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Shaping the CWGC
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission recently celebrated its 100 year anniversary. Burravoe was delighted to be involved in helping to shape their presence over next 100 years earlier this year by translating questionnaires for stakeholders all over the world. Besides the official languages of English and French, Burravoe translated the work into Dutch, German, Greek and Italian, from Europe and then Arabic, Burmese, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Malay, Tamil and Thai.
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Autumn Goodies
As the falling leaves return to their roots (in China), we thought we would have a look at some autumnal phrases, about food, a favourite subject in the Burravoe offices at any time of year! Did you know that in various European countries you can: |
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- Pull someone through the cocoa?
- Be an empty pumpkin?
- Give someone pumpkins?
- Be at the end of the haricot beans?
If you are pulling someone through the cocoa in Germany, you are only pulling their leg; but if you are that empty pumpkin in Italy? There’s not much upstairs… Give someone pumpkins in Spain means you’ll be giving them the brush off, while if you’re at the end of the beans in France, then it really is all over…..but don’t worry, it will soon be Beaujolais season! #ilestarrivé
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| According to latest results from the UK’s National Register of Public Service Interpreters, the most popular languages are Polish and Urdu. |
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Meet the team
Matthew Aston joined the Burravoe team in December 2015
Introduce yourself Matthew… I’m 44, married and live by the sea! What languages do you speak? I speak German as my second language, Portuguese at home and have picked up a smattering of other languages on the way to help me get by in my job and on holidays! How did you get into translation? After university, I worked in travel insurance for several years and came across so many medical reports, that languages never left my side from there. I worked for a couple of years in China and picked up some Mandarin and have always worked with languages since, whether in teaching or on digital marketing projects, so the chance to take on translation just fell into place.
What do you enjoy about your job? The days can be very different. It involves a lot of proofreading but you learn about all sorts of things – feel free to ask me about sporting injuries, GDPR or why you might crochet in rounds instead of rows! It also forces me to read – something we should all do more of.
What was the funniest thing you have translated? One of our clients is a journalist who sends some pieces in now and again for translations into different languages. Whether it is promoting an amateur sportsman to a foreign professional team or recanting some of his tales from far-flung places, it is always very quirky and it is a pleasure when he gets in touch! What about the future? I enjoy the young, vibrant team we have at Burravoe but I am looking forward to taking the ITI assessment exam soon and gaining full membership.
Favourite film/music? I always liked Firefox as a child where Clint Eastwood has to steal a protoype Russian aircraft which is controlled by thoughts. It contains the repeated line, right at the end, “you must think in Russian”, which always resonated with me. Thinking in another language – how does that happen?! |
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| On 24 May 2017, the United Nations General Assembly adopted 30 September as International Translation Day (ITD), to recognise, “the role of professional translation in connecting nations, and fostering peace, understanding and development”.According to UNESCO, cultural heritage does not end with “monuments and collections of objects”. It includes intangible cultural heritage such as knowledge, beliefs, and practices. As a global community we are continually seeing changes that bring cultures previously unknown to each other into face-to-face contact. “An understanding of the intangible cultural heritage of different communities helps with intercultural dialogue, and encourages mutual respect for other ways of life.” ITD 2018 is there to highlight how translation promotes an understanding of the intangible cultural heritage of others in order to encourage mutual respect in our changing world.
***Join Burravoe in celebrating ITD 2018 during the week of 24-30 September 2018 by claiming 10% off the cost of your translation.***
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