Diversity: Providing excellence within interpreting and translation services in Northern Ireland

With a reputation for accuracy, security and reliability through a continued commitment to both the public and private sectors, our team at Diversity uses its experience to give your organisation the support it needs to succeed, regardless of the complexity of the brief, writes Paolina Hawthorne, Managing Director at Diversity.

Today, with our communities even more diverse than ever before, the need to communicate across languages and cultures is growing rapidly. Misinterpretation and cross-context communication can be costly and have profound consequences, especially in certain situations dependent on their gravity e.g. in medical or legal settings.

Miscommunication can lead to loss of reputation, legal exposure, poor customer experience (leading to loss of sales) and even SEO failure. For this reason, clear, accurate and effective communication – between cultures, languages, disciplines, and industries – is an increasing priority.

Sayings, colloquialisms, and words differ greatly from one country to the next, even within a country and its regions, therefore the capability of meaning becoming ‘lost in translation’ is ever present. That’s why at Diversity, we’ve spent the last nine years building a company which champions training, expertise and professionalism.

Established in 2010, Diversity has grown into a major player in the translation and interpreting sector. Specialising in the public sector, Diversity operates a database of over 500 fully qualified interpreters offering 70 different languages, with 40 full-time registered linguistics currently dedicated to the interpreting of Arabic alone in Northern Ireland.

Supporting the Public Sector through specialist language translation services 

At Diversity, we recognise the importance of accurate, cost-effective and consistent translation and interpreting services in the public sector. As government bodies, responsible for our public services in Northern Ireland, you require the best linguists with extensive public sector translation experience. Our translators are highly-skilled professionals with years of experience, making us the ideal partner to support your services.

Benefits for your business

Diversity has helped optimise the benefits to both business partners and their stakeholders by creating employment opportunities that have enabled migrant residents to utilise their professional services and expert skills and to encourage a rich cultural community within Northern Ireland.

In addition to helping to integrate foreign nationals within our communities, we also provide opportunities for training, leading to a new career for many people who are now residing in Northern Ireland. A recent contract led to us providing training for 12 foreign nationals for an organisation, with the organisation then going on to employ all the translators in in-house roles.

Working with interpreters

For clients, Diversity has developed a training course on ‘Working with Interpreters’. The training aims to reinforce good practice, what to expect from an interpreter, how to work effectively and confidently with interpreters and how to help staff to communicate, using an interpreter, across cultures and languages.

The bespoke training courses have proved to be very successful with a number of our clients as they help participants to:

• identify the skills and qualities required of interpreters;
• understand the role of an interpreter and the job they do;
• identify the most appropriate method of interpreting to meet their requirements;
• know how to access interpreters and advice and support in working with them;
• know how to manage an interview where an interpreter is used, from the initial briefing through to the debrief;
• have a broad understanding of the local multilingual context, the languages used and the communities that use them, and how this impacts on the organisation’s work as a public sector provider; and
• know how to provide or commission appropriate information for the public, whether written or recorded, on accessing services.

Courses can be tailored for particular sectors or requirements and can be delivered in a shorter timescale, for example a two-hour course for senior managers or lunchtime workshops for health centre staff.

Equal access to public sector organisations

At Diversity, we believe that everyone in our community has the right to equal access to information and services provided by public sector organisations, regardless of disability, gender, race, language etc. For this reason, we provide translation, interpretation and communication services and supportive services that are professional, confidential and sensitive to the needs of the individual. Northern Ireland is a diverse place and in creating a multi-cultural society, through its public sector contracts, Diversity is playing an important role in bridging the gap between those for whom English is not a first language and conveying official communication and documentation that’s required for settling in Northern Ireland and building a future.

Diversity’s services include:

Interpreting: All our interpreters have many years’ experience within the translation and interpreting sector, with all holding qualifications in interpreting. We understand the importance of providing a quality professional interpreting service. Our specific linguistic support services encompass all areas of the public sector, from education and emergency services to healthcare, government departments, the NHS, local authorities and legal translation. Types of interpreting services include consecutive interpreting, simultaneous interpreting, whispered interpreting, public service and community interpreting.

Translation: We maintain a register of experienced translators who are qualified at degree level and are highly specialised within specific fields. Our translations are fully accredited, and we have vast experience in assisting clients across a wide range of industries, including the legal, health, education and public sector.

We provide accurate, professional translation of documents to our clients for important paperwork such as documents, certificates, contracts etc. Our full-accredited translations include certified legal translation, certified financial translation, medical translations and translation of martial documents, birth certificates etc.

Telephone interpreting: Launched earlier this year, the first telephone interpreting service in Northern Ireland, Diversity now offers clients access to over 250 supported languages via a simple telephone call.

Over the phone interpretation is one of the most convenient forms of interpretation available to businesses thanks to its convenience and cost-effectiveness. The new service by Diversity is available 24/7, enabling clients to instantly access hundreds of languages from qualified interpreters. This is especially important in connecting community groups, emergency services and many others at a time when they need it urgently, and opens the path of communication between foreign nationals, organisations and businesses.

Diversity NI is a recognised OCNNI Centre and accredited to provide OCNNI Level 4 Community Interpreter Training. Diversity provides professional Interpreting and Translation Services across Northern Ireland for a wide range of Private and Public Sector clients. The company is fully compliant with the ISO 9001:2008 International Standard for Quality Management and DIN EN 15038 quality standard for translation services meaning the translations and other services we provide are subject to strict quality control processes.

W: www.diversityni.co.uk
E: info@diversityni.co.uk
T: 028 9047 3737