Language is everything.
Take the concept of time. In all of the world's languages
- from English to Chinese to Bantu - the future lies
ahead and the past lies behind. For example, we say that
we have an exciting year ahead of us, or that a difficult
period is behind us.
The exception is the Aymara language, which is spoken
in the Andean highlands of Bolivia, Peru and Chile. According
to a remarkable study published last year, Aymara speakers
have a reverse concept of time: they have their backs
to the future, and they face the past.
In Aymara, the basic word for 'front' (nayra) also
means 'past', while the basic word for 'back' (qhipa)
also means 'future'. The gestures used with the language
are exactly the opposite of our own: when Aymara speakers
talk about the future, they thumb or wave over their
shoulders; when they talk about the past, they sweep
forward with their hands.
The more you think about this, the less puzzling it
becomes. Doesn't it make sense to put the known past
in front of us where we can see it? And doesn't it make
even more sense to put the unknown - and unknowable -
future behind our backs?
Our company has a new name, a new logo and a new web
site address. An organisation normally explains its decision
to rebrand by talking - with great certainty - about
what it all means for the future. We'd like to take a
leaf out of the Aymara's book, however, and tell you
instead about how we got to where we are today.
We've been providing language services for 14 years,
initially as Essential Interpreters and Translators International
and then, from 1997, as EITI Limited. Throughout this
time, we've stuck to five basic principles.
| 1. |
We love to help people communicate. For example:
Cancerbackup, a cancer information charity, were
concerned that non-English-speaking cancer patients
- and their families - were unable to receive the
practical advice and support they needed. So we helped
the charity to launch the UK's first multilingual
freephone helpline, where callers are conferenced
straight away with a Cancerbackup nurse and one of
our telephone interpreters. |
| 2. |
We're focussed, laser-like, on customer service.
Of course, every company says something like that.
We try to back up our claim, therefore, by publishing
the results of all our customer feedback in our annual
reports. (Since January 2003, we have not received
a single negative rating for customer service from
2,833 feedback forms.) |
| 3. |
We enjoy working in partnership. For the past seven
years, for example, we've been supplying telephone
interpreting services to public authorities in East
London on behalf of Newham Language Shop, which is
part of Newham Council. Our partnership with the
Language Shop is continually developing, and in 2006
we were jointly awarded a tender to provide language
services to Vertex, an outsourcing company. |
| 4. |
Our business plan favours stability over growth:
we've recorded a turnover of between £1.0 million
and £1.4 million in each of the last eight
years. And we're absolutely committed to remaining
an independently-owned, UK-based operation. |
| 5. |
We try to be more than just a business: we believe
we have a role to play within the community. We run
language workshops and educational activities for
schools and colleges, and we're a proud sponsor of
Goole AFC, our local football team. |
None of the above is going to change. So why have we
changed our name?
The first reason is - very simply - that nobody ever
really liked the name EITI. People were never sure how
to say it or write it. And we were always being asked
what the letters stood for. (I've never completely understood
people's fascination with that question. I mean, how
many people ever stop to ask what B&Q, MFI or DHL
stand for?)
The second reason is that we wanted to emphasise that
language is everything. It's everything to us, because
it's our business and our passion. It's everything to
Cancerbackup, because their words can help to reduce
the fear and uncertainty of cancer. It's everything to
the rest of our customers, because all organisations
need to communicate.
And, at a fundamental level, language is everything
to every one of us. Just try asking an Aymara speaker
to look ahead to the past, or back to the future.
Taken from our 2007 annual report |
