The need for communication during the depression

In the current climate of economic hardship, one North Staffordshire company, Robin Engineering Services, is translating the successes of other companies into profit for itself - as director Judith Pegg explains:

“Many companies are looking to boost their sales in overseas markets to offset the downturn in UK activity.  When their efforts are successful and they sell a machine or machines, then they are obliged to supply operating and maintenance instructions in the language of the country where it is going to end up.

Very often, the export salesman will do the deal with a company director or other highly placed individual, and more often than not this person will have, at minimum, a working grasp of English.  However, the man on the factory floor who will actually operate the machine will not have the same knowledge and his English may be limited to a few, half remembered phrases from the latest pop song.”

And this is where Robin Engineering is able to be of service to the Exporter, offering translation and interpreting services into and from all major European languages, and more exotic tongues such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian.

Judith continues- “in the last three months, as companies have grown their overseas sales, we have been inundated with requests for our linguistic talents.  Already this year we have supplied interpreting services to a manufacturer of mechanical equipment for the disabled to help with the product training for his Italian Distributor. We’ve been asked to provide the translation of a maintenance manual for a mixing machine destined for a Sanitary ware factory in Canton in Chinese, and we’ve also prepared and proof-read a manual in Czech for the supplier of production line robots in a Czech car factory.”

Frequently the translation requirement is only for a few words to serve as the caption to a technical drawing, or the labels on a control panel.  The skill of the translator is to be able to select the correct word or phrase, in his language, whatever the context.  For example, the English word “set” has over 100 meanings according to its context.  Imagine the problems which might arise if the phrase “tea set” is confused with “set of spare parts,” and it is to avoid such potential problems that Robin Engineering has a panel of qualified engineers who are native speakers of the target language for the translation.  Quite often this can mean two or more experts for the same language, since an understanding of computer skills in no way qualifies a person to translate a document pertaining to structural engineering.

“It is this ability to fit our translators’ field of expertise to the customers’ requirement, that has brought us success and much repeat business,” says Pegg, “and in times of hardship, every possible angle has to be considered to gain a competitive edge.”

In addition to foreign language manuals, Robin Engineering has also worked on foreign language website texts, induction courses and documentation for foreign workers, particularly from Poland, and foreign language soundtracks and subtitles for training and promotional videos and films.  There is also available a “personal” service for private customers requiring assistance with such things as wedding documentation for a marriage to take place in the Dominican Republic, insurance documents for claims for expenses during illness overseas, documents relating to the purchase of property in foreign parts, and the translation of personal documents into English when applying for British Citizenship.

Whatever the linguistic needs might be, Robin Engineering is able to provide a solution, and as Judith says “overseas business activities will continue to grow while the UK economy is in recession and we expect our translation services to expand to meet the needs.  Already this year we have seen a 25% growth and we believe this trend will be maintained, thus obliging us to expand our panel of skilled linguists.”

When all is said and done, the fact that the world is facing economic slow down, does not change the fact that the need for people to communicate their thoughts and ideas will remain – and companies like Robin will be around to smooth the way in a skilful and professional manner.

For further information contact:
Judith Pegg/Brian Milnes
Robin Engineering Services Ltd.
Unit 12, 203 Grindley Lane,
Blythe Bridge, Staffordshire, ST11 9JS, U.K.
Company Registration No. 4759281
Tel.: 0044 1782 392989 Fax: 0044 1782 398798
email: robinengineering@aol.com
www.robinengineering.co.uk

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