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About us

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We are a language company (some people use the term Language Services Provider). This means we transfer languages into other languages, in written and spoken form. We have a range of 60-plus global languages.
Our team of professional linguists is available in 2 ways to cover your working language needs.
One – from our UK-based office for work in the UK and into the English language.
Two – from our UK-based office, in liaison with our partner offices, for localisation work into languages of countries outside the UK.
Our 6 partner offices are based in Italy, Spain, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Egypt.

Choose us for our:

  • Rapid response and turnround
  • Fixed-fee law work
  • Good commercial pedigree and integrity
  • Over 30 years of experience in the same industry, which means you will benefit from the best possible language solution for your needs
  • Face-to-face work by linguists local to you in the UK (for interpreting and language traing) which avoids big additional travel charges
  • Personal contact with experienced project manager
  • Extensive network of around 5000 native-speaker linguists
  • Multiple projects running simultaneously and coordinated internationally, all through one office
  • Seasoned, qualified, loyal, native-speaker linguists
  • Work quality-checked across all services (output is compliant with and we are self-accredited to the quality standard ISO 9001:2015)
  • Complimentary, impartial advice given on any language needs

And we will …

… help you, your customers or people you work with gain an advantage. So they will trust you more to buy, want or safely use your product or service.

… help when you need important information transferring from one language to another – normally into or out of English, but it doesn’t have to involve English.

… help when you would like to learn a few words to engage with your foreign work colleagues, which includes how to understand and act better culturally. Or learn to participate in business meetings in another language.

… help when your work involves use of languages for other people, not yourself. Such as representing a witness or defendant in law ; working for a claimant in an insurance case ; operating in the housing or support sectors ; or training people.

And of course help when you need information to be put into your own language.

SEL office

What is SEL Business Languages Ltd?

Graeme McLeish BA JtHons MCIL AITI, our founding Director, has a dependable 30 years’ experience of delivering commercial language solutions. Split across 3 years as a freelance linguist, 20-plus years jointly running the commercial language company of The University of Salford, and over 10 years running the current language company. He has lived and worked in Germany and France as a translator and interpreter and has a Joint Honours degree in German and French, coupled with a dash of Italian.

Graeme is a practising translator, as well as a serving Member of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Linguists and British Chambers of Commerce. He is fully trained and experienced as a Quality Assurance Internal Auditor.

This skillset is transferred into the office-based procedures and quality checks applied across all our linguists’ work.

Blanka, his office-based personal assistant for over 3 years, works in English, lives in the UK, previously ran a large company office in the Czech Republic for some 5 years and also helps out with occasional interpreting assignments and written translations in Czech and Slovak. Her role for us covers liaison with and recruitment of our linguists, ledger work and financial processing.

All the above experience of working with multi-lingual people in several countries ensures that we meet the language needs of our customers – right first time.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many languages do you do and which do you specialise in?

What sectors do you specialise in?

Compared to buying direct from a language freelance online, how do you add value?

What quality controls and checks do you apply?

Have you got any employment opportunities?