For example, the influx of Polish workers to the UK has caused small businesses to set up and flourish, there’s a bigger demand now for, say, Polish food than there was in the 90s.

Khalid’s a Kurdish refugee. But he’s named his supermarket after Poland’s capital city. And he’s selling Polish food. He simply spotted a gap in the market. And he’s very happy here.

Khalid’s one of several Kurdish businessmen targeting Polish migrant workers. At Mohammed Ibrahim’s barbers the signs are Polish. But the shop’s called Halabja, the city in which Saddam Hussein gassed thousands of Kurds and where Mohammed used to live. Mohammed’s married to a Pole.

Many businesses and large corporations now have to translate many of their official documents, such as manuals and health and safety documents, into Polish due to the increasing number of Polish workers here in the UK.

The food that we eat, the music that we listen to, and the clothes that we wear have all been influenced by different cultures coming into Britain. Foreign foods, for example, are part of an average British diet. One of Britain’s favourite dishes is Indian, that being all the varieties of curry. Britons have enjoyed curry for a surprisingly long time – the first curry on a menu was in 1773!

Even English is based on the languages spoken by Anglo-Saxons, Scandinavian Vikings and Norman French invaders, with words added from the languages of other immigrants over the years!

In Britain today there is an estimated ‘ethnic minority’ population of just over 4 million. We live in a country rich in cultural heritage; but the value in this diversity is sometimes not fully seen or understood.

Immigration used to be a product of Britain’s colonial links. First, migrant workers came from all parts of the Empire, from Pakistan to the Caribbean. Then asylum seekers came from countries like Zimbabwe and Iraq.

Valuing our diverse culture in Britain today is all about understanding and respecting other people’s beliefs and ways of life (as we would expect others to respect ours). It is about supporting individuals in keeping their cultural traditions alive and appreciating the fact that all these different cultural traditions will enrich British life both today and in the future.

http://www.mylearning.org/jpage.asp?jpageid=2022&journeyid=441

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/articles/2008/10/13/radford_road_hyson_green_feature.shtml

At the beginning of my work placement, I was given some documents to practice, which were documents which had already been translated such as Birth Certificates. It was interesting to discover new kinds of translations, different to the ones we do at university. I feel that my translation skills improved a lot during my time here.

The translations or proofreading I carried out were varied, so I could learn and discover a broad range of new terms. When I had any questions, I could ask my colleagues or the other interns who were always happy to help me. I also had to deal with some projects in a team with another intern, which was good to share our opinions and justify our translation choices etc.

I took part in several projects, including a voice-over one. I liked being given the opportunity of discovering something else other than translation and participating in the voice-over, from proofreading the target text and recording it, to editing the video.

Marion

This question is a very interesting one that has a rather complicated answer.  Estimates of how many people speak a language are quite general and can vary considerably.  For example, estimates for English vary from 275 to 450 million, Spanish from 150 to over 300 million, Hindi from 150 to 350 million, and Russian from 150 to 180 million.

To further complicate matters, the definition of “speaker” can be vague.  Some surveys of languages give information on native speakers only.  Others count both native speakers and secondary speakers (those who use the language regularly or primarily even though it is not their native language).

Lastly, it is important to consider not only the population (number) of language speakers, but also the geographic distribution of these languages.  Some languages have relatively large populations of native speakers but are used almost exclusively in a few countries.  On the other hand, other languages have relatively small populations of native speakers but are used in many different countries as an official or national language.

The Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) Ethnologue Survey lists the following as the top languages by population:

1. Chinese
2. Spanish
3. English
4. Hindi/Urdu
5. Arabic
6. Bengali
7. Portuguese
8. Russian
9. Japanese
10. German

World languages and the World Cup

Unless you’ve been in hiding for the past few weeks you will be well aware that the World Cup is currently taking place. The World Cup is a global event. Every nation on earth watches it and talks about it. Even if your nation isn’t one of the lucky 32 that gets to compete, you’re still oddly involved Non-football fans watch as well, which is curious when you think about it.

But not everyone speaks English, so not everyone calls this tournament the World Cup. In French it’s the “Coupe du Monde”, in German the “Weltmeisterschaft”, in Spanish the “Copa Mundial” and in Italian Il Mondiale.

Below is a list of translations, from Afrikaans to Hebrew to Welsh…

Afrikaans: Wêreldbeker
Arabic: كأس العالم
Belarusian: Кубак свету
Bulgarian: Световно първенство
Catalan: Copa del Món
Chinese: 世界杯
Czech: Světový pohár
Danish: Verdenmesterskab (or VM for short)
Dutch: Wereldkampioenschap voetbal
Finnish: Maailmancup
Flemish: Weireldkampioenschap sjotten
French: Coupe du Monde
Galician: Campionato do Mundo
German: Weltmeisterschaft (or WM for short)
Greek: Παγκόσμιο Κύπελλο
Hebrew: גביע העולם
Hungarian: Világ Kupa
Icelandic: Heimsmeistarakeppnin
Indonesian: Piala Dunia
Irish: Corn an Domhain
Italian: Il Mondiale
Japanese: W杯
Korean: 세계 축구
Lithuanian: Pasaulio čempionatas
Macedonian: Светско првенство
Malay: Piala Dunia
Maltese: Tazza tad-Dinja
Persian: جام جهانی
Portuguese: Copa do Mundo
Romanian: Cupa Mondială
Russian: Кубок мира
Serbian: Светско првенство
Slovakian: Svetový pohár
Slovenian: Svetovni pokal
Spanish: La Copa Mundial
Swedish: Världscupen (aka VM)
Thai: ฟุตบอลโลก
Turkish: Dünya Kupası
Ukrainian: Кубок світу
Vietnamese: Cúp bóng đá thế giới
Welsh: Cwpan y Byd

Information sources:

http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-football/how-to-say-world-cup-in-36-languages.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/yoursay/false_friends.shtml

After a yearlong process, Wolfestone Translations one of the UK’s leading translation companies has gained the prestigious Investors in People accreditation. Wolfestone Translation provides translation, interpretating and other language services to business throughout the UK and internationally.

In order to gain accreditation Wolfestone has had to undergo a process of implementing change within the business. This has included new procedures, extensive training and personal development planned for staff and so on.

Director of Wolfestone Anna Bastek says “We’re extremely proud to have achieved this accreditation. In the last two years our business has grown dramatically and this has been in no small part to our staff.” “At Wolfestone, we know that the most effective way to continue this progress is to help our staff achieve their full potential.”

This accreditation highlights why Wolfestone has been one of the Welsh business success stories during our darkest of economic times. Wolfestone puts trust in its people to develop, enabling the business to drive forward.

“Wolfestone doesn’t see this as a finishing point for our development. It is very much the beginning of us moving the business forward, both nationally and internationally. In fact we now have offices and teams based in Houston and Germany” says Anna.

It’s clear to see that Wolfestone is fast becoming one of the businesses to watch during 2010!

It is hoped that the scheme, which is being run through Swansea University School of Business and Economics, will help some 700 businesses over the next 7 years, with the first cohort completing the scheme within 10 months. It is intended that the scheme, which provides each participant with £10,000 worth of training, will enable these businesses to “increase profitability, enable diversification and encourage business growth.” Pilot schemes trialled in the North West led to increased turnover, employment, productivity and profits.

The scheme itself involves two days study per month, which started in February with an overnight weekend experiential team-building event. Mr Allkin said about the first session “The weekend was about ice breaking and leadership training and I think the event was a great success. It really brought to light the diversity of businesses in Swansea and the real entrepreneurial talent that exists here”. Following on from this each participant is supported by the expertise of academics, mentors, coaching professionals and, of course, each other. LEAD Wales is unique in that it is a programme which attempts to meet the needs of growing companies as opposed to traditional business management courses which are aimed at start-ups or public sector managers seeking to enhance their career prospects.

When asked how she felt about the honour of being chosen for such an elite scheme, Miss Bastek said ”I was delighted to be approached by LEAD Wales. It will be very beneficial to team up with so many successful businesses and share experiences and ideas. I’m sure it will also create new business opportunities. I also believe that encouraging collaboration between higher education and the private sector will help to drive forward the Welsh economy.”

Well, one prime example is happening right now. Some of you may have noticed that we have a layer of white stuff on the floor at the moment. It’s called snow. It’s the reason it took you 6 hours to get to work today. And, with the exception of 5-year olds throwing snowballs, most of us are already pretty fed up with it. But not everyone.

My sister in law is South African, and, not surprisingly, when she was growing up, she didn’t see much of the snow. This means that she really enjoys snowfall, because she associates it with novelty and pleasure. In comparison, most Northern Europeans associate it with inconvenience and cold. (In addition, most of the rest of Northern Europe also laughs at our utter incompetence when dealing with more than two flakes of it, but that’s another story). So, how do you translate the sentence “I groaned when I saw 10 inches of snow on the floor”? Not everyone would groan.

Another example would be the tradition in Western culture of celebrating victory by awarding the winner champagne. Although not as old a tradition as some (most notably champagne companies) would have you believe, it is nevertheless seen as a simple connection in our culture. Success=Champagne. However, in other cultures, champagne, being alcohol, is more associated with illegality than success. When Formula 1 expanded into the Middle East, the race winner received a bottle of a sparkling fruit juice-style drink instead. So, again, translating the sentence “The winner got the obligatory bottle of champers” is not necessarily as easy as looking up the word for champagne, especially if the winner would go to prison the moment he accepted his prize.

Finally, what do you do if the language you’re translating into simply doesn’t have an equivalent word for the word you’re translating? Many languages only have one word to cover the colours blue and green, which makes describing a set of snooker balls more challenging.

So, translating is about more than just learning lists of words for school test. You also need to get to know the people and the culture as well. Here at Wolfestone we work exclusively with professionals who have done just that. To utilise their skills, contact us at sales@wolfestone.co.uk.

In practice, transcription/translation and voiceover recordings go hand-in-hand. Quite often a client will have a video in a foreign language and will want to know what a speaker is saying. This first involves writing down what the speaker is saying in his/her own language (Transcription), rendering it into his/her own language (Translation) and then dubbing the translated words over the video footage (Voiceover). This is actually a lengthier process than is usually assumed. Transcribing 10 minutes of well recorded, clear speech will usually take 20-30 minutes. Transcribing 10 minutes of amateur recording can take twice as long. If, in addition, the speaker is not very clear, or the vocabulary is extremely complex, transcription can be a long, drawn-out procedure.

Then there is the translation. There isn’t really a lot to add at this juncture – translation is what we do every day here, and this is simply another translation.

So, then comes the voiceover recording. Again, many people assume that it is just a case of buying a £10 microphone from the local musical instrument shop and plugging it into a tape recorder. For best results, a good studio with modern equipment is necessary. The advent of the digital age has made recording considerably easier than in the old days with reels and reels of tape, but it has also made blemishes more undesirable as it is now relatively cheap to produce high quality recordings. A clear, articulate, well-paced speaking voice is necessary (which, again, is not as easy to find as could be presumed. There is a good reason why professional voiceover artists earn substantial amounts of money.) Rehearsing the text is always advantageous, particularly the longer and more unfamiliar words.

The key factor, however, is being relaxed when recording. This can make the difference between needing one take and twelve. As a rough rule of thumb, recording 30 minutes of audio will take 3-4 times as long. It is then edited, compiled and sent back to the client. And yet another 100% satisfied Wolfestone client enjoys the fruits of our labour, exactly as was planned from the very outset. For a quote, contact us at sales@wolfestone.co.uk.

Y NADOLIG (Christmas):
The custom in many parts of Wales was to attend a very early church service known as “Plygain” (daybreak), Men gathered in rural churches to sing, mainly unaccompanied, three or four part harmony carols in a service that went on for three hours or so. The custom managed to survive in many country areas, and because of its simplicity and beauty is being revived in many others. After the service, a day of feasting and drinking would begin.

GWYL SAN STEFFAN (St. Stephens Day; Boxing Day – December 26th):
The day after Christmas Day was celebrated in a way unique to Wales and included the tradition of “holly-beating” or “holming.” Young men and boys would beat the unprotected arms of young females with holly branches until they bled. In some areas it was the legs that were beaten. In others, it was the custom for the last person to get out of bed in the morning to be beaten with sprigs of holly. These customs died out before the end of the 19th century, thankfully!

NOS GALAN (New Years Eve):
In England in many places it still is the custom that a dark haired man should let in the New Year for good luck. The man leaves the house by the back door just before midnight on New Years Eve, walks around and on the strike of midnight, knocks on the front door. The householder opens the door, and receives from the man the following gifts: salt for seasoning, silver for wealth, coal for warmth, a match for kindling and bread for sustenance. In Wales the custom of letting in the New Year was slightly different in that if the first visitor in the New Year was a woman and the male householder opened the door, that was bad luck. If the first man to cross the threshold in the New Year was a red haired man, that was also bad luck.

Some other Welsh customs associated with the New Year were: “all existing debts were to be paid”; never lend anything to anyone on New Years Day else you would have bad luck; and the behaviour of an individual on this day was an indication of how they would behave all year!

The most popular New Year’s custom was one that was carried out in all parts of Wales: the Calennig (small gift). On January 1st from dawn until noon, groups of young boys would visit all the houses in the village carrying evergreen twigs and a cup of cold water drawn from the local well. The boys would then use the twigs to splash people with water. In return, they would receive the Calennig, usually in the form of copper coins. The custom, in various forms, survived in some areas well after World War II, at least in the form of the chanting of a small verse or two in exchange for small coins.

http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/Wales-History/WelshChristmas.htm

For a quote, contact us at sales@wolfestone.co.uk.

To start with, Christmas isn’t even celebrated on the same day everywhere. The national churches of, amongst others, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Serbia still use the Julian calendar as opposed to the Gregorian one. This means that they celebrate Christmas on January the 7th. The major countries of Central Europe (such as Poland, Austria and Hungary) go in the other direction, and their main celebration is on the 24th of December.

Then there is the meal itself. Turkey is not as universally common as would be thought. In the Czech Republic, carp is a popular meal to serve with the celebrations. In Finland, the dinner is most likely to be a Christmas ham. Greek families often prefer lamb.

Then there are the presents so beloved of children worldwide. Many South American countries give presents on 6th of January. Argentinean children are especially lucky. They receive presents on both the 25th of December and the 6th of January. German children also traditionally get an additional set of presents, usually small things, similar to our Christmas stockings. This happens on the 6th of December.

However, one thing unites every country that celebrates Christmas. It is the joy of celebrating a magical event with your family nearby, for those with children it is the pleasure that they get from playing with their new toys on Christmas Day (whenever that may be in any particular country) and simply enjoying a few days of well-earned rest and relaxation at the end of the year.