Photos by Florencia Pieroni

We take this special day to appreciate all professional translators as well as reflect upon the importance of language and translationand how it has contributed to communities, organizations, businesses and more, in the most positive ways. Translation has enabled people to communicate and share ideas, bridging cultures and borders. It is what brings humans from all different backgrounds together in a whole and connected world.

Translation Back Office would like to especially recognize our wonderful and hard-working translators. They are the ones to thank for enriching communication and connecting us to cultures and people worldwide. Happy International Translation Day!!!

This year’s event will include over 60 speakers from all areas of the industry in over 50 sessions, as well as over 40 exhibitors. The sessions will emphasize 5 major topics or tracks including Global Business Best Practices, Global Web, Localization Core Competencies, Advanced Localization Management and Inside Track. It will also be an ideal occasion for networking and business opportunities with over 500 attendees from more than 30 countries.

Translation Back Office, the leading translation company in Latin America, will be sending its Business Development Director, Ricardo Vaca Narvaja, to the conference to respresent the company. Ricardo Vaca Narvaja  has been in the translation and localization industry for over 5 years.

Throughout the conference from October 10th to 12^th, Translation Back Office will be tweeting updates to give you all the inside scoop of the most interesting activities. To reach Ricardo Vaca Narvaja contact him at 1-888-803-4217 or ricardo.narvaja@translationbackoffice.com. For more information about the Localization World event click here.

When considering the translation of marketing and advertising content for your business, it is important to be aware of how to do it right and what it entails. Translating these materials  can be much more complex than common text translation and should be done through transcreation.

What is Transcreation?

Transcreation is a process by which new content is developed or adapted for a given target market instead of directly translating of the original content. Transcreation helps businesses expand to markets around the world by using accurate communications in the native language to strengthen trust and partnership and create a bond between businesses and customers.

What is needed to do Transcreation?

• Experienced translators & native speakers
Translators that handle transcreations must be highly experienced and native speakers of the target language. This ensures that they have a deep understanding of the language as well as the local cultures. They will be able to determine if it is best to use the local dialect, sayings, slang or regionalisms when writing text.

• In depth market research
It is vital to research which market you are trying to reach as well as understand details like cultural taboos or preferences in order to avoid communication blunders. Research on the market and culture will also aid in selecting the appropriate colors, images, fonts and other important details that need to be adapted for a specific culture. For example, color selection is very important when it comes to advertisements. It is not only important to choose colors which are visually appealing, but also understand how people of the targeted culture respond to them. The idea is to choose colors that will be positively received by your audience. For example, in the western world, the color white is used for weddings but in several other cultures such as in Chinese culture, the color white is traditionally the color of mourning. Therefore, you wouldn’t want to have images of people in white clothing in an advertisement for a festive social gathering directed at the general Chinese audience. Research on each culture and tests are highly recommended.

• Creativity
For marketing and advertising translation, often experience in copywriting or creative writing is required. The idea is to produce new content in the desired target language with the goal for the audience to elicit similar reactions and results as the audience produced when approached with the original text and content. For example, this is especially needed to translate and produce advertisements that are supposed to be humorous for its audience. Often times, using the same content and images for target audiences of very different cultures would not be appealing to audiences as cultures interpret humor in various ways. A rather profound understanding of a culture is required to know what is humorous or entertaining.

With transcreation you are able to capture the target audience by relating to them in an impactful and emotional manner, creating a more effective means of communication. Thus, when in need of marketing and advertising translation services, remember to specifically request for transcreation services.

Spanish in the U.S.

There are now a number of varieties from the Spanish diaspora in the United States, most notably Cuban Spanish, Puerto-Rican Spanish and dialects of Mexican Spanish, as well as other varieties from disparate locations in the Spanish-speaking world. It is useful to know where the translation will be used in order to adapt terminology to a specific variant, whenever possible. If that’s not possible, your professional language translation provider should look for the most neutral option, or will choose the Mexican variant when there is no completely neutral term. When targeted for the U.S. market, the translation in Spanish does not convert numbers or dates to the Spanish system, since the audience is already familiar with the US systems.

Recommendation: When consulting with your professional language translation provider, it is recommended to request U.S. Spanish.

Spanish in Spain

Iberian Spanish

There are many elements that are distinctive in Iberian Spanish, from phonetics to terminological differences from the Latin American Spanish. (Latin American Spanish will be explained later in this report). The main aspects that differentiate Latin American Spanish from Iberian Spanish are terminological and phonetic differences and different use of pronouns.

Phonetics: Pronunciation of the letters “z” and “c”. Separate pronunciation of the letter “t” when followed by another consonant.

Diminutives: In Spain, the use of in diminutives –illo, -ete, –ín, and –ico (in some regions) are very common.

Pronouns: Use of vosotros in daily conversation, “vosotros sois amigos” instead of “ustedes son amigos,” which means “you are friends.”

Verb conjugates: There are many differences in Iberian Spanish from Latin American Spanish in verb conjugates. The simple past acquires a special value when used in Iberian Spanish, taking special consideration of the past time when the action took place. For example, “Me he levantado a las 6 am esta mañana,” which can be translated to “I woke up at 6 am this morning.”

Recommendation: Use of in country linguists is recommended. It is advisable to keep in mind that higher costs may be involved due to the fact that Spain is a member of the European Union and uses the Euro as its national currency, thus making it a comparatively more expensive location for translation production.

Castillian Spanish

Castillian Spanish usually refers to a variety of Spanish spoken in Northern and Central Spain. A peculiarity of this particular variety is the pronunciation of the letter “z” before all vowels, which is also an aspect shared by the Iberian Spanish as well.

There are some vocabulary particularities in Castillian Spanish, like zumo, guay, tío, ordenador which stand for jugo, piola, tipo, computadora respectively in Latin American Spanish and mean juice, cool, dude, computer respectively in English.

Recommendation:  Iberian Spanish will suffice in all situations.

Peninsular Spanish

The only difference between Peninsular Spanish and Iberian Spanish is based on pronunciation. This difference relays on the pronunciation of the letter “c” and “z” both as a “z”. Which is also an aspect shared by the three types of Spanish spoken in Spain.

Recommendation:  Iberian Spanish will suffice in all situations.

Spanish in Equatorial Guinea

This country achieved independence from Spain in 1968 and linguistic differences with Spain are very minimal.  Equatorial Guinean Spanish follows the model of Castilian Spanish or Peninsular Spanish explained above.

Recommendation:  Linguists from Spain are recommended for this target market.

Spanish in Latin America

As mentioned above, the main aspects that differentiate Latin American Spanish from Iberian Spanish are different use of pronouns and terminological and phonetic differences, though the use of pronouns may vary according to the different countries of Latin America.

Pronouns: Use of vos (voseo) instead of tu in some countries.

It is common in Latin American Spanish to use foreign words and their respective pronunciation, most commonly in the English language. One example is marketing. The term marketing is accurately translated into Spanish as mercadotecnia but the term marketing is universally used and understood. Another example is email which translates into correo electrónico but email is now used more often.

There are many dialects that are distinctive in the Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America. These dialects are analyzed one by one below considering major differences between countries and regions.

Spanish in Mexico

The difference between Mexican Spanish and Latin American Spanish is due to the notable influence of the indigenous dialect, Nahuatl, which especially differs in lexicon and vocabulary.

Many words are similar in both Spanish types, however there are Mexican Spanish words which are completely different, such as jícara , petaca, petate, aguacate, hule, tlapalería, molcajete, which mean vasija, botella, alfombra, palta, polímero (hule), ferretería, mortero, respectively and in English, these words mean container, bottle, carpet, avocado, polymer, hardware store, and mortar. There are certain words in the Mexican Spanish variety that do not have Latin American Spanish equivalents. For example, huarache, which is the term used to describe a type of sandals and a also typical Mexican food made of cactus.

Recommendation: For cultural material, food-related texts, teen-culture, legal and marketing texts, in country linguists may be recommended, although in many cases Latin American Spanish will suffice.

Spanish in Northern Mexico

The main difference between Northern Mexican Spanish and Latin American Spanish in addition to the differences explained above is the accent.

Recommendation: In most cases Latin American Spanish will suffice.

Spanish in the Amazon

(Includes certain regions of Ecuador)

Spanish spoken in the Amazon region of Latin America has many influences from local aboriginal languages, especially for fauna and flora designations and local activities.

Recommendation: Use of in country linguists is almost never required and the extra costs rarely result in positive cost benefit outcomes for most businesses and organizations.

Spanish in Bolivia

There are minor differences between Bolivian Spanish and Latin American Spanish. In most cases these differences are due to regionalisms. A regionalism peculiarity is that the “b” and the “v” are used randomly; for example, in Bolivia, the word votar (to vote) can be pronounced “votar” or “botar” (an archaic form of to throw away).

Vowels tend to be pronounced longer than usual which creates long words when spoken. This happens particularly in the regions close to the mountains, where Spanish is very influenced by the Aymará language. Another distinctive aspect in this region is the confusion of the letters “i” and “e” and for the letters “o” and “u” which get mixed up when pronounced.

Recommendation: Use of in country linguists is almost never required and the cost is rarely justified.  Latin American Spanish will often suffice.

Spanish in the Caribbean

(Includes Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the coast of Colombia and Venezuela, and most of Panama)

There are minor differences between Caribbean Spanish and Latin American Spanish, and most of these are due to the influence of the African and Spanish antecessors, especially from Andalucía and the Canary Islands.

Recommendation: When a translation is targeted for Cuba, a native Cuban linguist would be needed for a correct localization. If the same translation is targeted for Cubans in the US, the use of Latin American Spanish will often suffice.

Spanish in Central America

(Includes Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Southern México)

There are minor differences between Central American Spanish and Latin American Spanish. It represents a mixture of different dialects, with use of particular terminology like bohío, yuca, sabana, guacamayo, nagua, enaguas which respectively stands for a type of cabin, a mandioca, flat field, a specific bird that lives in Central America, abundance of water and a special type of skirt.

Recommendation: Use of Latin American Spanish will often suffice for all of these countries.

Spanish in the Cordillera

(Includes all the Andes and part of Ecuador)

The differences between this and Latin American Spanish are mainly the result of the influence of native tongues like Quechua and Aymará. Many words from these two languages still remain in use in this region like alpaca, guano, vicuña, china which stand for an animal, accumulation of bird feces, a typical animal of the region and girl or woman, respectively.

Recommendation: There are only minor differences between the two of them. Latin American Spanish will often suffice.

Spanish in Chile

The main differences between Chilean Spanish and Latin American Spanish are centered around syntax, pronunciation and vocabulary. The distinctive aspect of this particular country is the use of the pronoun tu which differentiates it from the surrounding countries where the use of the pronoun vos is more common.

Recommendation: Latin American Spanish will often suffice, given that the written form of the language is almost identical.

Spanish in Colombia and Ecuador

(Includes part of Peru also)

The differences between the Colombian-Ecuadorian Spanish and the Latin American Spanish are due to the influence of Caribbean and Coastal Peruvian dialects and African antecessors.

Recommendation: The differences between the two of them are minor. Latin American Spanish will often suffice.

Spanish in Paraguay

The main difference between Paraguayan Spanish and Latin American Spanish is due to the influence of Guarani, an indigenous language. Paraguay is officially a bilingual country Spanish-Guarani.

Recommendation: Differences between Latin American Spanish and Paraguayan Spanish are minor, so Latin American Spanish will suffice in most cases. Translations for Guarani are more expensive and are usually quoted separately.

Spanish in Peru

Coastal Peruvian Spanish

Coastal Peruvian Spanish is different from Latin American Spanish due to the influence of agrarian habits; however they are only minor differences.

Central Peruvian Spanish

Central Peruvian Spanish and Latin American Spanish are different due to the strong Spanish influence in Lima; however the difference between the two of them is minor.

Quechua Indigenous Language

At least a third of the population of Peru also speaks Quechua on a daily basis as its primary language.

Recommendation: Latin American Spanish will suffice in most situations, except for Quechua translations, in which an in country linguist is needed and are more expensive.

Spanish in Puerto Rico

The main difference between Puerto Rican Spanish and Latin American Spanish is enunciation.

Puerto Ricans often do not pronounce the final “s” in some words like adios making it sound like “adioh.”

Another notable aspect in Puerto Rican enunciation is the substitution of the letter “r” for the letter “l” resulting in the pronunciation of words like señor and puerto like “señol” and “puelto”.

Recommendation: When written, Latin American Spanish will suffice in most situations.

Spanish in Argentina and Uruguay

Argentine Spanish, often referred to as Porteño, has many distinctive aspects that differentiate it from Latin American Spanish and these are due to the strong influence of Italian and French immigrants.

Pronoun: The use of vos (voseo) instead of “tu.”

Pronunciation: Pronunciation of “lle” and “ye” as “she” (this is called yeismo).

There are also vocabulary differences between Argentina Spanish and Latin American Spanish for example pollera, vereda instead of falda, acera which mean skirt, sidewalk in English.

Recommendation: Latin American Spanish will suffice in most situations.

Recommendations were provided above as a guide but it is advised to consult with a professional language translation services provider for a final analysis. In many cases, Latin America Spanish is adequate, although in country translation and localization are sometimes necessary in circumstances in which transcreation (marketing translation and cultural adaptation) is required. A professional translation provider will be able provide you with the best Spanish solution given the purpose of the content.

Much thanks to Cielo Banchio, Language Vendor Manager Assistant, and Silvina Masi, Business Development Support Specialist, at Translation Back Office for helping put this report together.

Translation Back Office is a professional language translation services provider and the top language service provider in Latin America. We provide English to Spanish language translation services as well as several other language pairs into Spanish. Our integrated combination of own in-house expert language translators, quality assurance and vendor managements departments along with strong strategic partnerships across the globe is what sets Translation Back Office apart. With an internationally recognized ISO 9001:2008-certified quality management system, Translation Back Office delivers top quality language translation and localization services and seamless project management in a wide range of languages and translation expertise areas. For more information please visit http://www.translationbackoffice.com or call toll free 1-888-803-4217.

Translation Back Office, in collaboration with the World Bank, aided the IFRS to successfully publish the last portion for the SMEs training modules into Spanish. The original IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities (SMEs) training modules were published by the IFRS Education Initiative, a division of for the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) Foundation, the oversight body of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The modules were created to assist companies and accounting professionals, as well as serve as a resource for educators in teaching how to apply the standard. By offering its English to Spanish language translation services, Translation Back Office was able to provide these important training modules to target Spanish speaking business professionals all over Latin America.

The Spanish training modules for the IFRS for SMEs can be found on the IFRS website.

For more information, please feel free to contact Jeff Weiser, Business Development Manager, at jeff.weiser@translationbackoffice.com or by phone at 1-888-803-4217.

History of Easter

Easter is actually a season of 40 days rather than a single day in the Christian calendar, a period called Lent. Traditionally, these 40 days are reserved for reflection and penance to recall Jesus’ sacrifices for the people. The day after the 40^th is Easter Sunday. Holy week is the week prior to Easter Sunday, which includes, Palm Sunday; Maundy (Holy) Thursday, the day Jesus had the last supper with his twelve disciples; Good Friday the day of abstinence and fasting; Holy Saturday the day Easter vigil begins, a solemn day of prayer in candle light reflecting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ; then Easter Sunday, considered the most important day in Christianity, is a day of feast to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, the day he rose from the dead.

Mostly Christians of the Roman Catholic Church observe Lent. The countries with the highest number of Roman Catholics are Brazil, Mexico, Philippines, United States and Italy, although, Easter celebrations can be found across all of North America, South America, Europe, United Kingdom, Africa and Asia.

Easter today, across cultures

The pre-Lenten season has a very commercialized side and has become a cultural phenomenon. Because Lent is a 40 day period of fasting and abstinence, the days before Lent has been adapted by many countries as a time of binging, eating large amounts of meat and sweets, drinking, and participating in elaborate festivities. It is common to celebrate the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, but is often celebrated days before as well. During the 40 days of Lent and when Easter Sunday nears, Easter eggs and bunnies are common, which are said to be symbols of the beginning of Spring and a re-birth.

Brazil

In Brazil, before Páscoa (Easter), the pre-Lenten season is called Carnaval. It consists of a 4-day celebration with each region throwing its own celebration, of which are prepared six months and sometimes a year in advance. The days before Lent are celebrated in excess to lead to the 40 days when one is to abstain. The days are full of people parading through the streets dancing, playing music, having costume competitions and shows.

Mexico, Argentina, Chile (and vastly across Latin America)

In Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and almost all countries in Latin America, Semana Santa, or Holy Week is a very important week of reflection and prayer. Semana Santa begins the Sunday before Easter Sunday and is called el Domingo de Ramos, also known as Palm Sunday. People often make elaborate palm arrangements as well as crosses out of palm leaves. Most countries conduct their own processions of re-enactments of Jesus’ pilgrimage and the Stations of the Cross, walking for miles.

France

To celebrate before Pâques, or Easter, France reserves 10 days before Lent. This is when they throw a winter party on the French Riviera in Nice involving parades, floats, elaborate flower arrangements, the painting of les oefs de Pâques, Easter eggs, during the daytime. At night, music and dancing explode along with impressive fireworks.

Philippines

Easter, or Pasko ng Pagkabuhay in Tagalog, is one of the most important holidays in the Philippines. The Philippines attracts thousands of tourists annually specifically on Biyernes Santo (Good Friday) to witness flagellants and re-enactments of Jesus’ resurrection when several volunteer to be literally nailed to the cross and hung as a form of penance.

United States

In the U.S., the Tuesday before lent begins, is known as “Mardi Gras,” or “Fat Tuesday.” The largest celebration is located in New Orleans, which gains attendance of 700,000 to a million visitors each year, and includes large floats, parades, bands, dancing, throwing of bead jewelry, toy spears, souvenirs and more. On Easter Sunday, many attend the morning service at church then afternoon festivities are full of children visiting and taking pictures of the Easter bunny, Easter egg hunts, and baskets full of candies and painted eggs.

Italy

Venice is also known for its Carnevale and winter festival. It is known around the world to have grandiose masquerade balls and is celebrated with parades, entertainment, music, and fun. It is a time to let go, when people throw coriandoli (confetti) at each other and pull pranks and jokes.

Germany, Switzerland, Bavaria and Austria

The Swabian–Alemannic Fastnacht is a carnival held near the borders of Germany, Switzerland, Bavaria and Austria. The festivities begin the Thursday before Lent and are called Schmotziger Donnerstag, which is also known as “Greasy Thursday.”  On this day, they also recognize Weiberfastnacht, or Women’s Day, when women typically bring scissors and cut off men’s ties in a symbolism of empowerment.

Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria

In areas of Russia, Ukraine, and Bulgaria, observed as a religious and folk holiday the Tuesday before Lent begins is Масленица or Maslenitsa and often consists of eating blini or блины (pancakes), attending, masquerades, sledding and partaking in other snow activities.

UK, Ireland, Canada

In parts of Canada, UK and Ireland, they celebrate “Shrove Tuesday” or “Pancake Day” where it is tradition to eat pancakes all day before they fast for Lent.

Canada

In the French colony of Canada, Québec, they host the largest winter festival in the world called Québec Winter Carnival (Le Carnaval de Québec). This tradition started as the habitants got together before Lent to eat, drink, and have a good time, and today the carnival surrounds activities such as winter sports, snow sculptures, canoe races, dogsled races, and life-size ice castles.

Egypt

In Egypt, Easter is called Sham El Nessim or, شم النسيم‎,. It is celebrated on the Monday after Easter Sunday. This Monday is reserved as a national holiday among both Christians and Muslims. During this day, feasts with fiseekh fish are prepared and often eggs are colorfully painted to symbolize new life.

Australia

In Sydney, Australia before Lent begins, they hold a nationally renown carnival called Sydney Royal Easter show bustling with amusement park rides, a petting zoo, various shows, competitions, and nighttime fireworks.

What this means for international and multicultural marketers

Recognizing the commercial adaptation to these religious and folk traditions can serve to uncover many market opportunities. During the 40 days of lent, a common penance respected in many countries is the giving up of eating red meat and chicken. This can provide a grand opportunity to offer those particular markets with more alternative food options such as fish and soy. Also, bunnies, painted eggs, baskets, and candy, largely symbolize the Easter season in virtually all countries that celebrate the Easter season. In the U.S., Easter is the second best selling candy holiday besides Halloween, with jellybeans and marshmallow chicks flooding the markets. Elaborate masks and masquerades in several cultures also serve to be very symbolic images that tie into the Easter season. Many B2B opportunities are also arising in these holiday markets. For example, Chinese exporters are taking advantage of the Carnaval festivities in Brazil. According to the Financial Times, 80% of Brazil’s Carnaval costumes were imported from China this year. 15 years ago, the costumes were all domestically made.

It is important to take into account the common threads from culture to culture. The pre-Lent and Easter are times to be merry, share quality time with friends and family, celebrate, and most of all—a time to indulge and consume. These traditions mostly due to their religious ties are deeply embedded in cultures, having been celebrated for decades and decades. For this reason, these pleasurable and happy times are imprinted and then transferred from generation to generation. Besides Christmas time, the Easter season is the next most worldwide holiday. Understanding the practices and festivities will help one form international marketing strategies to better serve your clients of these target local cultures and find niche markets.

One Day Without Shoes with Translation Back Office

On April 5, 2011, Translation Back Office employees went barefoot to participate in the world-wide event called “One Day Without Shoes.”  Translation Back Office partook in the event to support the cause in raising awareness for the millions of children in poverty that go barefoot everyday. A client of Translation Back Office called TOMS Shoes created this wonderful world-wide event and Translation Back Office proudly stood in solidarity with them.

TOMS Shoes was founded by Blake Mycoskie who, after travelling to Argentina, witnessed many children who live without shoes daily. He then created the company and the One-for-One movement to buy one pair of shoes and a pair of shoes will be donated to a child in need. TOMS Shoes began the “One Day Without Shoes” program in order to create an experience where one can understand what it is like to walk around on dirt, rocks, and rough grounds to emphasize the need for children to have protection on their feet.

Translation Back Office learned about the event after providing marketing translation services for TOMS Shoes and translating materials for the “One Day Without Shoes” campaign  into several languages. Translation Back Office’s staff was enthusiastic to join the cause. On the day of the world-wide event, a vast majority at Translation Back Office’s headquarters participated and went shoe-less. Employees expressed their interest for the occasion and for the opportunity to take part in it.

Jeff Weiser, Business Development Manager who handles the TOMS Shoes account, said, “April 5^th was a great day at our office.  It was inspiring to see all of our colleagues so enthusiastic to support a great cause.”

Florencia Franco, Project Manager, expressed, “When everybody took their shoes off, for several minutes the whole company was paralyzed. It was a moment for reflection. We thought of how hard everything would be if we had to do it without shoes, yet a lot of people do live like that. It’s a great idea to do something about it!”

It was a truly successful and impactful  event for all. The photos of One Day Without Shoes with Translation Back Office can be viewed here. Learn about “One Day Without Shoes” here.

For more information, please feel free to contact Jeff Weiser, Business Development Manager, at jeff.weiser@translationbackoffice.com or by phone at 1-888-803-4217.

Translation Back Office Staff Without Shoes

Matias, Liza, Andrea, Fede, and Florencia going barefoot

The 2010 results have been released naming the top language service providers, in a report entitled “Language Services Market” published by the Common Sense Advisory, the global market research firm. It is an annual review of the translation, localization, and interpreting services industry, and mentions the top language services providers in the world. The report names Translation Back Office, the global translation services company, as the top language service provider based in Latin America.

The report analyzed the language services industry, an industry worth US$26.327 billion (2010) and with a 13.15% annual growth rate. The largest suppliers in the eight major regions of the world were highlighted. In Latin America, Translation Back Office was among five companies chosen to be recognized as the top language service providers. Argentina, considered a translation powerhouse country, is where Translation Back Office is headquartered with 77 employees.

Translation Back Office is proud to be recognized in the report as it represents its force as a language service provider as well as its growing position in the industry. One of Translation Back Office’s competitive strength is its uniquely coordinated in-house team, which consists of expert language translators, language services department, quality assurance department, project managers, and more. A strong in-house team such as Translation Back Office’s allows for well-communicated and streamlined processes. This has aided them in its success to deliver top quality language translation and localization services and seamless project management in a wide range of languages and translation expertise areas. Translation Back Office has locations in Latin America, United States and Europe and clients all over the world.

The “Language Services Market: 2010” report, can be viewed on the Common Sense Advisory website here.

Translation Back Office, the professional language translation company translates five new SME training modules for the IFRS Foundation, the oversight body of the IASB. The project is funded by the World Bank.

Translation Back Office, the professional language translation company, provides English to Spanish language translation services for the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) Foundation, the oversight body of the IASB (International Accounting Standards Board). Five new training modules for the IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities (SMEs) were translated by Translation Back Office.

The original IFRS for SMEs training modules were published by the IFRS Education Initiative, a division of the IFRS Foundation. The modules were created to assist companies and accounting professionals, as well as serve as a resource for educators in teaching how to apply the standard. The IFRS Foundation received funding by the World Bank to translate the modules.

Translation Back Office translated into Spanish, the first 17 IFRS for SMEs training modules, back in September of 2010. Recently, five more training modules were requested to be translated. Both the IFRS and World Bank provided very approving feedback on the translated material and Translation Back Office’s technical translation services. Jeff Weiser, Translation Back Office’s Business Development Manager in charge of World Bank and IFRS accounts explained, “the positive feedback that we are receiving from important international organizations such as the World Bank and IFRS Foundation proves Translation Back Office’s ability to deliver the highest quality translation services.” Translation Back Office looks forward to long-term and positive relationships with the IFRS Foundation and the World Bank.

The details on the first 17 modules translated can be found here. The Spanish training modules for the IFRS for SMEs can be found on the IFRS website.

For more information, please feel free to contact Jeff Weiser, Business Development Manager, at jeff.weiser@translationbackoffice.com or by phone at 1-888-803-4217.

Translation Back Office, the professional language translation company, translates a guidebook in Spanish for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The guidebook is called “Making private standards work for you: A guide to private standards in the garments, footwear and furniture sectors.”

UNIDO´s guidebook was published to help exporters in developing countries access global production and supply chains. These private standards or norms help to promote social development as well as environmental sustainability in global value chains. It is said that the guidebook provides invaluable information on what producers will face when entering business with major buyers and retailers.

Translation Back Office has extensive experience in professional document translation services as well as English to Spanish language translation services and was eager to take part in this project with UNIDO. The guidebook, which consisted of over 70 pages, was translated into Spanish by Translation Back Office.

The guidebook can be viewed on the UNIDO website.  To download the Spanish version click here.

For more information, please feel free to contact Jeff Weiser, Business Development Manager, at jeff.weiser@translationbackoffice.com or by phone at 1-888-803-4217.