We re talking your language
Our mission Our mission is to provide the highest quality professional language service for business, industry and the legal profession. Translation is about trust. You have worked hard to build up your company s reputation and you can trust us to preserve and enhance that reputation via conversion into the world s languages. We have a long and successful track record built up since we started in 1983. That record is based on the knowledge and skills of the language experts we employ. Translation is also about using IT effectively to communicate words in a media landscape that s evolving ever more rapidly. We are at the forefront of using intelligent globalisation technology to present content to you in a way that is timely, versatile and suitable for your needs.
Our profile We handle all of the world s major languages and some of the less commonly used ones too: Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bengali, Bosnian, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Byelorussian, Cambodian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Farsi, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, UK English, US English, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Welsh... And our clients work in many different fields: Advertising, Accountancy, Approvals and Standards, Banking, Civil Engineering, Computer Games, Electronics, Films and Entertainment, Healthcare, IT, Legal services, Manufacturing, Oil & Gas, Patents, Pharmaceuticals, Property, Power Generation, Publishing, Retail, Telecoms, Transport and Logistics, TV and Broadcasting... What brings it all together is the professionalism of our language experts. They are technically expert in their chosen field, experienced and qualified (we never employ students). Invariably, they re native speakers of the target text. And they re based around the globe, living in the country in which they are translating, and hence aware of the constant changes and nuances that language is all about.
Some of our clients We invariably give the best service to all of our clients, from start-ups right through to global firms. These are just some of the people that we have been proud to work with... Allen Diesels Alstom Aston Martin Atlas Converting Equipment Autoglass Baker Perkins Barclaycard Bechtel Carl Zeiss Casella Christian Salvesen Costa Cranfield University Cummins Daimler-Chrysler Datwyler Dr Martens Eaton Power Epson Exel Logistics Grant Thornton Hayward-Tyler Honeywell Ince & Co ITV Jungheinrich Kier International Laura Ashley MacIntyre Hudson Merck Sharp & Dohme Norbert Dentressangle Pearson Qingo Scooters ReedSmith Rexam Rockwell Rolls-Royce RSPB Scott Bader Siemens Square Enix Texas Instruments The Corporate Executive Board Company The Open University The Prince s Foundation Unilever Warner Brothers Weetabix
ITV Studios Limited We have used the services of Bedford Translations over a number of years for our international productions and where foreign languages are used in our domestic productions. They have always been able to translate legal documents in line with our production schedules. We shall continue to rely on their professional, reliable and speedy services. ITV Studios Limited
The world is your oyster The number of non-english pages on the web is increasing exponentially. Whereas the use of English online has increased by about 300% from 2001 to now, the equivalent is 700% for Spanish, 1200% for Chinese, 1800% for Russian and 2500% for Arabic over the same period. The answer? Use the correct language, including proper intricacies unique to the manner of speaking, in the area you re developing. You can t rely on your customers all speaking English; engage your international prospects with multilingual content marketing Marketing a product or service outside your own territory brings into question the content of what you are having translated, as well as how it is done. Understanding local audiences, cultures and buzz topics is vital. There may, for example, be legal aspects that are unique to the country concerned. We give clear, straightforward advice as to how to adapt your message in an appropriate manner for the market concerned. This will help you creating and publishing content that builds local readership and that earns coverage via links and media relations in the markets concerned. We can also liaise directly with your global offices to ensure that complex localisation projects progress smoothly, on time and within agreed budgets. We re able, if you wish, to take over the complete project and see it through all the proofing stages right up to final sign off.
Datwyler Cabling Solutions, Switzerland For some years now Bedford Translations has been translating almost all of our material for foreign markets into English including our Website, Flyers, Press Releases, White Papers, Case Studies and much more. Their cooperation with us could not be bettered. The texts are always returned in good time and are, for all their often highly complicated technical nature, of highest quality with regards to content and style. Datwyler Cabling Solutions, Switzerland
Translation technology Machine translation (MT) is the basis of programs like Google Translate that sit on your desktop or mobile device. Using MT you can sometimes, for example, get the gist of a webpage written in a language that you don t understand, without hiring a professional service. But even if you feed in appropriate terminology then you risk mistakes which can make the results comical, or even have disastrous consequences. That s why language specialists are more important than ever because they interpret the meaning behind the text, not merely the words themselves. Language isn t static it keeps changing. Human translators seamlessly absorb and adapt to these changes. And technology can help in a different way. Translation memory (TM) programs assist, rather than replace, the linguist. They store approved sentence pairs and if the same sentence crops up again it will come out of the memory; you never have to translate a sentence twice. The skill of the language professional ensures accuracy but TM helps to produce a consistent result. And by speeding up the work it can help to lower translation costs. Bedford Translations were early adopters of TM and are highly skilled in building up, maintaining and deploying large, client specific translation memories. Recently, this model has recently developed even further. We re now using an extension of TM that stores translation memories securely on the cloud, enabling simultaneous access, in real time, by our global translation teams. This has produced a leap in productivity and facilitated management of large, complex language projects.
Atlas Converting Equipment Limited, UK Atlas Converting Equipment and Bedford Translations have enjoyed a good working relationship since 2000. Up to that date we tried many translation companies, but settled on Bedford Translations for being best cost effective and providing a fast turnaround and friendly service. Atlas Converting Equipment Limited, UK
Technically perfect We deploy specialists in science, engineering, electronics, ICT, pharmaceuticals and more specifically, in your business. Selection of the right specialist is the vital first step in our quality control procedure. The importance of consistent terminology as well as the formulaic and repetitive nature of technical writing makes CAT tools using translation memories and terminology databases appropriate. Every picture tells a story. For technical authors, the visuals matter as much as the words. We prepare and integrate all visual material so as to provide a complete package, identical to the source text but in multiple languages. Familiarity with all the leading DTP packages is an important element of our offer. For example, if you send us a document in InDesign, you ll get an InDesign document back. Correctly localised software is key. Software strings should be accurate, consistent, unambiguous and (often) abbreviated to fit predetermined fields. We have vast experience with MMI issues such as control screens and displays and status, error or help messages. Our processes ensure consistency; so that, for example, translated screenshots match your online help manuals. In addition to making texts with technical jargon accessible for a wider ranging audience, technical translation also involves the linguistic features of translating technological texts from one language to another. It s an art as well as a science.
Kier Infrastructure & Overseas Ltd. Bedford Translations Ltd has a long track record of providing good quality translations for Kier over several years. These have included a technical presentation in Japanese and capability brochures in Mandarin Chinese; they have also translated complex legal documents both to and from Arabic. Using the latest software that maintains a good appearance for our documents, Bedford Translations has provided a prompt and economic service in our fast paced world of international contracting. Kier Infrastructure & Overseas Ltd.
Legally speaking... With the rapid growth and globalisation of today s legal market, the need for professional and accurate legal language services has never been greater We employ specialist legal and financial linguists. The majority have at least ten years fulltime experience. They possess good language degrees and appropriate postgraduate qualifications. They are Members of the Institute of Linguists or of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, or equivalent national professional bodies. And of course they are native speakers - professionals only work into their mother/native tongue. Time is of the essence Court schedules can mean tight deadlines for translation - the assignment must arrive on time or it may be useless. And in commercial tendering situations the invitation to tender is, in effect, the beginning of a countdown to the final tender date. The task has to be completed as quickly as possible so that the offer and conditions can be worked out. Then the tender itself often has to be translated back into the source language. We have plenty of experience in tendering situations, and of meeting deadlines time and again. You can trust us: To employ appropriately qualified language specialists To deliver the work back to you as quickly as possible Never to promise a delivery date unless we are sure that it can be met.
Thank you for your time If you would like to get in touch then please find our details below. Bedford Translations 19-19A St Andrews Road Bedford MK40 2LL United Kingdom