Here at Eclipse Translations Ltd, we always look forward to the annual ITI conference and this year we are delighted that this event will be taking place in the North East, our home territory. It will be an excellent chance for those who haven’t already done so to visit Newcastle, voted Britain’s best city at last year’s Guardian Newspaper annual Travel Awards! And as Geordies are well renowned for their love of expansive conversations and unique vocabulary and pronunciation, what could be a more appropriate location for a language event?
Consequently we are delighted to be able to extend our region’s reputation for hospitality by sponsoring the pre-dinner drinks at the conference on Friday 24th April. Like many of you, we are planning to use the conference to catch up with old friends, put names to faces of suppliers we haven’t met but work with all the time and hopefully meet some new translators and interpreters to help meet our growing customer requirements.
As one of the UK’s leading agencies, we pride ourselves on offering a global one stop language solution. Working in partnership with suppliers every day, we deliver translation and interpreting to individuals, business start ups, SMEs, multinationals and government agencies. Every day is different and projects can range from marketing brochures for persimmons to technical documents on how to maintain a pipeline!
With financial, political and health issues being addressed on a world scale, we are increasingly working with Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Russian and Brazilian Portuguese translators and interpreters. However in the past year, we have also helped with medical appointments, business meetings and legal hearings in languages ranging from Bengali to Bulgarian, Farsi to French and Spanish to Somali. Reflecting these trends, it’s no surprise that interpreting makes up a growing part of our business, increasing 55% in the past financial year.
This global work includes a strong customer base in the North East. Our region has always been built on technology and engineering and although we are now more likely to be looking a green energy instead of coal mining and manufacture of chemical coatings rather than sailing ships, we still export our products and skills around the world. Public service interpreting is also important with many of our newer populations needing help with medical and legal matters.
Like everyone else, we are constantly looking at how we can best adapt to these changing requirements and the conference strapline to ‘Renew, Rejuvenate, Regenerate – Translating and interpreting in an evolving world’ is one very dear to our hearts. The conference programme contains a great mix of discussion on where industry is headed, technology updates and practical information for managing a freelance workload. It seems like there is something for everyone so we hope you all have a great conference and look forward to meeting you in the sessions or at our drinks reception on Friday evening.
