City translation company Wolfestone had a surprise request this week, translating for a high profile meeting on the world stage.
The enquiry came from Sepp Blatter’s office in Switzerland, ahead of the visit to the Pope at the Vatican City.
Swansea has become known for its football worldwide since promotion to the Premier League, and now the city is also translating football texts on a worldwide stage.
FIFA bosses wanted to impress the Pope, and they one of the gifts they took to the Vatican was the FIFA magazine: translated into Latin. Pope Francis, a big football fan, was impressed by the gesture.
The company said:
“We were really honoured to be part of the visit to the Pope. We work with some of the biggest companies around the world, but translating something that was intended for the Pope is a bit different to our day to day work.”
As there are so few active Latin translators, so the company pulled out all the stops to ensure the magazine was ready on time for the visit. Wolfestone was the only language company on FIFA’s supplier list willing to take this on the project because of the short timescales.
Wolfestone has been trading for just over seven years, and after starting out in a bedroom now has around 30 employees and a multi-million pound turnover.
Director Roy Allkin was pleased:
“We work with several football clubs and working with FIFA is a great acknowledgment of our service and responsiveness. The Europa League final is in Italy this year, so maybe we can go and visit the Pope as well as cheering on the Swans.”
