In this edition we talk to Eva Túnez: Translator and Product Specialist at our sister brand TLC UK, expert service providers for couples getting married abroad.
Can you tell us a bit about what you do at TLC?
TLC UK operates from offices based in both Bristol and London, I co-ordinate operations from Bristol. As well as translating (I am a Spanish Sworn translator) I also take an active role in Customer Services and assist the Business Development team providing feedback and information we get from customers to then help improve the brand and services we offer.
Getting married abroad must be a dream come true. Is it straightforward?
The process itself is relatively straightforward, it’s just the whole concept is quite literally foreign to most people, so guidance, help and advice form a key part in the service we provide with the primary aim of taking the hassle away. Legal paperwork for most isn’t that high on the list of fun things to do!
So how long does the process take and are the legal documents valid forever?
It does vary from destination to destination, as legal requirements do vary. I’m always happy to discuss this with customers based on their own set of circumstances and when things have been left to the last minute, there is an express service available to couples.
What’s the difference then between translation, legalisation and notarisation?
That will not be the first time I have been asked that! Translation is taking text from one language and accurately conveying it in another. Legalisation is a process where documents are authenticated (for example at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office) and last but by no means least, notarisation is where a document is taken to a Notary Public, who confirms that the translation has been done by the translator who is known to them. It means documents can then be accepted by the relevant authorities.
Any handy tips you can offer readers?
Best advice I can give is once you have booked your wedding with your travel agent, get in touch. We can help with budgeting and give guidance on when the process should start and any pointers to help make things even easier. The service levels are monitored and we are always looking at ways to enhance the customers experience and bring genuine value.
For more information on the services supplied by TLC visit www.tlcuk.biz or call Eva on +44 (0) 845-833-2511 or email her at
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Here's what some of our recent customers comments about the TLC service:
- Thank you Eva, translation pack arrived safely today, and everything appears very professional. I'm very pleased with your polite, helpful and efficient service. It’s a pleasure, and a nice change, to receive such good service.
Hilary Forster
- You have been very helpful and I would recommend you to anyone that wants your service; I’m very impressed.
Thanks, Lesley
- You were very efficient, handled a very sensitive subject with great sensitivity and understanding and we got the document that was urgently required, within a day....what more could our company have wanted. Thanks again
Andrea
- TLC were extremely fast and efficient at translating my marriage certificate and exceeded my expectations. The communications between us were also very friendly and really made me smile. A real joy of a company to work with and I would recommend them to anyone.
Ria
NEWS YOU CAN USE
Got $185,000 kicking around? Here’s a few things you could spend it on: a fully loaded Porsche, a one bedroom flat (somewhere), shirt sponsorship of a league 1 football team or to apply for one of the greatest shake-ups in web history!
Top brands will soon be able to operate their own part of the web replacing current generic Top-Level Domains or gTLD (like .com, .co.uk or .biz) with their own brand name.
The rules and regulation of this shake-up should prevent (amongst other things) cyber squatting (people buying the domains, then holding out until someone offers them top buck for it) as applicants have to demonstrate they own the brand.
There probably isn’t a massive need to empty the corporate piggy bank just yet but if in the meantime you want to give your overseas on-line presence a text makeover, then get in touch.
Get more info on the shake-up at:http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/20/us-internet-names-idUKTRE75G49W20110620 (we do like the sign off on this article about our kids thinking we were crazy when we talked about .com all the time)
Is your Privacy Pretty Good?
Created by Phil Zimmermann in 1991, Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) comes in many guises. It is used for signing, encrypting and decrypting documents, files, directories and whole disk drives securely for sending via e-mail.
In 1997, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) defined OpenPGP, now the most widely used encryption standard, trusted by many as the most secure way to encrypt emails and documents.
Without being too techincal, PGP avoids the need for long hard to remember passwords or having a password that anyone can guess. You no longer have to e-mail encrypted documents followed by an email with an encrypted password in order to open the encrypted document! This may sound excessive, but I have seen it happen!
“The closest you’re likely to get to military-grade encryption”
Public-key cryptography is considerably more secure and convenient than ordinary password-based encryption, although initially we had a couple of minor issues with the commercially available PGP Desktop. You and your recipent have your own public encryption key and a private decryption key and only the recipients private key can decrypt the message. This means that your clients using PGP to encrypt emails enjoy a greater sense of security when sending their sensitive and classified data.
PGP is available as a freeware license or a commerical license for single user or server.
ASK THE EXPERT
Q: With a time critical project, are there merits in starting the translation process with text subject to final amends?
A: The variables are too long to list here to cover every scenario but in short: yes.
A tip here is to state ‘subject to final amends’ at the point of request, qualified with the time lines dictating the project. Options can then be presented to the client by the Account Executive, so that they can work in tandem in order to produce a high quality finished article.
Rushed work is always subject to the Law of Unintended Consequences but with the right forethought and planning, a satisifactory outcome can be achieved.
We are always pleased to hear what are customers think and feel, so if you haven’t completed one, why not have your say now! Click Here to complete our survey.
