Language is Everything

Non-Latin characters coming online for domain names

The board of ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) announced today that the first Internet addresses containing non-Latin characters from start to finish will soon be online.

 

Click here to watch a video about Internationalized Domain Names.

Carolyn live on Five Live

Our chairman, Carolyn Burgess (who is also the president of the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce), took to the airwaves last Friday on a BBC Five Live discussion about the local economy.

 

Click here to read more on the Chamber of Commerce blog.

Mental health — why the interpreter is so crucial to patient well-being

One person in four — regardless of culture, age or background — will experience some type of mental illness and seek help. The aims of mental health professionals are to diagnose, to treat and to manage risk. Accurate and current information is vital for mental health staff and service users, meaning that the interpreter really is 'part of the team'.

Since 2006, Language is Everything has been the preferred supplier of interpreting services to Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, one of the largest specialist NHS mental health trusts in England.

Earlier this week we ran our first Interpreting Mental Health training courses at the Park Royal Centre for Mental Health and the Gordon Hospital. The courses were delivered by Gillian Trainor, the lead nurse at Brent Mental Health Services.

Dawn Bowes, the senior account manager at Language is Everything, said:

"These training courses were all about bringing mental health and language professionals together. Mental health work is very complex, and the role of the interpreter is crucial to patient well-being.

"Mental health professionals need to know exactly what a person is experiencing — they need facts to enable them to make clinical judgements.

"The linguists' code of practice allows interpreters to intervene to clarify meaning, and in a mental health setting the temptation is to try to make sense of information that is totally delusional.

"But as part of diagnosing and monitoring a patient's mental health condition, mental health professionals require a word-for-word — and possibly 'meaningless' — translation. As Gillian said: 'As far as possible, tell it like it is, tell us what you are hearing'."

The picture below shows some of our interpreters holding their Interpreting Mental Health certificates, with Gillian Trainor third from right in the front row and Dawn Bowes second from right in the front row.

New title reflects change of focus

Language is Everything has announced that its chief executive, Carolyn Burgess, has become the company's chairman.

"Over the past few years, we've been building a brilliant team of people who are gradually taking over the operational side of our business," said Carolyn. "This has meant that, over time, my role has evolved and become more and more strategic. The idea of changing my job title is to reflect this shift in focus."

In addition to being the chairman of Language is Everything, Carolyn is president of Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce. She also sits on the boards of Hull Forward, an economic development company, and AfrOx, an organisation aiming to improve cancer prevention and control in Africa.

It was also announced last week that she had been appointed a non-executive director of Business Link Yorkshire.

"With Language is Everything," said Carolyn, "my work is now very much about talking to key people in the public and private sectors about 'the big picture' of language, culture and communication. The world is becoming more and more multilingual — how can British business thrive in a world where the English language doesn't always rule? Meanwhile, Britain itself is becoming more and more multicultural — how can language help us to build integrated and cohesive communities? These are the questions I'm focussed on."

Last week Carolyn made her second trip this year to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, where she is working to improve the UK's links with francophone Africa. This week she is in Brussels as part of a British Chambers of Commerce delegation.

Customer service is everything

More great news from the Language is Everything operations team: we're proud to announce that 19-year-old Zoe Longhorn, who has been working with us for nearly two years, has been awarded a level 2 NVQ in customer service.

 

"Completing the NVQ has given me more confidence in dealing with customers and helped me build on my other skills in customer service," said Zoe, who worked towards the award with East Riding Training Services, part of East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

Meanwhile Zoe, along with her colleagues Tanith Reay and Marie Ring, has also completed Yorkshire Passion, a service quality training programme created by the acclaimed playwright John Godber. The aim of Yorkshire Passion is to "empower delegates to deliver service with passion about this part of Yorkshire by becoming ambassadors and promoters for the region."