thebigword Helps Soldiers Phone Home at Christmas

thebigword, the largest independent translation and interpreting company in Northern Europe and 13th in the world, has enabled the men and women of 1 SCOTS Battalion based in Afghanistan to phone home for Christmas by providing each of them with a £5 phone card.

In addition, throughout the week running up to Christmas, thebigword has promised to donate a penny for every minute of Telephone Interpreting used by its customers to Support Our Soldiers (SOS) which provides care packages to troops serving overseas. The initiative is expected to raise up to £3,000.

thebigword, which first supported military charities in 2009, is celebrating the formation of its Defence Division which will utilise the company’s specific expertise in the recruitment, training and management of linguists for military purposes. thebigword already works in Afghanistan, providing interpreters to support UK operations. The company was appointed in June 2012 to this sensitive and influential role, which covers the planned withdrawal of combat troops by NATO and handover to Afghan security forces.

thebigword is the only company in the UK to hold four Government-approved frameworks to provide translation and interpreting services to the public sector. As part of this, thebigword provides its customers with Telephone Interpreting, enabling two people who speak different languages to talk over the telephone via an interpreter who comes on the line, usually within 30 seconds. On average, thebigword’s linguists interpret 1.5 million minutes of speech over the telephone every month in 235 different languages, for customers that include: the NHS, London Probation, HM Prison Service, the Ministry of Defence, and the Department for Work and Pensions.

Larry Gould, thebigword’s CEO, says: “Our customers in the public sector are really excited by this gesture. It means that the multilingual conversations they have in the course of their work will deliver a genuine benefit to troops serving overseas and unable to see their families at Christmas.”

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