Aston University, 23 March 2015

What are the first things that come to mind when companies start thinking of expanding internationally? Route to market? Regulations, barriers, logistics, insurance – or even transport costs?

For most businesses, language and communications problems will be way down the list, perceived as a soft cost rather than a strategic investment. Logistics issues will pale into insignificance if the wrong terminology is used or company advertising causes confusion or offence in the target market.

The conference that Stridonium is organising at Aston University with the support of UKTI aims to help businesses navigate the world of translation and cross-border intercultural communications at all stages of their international business relationships.

This is a one-day programme with plenty of opportunities for networking. Lunch is included in the conference fee.

Sessions:

We will be hearing from a leading marketing translator & cross-cultural communications expert and seeing a short demonstration of TeamViewer technology.

Confirmed speakers include:

Mark Daniel Childress: The Business Case for Terminology Management

You can't avoid terminology in a globalized economy – it's everywhere, and it's important. Organized, systematic terminology management pays for itself by reducing costs and avoiding legal hazards. It improves product quality, and boosts clarity in internal and external communications. And that's all before expanding into international markets! Mark Childress will give the business case for terminology management and give suggestions on how to get started.

Mark joined SAP AG in Walldorf, Germany in 1995 and has been responsible for the company’s terminology management since 1998. He is the current president of the German Association for Terminology and frequently lectures on terminology management.

Jeff Heasman: A new era for plain language in insurance and financial services

The session will focus on recent legislation, regulatory and government reports on plain language in the insurance and financial industries, providing practical examples of what the law now requires and how to avoid falling foul of the regulator. These regulations also apply in other EU countries.

Jeff Heasman is a qualified English language trainer with senior expertise in the insurance and legal industries. He has provided training in insurance law and practice to some of the world’s most prestigious organisations and regularly provides seminars to the Chartered Insurance Institute in the UK. He is currently working with a number of organisations to promote plain English.

Doug Lawrence: International online presence

This session will outline the main aspects of an international web presence, social media, translation, and search engine optimisation.

Doug Lawrence is an Accredited Export Communications Consultant for the West Midlands. He has helped exporters from all industries improve their global web presence and overcome language and cultural barriers to international trading,

Paul Noon: UKTI support opportunities

A 15 minute presentation on the wider UKTI support opportunities for SMEs across the region, including advice on language and culture for potential exporters.

Paul Noon OBE Paul Noon, UKTI Regional Director West Midlands. In the West Midlands, Paul’s main roles are to support local businesses grow and develop their export markets and attract inward investment to the region He manages key relationships with the 6 Chambers of Commerce in the region that deliver the bulk of UKTI services to West Midlands businesses.

Prof. Antonis C. Simintiras: Negotiations – crossing cultures

A brief introduction on the subject of negotiations and culture will be followed by discussion of the sales process and various types of cross-cultural equivalence. The aim is to highlight the role and importance of this equivalence and reduce reliance on self-referent criteria.

Professor Simintiras can boast many years of experience working in industry and has held several visiting professorial appointments at foreign universities. His main research interests are personal selling and sales management, consumer behaviour, and cross-cultural research methodology.

Fee

Price of the Conference: €130.00 + VAT @ 21%
(£99.00 + VAT @ 21% - contact info (at) stridonium.com for bank account details to pay in sterling)

Please e-mail info (at) stridonium.com if you have any special dietary requirements.

Book early!

Finding your way to Conference Aston - On Foot - By Train - Plane - Auto....

Hotels nearby:

Royal Angus Thistle Hotel (reservationsadmin.birminghamcity@thistle.co.uk)
La Tour
Conference Aston bedrooms@aston.ac.uk
Campanile
Premier Inn

Seminar Description:

Stuart Bugg qualified as an English and New Zealand lawyer but now practises in Germany. His seminar is intended to give participants a better understanding and overview of the basic principles of several areas of commercial law as well as examples of specific documentation and problems associated with drafting. These are the main subjects covered in this meeting.

Overview: We will be identifying key types of documents and instruments and examining the options available for drafting and interpretation.

Legal Entities: This area covers key documentation related to the setting up and dissolution of a company.

Employment Law: A great deal of business activity these days concerns the employment of personnel. Documents discussed here will include employment agreements and dismissal notices.

Bankruptcy and Insolvency: This component of the meeting will deal with administrators, liquidators and receivers and the related documents often associated with court proceedings, creditor's claims and notices.

Programme:

Our Speaker:

Jeff Heasman LLB

Jeff has given many public lectures on subjects such as the law of torts and has provided training in insurance law and practice to some of the world’s largest and most prestigious organisations, as well as regularly providing seminars to the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) in the UK.

Jeff, who is the founder of IAELI (the International Association for English in Law and Insurance), is currently working with a number of organisations to promote plain English in the insurance industry.

Jeff regularly writes guest blog posts for different organisations and articles on skills and communication, including for the global industry newspaper, ‘The Lawyer’. He has taken part in media debates on the insurance industry in the UK and has also appeared on national television and radio in various countries, primarily talking about lawyers’ and law students’ communication skills.

Programme:

Venue:

This seminar will be held at Savelberg in Voorburg on 27 November 2014.

Price:

For many people terminology is like the weather: Everyone talks about it but it seems like nobody does anything about it.

Not true. Thousands of companies use terminology management as a vital part of their strategies. It costs a bit, but terminology is everywhere and it costs far, far more to ignore it. And there is a lot that can be done, once you get started...!

This one-day seminar gives an overview of topics related to practical terminology work. No academic theorizing, no technobabble, no sales pitch – just good solid tips you can use to make your work run more smoothly.

• The basics of terminology theory and practice in an organization
• Deciding between process-based or project-based approaches to terminology issues
• Simple pro-terminology arguments you can use to convince your managers, your colleagues, your clients – or yourself!
• Get started climbing the terminology mountain, one step at a time

Our Speaker:

Mark Childress has a B.A. from Humboldt State University in California and an M.A. from Heidelberg University in Germany. He joined SAP AG in Walldorf, Germany in 1995 as a translator and has been responsible for the company’s terminology management since 1998. He is the current president of the German Association for Terminology (Deutscher Terminologie-Tag / DTT). Mark gives frequent lectures and training on terminology management to technical writers, translators, and universities and has written articles on terminology work for publications including MultiLingual and eDITion, the journal of the DTT.

Programme:

Venue:

This seminar will be held at Savelberg in Voorburg on 29 October 2014.

Price:

Seminar Description:

Stuart Bugg qualified as an English and New Zealand lawyer but now practises in Germany. His seminar is intended to give participants a better understanding and overview of the basic principles and terminology associated with contract law and to explain how contracts (should) work. These are the main subject covered in this meeting.

Overview : We will be identifying the traditional areas of commercial law ranging from company law to insolvency law. In this session we will examine how commercial law is set up in different jurisdictions and highlight some of the differences in the approach and terminology used by the English and United States jurisdictions.

Legal Entities: In any commercial enterprise it is possible to adopt various legal forms such as a limited liability company, joint venture or a limited partnership. It is essential to understand exactly what these legal forms involve and the key differences between them. We will also examine typical legal entities from other jurisdictions and compare them to those used in England. Participants will also be introduced to the basic terminology and concepts related to this field of law.

Employment Law: A great deal of business activity these days relates to the employment of personnel . In this session we will examine the basic concepts of employment situations and distinguish the employment relationship from other forms of cooperation such as that of a partner, contractor or subcontractor. Participants will be invited to identify the differences in terminology such as “contracts of service” and “contract for services”.

Bankruptcy and Insolvency: All good things come to an end. So it is that in our commercial system not only requires the formation of companies as an important legal step. It is also essential that such legal entities can be dissolved. Participants will be invited to examine the basic language and terminology as well as the legal concepts related to the winding up and insolvency of legal entities and natural persons. Comparisons will be made to other legal jurisdictions and their respective terminology.

Programme:

Seminar Description:

Stuart Bugg qualified as an English and New Zealand lawyer but now practises in Germany. His seminar is intended to give participants a better understanding and overview of the basic principles and terminology associated with contract law and to explain how contracts (should) work. These are the main subject covered in this meeting.

Basic Drafting Principles : The courts have developed over the centuries specific rules as to how legal documents and in particular, contracts, should be written. This first session is designed to give participants an introduction to the key ideas behind modern contract drafting and the peculiarities of “legalese.“

Legal Terms: It would be nice if one word always had one meaning. But that is not the way that legal English has developed and therefore anybody intending to use legal terminology must understand the potential multiplicity of meanings depending on the context. A quick look in any good law dictionary will reveal that the word „condition“ has at least six possible meanings with varying legal consequences. When dealing with the language of contracts it is important to have at least an overview of such potential variations in meaning. At the seminar we will have an opportunity to examine a list of key terms and understand the actual meaning of those words in a legal context.

Principles of Drafting and Interpretation: The basic structure of legal sentences often varies greatly from that of “normal” English sentences. In addition, legal rules of interpretation often force lawyers to adopt rather unusual sentence constructions to avoid legal minefields. Thus, for example, a common law lawyer will never write the phrase, “for example” in a contract but will often still prefer the rather wordy “such as but not limited to” before introducing a list of examples. There is a reason behind this and participants at the seminar will discover why such complex wording is often adopted in legal documents.

Avoiding Ambiguity: Exercises in Drafting: In this workshop session participants will be confronted with several examples of contract text and will be asked to identify potential difficulties and ambiguity in the wording chosen.

Programme:

Seminar Description:

Stuart Bugg qualified as an English and New Zealand lawyer but now practises in Germany. His seminar is intended to give participants a better understanding and overview of the basic principles and terminology associated with contract law and to explain how contracts (should) work. These are the main subject covered in this meeting.

Common Law v Civil Law : No contracts exists in a vacuum and therefore it is necessary to start off by providing a basic overview of the key differences between the common law and civil law systems and the impact those differences have upon the negotiation, formation, implementation and interpretation of contracts.

Cross-System Contracts: It is not unusual these days for the language of one legal system to be used to describe the law of another. This is what we call a “cross system” contract in which, for example, a German law contract is developed in the English language. This modern reality of commercial contracts results in many difficulties in terms of the translation of legal concepts used and the resulting uncertainties. It is a particular challenge for translators as well as the parties involved.

Legal English Terminology: Like all technical languages legal English has developed specialised meanings as a parallel language to „normal“ English. This results in a great deal of confusion. Whilst most speakers of English may understand the general idea behind the phrase such as “time is of the essence”, the issue arises of whether or not they really understand the legal consequences and significance of such a phrase. In a similar manner, we tend to confuse the words “guarantee” and “warranty” in everyday English, but in legal terms the two concepts are totally different and indeed, belong to different areas of law.

Contracts: Lost and Found in Translation: There are numerous examples of difficulties which can arise when translating between different languages. In a legal contract situation these difficulties are compounded by the potential legal consequences.

Programme:

Communicating in Business – Getting Language Right

Venue

Stridonium will host its first full conference at the Møller Centre in Cambridge this year.

Getting Language Right

The aim of the Stridonium conference is to engage with businesses. It will emphasise to an audience of businessmen and language specialists the importance of getting language right and point out the pitfalls of getting the text wrong.

This conference will raise the profile of quality services as a distinct segment within the language industry.

Stridonium's initiative has the support of high-calibre speakers with backgrounds in politics, business and diplomacy. All of our speakers will draw on their wide knowledge and a wealth of anecdotal experience to underline the value of effective communication and the consequences of getting the words wrong.

Our speakers include:

Sir Colin Budd KCMG, former British Ambassador to the Netherlands

Charles Grant CMG, Director of the Centre for European Reform

Jeff Heasman, Director of the Pyramid Group

Andrew Wood, Consultant at Birketts LLP and member of the Executive Board of the Dutch-British Chamber of Commerce

They will explain the benefits of:

• setting company-wide language policy
• effective legal and business communication
• using the right language for effective advertising campaigns
• avoiding cultural pitfalls
• saving money by buying wisely

Programme:

For information on accommodation, please contact the Møller Centre direct (+44 (0)1223 465500).

Please e-mail info (at) stridonium.com if you have any special dietary requirements.

Stridonium will present concepts and strategies for "The Third Way" - methods and technologies to support teams of translators collaborating and exchanging information effectively from any location. The day will include presentations and practice with simple tools for small "conferences" for project planning, content consultation and instruction, practical guidelines and hands-on practice for dynamic terminology exchange and maintenance, making translation memories available even to those who do not use CAT tools and a basic overview of "interoperable" formats to determine the most effective strategies for data sharing.

Speakers will be Christina Guy, Helen Gibbons, Kevin Lossner and Riccardo Schiaffino. Workshop instruction will be a blend of on-site and remote teaching to better emphasize the day's lessons.

Please bring a laptop with WLAN capabilities.

Testimonials From Attendees:

"Inspiration, relaxation, networking and excellent food - the Holten Lecture 2 was an uplifting experience and a wonderful treat!"

Vivien Glass, literary translator

“The workshop with Stridonium was an eye opener to digital developments in the translation industry and an interesting and inspirational experience. Professional, friendly and very beneficial.”

Sarah Schenk-Thompson, Thompson Media

Programme:

The first of Stridonium’s Holten Lectures, presented by Juliette Scott. A terminology and networking event for legal and financial translators (but others are also welcome to attend) presenting the NIFTY corpus methodology. This uses specialized electronic corpora (collections of texts), compiled by translators themselves, to find appropriate terms in the target language, in particular types of text (just as an example – joint venture agreements, offering circulars, divorce decrees – but it could be any category you like). The methodology applies to all language pairs, and it has been developed to take as little time as possible (on average 30 minutes), so as to be useful to working translators.

Attendees will be given access to a downloadable training pack as support after the workshop.

Speaker: Juliette Scott.

Please bring a laptop with WLAN capabilities.

Programme: