase the number of visitors to your web site and improve the conversion of visits to sales.

Undoubtedly, this will all be valuable information to help you trade internationally via the web, something we’re quite big fans of ourselves.  But don’t forget one crucial thing – not everyone uses English.  If you’re getting serious about trading globally you might want to consider having your website translated into your target language(s).

If you’re planning on getting your web site translated into another language, it’s worth talking to us at SanTranslate – because we could be able to make the process much more streamlined than other translators.

This is because we have in-house web site expertise that means we are able to translate directly into CRM systems such as Kentico, Drupal and WordPress, rather than send our clients translated copy in Word which they then have to have input into the site themselves.  This takes a whole stage out of the process of developing a translated web site, meaning your international web strategy gets up and running much more quickly.

Nothing contributes more to making a brilliant first impression than paying attention to detail – and it doesn’t have to be difficult or costly to do this in global business.

If you are travelling overseas on business the simplest thing you can do to create a good impression is to present your business card translated into the local language. It will be regarded as a sign of respect and is sure to make your business stand out from those who neglect to take this easy step.

Our Business Card typesetting service is a quick and easy way to gain that competitive edge.  Simply provide a copy of your business card in InDesign or Quark and tell us which language you want it translated into. We will deliver a document that is ready to be sent to your printers in the right format – or we can print it for you.

SanTranslate has just won an ongoing project to provide interpretation for an Italian company through their agent in Berkshire.  They were looking for a cost effective source of Italian interpretation and we were happy to oblige.

Although SanTranslate is based in Nottingham we can provide interpreters throughout the UK, usually based very locally to the client, and this means that we very rarely need to charge for travelling time.  So if you need an interpreter for an hour, that’s all you pay for – no extra costs to cover their travelling a couple of hours on top.

Ferrari have launched themselves in China and are enabling Chinese fans of motorsport to get their Ferrari news firsthand, thanks to some translation support from SanTranslate.

We translate TV live TV commentary from English into Simplified Chinese and this is posted immediately onto the official Ferrari web site, ensuring that Chinese fans can get almost immediate access to motor racing commentary without having to wait for second-hand reports on other TV channels.