Volume 18, No. 4, September 2015

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Volume 18, No. 4, September 2015

News from the Translation Bureau

Working Together to Offer the Best Possible Products and Services for Canadians

The Translation Bureau's innovation strategy and experimentation with new tools and technologies are helping our employees and clients in their pursuit of efficiency, quality and better communications in both official languages to better serve Canadians. As the centre of expertise for language products and services for the Government of Canada, the Bureau's knowledgeable employees are providing professional advice and guidance to its clients on how to achieve their strategic business objectives. With this in mind, the Bureau has recently launched a number of pilot projects to explore trending language technologies and best practices in order to remain relevant and current in the language industry. This will ensure that the Bureau continues to serve its clients in the most effective manner using cutting edge approaches.

The Bureau is happy to share news on the new tools it is piloting with federal government departments.

  1. Remote interpretation – A new technology is being used to offer interpretation services online anytime and from anywhere. Clients using remote interpretation will benefit from reduced fees related to interpreters' travel costs, and booth rental and installation. By facilitating interpretation services, the Bureau promotes bilinguism and respects the requirements of both official languages.
  2. GC Translation – An Online simplified interface to request translation services and comparative revision in both official languages has been developed. This new Online Ordering system helps to better manage client requests. It also provides an instant estimate of linguistic services. This is the first step in the process of having a fully-integrated system.
  3. Translation tool – On June 8, the Bureau launched a trial machine translation tool for short texts. Public servants from different departments and positions will provide comments about the quality of the translation generated by the tool. The purpose is to promote the usage and understanding of both official languages in the government.

The Bureau will provide updates as it moves to integrate these new tools into its business processes. To find out more about the Translation Bureau's Innovation Strategy, please see our short video. You can also read about how the Translation Bureau is working with the Council of the Network of Official Languages Champions to support "Bilingualism in the Public Service of the Future."

New Industry Representatives Advisory Panel gets off to a great start

As part of the Translation Bureau's commitment to service excellence, an Industry Representatives Advisory Panel was created and got underway this Spring. The first meeting took place on April 9 in Ottawa. Following a call for interest, representatives from 15 organizations and associations from the language industry sector (translation, terminology, interpretation and sign language), coming across Canada, accepted the invitation to participate.

This Panel will serve as a consultation platform for information exchange and for a better understanding of the changes in the language industry. The aim is also to promote an ongoing dialogue on issues related to linguistic services and procurement falling under the responsibilities of the Translation Bureau and Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC).

The first meeting's agenda included the following:

  • discussion and approval of the terms of reference;
  • election of co-chair Michael Dawthorne, of the Ontario Interpreting Services of the Canadian Hearing Society;
  • presentation on the Translation Bureau's transformation initiative;
  • round table, where future topics of discussion were proposed;
  • possibility of creating subcommittees, which could meet on an ad-hoc basis.

The next meeting of the Industry Representatives Advisory Panel will be held in the fall of 2015.

This first meeting ended with expressions of enthusiasm from the participants, who were satisfied with the results achieved on that day.