Top-notch conference interpreting assignment last June!

June 2011 saw another English/Portuguese interpreting assignment being trusted to Translation with Colour®.
The background for the two days - 6 and 7 June - was the Environment & Sustainability Week promoted by a Portuguese local government which included a conference on the role and responsibilities of municipal authorities for sustainable development. The audience of this seminar was mainly composed by political decision-makers and senior technical staff.

The individuality I was personally assisting was ICLEI expert and United Nations Secretary-General's Adviser, Mr. Ruud Schuthof, during the Portuguese language presentations, while consecutive interpreting had to be performed for the audience in the hall, which included Spanish-language native speakers. This context demanded extra care in pronunciation and use of the microphone as the interpreting was made not from the booth but on open view from the chairman's table.

Interesting, challenging and rewarding!

Localisation ventures in Portugal target the African market (and elsewhere!)

Diversify! That's the word of order and that means new market, and new markets often mean adapting to reality and local needs. This Portuguese software house has a growing presence in foreign markets, especially in Portuguese-speaking African countries, such as Angola. From the position they have in the regional market they can target new countries with the established partners. It doesn't take long to understand localisation is part of the process. In this case the software was worked into the French language so the French-speaking Sub-Saharan countries could be approached successfully.

Generally speaking the user prefers to deal with software in his/her native language, and quite frankly no one can blame people for escaping the intellectual exercise of living in-between languages, homeless in a off-the-hook lifestyle. Who has the time to endure academia and semantic discussions when the boss is waiting the monthly report?

So, whether you believe or not that your software solution is the best just localise it or no one will be there to let you know about the ups and downs of... the help file. How many times will have I have to say that help files are vital for the user? Don't be lame; do the help file or get the blame!

Presentation about the Municipality of Águeda, Portugal (Portuguese and English texts)

Get your own - Open publication

A small translation project into English; nevertheless, the final purpose was important and the translation was obviously crucial...