- ‘Translate Ireland’ is now one of the many services offered by the Dublin-based translation company
- The announcement coincides with International Translation Day
- 100,000 people in Ireland either speak/understand English poorly – or not at all
- Multi-Award winning ‘Translate Ireland’ initiative will continue to work closely with Health Service
Multilingual Video Messaging to become part of DCU Language Services’ Offerings
An Irish company which produces multilingual video messaging is set to transfer its operations to DCU Language Services, the long-established translation agency owned by Dublin City University.
Founded in 2020 Translate Ireland, which has won national awards for its innovative communication techniques, produces multilingual video messaging for those in Ireland who speak English as a second language. Video messages, mainly in the area of health information, are presented by people who have moved to Ireland from other countries – and who work in the topic area of the particular video message.
The announcement coincides with International Translation Day (September 30th).
In 2021 Translate Ireland was voted ‘the Public Health Initiative of the Year’ at the Irish Healthcare Awards and last year, in partnership with the HSE Social Inclusion office, it won the ‘Equality Initiative of the Year’ award for its work on the HSE’s new ‘My Health My Language Service’ – https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/mhml/
Dr Mike Ryan of the World Health Organisation was one of those who applauded the work of the Cork-based initiative.
He said: “The My Health, My Language’ project is an impressive innovation. It shows that we have learned a key lesson of the COVID-19 pandemic: that we need to reach people where they are, in the ways that are most effective in getting them the information they need to protect their health. Every community member deserves this.”
Translate Ireland was established by husband and wife team, Graham and Dr Catherine Clifford who were inspired to set up the organisation after seeing a shortage of culturally appropriate multilingual messaging resources available for migrants in Ireland during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Catherine, a GP, worked to secure the support of the Irish College of General Practitioners and many GPs across Ireland now share public health information videos with patients. The scope of the content varies from videos explaining screening services, mental health, maternity care and practical advice on visiting the GP.
Graham Clifford said: “The last census found that around 100,000 people living in Ireland today either do not speak English, or if they do to a very low level. It’s vital that everyone is communicated with effectively and clearly – especially in relation to health. Translate Ireland works with migrants to produce information video messages for migrants. As communication is only 30-percent verbal it’s so important that communicative aspects such as body language, accent, intonation, and facial expressions are considered and appreciated – that’s why working with presenters originally from other countries is so important and so effective.”
As well as the HSE, Translate Ireland has also produced multilingual video messaging for the Department of Justice, Women’s Aid, Barnardos and other organisations.
From next week (2nd October 2023) Translate Ireland will become part of the portfolio of services supported by DCU Language Services.
The company, which celebrated its 30th year in business in 2022 has become the dependable market leader in translation services in Ireland.
Providing professional translation services in more than 70 languages along with a bespoke language testing service, DCU Language Services works with both public and private entities, in Ireland and internationally.
Dr Catherine Clifford explained why DCU Language Services is the perfect new host for Translate Ireland.
She said: “We have worked with DCU Language Services for many years as they translated scripts for us. We have always found them to be so professional and accurate in their work and respectful of what we have been trying to achieve. With a long and proven track-record of excellence in the provision of translation services, they were the natural hosts for this service, and we’re delighted they agreed to take on our initiative which we are so proud to have built.”
Cathal Maye, CEO of DCU Language Services, said to decision to incorporate the Translate Ireland multilingual video messaging service into the company was an easy one to make.
He said: “We were very impressed by the concept of multilingual video messaging that was developed by Translate Ireland and we recognised that there is a high degree of synergy with our existing services and customer base.
Our aim is to build on the important work that has been achieved up to now, and to continue to develop the service among existing and new users.
We see strong potential for expanded use of the multilingual video messaging concept in the public health arena but also in other public service and commercial areas where a multilingual requirement is an important component of communication with service users. Our plan is to continue to operate the ‘Translate Ireland’ service alongside our existing translation and language assessment services and to provide customers with an integrated end-to-end solution for their multilingual communication needs”.
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