The French Translation Company

ABOUT US

Philippe Salmon has worked in French technical translation for 30 years. He has a great understanding of technical processes in aeronautics and automotive engineering. He’s also worked on steel, gas, oil and environmental issues. Philippe’s experience includes the Spitting Image episode  which won the Golden Rose of Montreux, reports of global sporting events and medical pills for horses with bad wind. All this makes for interesting dinner party conversation and success in local quiz teams! Philippe holds the Institute of Linguists Post-Graduate Diploma in Translation with Merit for French technical translation. He regularly uses his language skills to make groan-inducing puns and jokes. He has never been seen in a beret, a striped T-shirt or with a string of onions around his neck.

Cheryl Salmon has 30 years’ experience in education and training at a senior level. She has an MA in Applied Sociology and has completed further studies in positive psychology. For the Company she looks after marketing and promotion, accounts, recruitment and training. As the native English speaker, she checks and improves French to English translations. Cheryl has developed courses for would-be translators and visits secondary schools for careers events. Both Directors travel several times a year to the French Office in the Languedoc to refresh our language skills. We keep in touch with customers when we are there by phone/Skype, email and text. We also have subcontractors (with appropriate non-disclosure arrangements) for various specialist functions in the company.

Our Team

Meet the professionals who will work with you

Cheryl

Cheryl

Director

Cheryl Salmon has 30 years’ experience in education and training at a senior level. She has an MA in Applied Sociology and has completed further studies in positive psychology.

Philippe

Philippe

Director

Philippe Salmon has been a French technical translator for 30 years and so has a vast understanding of technical and engineering processes in aeronautics, automotive, steel, gas, oil, environmental issues and associated training programmes.

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

Services

Website Translation

Website Translation

The Internet has made the world smaller. You can contact and do business with people on the other side of the globe very quickly and easily. Let us help you impress customers who speak French not just in France, but in Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco or one of the 29 countries where it is an official language -there are more than 220 million French-speakers worldwide. True – there is now online translation. It can give you a rough idea of meaning in another language. But how happy would you be to get on a plane in France, serviced by a guy who had a rough idea of what he was doing? And are you happy to give French customers a rough idea of your business? Trust us to do the job and get it right for you!

Technical Translation

Technical Translation

We are passionate about helping British business – especially technical and engineering companies- to export their goods to France and French-speaking countries. We translate technical reports, instruction manuals and websites into best quality, French. The French are picky about their language – don’t insult them by offering poor quality French language! Worried about the quality and accuracy of your translation? Benefit from more than 30 years’ experience – trusted by major names like Rolls Royce, Airbus, Jaguar, Atkins Global, William Hill and Paypal. You have definitely read something that has been translated by us, especially if you’ve been on a plane, through the Channel Tunnel, or in a French car! You will probably have in your own home one of our translations. Because of our expertise, we are often asked to check and correct the work of other translators.

From the Blog

Can henhouses blow up? The conclusion

June 13, 2017

 

"Blimey...hope mine isn't going to blow up!"

 

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about exploding henhouses. It turns out I got some of the facts wrong.

My sister didn’t believe me

Last week, we went to visit my uncle Georges (88) and his wife, my aunt Marie (84) in Toulon (my hometown). Both are still mentally sharp. The day before, I had talked to my sister about the exploding henhouse incident. She did not know anything about it. She, in fact, expressed some doubt about the whole story!

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Can hen houses explode…?

May 2, 2017

Happy French hen

Can henhouses blow up?

Yes, they can and in fact they do (sometimes). Ask my aunt Marie. She can confirm it.

I can hear you thinking: “Who is this fool? Hen houses do not explode. It would make the news or something.”

I think I’d better explain my statement about exploding hen houses.

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The French started their election before the UK

April 21, 2017

Presidential Candidates 2017

 

French Presidential Candidates

I have just received a very thick envelope from the French Embassy. It contains a 4-page document for each of the 11 candidates for the French Presidential election. The first round is this Sunday (April 23rd, 2017). The top two candidates will go to a second round (May 7th, 2017) as it is very unlikely that a candidate will get 50% of the vote + 1 on the first round. None of the seven previous presidents of the 5th Republic (the current) were elected during the first round. The closest to do it were General Charles de Gaulle in 1958 (close to 45%) and François Mitterrand in 1974 (over 43%).

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How to achieve the best possible technical translation

March 29, 2017

Ensure you tell the linguist what you mean

It is important to give the translator specific and detailed instructions to avoid any mistakes – sometimes, embarrassing ones! For instance, in 1991, a competitive fighting game called Street Fighter II: The World warrior launched in Japan. It was a sequel to an arcade game released a few years before.

The translator didn’t know the context

When translation was done from Japanese into English, the translator only got the text. He had no idea of what was really going on on the screen. He (or she) had to translate the following sentence: “If you cannot overcome the Rising Dragon Punch, you cannot win!”. The Japanese characters for “Rising Dragon” were interpreted by the translator as “Sheng Long”. The translator thought a new character called Sheng Long was being introduced!

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The attention-hungry monster in our pockets..

March 2, 2017
Communication

The monster insisting

We love our smartphones

Why do we love our smart phones so much? It’s all to do with language and communication. While on our holiday in Cape Verde we noticed something strange. A lot of young couples spent their time gazing lovingly at their smartphones instead of at their partners.

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Engineering – how the UK has shot itself in the foot

January 18, 2017

Last night, we went to see “Passengers”, a film about engineering! Two people are stuck on a huge spaceship on a 100+ year journey travelling to a colony planet. Basically, they are awake when they should be in hibernation.

Four things were particularly striking: Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen it!

 

Four main things struck us about the whole trip:

 

  1. There was an excellent ad by EDF before the film which is clearly focused on promoting engineering careers to women (their Pretty Curious campaign, see http://bit.ly/2iASPR6)
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Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you just about everywhere.

March 1, 2014 Albert Einstein

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