Newsletter
Newsletter December 2014
Horse racing or soccer
This is just the way it should be: the second half of 2014 began with a special titbit, however, it was not soccer but horse racing.
The traditional Derby Week was held at the Hamburg Horn racecourse from 29th June to 8th July. There was great excitement throughout the week for those attending the Derby with tension peaking for the crowning race, the German Derby, the most prestigious flat race in Germany. The Derby dinner provided a more relaxed atmosphere with all of the speeches being interpreted simultaneously for guests from outside Germany.
Nonetheless: the horseracing event was not completely bar of any link to soccer because the first race on day one of the Derby was won by the 3-year old colt El Tren from the racing stable 24 owned by the soccer players Thomas Müller, Claudio Pizarro and Tim Borowski. So one could say: success on two legs translates into success on four!
The aim: living without pain
The 4th International CRAFTA Congress in Hamburg involved a completely different subject. The first three congresses were already hugely successful with 750 enthusiastic participants and more than 30 speakers from 10 countries. This time the conference was more specifically designed for specialist health professionals such as physiotherapists, ergo therapists, manual therapists and speech therapists as well as dentists and orthodontists. The topic this year was “Facial and cervical pain – the balance between proof and clinical practice”. CRAFTA was in charge of organisation together with their partner of many years “FiHH Das Fortbildungsinstitut” (Germany-wide further education and training in medical therapy).
Chinese
Again in 2014 the preponderant language combination was German/English but we also had a number of enquiries for other languages. We have noted a clear increase in Chinese as a conference language and wonder whether this trend will continue on into 2015. There are a limited number of professional conference interpreters for Chinese located in Germany which means that these interpreters are often booked very early on. It is always preferable to plan well in advance when there is need for Chinese interpretation.
And also Arabic
We provided interpretation from English into Arabic and back for the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning in Hamburg during a workshop for participants from Saudi Arabia which included a study-trip to Copenhagen. The topic of the two-week workshop was education and training for women in Saudi Arabia.
Architecture
The Heize ArchitekTOUR always choses a very special venue for their annual congress and accompanying exhibition – this year it was the Landschaftspark (landscape park) Duisburg.
This newly created park has forged a connection between industrial culture and the surrounding landscape. It has gained worldwide recognition, not only among experts. The transformation of the old ironworks in Duisburg-Meiderich which began in 1990 and is still on-going has become a legend in itself.
The International Building Exhibition IBA at the Emscher Park laid the cornerstone for the continuous development of this 200 hectare recreational and adventure park. Innovation and tradition, movement and preservation – the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord shows how thanks to visionary and sustainable design and utilisation concepts industrial architecture and heritage can not only be impressively staged but also filled with purpose in the long term.
We provided simultaneous interpreting for presentations by Yama Karim from Liebeskind Studio in New York and Stefano Boeri who, with his typical Italian temperament, spoke about two greened high-rise buildings in Milano, the so-called Bosco Verticale.
Professional secrecy
Many clients need interpreters for internal company events, contract negotiations, business discussions and meetings on human resources but also for supervisory board meetings. The matters discussed at such meetings are often highly confidential and may not be divulged outside the company. Professional ethics prescribe that interpreters are bound by professional secrecy. Although this is the case, we conclude an additional confidentiality agreement with interpreters who work for us thus ensuring a further direct obligation of confidentiality. The same applies of course to translators and translations.
A number of our clients have also requested SIMCONSULT to sign a separate confidentiality agreements, a request we comply with without any problem. The security of knowing that confidential information will remain where it was discussed is further increased because material for preparation made available to interpreters during a meeting, whether in physical files or on a USB flash drive, will be handed in after the meeting if the client so wishes.
And maybe we should also emphasize another point: We here in the office are also not party to anything that the interpreters learn when working for clients. It goes with saying that this is also belongs to professional secrecy.
In closing close we would like to wish you and your families a good start to the New Year.
Your SIMCONSULT-Team