The Translation team aims to support and promote bilingualism across the University.
We do this by:
- Translating Documents
- Proofreading Welsh Documents
- Providing Simultaneous Translation at meetings and events
The translation team at Canolfan Bedwyr is a Recognized Organization of Cymdeithas Cyfieithwyr Cymru, the society of Welsh translators and interpreters.
Contact us by e-mailing us to discuss your needs.
Translating Documents
We offer a document translation service from English to Welsh and from Welsh to English. You can send us a short text for translation, or a lengthy document.
Upload a Document for Translation
If you are using the service for the first time, please read the instructions below on how to upload documents for translation.
Please feel free to contact us on translation@bangor.ac.uk if you experience any problems or need advice about translation.
Step-by-step
- Click on the link above and log-in to the system using your university username and password. You should type your username using lowercase letters.
- Click on ‘Create New Project’ at the bottom of the screen.
- You will need to enter your personal details, details of the work and any further information.
- Remember to give us sufficient time to translate your work. If we foresee that we will not be able to translate the work by the time you have specified, we will contact you to discuss. The default completion date is two weeks from the submission date but you can change this if you need the work back sooner.
- In the case of large projects over 5,000 words please contact us in advance to give us prior warning and to discuss a timeframe for completing the work.
- There is also a space to add extra information about the project.
- On the next page, you will be asked to choose between uploading one file or several files or typing or pasting a short piece of text of up to 250 characters into a box. If the text is longer then it must be uploaded as a file.
- It’s better to send work to us in a Word document.
- To finish, click on 'Send to the Translation Unit'.
- Your records in the system will show the work you have just sent to the Translation Unit in WHITE.
- When the Admin Officer has accepted your work and confirmed the completion date the record will turn YELLOW.
- When the work is allocated to a translator it will turn BLUE.
- When the work is completed it will turn GREEN and you will receive an email asking you to log in to the system to download your work.
- After opening the project, there will be a link to the original document on the left and a link to the translation on the right. Click on the translation link to download the document.
Proofreading Welsh Documents
We offer to proofread documents written in Welsh. You can send us a short text to be proofread, or a lengthy document.
Upload a Document to be Proofread
If you are using the service for the first time, please read the instructions below on how to upload documents to be proofread.
Please feel free to contact us on translation@bangor.ac.uk if you experience any problems or need advice about proofreading.
Step-by-step
- Click on the link above and log-in to the system using your university username and password. You should type your username using lowercase letters.
- Click on ‘Create New Project’ at the bottom of the screen.
- You will need to enter your personal details, details of the work and any further information.
- Remember to give us sufficient time to proofread your work. If we foresee that we will not be able to proofread the work by the time you have specified, we will contact you to discuss. The default completion date is two weeks from the submission date but you can change this if you need the work back sooner.
- In the case of large projects over 5,000 words please contact us in advance to give us prior warning and to discuss a timeframe for completing the work.
- There is also a space to add extra information about the project.
- On the next page, you will be asked to choose between uploading one file or several files or typing or pasting a short piece of text of up to 250 characters into a box. If the text is longer then it must be uploaded as a file.
- It’s better to send work to us in a Word document.
- To finish, click on 'Send to the Translation Unit'.
- Your records in the system will show the work you have just sent to the Translation Unit in WHITE.
- When the Admin Officer has accepted your work and confirmed the completion date the record will turn YELLOW.
- When the work is allocated to a translator it will turn BLUE.
- When the work is completed it will turn GREEN and you will receive an email asking you to log in to the system to download your work.
- After opening the project, there will be a link to the original document on the left and a link to the document that has been proofread on the right. Click on the link to download the document.
Simultaneous Translation
The Translation Unit now provides an internal simultaneous translation through Zoom and in-person. It is not possible to provide simultaneous translation on Teams, therefore Zoom must be used to provide a simultaneous translation service.
The Translation Unit also provides a simultaneous translation service for student presentations. If you have a mixed class of Welsh medium and English medium students, you can ask the Translation Unit to provide a translation ofthe student’s presentations into English.
Before booking, read the Booking Guidelines below carefully, as well as the Zoom Instructions Leaflet, if you are booking translation for a virtual event, then fill out the Booking Form.
For more information, please contact translation@bangor.ac.uk
Here are some guidelines for booking a simultaneous translator for a meeting/event:
1. Please include all the relevant details when you book the service:
- Date
- Time
- Type of event/meeting
- Any relevant papers
If any of these details change, you must inform the Translation Unit as soon as possible.
2. Bookings should be made at least 10 working days before the date of the event/meeting. As a rule, we cannot provide simultaneous translation at evenings and weekends because of the high demand for our services during normal working hours. For academic conferences, you must contact the Translation Unit at least two months before the event. Conference organizers are welcome to get in touch before then if they need advice on the necessary practical arrangements for simultaneous translation. However, it will not be possible to confirm the availability of the service for the event until the Translation Unit has been given a copy of the programme with full details of the simultaneous translation requirements.
3. Please send all relevant papers to the Principal Simultaneous Translator at least 3 working days in advance so that the translators can prepare for the meeting/event. This is important in all cases, but it is crucial for presentations, interviews, research seminars and conferences. Presentations or papers for academic conferences must be sent at least 5 working days before the conference.
4. For interviews and presentations, please check that the candidate/speaker intends to speak in Welsh. If there is more than one candidate/speaker, please try to ensure that those intending to speak in Welsh are grouped together on the timetable in order to make the best use of the translator’s time, but please bear in mind that simultaneous translators should not translate for more than 30 minutes at a time without a break of at least 5 minutes.
5. The Translation Unit cannot provide simultaneous translation for parallel sessions at the same event, due to other demands on the service.
Please use the online form to book the service.
For more information, please contact the Principal Simultaneous Translator.
You must ensure that all attendees download the Zoom app to a computer as the simultaneous translation feature is not available on the web version and does not work on smartphones.
If you would like to meet with the translation team on Zoom to familiarize yourself with the translation feature at some point prior to your meeting, we would be happy to arrange this with you.
Steps to follow when using the simultaneous translation feature on Zoom:
1. The Principal Simultaneous Translator will schedule the meeting on Zoom and send you the link and the password to join the meeting;
2. You should send the link to the meeting and the password to all attendees, telling them that they must download the Zoom app to a computer before joining the meeting;
3. Two translators from the Translation Unit will be present at the meeting. One of the translators will act as 'host' at the start of the meeting and will switch on the simultaneous translation feature;
4. If required, one of the translators will give brief instructions on using the simultaneous translation feature.