Team: Julia Böhm - Typical Projects

Typical Projects

Driving Launches
Shortly before they are launched, new models are generally presented by automobile manufacturers to the press in order to give journalists the opportunity to review the new vehicle. Journalists are given information about the product itself (concept, innovations, technical features) and about the company (situation, strategy, philosophy). As a rule, a regular press conference or briefing involving the services of simultaneous interpreters (working from interpreter booths) is also held to accompany the presentation. Journalists also have the opportunity of interviewing or talking face to face with experts (engineers), in many cases supported by a liaison interpreting service (interpreters working without sound equipment). Journalists representing all the new vehicle’s target markets are invited, and it is by no means unusual for four or five different languages to be used at a single event. As the new vehicle may be positioned differently in each market, the support provided by translators tends to be multi-market and intercultural, as well as multilingual, in nature (selling a German car on the UK or the US market are two different propositions, for example).

Sales Meetings
Manufacturers which sell their products worldwide via subsidiaries or agents hold regular meetings for their sales organizations. Meetings such as these are also forums for reporting on changes in the organization or about global market trends. In many cases innovations or new products are also presented, that are to be sold by the sales organization in the near future. Most sales meetings are supported by simultaneous interpreters. The most frequent languages spoken are German and English, plus one other language such as Spanish.

Supplier Conferences
An automotive tier 1 supplier convenes its most important tier 2 suppliers once a year. Issues discussed tend to be Simultaneous Engineering, including standardization of CAX systems, change management, quality topics like ppap, APQP, VDA 6.0 etc. Supplier awards are often handed over to particularly successful partners. The conference is supported by simultaneous interpreters - working in booths - who translate between German and English.

Meetings of the Supervisory Board, Executive Board, Board of Directors Concentration and consolidation on global markets has produced Management Boards whose members speak many different languages. Interpreters act as language and cultural experts in the entire M&A process, including during the negotiation, Due Diligence, joint strategy development and integration phases. In these cases, differences in corporate culture tend to present as big a challenge for the responsible interpreters as language differences.

Post Merger Integration
Following a corporate merger, the integration process is forged throughout the company hierarchy, right down to the shop floor, by PMI teams whose members have mixed cultural and language backgrounds. These teams leverage the synergies targeted by the merger. Interpreters and translators are actively involved - either interpreting simultaneously or liasing, e.g. in the production, engineering or purchasing departments.

Management und Organization Development
Cooperation with Dr. Irving Borwick (www.borwick.biz): simultaneous interpretation of management development programs such as MLP (Management Leadership Program) or G-SAP (Group Strategy and Action Program). Interpretation enables this US company to offer its programs for German or mixed-language groups. Special mobile interpreting equipment with microphones and receivers allow the group and staff to communicate barrier-free while moving freely in the room as required.

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