It would be nice to be able to write that the shutdown of much of the global economy had no impact on Global Connects, but that would be untrue. However, the translation and interpretation side of our business has, by and large, kept pretty busy over the last year and a bit, largely because of our prominent place on several, large public sector contracts. However, now that the vaccination programme is well ahead of its targets and life, hopefully, is returning to something approaching its previous state, it’s worth taking stock and also looking ahead to see what the future may hold…
Looking back, as I noted, our public sector work was a veritable life-jacket at times. Yes, there was still private sector work (the economy did not stop entirely), but the need for multiple language translations of so many different documents connected with Covid has been (and doubtless will continue to be) a source of much work for Global Connects and companies like us. It was vital that we got it right: there is no place for bad language translation in a global pandemic when people’s lives may depend on the accuracy of such work.
Next, while crime did diminish as everyone (including the criminals) was locked down, it did not go away entirely, so there was still a continuing need for interpretation work for the police and other, related services – an area of massive strength for Global Connects. On the other hand, tourism and hospitality work and also interpretation for conferences and events did, for very obvious reasons, more or less disappear off the face of the earth.
That said, we are now seeing tentative signs that the tourism/hospitality sector is slowly getting off its knees and with that will come a rising demand for interpretation and translation. Similarly, with the V-shaped recovery in the UK now well underway, coupled with a slow but steady rise in businesses seeking new, overseas markets away from the EU post Brexit, we believe that the future for language companies (those that have weathered the coronavirus storm that is) will be increasingly bright. As our clients come back to life, so do we. And if your firm is in that happy position and you need translation or interpreting services, then it’s important that they are carried out to the highest standard. As I said in my headline, this is no time for bad language! Get in touch and we can all help each other…
Fiona Woodford, Head of Language Services, Global Connects