Max Naylor, Author at sa��ʴ�ý

Four festive fundraiser recipes

Max Naylor — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 10:46:09 +0000

As is annual tradition at Sandberg, we’re currently running our festive fundraiser campaign for . This year, TWB are running their Language for a Just World appeal, which aims to raise $100,000 to help use language to build a more just world.

Four members of the Sandberg team have signed up to compete in our 2020 challenge:��Bake-Off for Translators without Borders. Each of the participants will have to bake a traditional Nordic Christmas recipe, and as we hit our donation targets of £150, £300, £500 and £750,��we’ll post each baker’s recipe here, along with pictures of the final result!

We know it’s been a tough year for everyone, but it’s been even harder for those without access to basic health information in their language. Please consider donating to help us reach our overall target – it’s quick and easy to .

? £150 – Christina’s��vaniljekranse

First up is Christina, with her classic����Ծ��Բ��or “vanilla wreaths”. These all-butter biscuits are a hallmark of Danish Christmas tradition, and their distinctive shape is recognisable to many around the world. What’s more, they’re easy to make with only six ingredients! The only special tool you need is a piping bag with a star-shaped nozzle, which you can pick up cheaply and easily online.

We think they turned out pretty great, and Christina certainly seems happy with the result!

Recipe for vaniljekranse (Denmark)

This recipe is adapted from .

Ingredients

Makes approx. 35 biscuits

200g softened butter
½��vanilla pod
180g sugar
1 large egg
250g flour
75g ground almonds

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan. Take the butter out of the fridge well in advance so it’s reached room temperature by the time you start.
Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape the seeds out with a paring knife. To separate the seeds, mash them together with a pinch of sugar on the chopping board using the knife.
In a bowl, mix your homemade vanilla sugar with the sugar and soft butter. Beat in the egg. Mix the flour and ground almonds thoroughly and knead it into the dough.
Transfer the dough into a piping bag with star-shaped nozzle (10 mm) and immediately pipe into wreaths approximately 5 cm in diameter on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Leave a gap between each biscuit so they don’t bake into one another in the oven.
Bake the biscuits in the oven for 10–12 minutes or until they are light golden brown. Allow the biscuits to cool on a cooling rack and store them in an airtight container.

?? £300 – Line’s��pepperkaker

Next we have Line, with her take on pepperkaker, literally “pepper cakes”. Whilst these ginger snaps are popular all over the Nordic countries, they play a special part in a kicking off the Christmas preparations in Norway. Pepperkaker are one of seven types of biscuits Norwegians traditionally make before Christmas, and both young and old enjoy baking (and eating) them.

A lot of children will know the Pepperkakebakesangen��(literally “The pepper cake baking song”) by beloved Norwegian writer and illustrator . In the song, the unfortunate baker mixes up the amount of sugar and pepper (just a liiiiiiittle bit of sugar and A LOT of pepper). This might be where our idea of pepper being a central ingredient for these cookies come from. Line says, “Upon looking for recipes for my own batch, I came across a fair few that didn’t actually use any pepper at all, but to live up to its name, the recipe below does contain a bit of pepper.”

In addition to being a lovely snack, a lot of people may also fashion decorations out of pepperkaker. By making a hole at the top, you can thread a red ribbon through to hang the cookies either on your Christmas tree or in your kitchen windows. The lovely smell of ginger and cloves is an added bonus.

Line says, “Cookie cutting will hereby go down as a special skill in my books. Making the dough was fairly easy and can be done in about 30–45 minutes. Cutting the cookies the next day was another case entirely. If I were to put my creations up in the windows, they might not draw the right kind of attention. My stars all came out a bit wobbly, looking more like a dancing Patrick Star (from SpongeBob) than any Star of Bethlehem. And my Christmas trees cakes might make the neighbours wonder why I have put poo emojis up in my windows!”

Recipe for pe��첹��(Norway)

Ingredients

Makes approx. 40 biscuits

100g butter
75ml golden syrup
125g brown sugar
75ml single cream
½ tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
⅔ tsp ground cloves
⅓ tsp ground black pepper
1½ tsp baking powder
240g plain flour

Method

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the golden syrup and stir. Allow the mixture to cool until lukewarm and pour into a large bowl.
Add the sugar, cream and spices. Mix well. Add the baking powder with a little of the flour.
Add the rest of the flour. The dough should be slightly loose. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge overnight.
The next day, knead the dough on a floured surface and roll it straight onto baking paper to avoid having to transfer the biscuits to a different tray. Roll the dough out until about 2 mm thick. Cut into shapes using cookie cutters, removing the excess dough. Add the excess to your remaining dough and keep cutting until you have used all the dough.
Bake the biscuits in the middle of the oven at 200°C/180°C fan for about 10–12 minutes until they are darkish brown in colour.
Once baked, allow the biscuits to cool slightly on the tray before transferring them to a cooling rack.

??? £500 – Eloise’s mincemeat shortbread

Next we have Eloise, with her twist on two British classics. A staple of the Christmas table in the UK is the beloved mince pie – a small, shortcrust pastry pie filled with a mixture of spiced currants, dried peel and suet (the “mincemeat”). But who says you have to stick rigidly to tradition? Most British cupboards have a forgotten old jar of mincemeat sitting somewhere near the back, so a great way to use some up is sandwiched between two layers of shortbread biscuit.

Recipe for mincemeat shortbread (UK)

Eloise uses BBC Good Food’s recipe, . Alternatively, you can follow along with her in the video below!

???? £750 – Adam’s��saffranskaka

Finally we have Adam, with his Swedish����ڴڰ��Բ��첹�첹��(saffron cake), which he baked for his son’s birthday. This cake is a classic Christmas treat in Sweden, but here Adam uses a gluten-free recipe. The����Ի��(almond paste) can prove tough to find outside of Scandinavia, but it appears to be readily available online. For you hardcore bakers, you can make your own. In a pinch, you can substitute with marzipan, but this might change the taste of the final product.

Recipe for ��ڴڰ��Բ��첹�첹��(Sweden)

This recipe is adapted from , Swedish Bake-Off contestant and parter of one of our own translators!

Ingredients

Makes one gluten-free cake

100g butter
0.5g saffron (one sachet)
4 eggs
400g grated almond paste
1 tsp baking powder
Shredded coconut (for lining the tin)

Method

Heat the oven to 195°C/175°C fan. Melt the butter and saffron together and allow it to cool slightly.
Grease a 24 cm springform cake tin with butter and sprinkle the coconut around the inside of the tin.
Separate the eggs into two bowls. Whisk the yolks, almond paste, butter and baking powder together.
Whisk the whites until they form stiff peaks and fold gently into the batter.
Pour the batter into the tin. Bake in the centre of the oven for 35 minutes.
Let the cake cool for 10 minutes in the tin. Transfer to a plate and allow to cool completely.

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3 reasons why English adaptation is your key to entering the UK market

Max Naylor — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 11:16:18 +0000

Thanks to the status of the English language as the world’s lingua franca, the needs of native British English speakers can sometimes be neglected in the UK market entry process. If you’re a US-based company launching a new app, for example, translating your user interface into French, German and Spanish for your European launch is a no-brainer. But what about English?

In this typical expansion model, English is often the overlooked language. As Brits can understand – or think they understand – American English with ease, what’s the incentive to localise your product for the UK market? Many new entrants make the mistake of thinking that there’s little value in UK localisation.

Traditionally, many software companies didn’t invest in localising their product for the UK market. British users were used to seeing Microsoft Word offering options to change the font����Ǳ��ǰ���ǰ����Գٱ��text. In recent years, however, there’s been a change in expectations amongst UK consumers and they now expect products and services to be available in their variety of English.

Here we’ll dispel some of the myths about English adaptation and explain why it’s a worthwhile – or even vital – investment.

Our English translation services

We offer translation services into English from French, Italian, German and Spanish (FIGS), as well as the Nordic languages.

1. US English can be a barrier to entering the UK market

The debate about who English ‘belongs to’ is as old as the hills. Many Brits have a sense of ownership of the English language – the attitude that American spellings, grammar conventions and vocabulary are ‘incorrect’ is extremely prevalent. Although this viewpoint doesn’t stand up to much linguistic scrutiny, depending on your product it could create a barrier to entry to the UK market.

Take the example of , the writing tool. As the product originates in the US, its initial offering didn’t cater for different dialects of English. Grammarly was therefore offering its users in the UK suggestions that didn’t make sense for them – insisting on inserting a comma before��and, for example, or marking UK spellings like����𲹱����Ի����Ի�𲹱��ǳܰ��as incorrect. It��to choose their dialect of English, making their offering much more relevant for a UK audience.

Take the time to research the UK market and understand what the expectations of your new customer base are.

Differences in dialect aren’t just about grammar and spelling though – they reflect cultural and consumer expectations. When it comes to marketing food products, for example, US consumers will be used to seeing terms like��GMO-free,��trans fat����Ի��low cholesterol��on their products. Referring to GMO may actually create a negative perception amongst UK consumers who generally don’t expect food to be genetically modified – their first thought will be ‘why are they having to specify GMO-free?’. UK consumers are unfamiliar with the term��trans fat��(their addition to food is restricted by law) and products generally don’t focus on cholesterol content in the same way as they do in the US.

With this in mind, you might want to emphasise different features of your product. UK consumers value foodstuffs free of artificial colours and flavourings, for example. Labels like��free range,���ǰ��Ծ����Ի��Fair Trade��are also highly prized, although these come with certification requirements.

Take the time to research the UK market and understand what the expectations of your new customer base are. This will inform how you adapt your marketing copy for local consumers. Getting in-market expertise is vital here – don’t try and remotely manage this from the US.

2. UK English brings you closer to your customers

The adage goes that the US and UK are two countries ‘separated by a common language’. This shared linguistic heritage can gloss over some of the differences. There’s a stark contrast in the business cultures of the two countries, for example. Americans’ enthusiasm and initial warmth can be mistaken for interest in doing business, whereas Brits may seem cold and standoffish to Americans in the same situation.

Brits also value small talk as an icebreaker in a first interaction with a new business contact and may be offended if this is dropped in favour of a ‘let’s get down to business’ approach. This aspect of the business culture tends to slow down deal-making, which may be frustrating to Americans used to closing faster.

The principle is the same as for any other language: if you’re selling to someone, sell in their native language.

The differing ways in which politeness is expressed in the two countries can also be problematic. Brits tend to pepper requests liberally with��please, for example when ordering in a café:��Can I have a black coffee, please?��This use of����𲹲��is a standard way of ‘softening’ the request in the UK and to omit it would be considered rude. In the US, however, this use of����𲹲��can often seem passive aggressive, so it’s more common to express politeness with the use of a conditional verb like���ɴǳܱ���ǰ��could��and drop the����𲹲��altogether.

When it comes to English adaptation, the principle is the same as for any other language you localise into: if you’re selling to someone, sell in their native language. By sticking to US English, you pass up the opportunity to build an intimate relationship with your customer base – it will be hard for them to overcome the perception of your business as ‘foreign’. Many US companies successfully enter the UK market, but there have also been plenty of high-profile failures stemming from a lack of consideration for cultural differences:��Ի��to name but two examples.

One aspect mentioned in the��was their neglect to use a local voiceover artist for their TV advertisements. As a result, UK viewers deemed the brand ‘too American’ and weren’t able to connect with it.

Of course, failing to adapt to the UK market is about more than just language: you have to look at your marketing efforts as a whole and think about how to make your offering relevant. Language is a great place to start though. Being open-minded about adapting your marketing copy can make it easier to adjust other aspects of your brand proposition to ensure a successful UK expansion.

3. Adaptation prevents misunderstanding (and embarrassment)

Most of the time, English speakers from both sides of the Atlantic can understand each other perfectly well – or at the very least get by. When speaking, a lot depends on the dialects and accents of the speakers and how far apart they are on the spectrum of English varieties.

The written standards in the US and UK appear much closer. In writing, we don’t have to worry about differing pronunciations, for example. There’s also more of a shared standard grammar which minimises the differences between dialects. However, this doesn’t mean that there’s not the potential for major misunderstandings.

Investing in British English localisation should be a central part of your UK marketing strategy.

Let’s take a look at a few examples. In the UK, if someone’s��full of beans, they’re lively and full of energy, whereas in the US this expression normally means that someone is incorrect (full of s**t).

In the US,��chat up��is increasingly used as a synonym of��talk up��‘to speak positively about, promote’. The meaning is completely different in the UK, where��chat up��means ‘to flirt’.

Then there’s����ܲ԰��– a classic example which is resoundingly a compliment in the US. I’ll allow readers to consult��on Wiktionary to find out why it should be avoided in the UK!

An excellent guiding principle when entering a new geographical market – no matter how similar it may appear on the surface to your home market –��is not to underestimate the need for a tailored approach that respects local consumers’ needs and preferences.

Do plenty of market research and take advantage of the expertise of local translation and marketing agencies. Investing in British English localisation should be a central part of your UK marketing strategy, as tempting as it is to overlook. Why risk failure and damage to your brand?

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6 reasons why you shouldn’t rely on your own employees for translation

Max Naylor — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 08:50:14 +0000

If you’ve never had a need for localisation services before, you might be tempted to lean on your own employees to get a translation done. This option seems appealing at first – no need to hire an external supplier, after all – and you might even save time and money? In fact, using non-professional translators is a false economy, and more often than not creates more work and headaches for you down the line.

Here we look at a handful of reasons why working with a professional translation provider just makes sense. There are plenty more, of course, but let’s start with the ones that matter the most.

1. Translation is a specialist skill

It’s extremely easy to fall into the trap of thinking that someone’s ability to speak more than one language means they’ll make a good translator. In many situations, like ordering a meal at a restaurant abroad or giving a friend the basic gist of a sign, being bilingual is enough. Translation, however, demands more than just being able to understand two languages.

Like any kind of writing, translation is a specialist skill, often requiring a specific degree in the source language, time spent living in the country where the language is spoken and years of on-the-job training and development. Think about content production in your company’s first language – would you trust just any employee to write your marketing copy or product manuals? In these cases, it’s best to get experts involved, and the same goes for translation.

As a rule, professional translators only ever translate into their native language. If you don’t have the right combination of languages amongst your employees, then this means people could be translating into their second or third language – bringing us neatly to our next point.

2. It’s impossible to know the quality of your translation

If you don’t personally speak the languages you need to translate into, how will you assess the quality of your employees’ work? Can you check whether the tone of voice, brand positioning or even spelling and grammar are correct? This is doubly important if you’re asking someone to translate into a language that isn’t their native one.

Let’s take English as an example. The Nordic countries all . After all, children learn the language from a young age at home and at school, and often get excellent grades in the language before going to university. Studies in Norway have shown, however, that lack the English skills required at university level, where much teaching material is in English.

When it comes to using English in the workplace, they also face challenges, such as due to a lack of awareness of cultural differences and the appropriate expressions to use in various contexts.

If you’re a Nordic company exporting to an English-speaking country, relying on your own workforce for English-language content is risky. As we’ll see below, the risks of an inaccurate translation can be severe.

3. It’s not a good use of your time and money

Often employees asked to translate have to fit that work in around their everyday responsibilities. Their core role might not have anything to do with translation or even content production. This means that the translation might not be given the time and focus needed to produce a professional result, and increases the workload and stress on employees who are asked to do the work.

You also need to consider the cost impact for your company. A non-professional translator may take much longer to produce a translation than a professional (time they could spend doing other work) and getting access to linguistic resources like dictionaries and specialist glossaries means more expense on your part. Professional translators who do this on a daily basis will have all the resources at their fingertips.

4. Translators have tools to speed up their work

A translation company has the scale and time to invest in solutions that improve translation quality and consistency and speed up overall production times. Professional translators use specialised CAT (computer-aided translation) tools that allow them to focus on the text without affecting the formatting of the document. These tools also give translators access to two powerful features that help massively with consistency: translation memories and term bases.

A translation memory (TM) stores all previous translations on a particular topic – take finance, for example. If you regularly translate the same type of document – say a quarterly report where only some numbers and a few lines of text change – then a TM will massively cut down on time spent and avoid repeating work as much as possible. Translation companies invest in the infrastructure required to host a TM so you don’t have to.

A term base (TB) serves as a highly specialised glossary. Translation companies might maintain term bases on a specific domain, e.g. finance or medicine, to save the translator time looking up words in the dictionary and maintaining accurate, consistent use of terms. Translation companies can also create a TB that’s specific to one client, which means that your internal terminology and tone of voice will always remain the same.

These resources need maintenance to remain effective – something that translation companies consider a worthwhile investment – but that might be prohibitively costly or complex for you.

5. Internal translation doesn’t scale

If you decide to expand into a new region and none of your employees speaks the language there, how will you deliver a translation? You’re effectively faced with two options: turn to an external supplier or hire an employee who speaks that language. If the work volumes are low, this is unlikely to be a shrewd investment. Translation companies have vetted, trusted internal and external linguists standing by that can provide almost any language you require, removing the headache of recruiting your own translator.

The other consideration is growth in volume of content. If you experience a sudden upswing in the volume of content requiring translation, for example manuals, support articles and marketing collateral for a new project launch, translation could turn into a full-time job for the employee you’ve delegated it to. If after the launch volumes fall, your employee will return to their daily duties which have been neglected in the meantime.

As well as being a financially unwise decision, this fluctuation in workloads and responsibilities can create work-related stress and anxiety and negatively impact other employees who have to cover for your translator when they’re away from their day-to-day.

6. Mistakes can cost you customers and damage your reputation

We’ve all experienced poor translation – the menu at the foreign restaurant promising delicacies consisting of testicles and bits of old tyre, for example. Think about how this was for you as a customer. You probably laughed at first, but were you able to actually decipher what was meant? Did you order that item in the end that the menu claimed to be made from fish slime?

In other situations, the . Inappropriate tone, for example using profanity or informal language in the wrong context, could offend your customers and drive down sales. On social media, being too formal could actually lead to disengagement amongst your audience.

By neglecting to use a professional translator, you’re giving users outside of your home market a second-class experience.

Mistranslations of terminology can confuse users (we’ve probably all tried to follow a poorly translated electronics manual at some point) and increase support requests as customers aren’t given the tools they need to help themselves.

Fuzzy or poorly worded contract clauses can lead to differing interpretations of terms and conditions, potentially increasing costs for you and straining relations with your clients or suppliers.

In the worst-case scenario, poor translations can lead to serious safety risks if dangers associated with your product aren’t clearly explained. These errors may lead to injury or damage to property and may expose you to significant legal risks.

Professional translators know the right terms to use to match your customers’ expectations and ensure legal compliance. If customer experience is a core value at your company, by neglecting to use a professional translator, you’re giving users outside of your home market a second-class experience.

Translation is a sometimes overlooked step in the process of creating a great experience no matter where your customers are based. To avoid the pitfalls mentioned above, think about localisation early and consider enlisting a trusted supplier to take care of the translation work for you. As well as protecting your brand and keeping your customers happy, you’ll end up saving time and money in the long run.

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Celebrating summer, Nordic style

Max Naylor — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 14:22:13 +0000

Each Nordic country has its own unique traditions and ways to celebrate the arrival of summer. This season makes its presence felt with a (sometimes modest) rise in the mercury, frequent bright sunshine during the day and a long, drawn-out twilight best enjoyed beside a campfire on the shore of a pristine lake. By now, the foliage is lush and verdant, with flowers in full bloom. Insects appear too, although in smaller crowds than you might be used to elsewhere, with the exception of the cursed midge, which plagues visitors to the countryside with their maddening buzz and pesky bites. ?

The further north you go, the subtler the signs of summer grow. The trees don’t reach quite the same height as their more southerly neighbours. In southern Scandinavia, for example, the climate is hot enough for orchards of apple and pear trees, whereas north of the Arctic Circle the only obvious hints of summer’s arrival might be slightly greener grass and slightly less snow.

That’s unless you’re a bird fan, of course. In Iceland a favourite harbinger of spring (often hard to distinguish from summer in this part of the world) is the ��ó�� or (Pluvialis apricaria). Every year it migrates south to north from as far afield as the north coast of Africa before landing in Iceland to breed. Its arrival signals the onset of lighter evenings and better weather.

An escape from the city

But how do the people themselves spend their summers? There are some commonalities to be found across all Nordic nations: abundant, aggressive barbecuing; the donning of shorts in weather deemed far too cold for this elsewhere; swimming in the lakes or sea; and the annual retreat to the summerhouse (known in Danish as a sommerhus, Swedish as a sommarstuga or fritidshus, Icelandic as a ��ܳ��ú�� or ��ܳ��ú��ٲ�ð�ܰ�, Norwegian as a hytte and Finnish as a ��ä��ö��쾱).

With international travel off the cards for most of this summer, the stage is set for a massive boom in domestic tourism in many countries where restrictions are being eased. This is perhaps somewhat more popular already in the Nordics than elsewhere due to high summerhouse ownership rates, having access to a hytte, for example. Countries like Iceland are heavily reliant on international tourism in the summer months, and a massive . The lack of tourists has also led to the country’s oldest tourist-focused magazine, Iceland Review, for the very first time since it started in 1963.

Of course, not everyone is fortunate enough to have a summerhouse at their disposal. Luckily there exists a strong tradition of wild camping in the Nordic countries. The or “everyman’s right” (Finnish: jokamiehenoikeus, Icelandic: ��ԲԲ��é�ٳٳܰ�, Norwegian: allemannsrett, Swedish: ��𳾲��Բ��ä�ٳٱ��) entitles visitors to cross private land and in many instances pitch a tent for one or two nights. Similar rights exist in Czechia, Estonia, Scotland and some German-speaking countries. This democratic principle makes beauty spots accessible to everyone regardless of who owns the land, and means you’re not crammed into a campsite with other tourists. ?

When it’s safe and permitted to do so, we should take a leaf out of the Nordic countries’ book and use this summer to explore the corners of our own country that we might never have visited before. Of course, bear in mind local coronavirus-related restrictions. In some rural areas, there are concerns about influxes of domestic tourists overburdening local emergency services. Let’s travel responsibly, and only once we’ve got the go-ahead from our local government.

Don’t let the barbecue go out

Perhaps unexpectedly given the climate for the majority of the year, outdoor barbecues are extremely popular in the Nordics. Many people have gas grills at home, as well as a smaller charcoal-fuelled barbecue for use on holiday or ute i naturen (“out in the nature”). Almost anything goes: veggies, frankfurters, burgers, steaks, entire racks of ribs or maybe a whole side of salmon are all fair game. Seafood is normally a safe bet as the quality is excellent (and if you’re barbecuing on the beach, it just makes sense doesn’t it?).

The main event at this time of year in many of the Nordic countries is midsummer, which marks the summer solstice (the point in the year when the days start getting shorter once again). Danes and Norwegians celebrate what they call sankthansaften (St John’s Eve) with a big bonfire on the beach on 23 June. In Finland, the same tradition takes place on����ܳ󲹲ԲԳܲ��(“John the Baptist’s holiday”) between 20 and 26 June. In pre-Christian times, the celebration was called��Ukon juhla (“Ukko’s celebration”), honouring the Finnish god of the sky and weather. Sweden has a slightly different take on things, with its midsommar consisting of a dance around a flower-studded maypole. This became the basis for a of the same name, released last year.

Towards the end of the summer, Swedes and Swedish-speaking Finns will often throw a ��ä�ڳٲ��쾱�� or “crayfish party”. ? Despite to promote their frozen crayfish in store, the tradition doesn’t seem to have taken off more widely. The occasion originates in an early 20^th-century Swedish law restricting crayfish harvesting to the end of August. Despite the legal restriction no longer being in place, the tradition stuck and . They’re traditionally cooked in salted brine with a whole head of dill.

For most of us, summer this year will look quite different from those of years past. In all of the Nordic countries except Sweden, which took a radically different approach to handling the pandemic, the coronavirus peak and restrictions have been relaxed, meaning the retreat en masse to the countryside will take place in much the same way as it always has, perhaps with slightly boosted numbers due to less travel abroad.

The rest of us are anxious to get out of our homes and for a change of scenery. The key to enjoying this summer will be simplicity: casual barbecues shared with family, evening bonfires on the beach with friends and appreciating the louder-than-usual birdsong before it’s once again drowned out by traffic noise. Of course, depending on where we live, we’ll have to wait a bit longer before all of that is possible – but just think of those long, lazy Nordic nights as your light at the end of the tunnel. ?

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Introducing our new identity

Max Naylor — Thu, 14 May 2020 08:32:55 +0000

The year has got off to a tumultuous start – for many 2020 is looking radically different than we had hoped or expected. But this year also marks a significant milestone for our company: 25 years have passed since Jesper Sandberg started what went on to become sa��ʴ�ý (STP) in his spare bedroom. Cause to celebrate! ?

Our celebration plans are being updated in view of recent global events, but one way in which we plan to mark this significant milestone is ready to see the light of day: our new brand. For decades we’ve been known as STP, but from now on, you can call us Sandberg. We’ve designed a bright new logo to go with our new name, and you can read the story behind it below.

Honouring our heritage, projecting our future aspirations

The language services market is evolving at a rapid pace, with consolidations, acquisitions and ever-closer integration and collaboration between language service providers (LSPs and content creators). We’re evolving our services to offer even more value to our clients beyond translation. To reflect this, we felt it was right to update our name to one that is flexible and distinctive.

Our Nordic roots are important to us. Our founder is a Dane and even today many members of our management and production staff are Nordic. This has been essential to the formation of our company culture, where we value directness, openness and honesty. Sandberg is a classic Scandinavian surname, translating roughly as “sand mountain” (many Scandinavian surnames have geographical references).

The name has a number of key advantages:

It’s distinctive and stands out in the LSP market
It’s clear and easy to pronounce in many languages
It adapts as our service offering evolves

We also loved it because it avoids some of the familiar naming tropes in our industry (such as trans- and lingua-) and (perhaps most importantly) it’s not an acronym!

A modern responsive logo

Our new logo incorporates our new name whilst maintaining our familiar trademark blue. This darker shade is accompanied by a brighter shade of blue that pops in digital applications such as social media and our website. Blue represents a common element that ties all the Nordic nations together: the sea. ?

The two dots are imbued with subtle imagery. The hollow dot references the letter å used in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, and is a nod to our Nordic heritage and core translation offering. Together the dots can also be taken to represent a diaeresis (commonly known as an umlaut), which appears in various languages in the letters ä, ö and ü.

The dot device is offset by a friendly lowercase wordmark. We chose to split our name in two and stack the parts on top of each other next to the dots to create a counterbalance. The ascenders of the ‘d’ and ‘b’ have been cut at the same angle to add energy and interest.

As with almost any identity these days, ours will primarily be encountered in a digital context, which was a guiding light during the design process. This can create constraints in terms of available width and height, hence the need for the logo to be ‘responsive’. With this in mind, we’ve created a version for use in contexts with little vertical space, as well as one without the wordmark for use as our social media avatar and favicon. It also exists in a number of colour applications, offering much greater flexibility than our previous logo.

The entire design process was handled in-house by our Communications department as part of a broader update to our branding that has been gradually rolling out over the past year.

A statement of intent

Musing on the new identity, Sandberg’s Managing Director, Anu Carnegie-Brown says: “For our clients, this means a more recognisable, distinctive presence in a crowded marketplace. It is also a sign of our ambition to expand our service portfolio to our LSP clients by offering them much more than just translation.”

On a practical note, our website and email domains will remain stptrans.com for the time being. The new brand does not affect our legal name, sa��ʴ�ý., meaning invoicing and payment arrangements will not change either. You might continue to see STP on some communications in the near future as we complete the process of updating all our materials.

“We’ve got some exciting plans in store for 2020 to mark the milestone of our 25^th anniversary. Our new identity represents the first stage of those plans and sets the tone for the way we’ll communicate with our client and supplier partners from now on,” Anu concludes.

For enquiries relating to Sandberg’s new identity, please contact Max Naylor, our Content and Communications Officer, via communications@stptrans.com.

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4 Nordic recipes to whip up this Easter

Max Naylor — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 10:48:50 +0000

Earlier this week, our Managing Director Anu Carnegie-Brown introduced us to the Nordic Easter tradition of egg decoration. The method she taught us involved dyeing the eggs without removing the contents, meaning you can still use them to cook with later on (unless you’ve boiled them of course). With eggs and certain other ingredients a tad difficult to get hold of at the moment, it’s wise not to waste food.

In that spirit, I asked some of my Nordic colleagues about the kind of food they traditionally cook and eat at Easter time. Below are the recipes I gathered – most of which do use eggs!

1. ��ä��

According to our Finnish Account Linguist Laura, this dark, gloopy, malty substance is a firm favourite of Finns at Easter time. Its resemblance to something you might flush down the toilet at first, but I have it on good authority that this is a delectable treat. ��ä�� is normally made in large batches due to the amount of effort required, so there’s always plenty to go around.

��ä��: a pudding that’s a firm favourite amongst Finns. Photo: Strangnet/Wikimedia Commons

The basic dish is based on rye flour – malted, unmalted or both – but can be pimped up with all sorts of ingredients, from molasses to orange peel to raisins. It’s then served with cream and icing sugar on top. Most recipes I found required the pudding to be baked for 3 hours, but with a cooking time upwards of 7 hours (!).

By far the easiest to follow was – it only requires three ingredients. (US units) is slightly fancier with the addition of orange and raisins for extra flavour, so depending on what you have to hand, you can tone your ��ä�� up or down.��

2. Pasha

Next up is , a sweet dessert served in Finnish Translator ��Դ�’s family at Easter time. It resembles a pyramid with the peak chopped off, and is made with rahka (quark) or curd. The whiteness of the cheese is said to resemble the purity of Christ. Its name is derived from Pascha, the Eastern Orthodox celebration of Easter, whereas the dish itself originates in , a region which is split between Finland and Russia.

Russian pashka, similar to the Finnish pasha. Photo: Mitrius/Wikimedia Commons

To achieve the unique pyramid shape, a special mould is needed, although in lieu of this a clean terracotta plant pot will suffice, according to the . This recipe actually calls for curd, but quark can be easily substituted for this and is available in supermarkets and Eastern European food shops in many countries, including the UK. If this is not available, cottage cheese can also work.

The other main ingredients are soured cream, eggs and sugar, along with flavourings such as lemon peel and vanilla. Dried fruits such as raisins and cherries can also be added. of the recipe includes all of these, and the author rather ingeniously recommends using a coffee filter to strain and mould the dessert.

3. Marzipan

Although Middle Eastern in origin, almonds and by extension marzipan are widely consumed in the Nordic countries. Norwegian Translator William mentioned his family Easter tradition of making their own marzipan.

There doesn’t appear to be a specifically Norwegian marzipan recipe, so I recommend going with . It calls for caster sugar, icing sugar, ground almonds, vanilla seeds, eggs and apricot jam. If the sugar and eggs are hard to get hold of at the moment, then pre-made marzipan will do for all sorts of recipes.

One of the best-known Norwegian recipes to use marzipan is the Hvit dame (“White lady”) cake, which consists of alternating layers of sponge and whipped cream topped with a layer of marzipan. If you have a lot of time on your hands this Easter and no shortage of baking ingredients, then you might wish to a go.

4. Janssons frestelse

Swedish Translator Lena mentioned that many of the same foods are eaten at Easter and Christmas time in the Nordic countries. As elsewhere, a large part of what makes a food festive is its luxury component, using ingredients that would traditionally have been very difficult or expensive to procure.

With that in mind, for the sake of variety we’ll conclude this blog post with a savoury dish. Janssons frestelse��(“Jansson’s temptation”) is a sumptuous gratin consisting of potatoes, onions, sprats and cream topped with breadcrumbs and baked in the oven. (follow link for recipe), but it’s also commonly eaten at Easter in the country.

One linguistic point about this dish: the recipe calls for sprats, which in Swedish are known as ansjovis. Don’t get these confused with anchovies , as they’ll make the dish far too salty (you can ).

Whether and however you celebrate Easter, it’s certain that over the long weekend ahead we’ll all have a bit more time at home than usual. One thing we can still do to pass the time is cook, even if certain ingredients are trickier to get hold of right now. Don’t be afraid to explore substitutes where possible. Often one type of flour or sugar can be replaced with another, and many dairy products can be swapped about, although you might end up with a slightly lighter or heavier result than expected.

From everyone at STP, we wish you a relaxing and enjoyable Easter break!

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Waffling about the weather

Max Naylor — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 15:48:54 +0000

You’ll have almost certainly heard the old falsehood that the . This stems from a misunderstanding of the grammar of Eskimo languages such as Greenlandic and Inuktitut, which are based on , or the idea of sticking bits of words together.

What this falsehood relies on is the idea that different cultures have different ways of expressing phenomena specific to their lived experience – it might be logical to many Europeans, for example, that the Inuit have developed a highly descriptive, nuanced vocabulary to describe the snowy environment in which they live.

In linguistics this is known as , or the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, and is interpreted by many as “you can’t understand something you don’t have the words to describe”. This overly literal interpretation is not generally accepted by linguists – but we’re getting bogged down in a discussion of theory here.

While linguistic relativity is a bit of a controversial subject, what we can say for certain is that different languages have evolved different ways of describing the weather, and that some languages offer more shades of nuance than others. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the more succinct and idiosyncratic weather words in a few Nordic languages.

Icelandic

The rich spectrum of weather words in Icelandic reflects the highly changeable and often dramatic weather conditions experienced on this North Atlantic island. Exposed as it is to chilly Arctic gusts and northerly breezes from the Mexican Gulf, conditions are often dramatic and are rarely stable for long.

In the depths of winter, you’re likely to experience or “drift runner”, a kind of dry, drifting snow, along with a ��ú�� or , a particularly blustery, heavy snowstorm. A mere blizzard might be described as a . Once it’s hit the ground, you can describe it simply as , although you can opt for the more poetic or . As it starts to warm up, sleety snow falls as�� and, once on the ground,�� (also the word for a slushy ice drink). If you’re particularly unlucky, this will freeze into overnight: smooth, very slippery ice that’s almost impossible to walk on.

In spring and summer, you’re more likely to encounter a , or rain shower. A not uncommon occurrence is the , a sudden outburst of cold, rain and snow in what was otherwise a perfectly pleasant week of spring weather. Ever present in all seasons is the relentless , a strong, dry wind that upsets dustbins and tourists alike – and requires you moisturise constantly.

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Norwegian

Norway stretches across 24 degrees of latitude and faces out onto the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Its long coastline and rugged, mountainous terrain mean that the country is ��æ��ٳ�, or “weather-bitten”, by a wide range of conditions, words for which are preserved in the many dialects of Norwegian.

In��so-called “dirty” weather – i.e. when it’s cold and slightly wet and windy – is described as ��æ��. In��in southeastern Norway, if it’s snowy and blustery outside and you’re best off staying indoors, then you’re experiencing ��ܱ�æ�� or “shack weather” (this is similar to the Icelandic��or “window weather”, i.e. weather that’s best enjoyed on the inside of a window). In��, a snowstorm is known as ��𱹱�æ�� or “driving weather”, referring to the motion of the snow (compare Icelandic ��í�ڲ�). In standard Norwegian, this might be known as a ��ø�ڴǰ�� or “snow blow”, fokk coming from the verb fyke “to drift, blow”.

Continuing the snowy theme, in��in the south, fine-grained snow is known as fygl. Up in Rana in the north of the country, slushy snow is known as ��ø��貹. In the west, snow that doesn’t settle is called �ٴǰ��ø��Բ�.��In northern , there’s even a specific verb for sinking into “rotten” snow, such as that which forms underneath a tree in late winter: vadetruge. Then there’s perhaps the funnest of all: kram. This is snow that’s easy to pack together and is perfect for building snowmen or making snowballs.

There are also dozens of words for icy or slippery conditions, including ��å�� or ��ø�� (compare Icelandic ��á��첹),���ڳܲ��ø��, ��å��첹, glerunden, hault, hålt, klakkføre and speilblankt. A particularly interesting example is ��å��, or “deceptively slippery”, which refers to invisible ice such as black ice.

A final favourite of one of our in-house Norwegian translators is ��or the “cake thaw”. This refers to a period of mild weather around Christmas, which folk belief credits to the increased use of ovens during that time for all the Christmas baking.

In the case of Norwegian, it should be noted that the abundance of weather-related words has more to do with the relative lack of standardisation in the language and acceptance of dialectal variations rather than a vocabulary that concisely expresses subtle differences between types of snow, for example.

Finnish

Most parts of Finland experience heavy snowfall in the winter due to its continental location. Straightforward snow is called, quite simply, lumi. However, big, fluffy snowflakes are not an uncommon occurrence. There are a few different words for these, all metaphorical, such as �پ��쾱��ä�پ�� “d��󳦱��ǳٳ��”, karvalakit “fur hats” and vaipat “nappies”. Finnish also has its equivalent of the Norwegian kram – that perfect builder’s snow – or nuoska.

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We’ve seen that although we can count many words relating to the weather in the languages we’ve looked at, it’s not the case that they all pertain to unique conditions that English lacks the words to describe. What we can say, however, is that many of them nail a precise meaning in a concise way, whereas we might simply need a few more words to get the same meaning across.

This boils down to the essence of translation: the meanings of words across languages don’t always correspond 1:1 and often terms overlap awkwardly. Which for us linguists is a good thing, as it shows precisely why we’re needed.

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Cook up a Scandi Christmas

Max Naylor — Thu, 19 Dec 2019 10:58:39 +0000

There’s perhaps no time of year where the concept of Scandi ��is more appropriate than at Christmas. The short, dark days and freezing winter weather create the perfect excuse to hang multiple strings of fairy lights, bake sweet cardamom-laden treats that fill your home with the scent of the season and relax with a glass of sweet, heady mulled wine.

Known as ��ö�� in Scandinavia and Iceland, and ��ö�� in Finland, the drink originated as a spiced red wine or blackcurrant juice infusion and was used to fortify messengers and postal workers riding on horseback through the snow. These days, ready-made ��ö�� mixes can be purchased in the Nordic countries, but these are usually based on grape or orange juice and can be overly sweet. Here, we’ll show you how to make the genuine article.

To go with ��ö��, one of our resident Norwegians, William Hagerup, has shared his excellent recipe for Norwegian Christmas bread. This sweet enriched bread is perfect eaten simply with butter, but can also be topped with things as diverse as Nutella or – Norwegian brown cheese that has its own subtle caramel flavour. What’s more, the recipe can be easily adapted for vegans.

Read on to get the recipes for these two Christmas classics!

Glögg: the ultimate mulled wine

The spices

There’ll be no prizes for guessing the classic festive spices used to infuse ��ö�� with its unmistakable warming flavour. The stars are cloves, cinnamon and ginger – all left whole to make them easier to remove before serving. A must for me is cardamom pods: these add that classic Scandi flavour and make it that bit more special than mulled wine elsewhere. To facilitate easy removal, you might want to put your spices into a bouquet garni bag. Cotton ones are available online, which can be rinsed and used again and again.

If you can get it, dried orange peel will add a lot of flavour too. This is actually fairly easy to make yourself. Wash and peel an orange, tearing the peel into large pieces as you go. Lay on a baking sheet and bake in a low oven 120°C (100°C fan) for around half an hour. This will release the natural oils and aromas for a more complex flavour. You can keep any leftover peel for future rounds of mulled wine over the Christmas period.

The wine

There’s no need to splash out on an expensive bottle of plonk here – in fact ��ö�� is a fantastic way of improving the quaffability of cheaper wines. Young, sweet, fruity reds work best, although if you’ve got a bottle of dry red gathering dust it can be put to good use. Dry wines will need a bit more sugar, so adjust the amount to your taste as you go.

The accompaniments

In Scandinavia, ��ö�� is frequently served with raisins and flaked almonds. Add these to your glass just before filling – the raisins will soak up the ��ö�� as you drink it and give you something juicy to munch on at the end.

As for what to pair with ��ö��, something sweet always works well. We suggest William’s Norwegian Christmas bread (recipe below) or if you’re not a baker, you could opt for a ginger snaps, which are readily available from IKEA!

Max’s ��ö�� recipe

Vegan
Makes 4 glasses

Ingredients
1 bottle red wine, preferably on the sweeter side
1 cinnamon stick
2–3 cloves
2 coin-sized slices fresh ginger root
2 cardamom pods
Orange peel (dried if available)
3–4 tbsp sugar

To garnish:
4 cinnamon sticks
4 tsp raisins
2 tsp flaked almonds

Method

Empty the entire bottle of wine into a saucepan and place on a medium-low heat.
Using a mortar and pestle, or underneath a knife blade, lightly crush the cardamom pods to expose the seeds inside. If using a bouquet garni bag, add the cloves, ginger and cardamom pods and place the bag in the saucepan (if not, add the spices directly to the wine). Then add a cinnamon stick and the orange peel.
Add the sugar and stir well. Cover with a lid until the wine starts to warm. Do not let the wine come to the boil.
After a few minutes, the sugar should have dissolved. Stir once more and taste, adding more sugar if it doesn’t seem sweet enough. Don’t let too much of the wine evaporate – that’s the alcohol escaping! It’s only necessary to bring the wine up to a pleasant drinking temperature. If the wine seems warm enough but the flavour is not well developed, take off the heat, cover and leave for a few more minutes to infuse.
Divide the raisins and flaked almonds evenly between 4 serving glasses. Use thick-walled glasses rather than wine glasses, as the heat may cause thinner glasses to crack.
Remove the bouquet garni bag and other spices from the wine (if not using a bag, you might wish to strain the wine to catch any bits). Ladle the wine into each glass. Garnish with the remaining cinnamon sticks and serve!

William’s Norwegian Christmas bread

Makes 2 loaves
Vegetarian, or vegan if butter is substituted

Ingredients
750g strong white flour (plus extra for dusting)
85–125g sugar (amount to taste)
1/2 litre lukewarm (approx. 37°C) water
100g dairy butter, melted (use a neutral oil if you wish to avoid dairy)
1 sachet dried yeast (use the one for sweet bake if you can find it, if not, I find that you can use 2 ordinary sachets or just give the dough a bit more time, if needed)
1 tsp salt
1–3 tsp ground cardamom, plus a handful of seeds, crushed (depending on how cardamommy you like it)
100g raisins/dry fruit mix (optional)
1 egg, beaten (optional)

Method

Mix a small quantity (3 or 4 handfuls) of the flour with the yeast first (do not allow yeast to come into direct contact with the salt or sugar). Mix well.
Then mix in the sugar, salt and, if using, ground cardamom and crushed cardamom seeds.
Slowly add the water, mixing with a wooden spoon. Then add the melted butter (or oil if using).
Gradually add the flour and mix with a wooden spoon. The mixture will be liquid and lumpy at first, but as you add more flour it will start to come together.
Turn the mixture out onto your workbench. Knead for around 5–10 minutes, adding flour until the dough is no longer sticky, but still soft. If you squeeze the dough it should not stick to your fingers but feel slightly moist.
Place the dough in a bowl and cover. Let it prove in a warm place for 50 mins to an hour.
Turn the dough out onto the workbench again. Divide into two equal parts. If you want to include raisins/dry fruit, mix this in now. (I usually make one with and one without).
Shape the loaves as desired. Place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Cover and leave in a warm place to second prove for at least 45 mins, possibly 1 hour – keep an eye on it.
Pre-heat the oven to 225°C (I use a fan oven). If you want a glossy finish, beat an egg and brush it lightly and carefully over the loaves before you put them in the oven.
Bake for approx. 25 minutes. Check that they are done by tapping the middle of the bottom of the loaf with the tip of your finger. If the sound is wooden and hollow, they are done. If you get a dense, solid sound, they’re not ready. Reduce the heat to 220°C and put them back for another 4–5 minutes, checking as needed, until ready. If you prefer a crustier crust, you can turn up the temperature to 230°C during the last 5 minutes of baking.
Once satisfied they are indeed done, leave to cool slightly on a wire rack. When still fairly warm, cut into chunky slices and enjoy. (I like to slather them with real dairy butter and let it melt a bit – my daughter likes them with Nutella: anything goes!). For a truly Scandinavian experience: get hold of some Norwegian brown cheese (brunost), and cut thick slices of it to have on.

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5 ways to get the most out of financial translation

Max Naylor — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 15:37:07 +0000

Translation of financial texts often requires a different approach: with highly specialised terminology, short deadlines and production of the source and target texts sometimes happening in parallel, there are plenty of points along the way where things could go awry.

We’ve spoken to some of our in-house translators and project managers who are most experienced in this domain to find out what their top tips are for getting a high-quality, timely financial translation.

1. A clear brief sets you up for success

Any translator will tell you the importance of a good brief. A clear set of instructions helps to contextualise the translation job – knowing who the target audience is, for example, may significantly alter the tone and register of the target text.

With more formulaic domains such as financial, however, there is a tendency to overlook the significance of a clear brief. English Translator Rebecca Janota explains: “There’s sometimes the misconception that translating financial texts is self-explanatory. However, a good brief plays a key role in ensuring that the correct terminology is used and that the translation conforms to the company’s style and branding.” She gives a specific example from German: “If the document concerns a SICAV fund, the German term Anteil should be translated as ‘share’, but if it’s classed as an FCP, the term ‘unit’ should be used.” Both SICAVs and FCPs are types of collective investment funds found in different European countries.

Siân Mackie, one of our Senior English Translators, agrees that briefs are helpful for getting the tone right: “Certainly with financial projects it’s always useful to have an idea of the target audience for the text so that you don’t accidentally overcomplicate or oversimplify when translating.”

For certain types of financial texts, such as annual reports,��(IFRS) have been adopted in many countries around the world. These standards require specific terms to be used for maximum clarity. Danielle Davis, our Nordic–English Team Leader, says: “Knowing whether IFRS terminology applies is very important. If a particular IFRS title is referenced, the correct English name should be used, not a literal translation of the source text.”

Providing copies of the source file laid out in its final form is also extremely beneficial. Our translators all agreed that this could have an impact on how things are translated. Rebecca says: “It’s always helpful to have the source to hand, particularly if it contains tables, graphs and other visual elements as this is not always obvious in a CAT tool.” Siân echoes her sentiments: “The PDF of the original document is really useful for checking how the text is laid out and whether things should be presented/translated in a particular way to ensure an optimum reading experience.”

2.��Don’t forget about confidentiality and other regulatory issues

Financial documents such as earnings publications and annual reports often contain information that is commercially sensitive, or even personal data on a private individual’s financial situation. Tom McNeillie, our English Account Linguist Team Leader, says: “Awareness of confidentiality and GDPR is recommended for this domain, especially if translators have access to potentially sensitive information regarding an individual’s wealth or before earnings press releases are published.”

To make sure data stays secure, avoid sending documents for translation in unencrypted email attachments. Instead use a safe file transfer method with access control or upload your documents to a cloud-based CAT tool. At Sandberg, we have technical and policy measures in place to ensure the security of your data at every stage of the translation process. Read more about our security arrangements in this PDF.

Other regulatory issues must also be borne in mind by both translators and those ordering the work. Terminology is something that’s vital to get right – using the wrong term cannot only cause misunderstandings, but may also have legal ramifications. Rebecca explains: “Translations of financial texts must not only respect the client’s style guide and preferred terminology but also comply with statutory regulations.”

“A common financial report that we translate is a Key Investor Information Document (KIID), which must strictly conform in format and content with EU regulations. The CESR’s and contain prescriptive wording as well as expressions to be avoided. These guides ensure that the translation is appropriate from a legal perspective.”

Often, we receive documents that have been previously translated and then sent back to us with updates and additions. Rebecca has a top tip when translating updates: “It’s essential to bear in mind that the previous translation may have already been approved by an authority (such as the in France), and so it’s vital you don’t gratuitously alter any of the previous content and closely adhere to the approved terminology.”

3. Know the limits of OCR

Various financial documents requiring translation may exist only in paper format. These are often scanned and processed using (OCR) to convert them into a digital editable format.

Tom notes the impact this can have on the translation process and the effectiveness of translation resources: “We do occasionally encounter segmentation issues due to poor OCR. Another consequence of poor OCR is that match percentages can be affected if characters/letters/words are not recognised correctly, leading to reduced translation memory (TM) leverage or the potential for inconsistencies within a text or TM.” In essence, the worse the quality of an OCR’ed text, the longer the translation process will take and the more potential there is for inconsistencies.

Danielle echoes Tom’s sentiments, adding: “Sometimes we still receive a scanned PDF that can’t be successfully OCR’ed, so we have to type up the text directly into Word. Old-school translation!”

While OCR can be a powerful time-saver, it’s worth bearing in mind that the quality of the output can vary and that this needs to be taken into account in the translation process.

4.��Allow as much time as possible

As a rule, financial translations need to be delivered to tight deadlines tied to seasonal events such as the end of the tax year or annual report deadlines. This generates a significant volume of work at the end of the calendar year all the way through to the spring.

Tom explains: “Short deadlines are often a challenge, with relatively little flexibility in the translation process. For the highest-profile corporate annual reports, the documents are often still being written very close to the time of going to press, so the translation is done simultaneously on draft versions. The work can then be subject to rounds of updates to bring it up to date with the client’s final version in the original source language.”

These additional rounds of updates and revisions can sometimes themselves bring unexpected issues to the surface. Rebecca notes: “What can appear to be a minor change to the source can have ramifications for the target, such as changing the syntax completely and requiring the sentence to be retranslated from scratch.” This is something to bear in mind when requesting updates – sometimes a couple of sentences take much more than a couple of minutes to translate.

Siân adds: “Financial texts can sometimes take a little longer to translate if there is a lot of specialist terminology and numbers that need careful checking, but generally speaking there are a lot of great resources for working on these types of texts.”

Financial translation services

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5. Trust our experience and expertise

At Sandberg, we have over 20 years’ experience in translation and localisation, and have translated millions of words of financial text into the Nordic languages and from the Nordic languages, German and French into English. We’ve amassed deep knowledge and understanding of best practices for financial translation. One area where we shine is terminology management and the smart use of resources, both internal and external.

All our in-house translators agreed that the best available terminology resources for financial translation are , the EU terminology database which has an excellent search function, and , the searchable body of EU law. They also mention various IFRS guidelines, as well as general-purpose bilingual resources such as and .

We’ve built up comprehensive in-house term bases and translation memories that put these terms at the fingertips of our translators, and capture words and phrases that don’t appear in external online resources. Asked which resources she uses most for financial translation jobs, Danielle mentions her own personal glossary built up over a decade. She used this to create Sandberg’s internal term bases for Nordic–English jobs, making it easier for everyone in her team to find IFRS-compliant terms.

Tom also mentions his confidence in his colleagues’ knowledge of the financial domain. Asked how his team handles linguistic queries on the source text, he responds: “We would look at them ourselves in-house and try to answer them using our resources and expertise.” Only once this option has been exhausted would we contact the client for further clarification.

A lot of the guidance in this post can also be applied to other similar domains, such as legal translation. However, what’s clear is that financial translation has its own unique set of requirements brought about by a combination of short deadlines, rigid terminology and industry regulation. When selecting your partner for your next translation project, make sure it’s one that has the capacity and experience to deliver the quality of work you need, when you need it.

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3 approaches to adapting US content for UK audiences

Max Naylor — Thu, 31 Oct 2019 12:10:58 +0000

The cliché goes that the best translation work is invisible: when translation’s done well, the reader feels like the text was written in their language, just for them. But there’s perhaps an even more invisible type of linguistic work that we do on a regular basis: English adaptation. The exact definition of what constitutes adaptation is a fuzzy one, but it can range from simply changing a few spellings to a deep, thoughtful localisation that considers syntax, colloquial expressions, cultural references and even what information is important in different cultures.

The most common language combination we encounter is�� to , although occasionally we’re asked to work in the other direction. There are of course other national standards for English too, such as , and , each with their own wrinkles and idiosyncrasies.��

You’ve lost me, mate

But why is adaptation necessary? Can’t English speakers understand each other’s dialects easily enough that changing a text written in one anglophone country so it conforms with the standards of another’s is a waste of time? Well, though it’s true that most of the message gets across, the differences are greater than they may seem at first. Also, UK audiences in particular can find US English unfamiliar and alienating, and in some cases even downright irritating.

Not only is there an entirely different set of cultural references, but national senses of humour diverge greatly.

A classic scenario where the differences in English become apparent is in films and TV programmes that have crossed the Atlantic in either direction. Not only is there an entirely different set of cultural references, but national senses of humour diverge greatly. Most Brits have experienced the feeling of not getting a joke in an American film or TV programme because the cultural reference didn’t translate, and I’m sure that the feeling is mutual.

A couple of examples from my childhood that always puzzled me were “lamars classes”, which I didn’t find out until relatively far into adulthood are actually called “”. I also remember being baffled about “Altoids” (a type of mint common in the US, but to me some mysterious body part, mentioned in��) and “Triscuits” (mentioned in the��episode “The One with the Baby Shower”). I thought the latter was spelt “trisket” and was some kind of ancient weapon.

These strange terms not only caused confusion, but they made me feel like I wasn’t in on the joke. If you’re a marketer from the US launching your product on the UK market, you run the risk of making your British audience feel the same way if you don’t get your marketing content adapted.

By the same token, it’s important to stay authentic to your brand and its values. Sometimes your brand’s cultural roots and heritage is what makes it stand out in your target market – , for example.��

However, no matter what sector you operate in, some level of localisation will be required, whether that’s for product, marketing or even internal communications.

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The adaptation spectrum

Approach 1: Reproofing

As mentioned at the start of this post, adaptation means different things to different people. For many clients, it can be as simple as changing a few zeds (or zees) to esses and jettisoning the odd , along with changing date formats, . We can call this type of adaptation reproofing, as it normally just involves skim-reading the source text.

Approach 2: Traditional adaptation

Sometimes this is enough: for example in business reports or technical manuals. Often though, clients want us to go further, changing terminology where relevant and possibly even phrasing. This is what clients normally mean by adaptation.

Approach 3: Full localisation

At the furthest end of the spectrum, clients want us to consider all of the above, plus the connotations of particular turns of phrase that might offend in the target market, as well as cultural references that could be lost on the target audience. In this way, the job becomes much more like a transcreation or localisation project, and requires considerable time, research and effort, rather than a simple spell check.��Let’s call this type full localisation. This type of project doesn’t come along every day, but when it does it can be the most impactful on the client’s target audience, as well as the most fun for linguists to work on.

We can visualise these types of adaptation on a spectrum:

As you can see, each requires a different approach and level of commitment. The tools used for each type of work also vary.

What’s the actual difference between US and UK English?��

Sometimes the line between US and UK English is not as clear-cut as it may seem. Spelling differences are easy to identify, as is the American propensity to capitalise the first letter of every word in headings. Then there are the famous terms all native English speakers know:��truck��vs��lorry,��candy��vs��sweets,��autumn��vs��fall. Depending on the domain and text type, the density of such terms can vary greatly.

What’s harder to pin down is the feeling that many British English speakers have that something just “sounds American”. This gut reaction is not always rooted in solid linguistics: many terms have crossed the Atlantic in both directions, and American English preserves many archaic terms that had their origins in the British Isles.

The sum of these hundreds of tiny stylistic choices can be much greater than its parts.

There are certain tendencies that crop up again and again. Brits are quite fond of the perfect tense – most preferring��I’ve already eaten��to the American��I already ate. This extends to the common phrase��Forgot password?, which is rendered as��Forgotten password?��in UK localisations of many web services. The way both nations use modal verbs varies quite substantially too:��must��is more common in US English than UK English, whereas��shall��is barely used west of the Atlantic despite still being in daily use in the UK.

The minute differences are too numerous to list here, and many resources exist that map out the differences in spelling, vocabulary and syntax. However, the sum of these hundreds of tiny stylistic choices can be much greater than its parts. They all combine to create a general sound, a feel, that many native English speakers can detect even if they can’t point out exactly what sounds odd about a particular construction.

Identifying all the possible changes that can be made is a complex task and requires an intimate knowledge of linguistic norms on either side of the Atlantic, as well as a keen eye. Often in cases of uncertainty, linguists must rely on gut instinct or straw polls of colleagues to check the validity of the changes they wish to make.

Our English translation services

We offer translation services into English from French, Italian, German and Spanish (FIGS), as well as the Nordic languages.

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Max Naylor, Author at sa���ʴ�ý

Four festive fundraiser recipes

? £150 – Christina’s��vaniljekranse

Recipe for vaniljekranse (Denmark)

Ingredients

Method

?? £300 – Line’s��pepperkaker

Recipe for pe������첹������(Norway)

Ingredients

Method

??? £500 – Eloise’s mincemeat shortbread

Recipe for mincemeat shortbread (UK)

???? £750 – Adam’s��saffranskaka

Recipe for �����ڴڰ����Բ��첹�첹��(Sweden)

Ingredients

Method

3 reasons why English adaptation is your key to entering the UK market

Our English translation services

1. US English can be a barrier to entering the UK market

2. UK English brings you closer to your customers

3. Adaptation prevents misunderstanding (and embarrassment)

6 reasons why you shouldn’t rely on your own employees for translation

1. Translation is a specialist skill

2. It’s impossible to know the quality of your translation

3. It’s not a good use of your time and money

4. Translators have tools to speed up their work

5. Internal translation doesn’t scale

6. Mistakes can cost you customers and damage your reputation

Celebrating summer, Nordic style

An escape from the city

Don’t let the barbecue go out

Introducing our new identity

Honouring our heritage, projecting our future aspirations

A modern responsive logo

A statement of intent

4 Nordic recipes to whip up this Easter

1. ��ä������

2. Pasha

3. Marzipan

4. Janssons frestelse

Waffling about the weather

Icelandic

Our Icelandic translation services

Norwegian

Finnish

Our Finnish translation services

Cook up a Scandi Christmas

Glögg: the ultimate mulled wine

The spices

The wine

The accompaniments

Max’s ����ö���� recipe

William’s Norwegian Christmas bread

5 ways to get the most out of financial translation

1. A clear brief sets you up for success

2.��Don’t forget about confidentiality and other regulatory issues

3. Know the limits of OCR

4.��Allow as much time as possible

Financial translation services

5. Trust our experience and expertise

3 approaches to adapting US content for UK audiences

You’ve lost me, mate

Our ISEO and marketing services

The adaptation spectrum

Approach 1: Reproofing

Approach 2: Traditional adaptation

Approach 3: Full localisation

What’s the actual difference between US and UK English?��

Our English translation services

Max Naylor, Author at sa��ʴ�ý

Recipe for pe��첹��(Norway)

Recipe for ��ڴڰ��Բ��첹�첹��(Sweden)

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Max’s ��ö�� recipe