Our Company translates from any language into English and into any language from English e.g. English to Arabic, Urdu to English, English to Polish, Cantonese to English, English to Czech, Spanish to English, Farsi to English etc. Alternative Formats document portfolio
Here is a list of Languages we work with, but this list is not exhaustive…
Akan (Acan), Adangbe, Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Ardalany, Armenian, Assamese, Azerbaijani (Azeri), Bajuni, Baloch (Baluchi, Balushi), Basque, Belarusian, Bengali (Bangla), Bengali (Sylheti), Bodo, Bokmal, Bong, Bosnian, Braille, Bravanese, British Sign Language (BSL), Bulgarian, Burmese, Burmese (Karen), Cantonese, Catalan, Cebuano, Chechen, Chimbalazi, Chimwiini, ChiMwini, Cotocoli, Creole, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dioula, Dutch, English (UK), English (US), Estonian, Ethiopian, Ewe, Fante, Faroese, Farsi, Finnish, Flemish, French, Fulfulde, Fullah(Fula), Gaelic, Galician, Georgian, German, Greek, Greek, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hakka, Haryanvi, Hausa, Hebrew, Hilonggo, Hindi, Hinko, Hokkien, Hubei (dialect), Hungarian, Ibo (Igbo, Ebo/e, Heebo), Icelandic, Indonesian, Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia), Irish, Italian, Japanese, Kamba, Kannada, Karen, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kikongo, Kikuyu, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kiswahili, Konkani, Korean, Kosovan, Kurdish, Kurdish(Badini), Kurdish (Hawrani), Kurdish (Kalhoor), Kurdish (Kurmanji), Kurdish (Sorani), Lamnso, Lao, Latvian, Lingala, Lithuanian, Luganda, Lugungu, Lunyoro, Luo, Macedonian, Malay, Malayalam, Maltese, Mandarin, Mandingo, Mandinka, Marathi, Marvadi, Minnanese, Mirpuri, Moldovan, Mongolian, Montenegrin, Mwiini, Mwini, Myanmarese, Nawayathi, Ndebele, Nepalese, Norwegian, Oriya, Oromo, Pali, Pashay, Polish, Portuguese, Pothwari (Pothohari, Potwari), Punjabi, Punjabi (Indian), Punjabi (Pakistan), Pushto (Pashto), Romanian, Rukiga, Runyankole, Runyoro, Russian, Rutoro, Rwandese, Saho, Sanskrit, Saraiki, Serbian, SerboCroat, Shangan, Shanghainese, Shona, Sindhi, Sinhala (Sinhalese), Slovak, Slovak(Romani), Slovenian, Somali, Spanish (Basque), Spanish (Castillian), Spanish (Catalan), Spanish (Galician), Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Taiwanese, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tigre, Tigrinya, Tshiluba, Turkish, Twi, Ukrainian, Urdu, Urhobo, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Welsh, Wolof, Yoruba, Zazaki, Zulu
FURTHER INFORMATION ON; ALTERNATIVE FORMATS, INCLUDING AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION & VOICEOVERS
We will ensure that all communications are inclusive and accessible and that the information is easy to understand and will help people to make better choices.
We follow the best practice guidelines, strategies and policies produced by the Office for Disability Issues (ODI), which can also help to provide the following, if required:
- Involve disabled people from the start of any project
- Make sure disabled people are represented positively
- Create accessible communications
- Deliver accessible online video and podcasts.
Some formats suit one type of impairment/disability more than another. This depends on whether your campaign has specifically targeted people with particular impairments/disabilities or if you know whether there will be a high proportion of people with a particular impairment/disability in your audience. We can advise more specifically in each instance, but as an indication:
Visual impairments – audio, audio description, Braille, Moon, telephone
Learning disabilities and literacy difficulties – audio, audio description, Easy Read, easy access, Makaton, subtitles
Hearing– British Sign Language, Makaton, subtitling, textphone, SMS
Co-ordination difficulties – large print, audio, audio description, telephone
How we will anticipate the needs of disabled people
- What minimum standards are in place?
- Who is responsible for the alternative formats?
- What type(s) of information will be given priority?
- How to monitor the strategy.
- Supplying alternative formats – best practice
- Involve relevant departments, such as marketing and communications, from the earliest planning stages.
- Consider the needs of your patients/customers in advance – assess which, if any, accessible format versions are likely to be required.
Easy read
- Easy Read is one way of making information more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Easy Read is also known as; making information easier, Easier to understand information, Simple words and pictures, Easy Write, Easy Info, Easy Access. People with learning disabilities need access to all information, not just disability-specific information but also about their health, voting, work and gaining skills.
Easy Read and Makaton
Easy Read
- Can be used by people with learning disabilities. Makaton can be useful for people with profound learning disabilities. Easy access can be a useful format for people who have had a stroke.
- People with learning disabilities need access to all information, not just disability – specific information but also about their health, voting, work and gaining skills.
- Uses pictures to support the meaning of text. It can be used by a carer to talk through a communication with someone with learning difficulties, so that they can understand it.
- Is often also preferred by readers without learning disabilities, as it gives the essential information on a topic without a lot of background information. It can be helpful for other audiences e.g. people who are not fluent in English.
Makaton
- Makaton symbols support the written word, in the same way that sign language supports speech.
- Makaton publications use symbols representing gestures from British Sign Language, words and pictures to communicate meaning.
- Other users include families, carers, friends and professionals, like teachers and social workers, who communicate with people with profound learning disabilities.
Braille & Moon
Providing Braille and Moon formats will make your communications more accessible to people with visual impairments.
Providing Braille Translation
Braille will be provided to those who request it. The process can take a little longer than a language swap translation, but this will be explained and advised to you by the LPM.
Producing Moon Translation
It is unlikely to need a moon translation, as this is rather uncommon. If you receive a request for Moon, ask whether another format, such as audiotape, would be a useable alternative. However, if required Translation Empire has full services to produce this.
Large print Translation
No single size is suitable for everyone. We can, however, produce information in large print for an individual, if size is part of the request. We can produce simple large print documents in-house from a Word document. More complex jobs take a little longer to ensure that picture and print quality are consistent at larger sizes. We proofread all large print versions to make sure the headings and paragraph text match the page breaks.
Reasonable limits to the size of type
Requests for type sizes above 28 point should be carefully considered for cost-effectiveness. Very large type sizes can be counter-productive because they cause publications to become bulky and difficult to navigate.
We can also provide advice as to whether it is better to offer alternative formats. For example, providing an audio version of the information or emailing someone a text document so that they can access the information using a screen reader on their computer.
Subtitling
For many deaf people and people with hearing impairments, subtitles are likely to be an important channel for receiving information, here at Translation Empire we think it is important to make TV and film media accessible for people with hearing impairments. Subtitling is text on screen representing speech and sound effects that may not be audible to people with hearing impairments. It is synchronised as closely as possible to the sound.
Subtitle Translation
We can also produce foreign language translations of subtitles from and into English.
Your subtitling audience
People using subtitles range from those who have been profoundly deaf since birth, to those who have become hard of hearing in later life. Viewers with a mild to moderate hearing loss are likely to rely on subtitles to aid their hearing rather than as a substitute.
Subtitle users reflect the full range of proficiency in English. Some profoundly deaf people regard British Sign Language as their first language and are less fluent in written English. All of the groups mentioned above are likely, to a greater or lesser extent, to lip-read.
Many people with good hearing also use subtitles so that they can watch television with the sound muted, e.g. so that they can simultaneously talk on the telephone or to learn English.
Tapes & CD-ROMs
An accompanying tape or CD-ROM can make written information more accessible for people with learning difficulties. It should:
- Speak the words of the publication slowly
- Say when you need to turn the page so people can follow with the text.
- Consider including music to give time to turn pages.
Audio Transcription
We can provide alternative formats for people with visual impairments for example
- Audio formats
- Audiotape
- Mp3 audio file
- CD-ROM
- CD
- Audio versions of documents are generally provided on CD-ROM or as mp3 files.
When producing audio material we take in to account the following:
- Arrange information in a logical order
- Avoid background noise and music
- Use voices that are appropriate to the subject matter and audience
- Give people time to understand calls to action