Tag: translator

Five Ways that Translators are Actually Writers

Posted on by drawingboarddesign in Field, Translation

Translation is the act of taking written materials and converting it from one language into a target language. Any language can be translated into another, however, the degree of ease during which this happens can vary with the language chosen. A translator may work freelance, for a translation agency, or even in-house. Regardless of where at translator works, the act of translation is a creative process that is very much like writing. Some translators say that translating is similar to writing but is not the same, as the translators voice must not appear in the text. Others believe the process of translation has inherent creative processes that are similar or the same as the creative processes that occur during writing. Here are five ways in which they are very similar.

Translators are reading the written work for the first time, just as a writer does.

For some translators, the process of reading the book is one of discovery. The story has been written; however, the translator is discovering the written work for the first time. Just as “the writer hadn’t read the book before he wrote it.”, the translator is also discovering the book or written work for the first time, in a way that is separate from the reader. A reader is discovering the work but making no alterations to it.

The authorial voice of the book may shift from the writer’s to the translator’s.

During the process of translation, the voice of the translator may show up, whether it is intended to or not. Many translators work hard to limit their voice from speaking through the words chosen, but their contributions to the new version of the story may stand out. Translators make important decisions on how to convey the story’s meaning through the new language, and in doing so, the story may partially take on the translator’s voice, which creates something a work of art that is even more dynamic.

Translation is a creative process.

Every act of translation is a creative process, just as writing the original is a creative art form. Considering the definition of creativity, translation, then, means something new is formed. Translators read the original piece and make important decisions on what is happening, what to keep within the written work, what can be sacrificed, and what kind of voice to put to the text based on the nuances and cultural elements of the new language.

Translation expresses meaning and beauty.

What makes writing an art form is that both meaning and beauty are expressed to the literary audience. Translators are also faced with the task of communicating the meaning as well as the beauty of expressions, in the same way a writer conveys meaning and beauty through their original words.

Translation adds something to the original.

Some say that a translated version of a written work is very different form the original.  Every word or phrase can be different from the original text, given the complexities of the translated language. This means there will be additions, deletions, but also certain elements may be emphasized, and in this way, the original is built upon.

Translation is a creative process that communicates, shifts, and builds upon the original written piece. Writing and translation together is a marriage of art forms – like a silent, fluid dance between the author and the translator that balances the complexities of two languages in a harmonious way.

How We can Use Feedback for Business Growth

Posted on by drawingboarddesign in Field, Industry Tips, Interpretation, Professionalism, Translation

Feedback has always been an effective form of communication used by humans. It has been defined as a response to a person’s behavior that influences whether that behavior will continue or stop. In other words, feedback is information given to us that tells us how we are doing – the good and the bad.

When we receive feedback, the results of that feedback help us to determine if what we are doing is actually helping us work towards a goal. Deliberate feedback is feedback that is used for a specific purpose has many important features.

First, feedback is descriptive in that it based on our observations of another. It is also emotionally revealing. Instead of describing behavior, it may describe the feedback sender’s emotional response. Feedback is also evaluative; it can judge our performance toward our goal. Similarly, feedback can also be used to guide someone toward achieving insight on a particular behavior – this makes it interpretive. Feedback is a necessary tool that is used for personal and professional growth in the translation and interpretation fields.

In sales, marketing, and fields that require gathering potential clients, communication is also highly important for success. More specifically, the importance of a salesperson listening for developing solid relationships that can lead to sales is often stressed. According to some leading researchers in the field of feedback, there are three components to listening in the process of gathering new clients for any business: sensing, evaluating and responding to communication.

Feedback plays a very important role throughout this process. Customers or clients of business people can judge if a we are actively sensing and will likely provide verbal or nonverbal feedback regarding their emotional standpoint here. We are then able to evaluate the incoming feedback. This feedback can be verbal, nonverbal, and can involve anything from the client’s communication skills to their personal style.

In turn, the client or customer will use feedback from the salesperson to determine if they are trustworthy. It is very beneficial for a business person to fine tune these listening skills in order to be deemed more trustworthy. This reciprocal feedback in a buyer/seller relationship will determine the likelihood of a sale being made or a client gained.

In the fields of interpretation and translation, gathering clients is important if you are working for yourself or your own business. As such, it is necessary for us to be both skilled at what we do in our fields AND skilled as business people, in order to gain new clients or new contracts. Using feedback in the process of marketing yourself is essential.

Feedback also helps us determine if the “product” we are producing or selling is in line with the client’s needs. Gathering the feedback of our clients, through sensing, evaluating, and responding can help us determine if we are on the right pathway towards the goal of producing a piece of written translation work or interpreting in the way that is required.

The feedback we give is equally as important, even in our personal relationships. Most of our communication is done through nonverbal language, and we can communicate a lot in this manner. Sometimes we give feedback to others that we don’t intent to give – through facial expressions, body posture, and our stance.

Being aware of our bodies and the feedback we give through them is important for communication, progress toward goals, gathering clients, having positive relationships, among many other things. Feedback is a bidirectional process that influences us personally, as well as directly contributes to our business of gathering clients for interpretation or translation needs.

What Happens in the Brain When We Interpret?

Posted on by drawingboarddesign in Interpretation

The human brain is a powerful control centre. It is responsible for everything from our ability to breathe to our ability to be empathic. It is responsible for all skills and abilities, and language is no exception.  Language is an exceptionally complicated, yet highly coordinated task. It is a cognitive skill that is both unique to humans and universal to all human cultures. Different brain structures are responsible for all parts of language production – including hearing spoken words, making sense of those words, producing a response, and executing that response.

So how does the brain do this?  Many researchers have asked themselves the same question, and some of them have attempted to find the answer. Most research uses fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) so that the areas of the brain that are working harder during different situations can be viewed. More specifically, some research has examined the brains of interpreters to better understand the skills involved in understanding and producing speech. Two well-studied areas that play a very significant role in language are two areas known as Wernicke’s and Broca’s.

Wernicke’s area, located in the temporal lobe of the left hemisphere, usually, plays a large role in understanding the incoming language information. It is here that the original language goes in and where you make sense of the meaning of the words and sentences. Whether translating or interpreting written or audible language, Wernicke’s area is responsible for transforming words into their meaning.  Not only is this area responsible for language comprehension, but it is where we plan the what we want to say back. For interpreters, an extra step is involved during which language is switched, and the speed of which this happens is extremely fast. If this area is damaged, speech is created without content or meaning.

The next large brain area involved in language is called Broca’s area. Although the research is less clear on the role of Broca‘s area,  it has been hypothesized that Broca’s area also is involved in language production and comprehension, including verbal working memory, syntax, grammar, and the motor movements responsible for speech. It is also associated with functions outside of language, including motor-related activities associated with hand movements, and sensorimotor learning and integration. Damage to the Broca’s area can disrupt language production, but nobody is quite sure exactly what specific language-related function is lost to cause that disruption. Thus, the Broca’s area plays a large part in interpretation.

To get more specific, researchers have looked at brain scans of interpreters in three different situations: listening to a sentence in one language, listening to and repeating a sentence in one language, and listening to a sentence in one of their languages and interpreting it into another of their languages. Broca’s area was lit up during all of these tasks. Interestingly, the caudate nucleus, an area of the brain responsible for learning and decision making, was the most engaged part of the brain during the latter task.  This makes sense, because the caudate nucleus uses information learned from previous experiences and to make future decisions, and so it coordinates different parts of the brain to do this. These researchers hypothesize that interpretation requires various regions of the brain, not only the language centres, to be coordinated during the difficult task of interpretation.  The caudate nucleus becomes more engaged during such a task because it has a huge role in facilitating this highly coordinated function.

In general, language is a multi-faceted cognitive skill that engages many areas of the brain, but most prominently Broca’s area and Wernicke’s areas. For those who work in interpretation, it has been found that many more areas of the brain are also engaged, because the ability to switch languages requires more coordination and abilities. This coordination is likely to be controlled by the caudate nucleus.  It is safe to say, however, that much more research is required to be able to answer exactly what happens in our brain when language is interpreted.

Creativity Boosting Ideas for Translators

Posted on by drawingboarddesign in Field, Industry Tips, Inspiration, Translation

?Translation isn’t always thought of as a creative process. Some view translation as a simple act of moving already created sentences and phrases from one language to another. Translation is actually much more complex. As a translator, you act as a gateway between two languages, as if you are standing along a border, balancing two worlds. It requires an understanding of the complexities involved in not only the original and translated languages, but also an intimate understanding of the two cultures.  Creativity is present, and even necessary, within the process of translation. 

Creativity, when defined as “seeing the intersection of seemingly unrelated topics and combining them into something new” (Brian Clark), nearly perfectly defines the life of a translator.  Another definition that perhaps fits even snugger proposes that creativity is “starting with nothing and ending up with something. Interpreting something you saw or experienced and processing it so it comes out different than how it went in” (Henry Rollins).  Both of these definitions fully ?capture the role and scope of translation. 

Creativity is sparked in many different areas of the brain. It requires heavy use of the prefrontal cortex, an area responsible for higher level thinking, logic, and cognitive flexibility. However, depending on the type of tasking and creativity you are engaging in will indicate which area will be used. For translators, Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas are more likely to be used in the creative process. Armed with knowledge on the neurobiology of creativity has given researchers and other professionals tools to cultivate it.   

 How to cultivate creativity? 

 1.      Increasing Curiosity 

Curiosity often leads to creativity. Like a developing child that has an innate drive to curiously explore his or her world and creatively provide input back to his or her environment, so too do adults have these needs.  By borrowing the wonder of a child, we can use your five senses to explore the world in curiosity, feel the need to creatively input into our world, and thus grow our creativity.  

 2.      Setting a creative mood 

You can alter your environment to boost creativity. What we take in through our senses can be soothing, energizing, and can change our moods.  It is worth experimenting with different sights, smells, textures, audio or music, and tastes to see what engages your brain into action. Remember, though, what works for one individual may not work for someone else, and this will require you to experiment with different environments, sensory tools, etc, in order to figure out what works for you.  

 3.      Titrating Creativity 

Going back and forth from the opposite forces of creativity and disengagement can lead to a boost in creative moments and decrease moments of stagnation. Further, a longer and more serious disengagement like sleep has been shown to boost our ability to find insight – that is, the sudden gain of knowledge or spark of idea, which are the offspring of creativity. 

 4.      Collaboration and Gathering Feedback 

Creativity can be sparked when we bounce ideas off one another, because sometimes we are too close to an issue or problem to be able to step back and find a new creative path.  Asking for help and advice from friends, peers, and people from your personal network that you trust and respect can provide valuable input to start the creative process. Every person has a unique skill set, experience, and knowledge. A fresh outside perspective can spark some new, creative thinking, particularly when ideas are stuck. 

 5.      Do Something Different, Do Something Fun, or Do Nothing at All 

Finally, when we are stuck and creativity is no longer flowing, it can help to change things up, step out of your professional role, or simply do nothing, Sometimes unplugging your mind rather than actively engaging it can give your mind the break and the rest that it needs. Sometimes the best ideas are born from spontaneous insights rather than active thinking processes.   

Creativity lives within interpretation. The transformative aspect of translation requires it. When creativity stagnates, there are research-supported ways to boost it. Not just for painters and authors of children’s books, creativity is found in all of us, and often in heavy doses in translators.  

Partners in translation: why you need a translation buddy¬ and how to find one

Posted on by drawingboarddesign in Field, Industry Tips, Inspiration, Interpretation, Translation

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Even though you might love flying solo, you need a flock of like-minded translators to support you through your journey. Forming strong professional bonds is an investment in your growth. Not only that, a safe space where you can be frank about your struggles and successes is beneficial for your mental health and can lead to a greater job satisfaction.

And every flock begins with one bird, one reliable translation buddy you entrust with sharing your path. Just like any successful partnership hinges on respect and shared values, a strong professional union is grounded in honesty and compatibility. While it’s easy to fall victim to the fiercely competitive job market dominated by the individual rather than the collective, a work confidante you respect, get along with, and can trust with work projects can accelerate your success and improve well-being.

Here’s why every translator needs a buddy, and how you can find one:

1. Because you will need a change at some point.

Your freelance translation business might be at its nascency, or you might be handling your full-time workload with ease. Chances are, your client base will keep expanding as you get established in your field. With economic volatility, unforeseen shifts in translation trends, and your ever-evolving values and priorities, a professional safety net can provide the much needed sense of security and internal peace. No matter where you see yourself in five years—at the helm of a global translation firm, supporting a few select clients, or exploring a completely new territory—you will need a trusted partner to help you navigate change.  

2. Two minds are better than one. Imagine if you could tackle many of your translation hurdles with a reliable partner. Or have a trusted buddy to offer advice and a fresh set of eyes to review your work. In a creative, often monotonous field such as translation, you almost can’t do without an outside perspective to get out of translator’s blocks.

4. Learning from others is just as valuable (if not more) as reading professional development books. Experience and failure, when shared with others, can offer just as much insight into the profession as workshops and textbooks. If you find someone you can open up to without any fears of being judged, they can help you overcome from any career impasses.

5. Do it for your social and mental well-being. Translation can be an isolating profession, especially if you work from home with little to no contact with the outside world. Even if you hold an office job, most likely you spend your days communicating with a computer rather than humans. Forming strong relationships with a work partner will enhance your feeling of connection and belonging.

6. You will learn to work in a team environment. Collaboration and team work are currently in high demand in the workplace. As translators, we are often surrounded by professionals who have a very vague idea of how we operate. In many cases, you might be the sole translator on a team. Working with a buddy might help brush up your team work and project management skills.

One of the best ways to form a trusting and lasting professional partnership is by investing your time and effort into finding your people. Many diverse people co-exist under the unifying umbrella of translation and interpreting—by attending as many professional development events, conferences, and workshops, you will increase your chances of finding a true translation buddy.