Medical Translation - A Popular Area of Translation Services With Unique Requirements

In the field of translation services, medical translation is a highly competitive field. In medical translation, scientific documents, product brochures and health reports are translated from one language into another, for example from French to English or English to Spanish.

The demand for this services offered by translation firms in Montreal, Toronto or Ottawa has increased in recent years. Much of the source literature is available in English, German and French as medical research takes places in countries that speak these source languages.

These services are crucial in disseminating knowledge about medical research accomplishments. New terminology, research reports and other medical documents need to be translated. Some of the many types of documents that fall under this section include:

Translation of

medical research reports and clinical trial protocols

patient information papers

psychology papers

medical prescriptions and diagnoses

user guides for medical staff and patients

instruction manuals, brochures and software for usage of medical equipment

clinical, toxicological, pharmacological and biological documents

medical questionnaires and medical terminology glossaries.

As medical translation deals with documents that impact the health and safety of people, any small mistake in translation can lead to serious consequences. Hence, it is essential to select an experienced translation firm in Toronto, Montreal or Ottawa for your translation needs. For medical translation, the translation company you select needs to work with highly qualified translators who specialize in medical translations. Indepth subject matter knowledge of the medical specialty area is critical to ensuring a high-quality translation.

Given the popularity and demand for medical translation services, many translation services in Toronto, Montreal or Ottawa have started providing translation services in this category too.

However not all companies offer the same high level of quality service. Selecting the best service can be a challenge. Today there are many translation companies in the market who offer services in medical translation. Here is a checklist to help you choose the right company for your requirements.

Check out feedback from previous clients which should give you an idea about the reputation of the company. Try to find out answers to certain questions such as: Is the company known for quality work? Can it reliably meet the deadlines? Is it capable of handling specialized medical terminology?

Ask about the qualifications of the translators hired by the translation company and their selection process.

Ask if the translation company would be willing to complete a small test translation for you at no cost. All these points will help you get better service from companies that provide medical translations in Montreal, Ottawa or Toronto.

Textronics Communications Ltd. delivers high quality translation Toronto, translation Montreal, translation Calgary as well as all across North America.

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Discover the Unique History of Mechanical Music, Part I

The delicate sounds of a ballerina music box, inlaid music box, musical jewelry box, or music trinket box is loved by many a music box and antique collector. Some collectors and lovers of mechanical music may not realize the interesting history that is part of the world of music boxes and mechanical music. Let's discover what that is.

Attempts to create mechanical music reproductions really began in the third century B.C. Plato had an idea for making a water clock that would sound the hours of the night on pipes. He felt this was needed since darkness made it impossible to read the face of a clock. No one knows whether or not the clock was made, but it did reveal that interest to produce music automatically occurred very early in history. Singing birds and organs, which were worked hydraulically likely, were developed from Plato's clockwork idea.

After clocks were invented in AD 1000, more advances were made. Soon carillons of bells were made which played simple tunes on a barrel. Next came the barrel organ, which had air for the organ coming from bells driven by clockwork.

One of the most basic elements of mechanical music is how storage of the music is in a barrel or sheet, both of which rally make the memory of the instrument. The music was then set on the barrel with pegs and pins and on the actual sheet as perforation or projections. When rotated steadily and evenly against the levers, the levers then played an organ or carillon.

In 1502, the first mechanical music was made in the form of a barrel organ. The most famous one was the organ made in Salzburg for L. Von Keutschach. It had 350 pipes from which music from a barrel was played. The organ only had one tune for centuries until Leopole Mozart composed 11 more in 1753. Now, only 9 tunes survive on the original barrel. Announced with a grand and might chord, the locals have nicknamed it the "Salzburg Bull".

It is fascinating that mechanical music has been around for so many centuries. It puts a unique perspective on the history of collectibles such as music boxes, antique music boxes, ballerina music boxes, inlaid music boxes, musical jewelry boxes, and music trinket boxes.

Copyright 2006 Monique Hawkins

Monique Hawkins is the owner of Monique's Music Box. Located at http://www.My-Music-Box.com is a music box gift store specializing in products such as inlaid music boxes, wooden keepsake boxes, ballerina music boxes for ballerina rooms décor, and musical jewelry boxes. The company also provides interesting information for music lovers of all ages.

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Discover The Unique History of Mechanical Music, Part II

Inlaid music boxes, musical jewelry boxes, wooden keepsake boxes, and other types of mechanical collectibles are favorite items for some music box and antique collectors. Let's continue to discover the unique history of music boxes and other mechanical music.

The barrel organ was the first form of mechanical music that was made in 1502. Following this, the carillon was the next mechanical music item that was made. This musical instrument plays a musical scale on a set of bells. Initially, they automatically played chimes on the hour, but later when the advantages of the barrel organ were recognized, barrels were pinned with melodies of increasing complexity.

After carillons, attempts were made to produce watches that chimed. Daniel Quare in 1686 made the first chiming watch. The watch struck the hours and quarters or a bell when the stem was pressed and released. Parisian, Juline LeRoy, realized after Quare's invention, that it would be necessary to make the watches thinner. He proceeded to do this by taking the bell out and allowing the hammer to strike the inside of a case. After this, sometime during the second half of the 18th century, he was also credited for the invention of the spiral gong on which hammers strike. It appears as if Breguet made a watch with repeating gongs in 1785.

Soon after the inventions of the carillons and chiming watches, music boxes with combs and cylinders were created. David Tallis in "Music Boxes: A Guide for Collectors" states: "By definition, the musical box is a mechanical instrument in which tuned steel tongues are set in vibration by means of pins set in a rotating cylinder or disc, and the invention was made as a result of all the developments already mentioned. The method of setting up music on a barrel was well known and had been used for many years on barrel organs and carillons, so it was only a short step from the gong in the repeater watch to the tuned steel tooth which could be plucked by a note. The man to whom the invention is attributed is Antoine Favre, and the date of the invention was 1796. The authenticity for this date is taken from the records of the Society of Arts in Geneva for the 15th February, 1796, which reported that Monsieur Favre had found the means of producing a carillon without bells or hammers." As a result of Favre's invention, musical boxes as we know today came into being.

There indeed is much history behind the music box and antique collector collectibles. The next time one looks at an inlaid music box, musical jewelry box, wooden keepsake box, and other types of mechanical music, their unique history can be remembered and appreciated.

Copyright 2006 Monique Hawkins

Monique Hawkins is the owner of Monique's Music Box. Located at http://www.My-Music-Box.com is a music box gift store specializing in products such as inlaid music boxes, wooden keepsake boxes, ballerina music boxes for ballerina rooms décor, and musical jewelry boxes. The company also provides interesting information for music lovers of all ages.

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A Unique Interview on How to Repair Music Boxes and Other Mechanical Collectibles, Part 2

Ballerina Music Boxes, inlaid music boxes, musical jewelry boxes, cylinder music boxes, and antique music boxes are delicate and beautiful. As most music box and antique collectors know, in order to preserve them, sometimes repair and restoration is needed. For this special work, it is important to choose a company that is reputable and an expert in this area. This is the second part of an interview with music box and mechaical insturment repair and restoration expert, Mr. Jim Weir

Jim does all kinds of antique musical box repairs and restoration. His work includes comb repairs, releading and tuning, dampering, cylinder repairing, and organ bridge work. Jim also offers all manner of musical box work on disc and cylinder music boxes..Let's listen as he continues to give us an inside peek of this unique business.

6. What if your least favorite part of running your business? Your favorite part?

"Paperwork. Dealing with taxes and Customs (although I've got quite good dealing with Customs and Carriers). My favorite part? There is a satisfaction in finally getting a job finished; there's also a fair amount of satisfaction in finally getting paid."

7. What are some of your favorite music box and collectible pieces and why?

"A 26" consul model Stella. It belonged to the late Bruce Devine and literally arrived in pieces (it had been dropped from a crane while being loaded). Originally Bruce gave it to one of my trade customers, who passed it on to me. Then my trade customer ducked out of the deal, and I ended up working direct for Bruce. It was an `interesting' experience and quite a steep learning curve. At the end though, the box did sound good. Excellent tune arrangements."

8. Is there any interesting history associated with some of your pieces?

"I don't collect musical boxes; without being funny I genuinely cannot afford to. Some of the pieces I've worked on have had `history'; as an example the Stella referred to above. Another would be a rare long and short pin Forte-Piano box (maker unknown) I overhauled for a customer in France. It had a silver presentation plaque in the lid; as far as I could gather it was presented to a Mayor in 1847 for some kind of `service to the townspeople'. I'm not up on French politics, but the middle of the 19th century were turbulent times. One of the nicest stories is a box I fully restored for an old lady in Edinburgh. She was in her 70's. The box had been in her family since new, and she had last heard it play when she was a child."

9. What important advice or tips would you give to someone who would like to start a business such as yours either online or offline?

"I wouldn't. Things move faster now that we have the Internet. To get fully involved in this kind of work takes time, which the whole `I want it NOW' approach of the Internet doesn't favor. I was lucky in that I had a skill with clocks that I was able to sharpen and direct to music box work. If I had to give advice, I'd say by all means get involved with music boxes, or whatever else begins to drive you, but try to maintain a backup. The wisest thing? Learn that `quitting' is not necessarily a personal failure; it's recognizing that some choices can turn out to be wrong. There are maybe a few music box repairers who would be happier now if, 30 years ago, they'd sold their lathes, workshop tools etc. and taken up farming. Not me though, I hasten to add."

10. For those antique and music box collectors looking to find valuable and interesting pieces for their own collections, where would you suggest they go either online or offline? How about those who are just starting a collection?

"Take advice from your friends. Don't necessarily follow it, but give it some thought. Subscribe to music box sale catalogues, it's a good way to check what things actually sell for; they often give the hammer price of items from previous sales. Go to music box auctions if you can; not necessarily to buy anything but to observe, to get a feel not just for how much pieces sell for, but for what sells and what doesn't. Try to figure out why what looked like a nice box didn't sell. If you're really interested in buying a specific musical box, either from a dealer, private seller or at auction it can save you a lot of heartache if you get someone who knows what they're looking at to check the box over and advise you of likely repair costs before you buy it.

A lot of repair costs can be itemized; if a potential customer emailed or wrote to me (even `phoned me) with a good description of a box needing repair, I would do my best to advise them as to how much the repairs could cost before they part up with maybe a lot of money to buy it. I don't charge for this and neither do most restorers; having given advice we all hope for the work if the customer goes on and buys the box. If the box is a particularly fine example, and likely to be expensive to buy, it's can be worth paying a restorers time for them to go and check it out at the sellers address. I've done this; a collector armed with an itemized potential repair cost of something he's interested in buying is in a very strong position when it comes to arguing the sale price with the seller".

Jim ends with saying this about his hopes for the future:

"To bring in more work and pay off the mortgage. Ok, there's a lot more to life than that but one way or another, the bills still have to be paid. Most of my work to now has come from dealers; what I'm hoping is that by advertising in the MBSI Journal, I'll attract more work direct from the public. In theory I could put up my public prices, but in practice I cannot, at least not to customers in the USA. They already have to pay shipping costs, and the simple fact is that whether a musical box needs comb work, cylinder work or a full restoration, there's a top limit to how much most people will pay to have it worked on, irrespective of how long the work takes. People have to make choices; your car's broke, your washing machine leaks and the antique music box you inherited from your Grandmother squeaks. Which one do you spend your money on? That's about it really; the sun's shining and it's time to get back to the workshop."

I'd like to personally thank Jim for taking the time to share with us this valuable information about his business as well as letting us get a sneak peak into the world of music box repairs and restoration. Jim Weir can be reached at combwork@aol.com or by telephone/fax at 01144-1575-572647.

Established in May of 2005, http://www.My-Music-Box.com is a music box gift store specializing in products such as inlaid ballerina music boxes for ballerina rooms décor, whimsical carousel music boxes, and musical jewelry boxes. The company provides interesting information for music lovers of all ages. Owner Monique Hawkins is also the author of the blog "What You Never Knew About Music" http://whatyouneverknewaboutmusic.blogspot.com, and owner of the eBay store "Monique's Music Box" at: http://stores.ebay.com/Moniques-Music-Box Monique can be contacted at (540) 858-2885.

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A Unique Interview on How to Repair Music Boxes and Other Mechanical Collectibles

Ballerina Music Boxes, inlaid music boxes, musical jewelry boxes, cylinder music boxes, and antique music boxes are delicate and beautiful. As most music box and antique collectors know, in order to preserve them, sometimes repair and restoration is needed. For this special work, it is important to choose a company that is reputable and an expert in this area. With a little research, these companies usually can be found no matter what part of the world you are in. One such company and expert is Mr. Jim Weir.

Jim does all kinds of antique musical box repairs and restoration. His work includes comb repairs, releading and tuning, dampering, cylinder repairing, and organ bridge work. Jim also offers all manner of musical box work on disc and cylinder music boxes.

I recently had the privilege of interviewing Jim about his musical box repair and restoration business, which, by the way, is operated out of Scotland. Let's discover more about Jim; his hopes, and get an in depth look as to what it is like to operate a music box repair and restoration business.

Jim started off with saying this about himself:

"What can I tell you about myself? Well, I'm 56 and have been working on musical boxes for the best part of 30 years. My wife and I live in Scotland with our two daughters; one's at school and one's at University. Depending on workload my wife and both daughters help with pinning cylinders; I guess it's a family business really?"

1. Could you describe your online and offline business operations, your services and/or products in detail?

"I've used the Internet to find workshop supplies, including the machine I use for grinding and finishing repined music box cylinders. Other than that, my business is primarily offline. Most of it comes to me from people who already know me, although I've recently started advertising in the MBSI Journal. I hardly ever buy and sell musical boxes; I have a good workshop but not a retail shop or display counter. I have checked out potential purchases for customers, telling them what level of repair work they are likely to get into before they buy a specific musical box, and where a customer is looking for a particular type of box I've sometimes been able to find one, but other than that my main business is repair work, everything from full restoration to part jobs, particularly comb and cylinder work. I've got a very good team of pinners (the people who put the new pins into the cylinders for me to finish) and after advertising in the MBSI Journal, I'm beginning to pick up new individual work from customers in the USA as well as my regular trade work."

2. What made you decide to start a business specializing in antique musical box repairs and restoration? What was your inspiration or motivation?

"I trained as a clock repairer. One day a customer brought in a 15.1/2" Polyphon and asked me to `fix it'. That's where it started."

3. What have been your major challenges/obstacles over the years? How did you overcome them? "

To reverse your question, I'm still trying to figure out how to overcome them. My worst problem, or `obstacle' if you like has been myself. Some of the work I've done has been fairly intense; taking it on as if it were some kind of personal challenge has not perhaps been the wisest thing to do. I'm largely self-taught, and I'm not a good teacher, or a particularly good pupil come to that."

4. What specific types of online or offline marketing tools are you using successfully?

"I'm not sure how successful it will be; it's early days yet but I've just started to advertise in the MBSI Journal. I've picked up a couple of jobs that way. I don't advertise anywhere else, and I don't use any online marketing tools."

5. Have you always envisioned yourselves doing what you are doing now? Has it always been a passion? What did you "want to be when you grew up?

"No I've not. When I was at school, I wanted to be a train driver. Musical box work has become a passion though; trying to get the best possible sound out of a musical box is part of what drives me."

JIm will continue to give us an inside peek of the music box repair and restoration world in part 2 of this article series.

I'd like to personally thank Jim for taking the time to share with us this valuable information about his business as well as letting us get a sneak peak into the world of music box repairs and restoration. Jim Weir can be reached at combwork@aol.com or by telephone/fax at 01144-1575-572647.

Copyright 2006 Monique Hawkins

Established in May of 2005, http://www.My-Music-Box.com is a music box gift store specializing in products such as inlaid ballerina music boxes for ballerina rooms décor, whimsical carousel music boxes, and musical jewelry boxes. The company provides interesting information for music lovers of all ages. Owner Monique Hawkins is also the author of the blog "What You Never Knew About Music" http://whatyouneverknewaboutmusic.blogspot.com, and owner of the eBay store "Monique's Music Box" at: http://stores.ebay.com/Moniques-Music-Box Monique can be contacted at (540) 858-2885.

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.