Simultaneous Translation for the Beverage Sector

The beverage sector and the need for interpretation

The beverage sector brings together breweries, distilleries, soft drink and juice makers, cachaça producers and brand licensing companies. Many belong to global groups or depend on foreign suppliers, so meetings in more than one language are part of the routine: acquisitions, technical visits, distribution negotiations and team training.

Each subsector has its own vocabulary. Beer talks about hops, malt, bitterness and styles; spirits talk about alcohol content, ageing and blends; soft drinks and RTD talk about syrups, Brix and packaging; artisanal cachaça talks about geographical indication and export certification. A generalist interpreter stumbles on these terms, and that is why lingo prepares the glossary for each event before the first day.

M&A and due diligence of breweries and distilleries

Acquisitions of breweries and distilleries involve the CFO, the M&A adviser, the auditor and the legal team on one side, and the buyer on the other. Due diligence examines production capacity, malt and hop supply contracts, ownership of brands, recipe licence agreements and distribution. When the parties speak different languages, simultaneous interpretation prevents the meeting from dragging on for lack of understanding.

These operations are confidential. lingo signs an NDA with a validity of 5 years before receiving any document, and Alex Barros does not accept competing mandates on the same deal. The simultaneous interpretation for due diligence page explains how the service works in this type of operation.

Technical brewing meetings with European suppliers

The head brewer and the production engineer meet with hop and malt suppliers from Germany and the Czech Republic to discuss specifications, batches and processes. The conversations cover hop varieties, bitterness, malt colour, fermentation and quality control. A wrong term can lead to an order for a different raw material from the one intended.

When the meeting includes a plant visit, the group walks through the brewhouse, fermentation, filling and warehouse. Portable equipment with individual receivers lets the group follow the interpretation along the route, even in noisy areas, with the interpreter's microphone close to the speaker.

Brand licensing and international distribution

Licensing an international brand brings together the marketing director, the legal team and the foreign licensor. Discussions cover territory, exclusivity, royalties, quality standards and brand control. In international distribution, the sales director meets importers and brokers to define prices, volumes and payment terms. In both cases, the contractual vocabulary must be precise.

lingo supports in-person and remote meetings, and the briefing includes the model contract, the list of commercial terms and the list of participants. For cachaça exports, the meeting with MAPA and the importer requires vocabulary on certification and geographical indication.

Training sommeliers, bartenders and sales teams

Global spirits and beer brands bring brand ambassadors to train sales teams, sommeliers and bartenders. The session includes tasting, brand history, production process and serving techniques. The pace is more informal, with frequent questions, and the interpreter has to follow sensory descriptions, which are hard to translate without preparation.

For training sessions, lingo recommends portable equipment, which does without the booth and lets participants move between tasting stations. See also the simultaneous interpretation for corporate training page.

Expanded beverage sector glossary

• Brassagem (mashing) — mixing malt with hot water to extract sugars.
• Envase (filling) — the stage in which the beverage is put into its packaging.
• Blend — a mix of batches to keep the flavour standard.
• Armazenamento em barril (barrel ageing) — maturation of spirits in wood.

The interpreter also consults the glossary of simultaneous interpretation equipment terms when the event involves technical matters of the service itself.

How to hire interpretation for the beverage sector

To request a proposal, state the date, city, venue, languages, number of participants and format of the event, plus the material available. The quote amount is the final invoice amount, and the page on how much simultaneous interpretation costs in SP explains what influences the price. lingo has worked for 21 years at corporate events in São Paulo.

For events in the food and beverage sector in general, there is also the simultaneous interpretation for food and beverage page, and the citrus and juice page for the orange juice industry.

Human and AI interpretation in the beverage sector

M&A, licensing and distribution meetings call for the human pair, with prepared vocabulary and NDA. Sales team training, launch presentations and lower-risk internal meetings can use in-person AI interpretation or remote AI interpretation. The choice depends on the value at stake and the sensitivity of the information. To compare costs and risks, see the simultaneous interpretation ROI page for SP.

Visits to plants and breweries

Visits to beverage plants combine a presentation in a room and a walk through the plant. In the room, the soundproofed booth ensures comfort for those who interpret and those who listen. On the route, the group uses individual receivers and the interpreter follows with a portable transmitter. lingo defines with the client the route of the visit, the stopping points and the areas where noise is highest.

In production areas, safety comes first. The organizer reports the access rules, the use of protective equipment and the restricted zones. lingo adapts the operation to these rules and confirms the plan before the day of the visit.

Fairs, tasting events and remote meetings

Sector fairs concentrate short meetings between exhibitors, importers and distributors. Portable equipment makes it possible to interpret these conversations at stands, and the team prepares the catalog, price list and product glossary before the event. At launches and tastings for clients, interpretation in a booth ensures that the brand ambassador's speech reaches the audience listening in another language with the same energy.

After the event, negotiations continue by videoconference. Remote simultaneous interpretation lets the foreign importer and the Brazilian team discuss price, volume and shipment without waiting for emails to be exchanged. The operation has spare receivers and a redundant transmitter at in-person events, and the platform is tested before the start for remote ones.

Cachaça exports and geographical indication

Pot-still cachaça reaches foreign markets with requirements on certification, labelling and origin. Export meetings bring together the export manager, MAPA and the importer, and cover documentation, identity standards and geographical indication. The interpreter has to distinguish terms such as artisanal cachaça, pot-still cachaça and aguardente, because each has its own meaning in regulations and contracts.

Soft drinks, RTD and industrial juices

Soft drinks, ready-to-drink beverages and industrial juices work with scale, packaging and cold chain. Meetings cover syrups, concentrates, sugar content in Brix, filling lines and distribution logistics. For the orange juice industry, the citrus and juice page details the operation, and the food and beverage page covers the sector more broadly.

In meetings with packaging and filling equipment suppliers, the vocabulary mixes engineering and logistics. lingo receives the specifications in advance and builds the glossary, and the interpreter prepares for acronyms and units of measure that vary between countries.