The voice of Concordia — en français
The Translation Services team (left to right): Éric Laberge, Simon Arsenault, Sophie Coriat, Gwendoline Huang, François Langevin, Noro Ranoarivony and Michel Marchand. | Photo by Concordia University
Whether a document is one paragraph or 100 pages long, Concordia’s Translation Services is there to help the university’s faculty and staff get the message out in French.
The synergistic seven-person team provides generally free English-to-French translation to administrators, creators and researchers at the university.
“Our mission is to give a stronger voice to Concordians,” says François Langevin, director of Translation Services.
“We are keen to help spread the message about the exciting things that happen at Concordia to the larger communities of Montreal and Quebec, as well as in the rest of Canada and other francophone countries.”
Beyond translation, the team also provides terminology assistance and monitoring, along with language editing and proofreading of French texts.
A diversity of professional backgrounds
Translation Services is comprised of highly trained professionals, all members of the Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Quebéc. All employees have years of experience at Concordia, and some have also worked extensively in other public and private organizations.
Langevin says the team’s diverse professional backgrounds are a great strength.
“The documents we translate can be extremely specialized, and that's one of the difficult yet fun aspects of working in this department,” Langevin explains. “You need to know a lot about all sorts of subjects, and you're always learning new things — it makes it interesting!”
With the expert backing of a seasoned coordinator, the team caters to all faculty and staff on campus, delivering news releases, administrative memos, research summaries, marketing and fundraising materials, scientific reports, artist statements and everything in between — always with an eye to finding the right tone for each translation.
Building partnerships and a brand
The service can be used by faculty and staff any time they want to communicate a message in French, whether to internal or external stakeholders. Moreover, Translation Services manages the outsourcing of translations for other language combinations.
“We are proud to collaborate with researchers and creators at Concordia, helping them reach a wider audience and obtain funding,” says Langevin.
The team strives to build strong partnerships with its clients, as well as to bolster Concordia’s unique brand.
“We’ve worked closely with Concordia’s University Communications Services to develop a simple and compelling language as well as a terminology that’s both correct and consistent,” says Langevin. “The university has a specific brand and we help bring it to life in French.”
Find out more about Translation Services.
