Pierre Leonard 'Transl...
Turn Language Barriers into a Competitive Advantage

pierre leonard 'translations'

• http://www.virtual-words.com

• Skype: pierreleonard7

Virtual Words, my translation company, has two offices: one in Denver, run by Valerie Steinier (http://biznik.com/members/valerie-steinier), and one in Europe (Brussels). We turn language barriers into a competitive edge for our clients by getting their message across in about 50 European and Asian languages. Of course, I don't speak all those languages myself - French, English, Dutch and some rusty German are enough for me. That's where the team comes in - an in-house staff of 8 and a large, international network of more than 1500 translators. As a result, when we're asked to translate something, well, we just do...[more]

Virtual Words, my translation company, has two offices: one in Denver, run by Valerie Steinier (http://biznik.com/members/valerie-steinier), and one in Europe (Brussels). We turn language barriers into a competitive edge for our clients by getting their message across in about 50 European and Asian languages. Of course, I don't speak all those languages myself - French, English, Dutch and some rusty German are enough for me. That's where the team comes in - an in-house staff of 8 and a large, international network of more than 1500 translators. As a result, when we're asked to translate something, well, we just do it. It can be marketing stuff, technical documentation, online catalogs, and even your brand new video on YouTube. Fortunately, the results don't have anything to do with the cheap bits of... fishy babbling... you can snatch away for free from certain sea creatures that swim about in search engines. My biggest challenge in my business is to explain that a good translation is an asset, not a liability. You don't buy it? Hmm - Let's oversimplify for a second: Would you like to reach 27,000,000 new customers nationwide? ... Well, that's about the amount of Spanish-speaking people living in the US. See? Now you want your online store in Spanish too (-: Let's connect! You will also find me on LinkedIn, Xing and Viadeo. [less]

Pierre Leonard's blog: Virtual News (En)

• Microfinance Meets P2P Technology

  The concept of microfinance has been around since Muhammad Yunus founded The Grameen Bank in 1976, lending $27 to 42 women in Bangladesh and challenging the notion that the poor were not creditworthy. Thirty years later, microfinance is just coming into public view, with a big boost in attention brought by the United Nations' Year of Microcredit in 2005 and the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Yunus in 2006.
  
  One powerful example of microfinance entering...

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• IT’S QUICKER TO DO IT MYSELF!

  As a boss/manager/owner, yes, it probably is quicker to do it yourself. Sadly, the challenge is that as long as you think that way, you’ll always have to do it yourself!
  
  If you want to have a successful team/department/business (and a life), then doing everything yourself will have some predictable outcomes:

  • In the long term, it will affect your health
  • It could affect your marriage (or significant relationship)
  • It prevents other people learning and growing
  • It...

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• Cultural Awareness, Self-Awareness

  Cultural awareness is the key to building successful international business relationships and should include understanding cultural differences and acting appropriately. No doubt most of you associate this with this with learning about the cultural habits, customs and negotiating styles of the country of the person you are going to be doing business with but this is only one part of the process and certainly not the first.
  
  If you read some of the literature on intercultural...

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