European language industry shows steady growth, says survey
The results of the 2022 European Language Industry Survey are in. Launched in 2013 by the European Union of Associations of Translation Companies (EUATC), this year's survey aimed to get a picture of the industry’s response to the last 18 months of pandemic-related disruption.
The news was broadly good; business has remained buoyant following the initial lockdown. There has been less innovation than before the pandemic, possibly reflected by the anxiety many organisations feel about the future. However, market growth for the last financial year is expected to be similar to that pre-covid, demonstrating the resilience of the European language industry and the ever-present demand for international communication.
Read about the results in more detail here.
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Translation of Covid-19 information essential to public health, say health campaigners
In Australia, a recent move to more home testing for Covid-19 has once again highlighted the importance of translating health information into community languages.
Health campaigners have asked the Australian government to provide information to those without English on why they should test, how to test and what to do with the results.
In the US, local government bodies have also come in for criticism for a series of poor translations of Covid-19 related public health information. The Biden administration has released information on home testing in the country’s leading languages of English, Spanish and Mandarin, but campaigners fear this still leaves many without access to vital information.
The Australian campaign has asked for images on how to test to be included in instructions. In the UK, NHS home testing kits already provide pictograms, so that anyone with limited English and literacy is able to conduct the tests. Translations of the information are also available in many community languages online here.
If your service users need information provided in their own language by a qualified translator, please get in touch.
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The Language Shop provides interpreting services for Covid-19 vaccination centres
Back in February TLS launched a scheme to support vaccination centres within the North East London Foundation Trust area, We provided telephone and video interpreting services to bridge the communication gap so that non-English speakers could understand all of the information regarding Covid-19 vaccinations and give their informed consent to receive the jab.
We expanded this by adding British Sign Language (BSL) support to our offering in May. This allowed deaf patients receiving vaccines at centres in Chingford, Romford and Barking access to a remote BSL interpreter who could answer any questions or concerns they may have. As time is critical when vaccinating so many people, we ensured deaf patients received this support within 90 seconds of making the request.
We are proud to be able to play a part in helping the vaccination programme by making vaccine information more accessible, so that everyone can help keep themselves and each other safe during the pandemic.
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COVID vaccines for TLS interpreters
Defence on the frontline
Many of our customers work in local authorities or NHS trusts in London. During the current pandemic, it is vital our staff and customers remain safe. At the beginning of January our interpreters were classified as key workers and within four days all 400+ of our London based team were offered the coronavirus vaccine by our NHS partners. Our sincere thanks to them.
TLS continues to innovate during lockdown
Essential data for the NHS
Because lockdown restrictions around COVID are preventing us from issuing essential paperwork manually, tls has created a digital timesheet for our professional clients. We can ensure it is delivered directly to the doctor, social worker or physiotherapist, and doesn’t get lost in the admin system. It also asks for feedback on the service they have received with tls's telephone and online services, allowing us to collect a much wider range of feedback direct from professionals. This not only provides greater insight into how we can improve our services to customers, but also offers invaluable help to the NHS in its evaluation of new technology to deliver services during the pandemic, a key objective for the NHS this year.