AM: American Red Cross Chapter Translates Its Web Site to Reach theG

PR Newswire US
December 7, 2004 Tuesday 02:00 PM GMT

American Red Cross Chapter Translates Its Web Site to Reach the
Growing Immigrant Communities it Serves

NEW YORK Dec. 7

NEW YORK, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Bowne Global Solutions
(BGS), the world’s leading provider of translation, localization and
interpretation services, recently volunteered its services to a
California chapter of the American Red Cross in order to help the
chapter improve its service to the local Korean, Spanish and Armenian
ethnic communities it serves. BGS translated mission-critical Web
site content related to disaster preparedness. This outreach effort
has received local media coverage and, since publishing the
translated content, the chapter has seen a 20% increase in the number
of visits to its site.

BGS translated the “Together We Prepare” portion of the
Glendale-Crescenta Valley Chapter’s web site, including directions on
how to prepare a home or workplace for disaster and where to go to
donate blood. For any business or governmental agency, translation
into the languages of the ethnic communities that surround it makes
good business sense. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the number
of immigrants in the United States will increase by more than one
third by the year 2025.

“We have to consider the multi-ethnic nature of America when serving
those in our community who depend on us,” said Irena Efremian,
Assistant Chapter Manager of the Glendale-Crescenta Valley chapter.
“Our community is rich in cultural diversity, but our Web site was
only reaching a limited sector of it because only those who speak
English could read it. We needed to ensure that each translation —
Armenian, Spanish and Korean — would have the same fluency and
literacy level as the English version. Because BGS is recognized as
the premiere provider of quality translation services, we contacted
them to translate our site. We are more than satisfied with the
result.”

“Because the site is now translated into the languages of the local
ethnic communities, the Glendale-Crescenta Valley chapter can help
these communities prepare for disaster,” said Larry Wade, Senior Vice
President of the Americas for BGS. “It can also reach more people who
are potential blood donors. More and more of our clients are seeking
growth by targeting ethnic groups in their domestic market. BGS is
uniquely positioned to support them. We have more than 2,000
in-country project managers, linguists, translators, publishers and
programmers, who cover more than 60 languages and dialects.”

About the American Red Cross

Governed by volunteers and supported by community donations, the
American Red Cross is a nationwide network of nearly 900 field units
dedicated to saving lives and helping people prevent, prepare for and
respond to emergencies. Led by 1 million volunteers and 36,000
employees, the Red Cross annually mobilizes relief to families
affected by more than 70,000 disasters, trains almost 12 million
people in lifesaving skills and keeps U.S. military families
connected worldwide. The Red Cross is the largest supplier of blood
and blood products to more than 3,000 hospitals across the nation and
also assists victims of international disasters and conflicts at
locations worldwide. Marsha J. Evans is the President and CEO of the
American Red Cross.

About Bowne Global Solutions

Bowne Global Solutions (BGS) is one of the world’s leading providers
of multilingual solutions for products and documents, marketing and
communications, regulatory compliance, training and e-learning, and
globalization strategy. With employees in 24 countries, BGS is
ideally positioned to help companies adapt their products and
communications to reflect the unique linguistic and cultural
characteristics of their target markets worldwide. Supported by
proven project management methods and innovative technologies,
including the Elcano(TM) translation portal, clients have come to
rely on the BGS team for all of their translation, localization,
technical writing and interpretation needs. For more information,
visit .

Bowne Global Solutions is a business unit of Bowne & Co., Inc.
(NYSE:BNE), a global leader in providing high-value solutions that
empower our clients’ communications. In addition to BGS, Bowne &
Co.’s diversified business units include Bowne Financial Print, the
world’s largest financial printer, and Bowne Enterprise Solutions, a
leading provider of digital printing and electronic delivery of
personalized communications. For more information visit
.

CONTACT: Norma Hopcraft of Bowne Global Solutions, +1-917-339-4833,
[email protected]

Web site:

SOURCE Bowne Global Solutions

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