On 10 February, Melanie Smith joined 20 delegates from companies across the North West at the UK Trade & Investment’s Language and Culture Masterclass in Manchester. The event sought to identify the measures that companies need to take to allow them to communicate successfully with businesses abroad and we were – unsurprisingly – delighted to discover that translation featured highly on the agenda. International communications are an integral part of an export communications strategy, and course facilitator Sara Knowles was keen to stress that culture and language are often considered to be among the main barriers to export success in foreign markets. While we were not exactly the main target audience of the event, since we are effectively the ‘middle men’ in the exporting process, the event still allowed us to gauge not only what prospective exporters are looking for, but also how best to communicate with new markets. Ever enthusiastic on the social media front, Melanie quickly took to Twitter to keep our followers in the loop with the excellent tips, tricks and advice presented by the UKTI, which certainly generated a great deal of interest. Leaving with a whole host of new contacts and inspiration to join the UKTI’s list of recommended suppliers, we can certainly consider the event a success and we look forward to what the future holds.