Member Article

Leeds language firm to help EU arrivals contribute to the UK economy

Yorkshire-based interpreting and translating company thebigword will aid Government agencies and businesses dealing with the arrival of migrants from Bulgaria and Romania.

thebigword has been building its capabilities in Bulgarian and Romanian ahead of the ending of the transitional controls on free movement that have applied since the two countries joined the EU in 2007.

The easing of the restrictions is expected to lead to an increase in migrants looking for work, although precise numbers are impossible to predict.

It seems that UK businesses are, however, keen to recruit; there are more British jobs advertised on some Romanian recruitment websites than all of the other European countries with similar employment laws combined.

Larry Gould, CEO at thebigword, said: “The UK has a long history of integrating migrants into its workforce and society and typically, arrivals only need help in the early stages.

“By making language support available at this stage, migrants can access work more easily and start making a quicker contribution to the UK economy.”

“thebigword’s investment in technology enables us to connect two people over the telephone to an interpreter who comes on the line, usually within 30 seconds. This means that language barriers are removed quickly and cost-effectively.”

thebigword is one of the world’s top-20 language services companies and the only company in the UK to hold four Government-approved frameworks to provide translation and interpreting services to the public sector.

thebigword operates its global business from its HQ in Leeds, West Yorkshire. It employs nearly 500 people, based in 12 offices in nine countries, working with more than 10,000 linguists worldwide. Every month, thebigword interprets over the telephone two million minutes of speech in 235 languages and its linguists carry out 14,500 face-to-face interpreting appointments.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .