Our guest today on PBLINK Stories is more than a high achiever.
Iwona Lebiedowicz is the founder and CEO of PAB Group. Her team at PAB delivers multilingual content services including certified translation in over 200 languages, transcreation and localisation, serving global clients in their chosen markets. As a trilingual cross-cultural consultant, Iwona helps brands and companies to attract, engage, and grow audiences internationally.
With a Masters in Management from Poznań University of Economics and Business – specialising in International Relations and European Studies – Iwona also holds the Financial Times Non-Executive Director Diploma from Pearson College, London. She is also an NLP Certified Practitioner and holds an Advanced NLP Diploma in Coaching.
Transcreation and localisation
In certain cases, a literal translation is required. For example, legal, technical or medical documents can rely on absolute precision in the translation to ensure that no important detail is omitted. The source document is unlikely to contain any slang or colloquial language, so nothing is lost in translation.
Iwona explains, however, that it is generally not enough to just translate an advertising or marketing message to the language of your new market. Nuances of language reflect the culture of each community and what is effective and punchy in one culture could be meaningless, comical or even offensive in another.
An unverified legend in marketing goes that when Vauxhall was promoting its latest small hatchback in Spain and Latin America, it did not sell as well as expected. Senior executives in General Motors, the parent company, investigated and discovered that the name of the car, Nova, translated as “Doesn’t go” in Spanish (No va). No wonder hispanophones were not keen on the model!
It’s not even necessary to stray outside the same language to put your foot in it. Sticking with examples from Spanish, the verb coger in Spanish means “to catch.” An advert reading “Coge el autobús!” – “Catch the bus!” would be perfectly acceptable. In Mexican Spanish, however, coger is an obscene verb, meaning to copulate. The effect would be very different!
Iwona and her team make sure that sort of blunder does not happen.
Celebrating Language Diversity
Leading on from that theme, Iwona launched the “Celebrating Cultural and Language Diversity Campaign” in March 2019 with the aim of championing good understanding of cross-cultural challenges and promoting a more inclusive culture within the UK. This has involved dozens of F2F events with people with different first languages, from different cultures, meeting and discussing what they have in common, contrasting with what makes them different.
Best of Both Worlds
PAB Languages is fully cloud-based, meaning that they can offer translation, interpretation and cross-cultural awareness services to commercial and public sector organisations anywhere in the world. However, they also benefit from a network of translators and trusted partners across the UK, so the option of Face-to-Face services is always available.
It’s All About People
As has been seen in this article already, Iwona has a strong sense of community spirit and is a Director/Trustee of Centrepoint, a charitable organisation working with and for homeless and vulnerable people. Centrepoint believes that nobody should be homeless, and it aims to end homelessness in the UK. Their vision is that homeless people are empowered to improve their lives and achieve their full potential.
During the Covid pandemic, she offered the services of the PAB, free of charge, to ensure that key health messages were translated from English into foreign languages to protect non-English speaking individuals and those for whom English is a second language.
This has quite literally saved lives. The government was obliged to change the guidelines on several occasions as Covid-19 developed and was contained across Britain. It is crucial that everyone understands completely the situation and the measures we should take in order that we all have the best protection for ourselves and those around us. Any misunderstanding could have devastating effects.
Recognition
Iwona’s efforts have not gone unrecognised. Awards in the last few years include:
Entrepreneur of the Year 2021- Finalist; Female Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 – Finalist; Outstanding Woman in Public Services 2017 – Finalist; East Midlands Director of the Year 2015 - Highly Commended; The Agri-food Sector Business Award 2013; Young Business Person of the Year 2013; Hardy & Collins Award for Cultural Training 2012; Best Contribution to Boston Award 2010.
Iwona is more than her achievements, she's proof that passion and drive can deliver positive changes and understanding. Even across language and cultural barriers.
Iwona was interviewed by Bill Mair of PrecisionPresentation.com.
Read more stories about diverse Entrepreneurs in the UK.
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