Tag: translators

Celebrating Translation Day: What Translation Means

Posted on by drawingboarddesign in Field, Translation Day

Did you know that September 30, 2018 is International Translation Day? Translation Day started in 1953 and was set on the Catholic feast day of St. Jerome – the original biblical translator! In 1991, the day was made officially global by FIT (the International Federation of Translators) and it wasn’t until May 24, 2017 that the United Nations officially passed a resolution recognizing the day as proposed by eleven different member nations: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Paraguay, Qatar, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Vietnam! A true cause to celebrate for translators all over the globe!

As a member of FIT and a professional organization devoted to certifying translators and interpreters in the province of Alberta, we are spending the day reflecting on the profession and what it means to all of us. Share your thoughts with us too!

Translation connects people. The first thing people think of when it comes to translation is that it connects people who do not read and write in the same language, and it facilitates the sharing of ideas and stories that would otherwise not be shared across the world. Translation gets to the heart of our humanity. As language-immersed beings, we interpret our world through the languages we speak and the words we label things with. Translation gives us some access to those ways of being in the world and gives host to a cache of narratives and histories we otherwise would fail to be enriched by.

Translation thrives on diversity. Similar to the connection piece, translation, by definition, thrives on the unwavering diversity that is humankind. Without this exceptional celebration of difference, translation would be a moot point. When we seek to translate, we accept people and their cultures as they are and we are striving to know more about them on their terms and in their terms – literally!

Translation facilitates justice. There is no justice if the person who requires access to it is inhibited due to language barriers. Translation allows for full access to due process because it allows individuals to tell the stories that have so deeply affected their lives. It allows them to hear and be heard.

Translation builds community. If you can communicate with people, you can join forces with them. Translation allows for the building of community by creating sharing experiences. It is this experiential aspect that brings people together.

Translation sparks innovation. All the way through human history, the translation of texts and information have allowed human beings to combine and innovate to create new knowledge, information and technology. As an example, without translation into Arabic, the great Greek philosophies might be lost to history.

Translation saves lives. Not only does translation give people access to adequate medical care in certain circumstances which can save their life, there are a multitude of other ways that translation can save lives. It could be in the sharing of medical research information about life-saving vaccines or pharmaceuticals; it could be in the sharing of agricultural information that will allow for the better growing of food with which to feed people; it could be the sharing of information related to a particular regional conflict that might have consequences for building peace.

Ultimately, with hundreds of global languages and billions of people, it is inevitable that we will need to communicate and the only way to facilitate this is the hard work of translators like our members every single day. Happy Translation Day everyone!

 

Practicing Customer Service as a Freelancer: Nine tips for translators and interpreters

Posted on by drawingboarddesign in Industry Tips

Providing customer service based on communication, responsiveness and integrity is essential to a successful freelance career. When seeking new clients, customer service is what sets one certified expert apart from another. It is also what keeps clients returning. But what does good customer service actually look like for a translator or interpreter? We have nine tips for stepping up your customer service game from first contact with a client to end of contract:

  • Invest in a good website. Most clients will seek you out online. Make sure that your online presence is easy to navigate and clearly provides all the information that a potential client will need to understand your services and recognize your value. Make it easy for them to contact you.
  • Practice good email and phone etiquette. Customer service for freelancers is all about building relationships, so be friendly, positive and professional. Use salutations in your emails. Smile on the phone and say thank you.
  • Listen to your clients. The goal of good customer service is a satisfied client – or better yet, a client who has been truly wowed. To satisfy a client you must understand what they want and deliver the product or service. To wow a client you must understand their values and priorities and be able to deliver an experience beyond their expectations.
  • Use your expertise, with tact. The customer is always right, except that they have come to you as an expert. You have the experience and knowledge to avoid potential issues in a project, so don’t be afraid to share your expert perspective on a course of action.
  • Set clear expectations from the start. Good customer service requires flexibility, but professionalism includes setting limits that reflect the value of your time and expertise. Agree upon clear and realistic deliverables and deadlines from the outset of a project. Include limitations such as how many revisions you will provide before incurring additional charges.
  • You and the client are a team. Even with the best laid agreement, clients will occasionally make unexpected requests and projects will hit setbacks. Remember that the client and you are on the same team and respond with flexibility and a collaborative attitude.
  • Focus on solutions, not blame. When problems arise or you receive critical feedback from a client, focus on generating solutions rather than assigning (or dodging) blame.
  • Be able to apologize. Owning up to your mistakes with humility demonstrates integrity.
  • Follow up. After completing a contract, follow up with the client to thank them for their business and ensure they are satisfied.

Success as a freelance professional depends on good client relationships and a positive reputation. This is especially the case in professions such as translation and interpretation, where the freelancer is involved in something as intimate and nuanced as communicating on behalf of a client. Consistent customer service practices demonstrate professionalism, dedication and integrity, all of which are qualities that will bring both new and repeat clients.

Common Misconceptions about Interpretation

Posted on by drawingboarddesign in Uncategorized

Becoming a community interpreter is one of the most accessible ways to get into the industry and start your professional career as an interpreter. Many professionals in specialized fields such as court or medical interpreting started out in community and even continue to do community interpreting as well! That being said, it doesn’t mean that just because someone is multilingual or bilingual they can start interpreting for community organizations or groups and be successful. And it certainly does not mean they will have the skills required for work in hospitals or courts either! In this article, we will explore some of the common misconceptions about Interpretation, among new interpreters and clients alike!

Myth: Bilingualism means you can interpret well. While having a second language is obviously an essential aspect of being an interpreter as you will be conveying the meaning of verbal words and body cues from one language to another (either consecutively or simultaneously), it doesn’t follow that that is the only requirement for you to interpret well. In fact, fluency in both your mother tongue and the target language beyond the conversational level are absolutely essential as are the knowledge, vocabulary required and cultural understandings necessary to accurately convey someone’s communications. The relay of information across languages and cultures is a mastered skill that takes time, training, expertise and experience. It also requires that interpreters continuously improve their knowledge with regards to new words, colloquialisms (especially regionally) and update their necessary technology.

Myth: The interpreter can answer questions for you or the person you are communicating with. While the interpreter is never necessarily neutral (as some people claim!), that doesn’t mean that they are participating in a direct way in the conversation. The interpreter is responsible for providing understanding and facilitating conversation between two or more people – not for participating in that conversation by interjecting contributions or answering questions.

Myth: Simultaneous interpretation is always possible. While in most cases, this is possible because of the simplicity and redundancy of human language, it should be noted that in some circumstances (especially where a lot of various and complex technical jargon is used over a long period of time) simultaneity could simply be unrealistic.

Myth: Translators can just do the same job as interpreters, right? While tangentially related in terms of languages and conveying messages, please note that translation and interpretation are completely different fields with different areas of training

Myth: It is safe for any bilingual person to interpret in medical and court settings. The answer to this is simply no. In any setting, you should be using the services of a qualified language professional but in the settings of a medical environment or emergency, or a court room, it is often someone’s health, liberty or life at stake. Incorrect interpretations can send ambulances to the wrong address or offer the incorrect medical dosages. They affect someone’s defense or legal case. It is essential to realize how high the stakes are and don’t take unnecessary risks with your life or the lives of others.

Myth: Telephone or video interpreters are just as good as in-person. Don’t let fancy advertising and clever marketing fool you. There is no adequate replacement for in-person interpretation. So much of language is non-verbal, contextual and relies heavily on the interpreter being in the room so as not to miss any of these incredibly important subtle or gestural conveyors of information.

Myth: Any interpreter will do for any setting. Interpreters should be chosen based on their areas of specialization, expertise and experience – particularly when it comes to specific industries. Of course, most people think of medical or legal jargon which it is important to have knowledge of, but some interpreters are also working in special industries such as natural resources, engineering, and the like which may require a technical vocabulary as well.

Getting it Right or Lost in Translation?

Posted on by drawingboarddesign in Uncategorized

Emmanuel Macron—France’s handsome and charismatic President—made the news worldwide a little while ago for no other reason than his closing remarks at a recent speech in Sydney Australia.  President Macron exact words, directed to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, were:  “I wanted to thank you for, and your delicious wife, for your warm welcome and a perfect organization of this trip, thank you so much.”  We know President Macron is fond of older women—his wife is twenty-five years older than him—however; I am certain this remark got lost in translation. What he probably meant was “delightful.” Luckily, PM Turnbull took it with a sense of humor and laughed it off.

Treading in the unknown territory of a new language, where would you be?  Would you be getting it right or would you be lost in translation?  There are many applications and gadgets nowadays that allow for a quick and cheap translation and promise to save you money and time.  While they might be useful for travelers to translate words quickly from a menu, these gadgets will not be helpful in a business situation.  These gadgets merely translate word by word—even when they claim to be intuitive.  In fact, professional translators will not use translation devices since its more cumbersome trying to decipher the resulting “translation” than doing it from scratch.  When doing a translation, many factors come into play that only the human brain can analyze such as complete ease and knowledge of the source language as well as the target language, understanding the culture and idiosyncrasies of the people who speak these languages and communicating the message without room for misunderstandings.

Friends of mine traveling in Taiwan took a picture of a plaque in Chiayi City high-speed rail station promoting the National Museum in Taipei.  The English translation did not flow well, but this section was the most interesting:  “In appearance, there seems to be a lack of closeness between cultures and arts in Taiwan and those in Asia.  However, judging from Taiwan’s history of intercourse with other members in Asia, actually, Taiwan has been quite intimately connected to other cultures and arts in Asia.”   It appears that the word lost in translation was “interaction.”

Such examples are not the only culprit: common and innocent words have different meanings in all languages.  “I’m so excited, I just bought a new car!” means something else in Spanish since the word “excited” means “aroused.”; translated literally from English into Spanish it would be:  ”I’m so aroused, I just bought a new car!”  Your excitement over the new car would raise a few eyebrows and cause a lot of laughs among the Spanish-speaking folks.

It’s not a big deal to make mistakes and cause a few laughs—it happens; however, when it comes to business, you don’t want colleagues and potential clients laughing at you!  You need to get it right since your investments and reputation, among many other things, are at stake! Poor translations are not just embarrassing, they cause costly mistakes for businesses; misinterpretations have also caused severe problems throughout history with repercussions for centuries thereafter—from wars to religious connotations.  Translations need to be professional and render a faithful adaptation to avoid confusion. For such translations, you will require the services of a Professional Translator.

Professional Translators work hard to develop their skills and have a complete understanding of the language and culture.  They will not only translate the written word, but they will also relay style and tone, and convert equivalent concepts.  Translators consider cultural references, including slang which does not translate literally.  Translations go through several revisions before becoming final ensuring the best outcome.  Next time get it right, hire a Professional Translator and avoid being lost in translation!

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Paulina Ponsford was born in Chile and has lived most of her adult life in Canada.  She worked as an Accountant for thirty years in the Oil and Gas industry in Calgary.  At the same time, she always wanted to connect with people at a different level and for this reason, she became a volunteer Fitness Instructor and later on a Certified Facilitator in the area of human interaction.  Paulina is now preparing to become a Translator and Interpreter in the languages of English and Spanish.  Paulina also loves to travel and embraces what different cultures have to offer.  She is also an avid reader and some of her favorite authors are Paulo Coelho, Khaled Hosseini, Mark Mustian, and Isabel Allende.  If you would like to know more about Paulina, check out her blog at www.paulinaponsford.com where she shares some of her thoughts, insights, and experiences. 

Essential Tips for Writing Your Translation CV

Posted on by drawingboarddesign in Uncategorized

Translation agencies and organizations looking to hire in-house translators tend to receive a high volume of applications, even on a weekly basis. It becomes increasingly important then to ensure that your CV stands out in all the right ways. But what does this mean? Below, we explore the “dos and don’ts” of translation CVs.

Do:

  • Highlight your assets in education and experiences. It is not unusual to put the most relevant education and work in bold to draw the hiring officer’s eye to that first and foremost.
  • Tell them a bit about yourself. The most important part of your CV is you and you are what will make it stand out from the rest! Take the time to write a short description of yourself that includes your motivations, skills and language combinations.
  • List your relevant work experiences from the most recent to the oldest examples
  • Include your published materials, being clear to highlight any books or peer-reviewed articles, research work and translations. If you can include links to each item, this will help your case in terms of ready accessibility for the hiring officer
  • Include your professional associations, including your level of certification with ATIA
  • List your relevant education experiences from the most recent to the oldest examples.
  • Include any relevant awards, scholarships, bursaries or other recognitions you have received.
  • Be specific about your language skills including listing your specialized translation fields (such as medical, court etc), as well as the language combinations you hold and your level in each combination.
  • Include information about your computer skills including (but not limited to): knowledge of the Microsoft Office Suite or its equivalences (Mac OS, Google, etc); CAT tools or other management systems you may use; and any web skills you have.
  • Include a few other small details that help you stand out. These can be some of your interests, as well as other assets you have such as a driver’s license, if relevant.

Don’t:

  • Exceed 2 pages. One page is preferable.
  • Mess with formatting. Avoid strange fonts or making things difficult to read. Do not use colours or decorative elements to stand out – this just makes your CV look like it is not polished.
  • Include a photo of yourself. This will get you sent directly to the “toss” pile, no matter how perfect you are for the posting. It makes employers uncomfortable to see a picture of you which could influence how you and your application are received.
  • Include every job you have ever had in your “work experience” section. It isn’t relevant that you were a barista 8 years ago and worse, it can make your CV looks muddled. The “translation” to the hiring officer is that you aren’t very focused on your translation career.
  • Don’t include your grades with your education experiences. It takes up space and is not necessary unless you graduated with honours or distinction.
  • Write a separate cover letter – not many officers the time to read these anymore, especially if they receive a stack of them every week. A short email with your basic personal introduction, and some highlights from your attached CV are enough.
  • Forget to attach the CV. Everyone makes this mistake at some point and some places are more forgiving than others but it is best if you don’t make this mistake.