English

A translation into English should be equally as eloquent as if it were originally written by a brilliant English copywriter. Our English translators can provide just that.

Our translators

All our English translators are native English speakers. We have Brits, Americans, South Africans, Australians and Canadians, and the majority of them live in their respective home countries. This is an advantage when it comes to staying up to date with current affairs, which is especially important if the target audience is young and in that country.

We also make a professional point of not only using freelancers. Samtext has its own office in the UK, with the following key team members:

Alistair Gage – authorised accountant, formerly of Ernst & Young, MA (Hons) in Swedish and German; specialist in translating Norwegian annual reports and corporate finance texts.
James Campbell – background as a programmer (25 years) and web specialist; translator and editor.

Subject areas

Every year, we produce a large number of translations in the fields of corporate finance, law, IT, the automotive industry, medicine, furniture and interior design, tourism, fish farming, oil and gas, workplace health and safety (WHS) and art – as well as a number of other, sometimes very specialised, fields.

International English?

It may be surprising to know that English is the third-largest language in the world in terms of first-language speakers, with Spanish as the second and Chinese as the first. However, it is the additional number of non-native English speakers, which far surpasses the number of native speakers, and its status as the official language of multiple subject areas (such as science) that makes English the global lingua franca. However, what do we mean by “English”?

If we just take English as used by first-language speakers, this still encompasses a wide range of peoples, cultures and language variation. English is the native language of multiple countries, including but not limited to the UK, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica and Guyana. In addition, English is also an official language in many other countries, such as Malta, Singapore, South Africa, Fiji and Zimbabwe. For this reason, it is important to specify your target audience when ordering a translation, so that your English translation meets their cultural and linguistic expectations. For example, while an American translator will produce a text that a British English audience will have little problem reading, they will know instantly that it is not a British English text.

In addition to these different varieties of native English, there is also International English to consider. International English is more tailored to a global audience and thus the English should be culturally neutral. It is often used by international companies who communicate in English with both international customers and other companies. It might be argued that since this English is for a non-native audience it can be written by a non-native translator, but this is not the case: you need to learn the rules before you can break them. That said, it is important to specify whether you would like your translation to be written in International English when you order from us so our translators can adapt accordingly. At Samtext, International English uses British word forms and spellings.

Two tips from an English translator:

1. Let us know which English is your target language.
2. For marketing texts, it is particularly important that you tell us who the target audience is. If your English brochure is intended for a Baltic shopkeeper, then this requires different language than if the brochure were to be read by a shopkeeper in the UK.

Request a quote

Ring +44 1747 826484, send an e-mail to uk@samtext.com, or use this form: