Masihlangane Communications cc

Our background

Khethiwe and Steve Marais founded Afrophone Translation Service in 1991 in response to a demand from the ANC, COSATU and a range of NGOs for a reliable and efficient translation service. In 1994 the ANC commissioned us to put together a team of fulltime translators in all the South African languages to translate campaign material for the first democratic elections. We managed to maintain a team of fulltime translators for 3 years, and did substantial volumes of work during this time for the then State Languages Services, including translation of the first draft of the Interim Constitution of South Africa into the 10 other official languages.

We traded as Communications & Organisational Development from 2000 to 2008, during which time we did a lot of translation work for GCIS, including translation and editing of the Vuk’uzenzele magazine and work on the Multilingual Government Gateway Portal. Since 2009 we have been trading as Masihlangane Communications cc, and we continue to do work for some of our surviving clients from the early days, including COSATU and the ANC.

Let translate something

Our Services

We provide professional language services including translation, interpreting, editing and proofreading, and have been doing so since 1991.

We specialise in the official languages of South Africa, namely: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, North Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. We also provide an English language proofreading and editing service, including re-writing and summarising of documents in accessible English for translation purposes.

Over the years we have built up a wide network of freelance language practitioners across many languages, including French, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian. We also collaborate with companies that specialise in design and layout of publications, and with a company that provides simultaneous interpreting equipment.

Masihlangane Communications is a Level 3 Contributor and has a 110% B-BBEE procurement recognition.

Translations

Interpreting

Ensuring quality and meeting deadlines

Our network of freelance translators and interpreters are all professional language practitioners with qualifications and many years of experience in the field.

Our translations are checked internally for accuracy, appropriateness and effectiveness, and we welcome and encourage feedback from our clients as there is always room for customising translations. We have the capacity to handle substantial volumes of translation work and to meet realistic deadlines.

We also have the experience and ability to organise interpreters for most languages and language combinations and occasions. And we have a good working relationship with a company that specialises in providing simultaneous interpreting equipment and sound systems for conferences and meetings.