The Translation Challenge
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a charity dedicated to saving lives at sea, required translations of critical communication messages and promotional materials into a variety of languages, including some that are less commonly used.
This need arose from the RNLI’s encounters with individuals rescued from boats who may not speak common European or global languages and might require urgent attention.
The translation of short, vital phrases such as ‘Are you injured?’, ‘We will take you to safety.’, and ‘Another boat is coming’, into languages like Pashto, Dari, Tigrinya, and Kurdish presented a unique challenge due to the lack of professional translators for these languages.
Additionally, the RNLI’s promotional materials needed translation into lesser-used UK languages, including Welsh, Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Ulster Scots, and even Cornish, further complicating the translation process due to the scarcity and specific expertise required for these languages.
The Bubbles Approach
Bubbles adopted a specialised approach to meet RNLI’s unique translation needs:
- Specialised Linguist Recruitment: Understanding the shortage of translators for less common languages, we tapped into our extensive network built over 20 years to bring on board linguists with the specific expertise required for each language, ensuring the accuracy and sensitivity of the translations.
- Cultural Adaptation and Accuracy: Given the life-saving nature of RNLI’s communications, our translators focused on linguistic accuracy and cultural appropriateness, ensuring that the translated phrases would be clearly understood by the rescued individuals in stressful situations.
- Collaboration with Subject Matter Experts: For translations into languages such as Cornish, which have very few qualified translators, we collaborated with subject matter experts and linguists to ensure the authenticity and accuracy of the translations, preserving the linguistic heritage while meeting RNLI’s requirements.
- Quality Assurance Processes: Each translation underwent rigorous quality checks, including proofreading by native speakers and review by subject matter experts, to ensure the highest standards of accuracy and clarity, particularly given the critical nature of the content.
- Adaptation of Promotional Materials: For promotional materials, our approach balanced linguistic accuracy with marketing effectiveness, ensuring that translations resonated with the target audiences while remaining faithful to RNLI’s original message.
Project Outcomes, Results & Success
Through our tailored approach, RNLI successfully communicated vital rescue messages and promotional content in a range of less commonly used languages, ensuring clarity and understanding in life-threatening situations.
Our ability to source specialised linguists for rare languages like Cornish and Tigrinya enabled RNLI to reach diverse communities across the UK and beyond, reinforcing their commitment to inclusivity and accessibility in life-saving communications.
This project highlighted Bubbles’ capacity to handle complex translation challenges, in rare languages, particularly in scenarios where precision and cultural sensitivity are paramount, thereby supporting RNLI’s mission to save lives at sea through clear, effective communication.
