Friday, 4 December 2009
Renewed ISO9001 Accreditation for Alexika Ltd
Following a rigorous assessment, we are pleased to announce that Alexika Ltd has renewed accreditation as an ISO9001 quality assured firm. Ever since the company was established in 1998, delivery of high quality translations has been central to everything that we do. We find that formally setting out our quality procedures – and regularly reviewing them - is a positive process and we believe that our clients will benefit in years to come. We are grateful again to the British Accreditation Bureau for their help in preparing us for assessment.
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
NO! They don't all speak English...
Thought from Mark directed at UK exporters....
I love this job - but it can be hard to explain to others in social situations sometimes! 2 recent illustrations: an acquaintance at an evening class, on hearing that we are a translation company, said "they all speak English on the continent don't they!" Secondly pub landlord comedian Al Murray on hearing that a member of his audience was a Spanish translator quipped: "they all speak English, you're surplus to requirements you are mate!!"
NO! I'm travelling to Germany this weekend. According to some latest figures, approx. 56% of the population of Germany can speak English to some degree as a second language - a Eurobarmoter survey from back in 1994 gave the figure as 35%, so maybe there is a trend there. In the Spain the recent figure is 27% and the 1994 figure is 13%. Whilst these figures are not particularly scientific, there may be a trend to more people speaking English as a second language - and clearly this ability does not extend to the majority of the population in many key European markets.
So the key questions for UK exporters are: do the people receiving my communications speak and read English, and then are they more likley to purchase from me if I communicate in the receiver's language? The answer to the second question is very probably yes: people are more likely to buy in their own language.
The graph below is taken from Wikipedia, and shows the approximate percentage of the population that speak English as a second language in each country.
P.S. According to figures released recently by fellow ATC members LTC, the UK translation industry is now worth between €636 and €641 million.
I love this job - but it can be hard to explain to others in social situations sometimes! 2 recent illustrations: an acquaintance at an evening class, on hearing that we are a translation company, said "they all speak English on the continent don't they!" Secondly pub landlord comedian Al Murray on hearing that a member of his audience was a Spanish translator quipped: "they all speak English, you're surplus to requirements you are mate!!"
NO! I'm travelling to Germany this weekend. According to some latest figures, approx. 56% of the population of Germany can speak English to some degree as a second language - a Eurobarmoter survey from back in 1994 gave the figure as 35%, so maybe there is a trend there. In the Spain the recent figure is 27% and the 1994 figure is 13%. Whilst these figures are not particularly scientific, there may be a trend to more people speaking English as a second language - and clearly this ability does not extend to the majority of the population in many key European markets.
So the key questions for UK exporters are: do the people receiving my communications speak and read English, and then are they more likley to purchase from me if I communicate in the receiver's language? The answer to the second question is very probably yes: people are more likely to buy in their own language.
The graph below is taken from Wikipedia, and shows the approximate percentage of the population that speak English as a second language in each country.
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