When Emesent contracted Absolute Translations to assist with their localisation endeavours, Emesent was a “scale-up”: a company with high revenue, lots of raised capital, and, crucially, international ambitions.

When a business hits this level early and accelerates quickly, it’s known as “hypergrowth”, which is both a chaotic and very exciting period for a scale-up where things are happening fast and hurdles are everywhere.

One of the biggest hurdles to adapting to those changes and expanding globally are new barriers of culture and language.

Emesent have a large reseller network in 30 countries so having accurate, reliable translations of documentation is imperative. It makes your customers feel seen and appreciated when you can provide documentation in their own language.

So for Emesent it was essential to have the right localisation strategy.  The potential benefits of Hovermap were universal and Emesent wanted to share those with the world.

Investing in hiring a professional translation company that use qualified in-country translation teams to localise their marketing collateral, meant that Emesent could offer their global resellers high quality localised content for their end clients locally and this gave Emesent a competitive advantage.

Emesent’s growth has soared and statistics show that the localised website has had more than 100K web page views for Japanese alone in February 2023.

Thanks to this success Emesent is continuing an impressive growth path across the APAC, EMEA and LATAM regions.

In 2015, Deswik was expanding rapidly across the globe and one of the biggest hurdles to expanding globally are new barriers of culture and language.

Deswik develop innovative software technologies, so they needed to find a stable translation partner that used high-end technologies during the translation process to meet their technical demands and provide high quality localisation and transcreation services that they could trust.

The format of the files used for translation needed to be XLF.  XLF files are bilingual files that are easily processed by CAT software and that can be shared among localisation teams.

CAT software comprises productive tools and smart technology to process documents quickly and efficiently, analyse repeating content across projects, and assist the translators in maintaining highest quality during translation by ensuring consistency of terminology and writing style and offering quality control measures and tools.

Deswik’s localisation strategy proved successful. Since their inception in 2008 they expanded to 18 offices gobally.

Absolute Translations has helped Deswik recognise the importance of localisation and adapting their content for different markets.  This has enabled them to expand and successfully trade globally.

Working with CAT software has helped Deswik to work more productively and efficiently deal with all types of documents such a training guides, InDesign files, web pages and more.

By leveraging the translation memories Deswik managed to improve quality and consistency throughout their material and enabled huge cost savings thanks to the discounts they received for the repeating text, repetitions and fuzzy matches, throughout large volumes of documentation.

Absolute Translations continues to work with Deswik regularly in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese.

Eric Tom & Bruce engaged Absolute Translations mid-June 2022 to carry out the translation, subtitling and voice-over service for the STOPIT campaign with a delivery timeframe of two weeks, to achieve the VIC Police STOPIT campaign launch early July 2022.

One of the challenges was the rarity of some languages like Khmer, Thai and Punjabi combined with the short turnaround time this was requested in. Sourcing professionally trained voice-over talents and doing the casting of those talents in 10 languages in a short timeframe presented us with a unique challenge.

Another major challenge was the length of the videos. The videos were short 6″, 15″ and 30″ second videos respectively, created specifically for social media purposes. The English voice-over scripts were created to fit these timeframes exactly, but also the foreign language voice-overs needed to fit these timeframes exactly.

This was a tough challenge in languages like Khmer, Thai, Punjabi and Turkish as these are ‘wordy’ languages and contain generally longer words than English.

With regular translation these scripts would be too long to match the videos exactly and this meant that the translations needed to be shortened and reduced in size in order to fit the timeframes of the videos.

The localisation effort was highly successful, resulting in increased engagement and reporting from non-English speaking communities. The STOPIT service saw a significant rise in the number of reports from these communities, leading to more effective identification and action against offenders.

Key Takeaways

• Inclusivity: Ensuring that all community members could access and understand the campaign materials was crucial for its success.
• Cultural Sensitivity: Adapting content to reflect cultural nuances and preferences helped build trust and acceptance.
• Collaboration: Working with community leaders and organisations enhanced the reach and impact of the campaign.
• Continuous Improvement: Regular feedback and iterative improvements were essential for maintaining the effectiveness of the localised content.

The STOPIT campaign’s localisation effort serves as a model for other initiatives aiming to reach diverse linguistic communities. By prioritising accurate translations, professional voice-overs, and culturally relevant content, Victoria Police successfully made the STOPIT service accessible to a wider audience, contributing to a safer public transport network for all.

The feedback on the STOPIT campaign localisation effort by Victoria Police has been generally positive, with several key points highlighted:

Increased Reporting: The campaign has led to a significant increase in the number of reports from non-English speaking communities. Since its launch, the STOPIT service has received almost 3,000 notifications statewide, resulting in over 60 police investigations and 33 people being charged with sexual offences.

Community Empowerment: The localisation effort has empowered more commuters to report incidents of anti-social behaviour and sexual harassment. Many users have expressed feeling safer and more confident in reporting incidents, knowing that the service is accessible in their language.

Positive Impact: The campaign has been credited with making the public transport network safer. Victoria Police analysis shows that more than 40% of notifications related to threatening and offensive behaviour, while almost one in five notifications were about unwanted sexual behaviour.

Community Engagement: The localisation effort has been well-received by community leaders and organisations, who have helped promote the service and encourage its use. This collaboration has been crucial in building trust and awareness within diverse communities.

Ongoing Improvements: Victoria Police continues to seek feedback from users to make necessary adjustments and improvements to the campaign. This iterative process ensures that the localised content remains effective and relevant.

Overall, the STOPIT campaign’s localisation effort has been successful in increasing engagement and reporting from non-English speaking communities, contributing to a safer public transport environment.

With a significant portion of their manual workforce being international workers with limited English, communication issues arose when it came to medical consultations:

• Many employees spoke limited English, which created challenges in understanding and conveying medical information correctly.
• When there are misunderstandings between medical professionals and employees, the quality of medical care can be compromised.
• If the quality of medical care is compromised, legal consequences can ensue.

Before contracting Absolute Translations, Teys was sourcing medical interpreters internally. This presented quite a few challenges:

• Finding and vetting qualified interpreters was resource-intensive and diverted the attention from other important tasks.
• Coordinating the claimants, medical doctors and interpreters’ schedules and managing the bookings added to the claims managers’ administrative workload.
• This also resulted in higher costs due to the lack of streamlined processes and automation.
• When an urgent situation arose, sourcing a qualified interpreter was proving difficult, stressful and time-consuming.
• There was no streamlined process to track interpreters’ performances, hours worked and the service quality.

Overall, there was limited quality and efficiency sourcing interpreters manually and the costs in doing so far outweighed the costs in working with quality provider of interpreting services, so Teys contracted Absolute Translations to provide quality medical interpreting as well as provide the platform to schedule and book interpreters.

Teys Group Australia’s collaboration with Absolute Translations and the implementation of the LINK platform have significantly improved communication and medical care for their international workers. This partnership highlights Teys’ dedication to employee safety and well-being, setting a benchmark for other companies in the industry.

The collaboration resulted in significantly improved communication between doctors and Teys’ claimants, ensuring that medical information was accurately conveyed and understood.

Clear and precise communication enabled by Absolute Translations’ qualified NAATI certified medical interpreters enhanced the overall safety and well-being of employees, leading to better medical outcomes and faster recovery times.

The seamless scheduling of interpreting sessions reduced delays in sourcing interpreters, improved the efficiency for Teys’ claims managing team, resulted in better medical consultations overall while also streamlining the process and ensuring timely medical care for their workers.

By addressing the language barriers and providing necessary support, Teys fostered a more inclusive and supportive work environment, showing their commitment to their diverse workforce, and it helped Teys comply with legal and regulatory requirements, enhancing their reputation as a responsible employer.

Contracting Absolute Translations for qualified NAATI certified interpreting services and implementing the use of LINK, Teys not only significantly improved communications and medical care for their international workers, they also increased efficiency and reduced overall costs.

Absolute Translations’ medical interpreting team contributed the following:

• Medical terminology is complex and needs to be precise. Our qualified interpreters ensured that both the patient’s symptoms and the doctor’s instructions were communicated accurately. This reduced the risk of misunderstandings that could affect diagnosis and treatment.
• Miscommunication in medical settings can lead to serious consequences, including incorrect treatments, medication errors, and missed follow-ups. Our qualified interpreters helped to safeguard patient safety by ensuring clear and accurate communication.
• Our professional interpreters are trained to maintain patient confidentiality and adhere to ethical standards such as the AUSIT Code of Ethics, which is essential in building trust between patients and healthcare providers.
• Understanding cultural nuances can greatly impact patient care. Absolute Translations’ interpreters are trained for cultural competence, helping to bridge cultural gaps so the medical practitioner can provide a more holistic care.
• Medical situations can be stressful and intimidating, especially for non-English-speaking patients. Our skilled interpreters provided emotional support by facilitating better communication and understanding, making patients feel more at ease.
• Many countries have legal requirements for providing interpreting services in healthcare settings. Using qualified interpreters helped Teys comply with these regulations and avoid legal issues.

Absolute Translations’ LINK interpreting system contributed the following:

• The system automated scheduling and management of interpreting services, saving time and reducing administrative workload. This allowed Teys to focus on their core activities.
• Absolute Translations’ Interpreter Hub provided access to a pool of 13,000 qualified interpreters in over 300 languages, ensuring that language support was available whenever needed.
• The platform offered on-demand interpreting services, including over-the-phone and video remote interpreting, which could be quickly accessed to meet immediate needs.
• By leveraging both onsite medical interpreters and the Interpreter Hub for additional support, Teys was able to optimise their resources and reduce administration and interpreting costs.
• Providing language support enhanced employee satisfaction by ensuring that all employees, regardless of their language, received the same level of service and attention.
• The platform is easily scaleable to accommodate growing needs, whether it’s for a small team or a large organisation, making it a versatile solution for businesses of all sizes.
• LINK’s intelligent routing technology ensured quick response times and efficient use of interpreter resources, improving overall service delivery.

By integrating the LINK interpreting system, Teys significantly improved their communication processes, enhanced employee satisfaction, and ensured compliance with language support regulations, all while optimising their resources and reducing administration and interpreting costs.