Wordsted Traduction

High quality translations from French into English

I’m Ruth Bartlett MITI, a French-to-English translator with a lifelong passion for French language, life and culture and a unique set of skills honed in the world of international diplomacy.

Good translation is about more than fluency in two languages. It requires top-class research, writing and communication skills. A degree in history and French, my early career as a researcher at the British Embassy in Paris and at the European Commission Delegation to the OECD and UNESCO as well as over 10 years living in France have given me the perfect tools for the job. As a qualified member of the prestigious Institute of Translation and Interpreting I have been assessed at the highest level by my peers.

My immersion in the diplomatic world gave me a thorough grounding in the cut-and-thrust of international political life. I’ve always loved writing but producing reports for ministers and heads of state transformed my style. These were busy people with overflowing in-trays managed by shrewd private secretaries. My reports had to pull them in with a killer introduction and convey the key messages clearly and concisely.

With this background, translation was a natural choice for me. In 2008 I set up my translation business and have since translated over a million words for high-level clients including ministries, consultancies, think tanks and international institutions.

Professional translation is a job for professional translators and not the office intern. So, when seeking out translation services, many organisations contact one of the many thousands of translation agencies that advertise their services online. But is going through a middle man the right approach for you? What do you know about the person who is working on your translation and what do they know about you? How easy is it to ask questions or raise concerns?

More crucially, have you thought about the implications of having multiple translators with different styles and from different backgrounds working on your documents over time? How might any discrepancies in your corporate communications affect your reputation? Can you afford for your stakeholders to be left confused as to why the terminology in a website article differs completely from a chapter in your annual report on the same subject, or why your press releases are suddenly being circulated in American English when your target readership is in the UK? What does it say about your organisation if the corporate language used in an executive summary bears no resemblance to the main body of the report?

Consistency and quality go hand in hand. This is why I pride myself on establishing a longstanding, one-to-one relationship with all my clients: a consistent relationship with your translator means consistent quality across all of your documents, leaving your reputation with foreign stakeholders intact.

Paying close attention to style, I deliver texts with the same impact as the original, with the terminology carefully researched and recorded in your own customised Word bank. The Word bank is not only invaluable in ensuring a consistent use of language across all of your publications, it is also an invaluable resource when interacting with foreign clients, colleagues or service providers.

Your source documents, translations and a glossary will be available for you to download at your own confidential, collaborative workspace in my ‘Wordhub’. Here you can comment on, review or approve documents. Successive versions of the same document and any comments on these can be viewed at a glance, doing-away with miscommunication and ensuring that we are on the same page.
After many years spent attending ministerial summits, policy seminars and conferences as well as building relationships with experts from the highest levels of government and beyond, I know just how much reflection, research and attention to detail goes into getting your reports just right. I am driven by the determination to do justice to your work.

Contact me for consistent excellence in English, every time. Your work is safe in my hands.