Ever had a problem getting a message exactly right? A client recently told us they’d run into difficulty with the translation of a few simple seasonal greetings. Their least successful effort involved a word by word machine translation which somehow turned “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas” into “I’m delusional about a colourless Christmas”. For all the advances in machine translation technology, the nuance and warmth of a personal greeting can only be conveyed by a personal translation.
Care, commitment and attention to detail have helped make 2012 a landmark year for EVS Translations. Expansion throughout Europe and the Unites States has been fuelled by dedicated teams who understand the everyday language of our clients’ businesses and ensure their message is conveyed in sense and spirit in any language or format.
This has been a year of well documented social and economic challenges. Understanding how other countries meet them can inform our own responses, and we’re proud to build bridges to global partners who take good, productive and sometimes inspiring action.
Germany remains the UK’s number one trade ally, and German support for struggling EU partners has set an example in 2012. As youth unemployment approached 40% in Portugal and 50% in Spain and Greece, Germany reached out to those countries, offering apprenticeships to their young people and sharing the benefits of their world class manufacturing training programmes.
Japan’s year has been a story of continuing recovery and reorganisation following the natural disasters of March 2011. Japan is now restructuring its energy mix, reforming the electricity sector and working towards a target of deriving 25% of all power from renewable sources. Offshore wind, solar PV and biomass services are thriving.
China led the way in 2012 not only for economic growth but also, strikingly, for equality of opportunity. This summer, fifty years after Lieutenant John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth, Lieutenant Liu Yang became the first Chinese woman in space. Her mission as a pilot on the Shenzhou 9 craft is the latest step in China’s plans to have a fully operational space station by 2020. A national statement of intent, of literally universal ambition, was accompanied by a proud statement of female empowerment.
Whoever we work with and wherever we go, we’re continuously reminded of the empowering value of communications skills. At EVS Translations we believe in empowering our clients, partners and friends to communicate as effectively as possible across all physical and cultural borders. Every day this year we’ve given our clients in legal, financial, energy and pharmaceutical sectors the platform to speak to the world. Why not tell your story in a new language, embrace the cultural and commercial opportunities of a new market? See what the world has to offer beyond the borders that have restricted earlier generations.
As well as being a time for reflection, Christmas is a time to acknowledge our friends.
To say Frohe Weihnachten to our friends in Germany, our trading partners for over 700 years who continue to offer support to the neighbours who need it most.
To say メリークリスマス to our friends in Japan, who continue to fight back from the disaster of Fukushima and have used national tragedy as the gateway to environmental leadership.
To say 圣 诞节快乐 to our friends in China, who reached for the stars in 2012 and took the case for equal opportunity into orbit.
To say Merry Christmas to our friends throughout the United Kingdom, whose professionalism and talent sent British goods and services to all corners of the world in 2012, and whose loyalty allowed us to be their partners in this achievement.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone at EVS Translations.