Discover Benelux | Mini Theme | Specialist Translators
The booming business of Babel TEXT: MARTIN PILKINGTON | PHOTOS: ADT INTERNATIONAL
As the world turns ever faster into a global village the demands on professional language services continue to grow, a situation that clearly suits Liègebased ADT International. When Bernard Borsu of ADT International talks about specialist language support, specialisation really means something. “We work continually in the legal and legislative spheres,” he says. “And in other technical areas like pharmaceuticals, IT and electronics. My belief in setting up the structure of the business was ‘who better to speak to an engineer than another engineer?’ and the same logic applies with lawyers – nothing can replace the experience gained by a lawyer who has absorbed legal jargon studying and at work.” To this end the company recruits many who’ve followed a route different from that translators usually follow, though it also
uses court-certified staff across the Benelux and in other markets. “This October we carried out a sworn translation from Bosnian to Dutch!” he affirms. ADT’s unique approach and its quality control – ISO 9001 certified since 1998 – has gained it some very notable work in recent times. In 2012 it won the tender to translate legislative documents for Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium, and since 2013 it has provided language services to Daewoo’s parent company, including a dedicated team working to Korean time for six months to translate 20,000 pages of industrial materials. Coping with the Babel of international trade is ADT’s trade. Borsu cites two examples to illustrate the complexity the company has mastered this year. “A Belgian company exporting to the Chinese subsidiary of an American group, via a contract drawn
up under Dutch law; and a few weeks ago we helped a German car maker organise training given by a French speaker in Belgium for a Japanese sub-contractor, juggling French, German, English and the time difference – but it was a great success!” Along with the core translation work ADT also has a wider portfolio. They provide interpreters – and the booths they require to work if needs be – virtual secretarial work (translating email correspondence for example), and video subtitle work. No wonder the company loves languages – they work in more than 100 every year. That love has recently found an intriguing outlet. “We’ve just launched an app ‘Travel to Translate’, a fun game that makes people sensitive to language matters – and it’s free!” concludes Borsu. www.adt-international.com
Issue 12 | December 2014 | 75