Language Professionals and Students: So Many Careers, So Little Time

Posted On December 27, 2012By TranspanishIn Languages, Tips for Translators/  No Comments

The claim that speaking one or more foreign languages increases your job marketability has almost become cliché in recent years. However, in an ever-globalizing world, it is truer than ever. For those who attain fluency in one or more languages beyond their native language, translation is an obvious option, with a variety of directions to go in. But there are several other careers either directly related to languages or tangentially related.

Any time someone achieves a deep understanding of any subject, there is always the option to become a teacher in that area. Depending on level of education, certifications and work experience, this could even be at the college or university level. Similarly, polyglots may often become theoretical or applied linguists and go on to publish industry-related research. These are also the folks that organizations tap into when a languages-related study needs to be developed and conducted.

Outside of academia, there is also an array of interpretation careers. When most people think of interpretation, they imagine the highly skilled interpreters that might work at the UN or some other multi-national organization. Achieving that level of professional success may be daunting for some, but there are certainly other directions to go in as an interpreter. Businessmen and women who travel for their work often find themselves in a country where they do not know the language, and require an interpreter to follow them around for a few days or weeks. This kind of work can be grueling in terms of work hours, but often pays higher rates because of it.

The tourism and hospitality industry is also a popular choice for those who study languages or grow up with fluency in more than one. Everything from hotels to cruise ships, restaurants and vineyards will often employ bilingual people, especially those with knowledge of English. Other less-obvious options that many don’t consider are museums and libraries. Regional departments in a museum, for instance, may require someone with extensive knowledge of the language from those regions, even ancient languages. Some jobs as a librarian, or information scientist, may also ask for knowledge of at least one additional language.

One area that many language students overlook is that of logistics and distribution. This is a thriving industry in many parts of the world, and due to the nature of international transport, often requires knowledge of different languages at the level of being able to communicate. Employees working in a ship harbor, for instance, may need to coordinate with their equivalents at the port of embarkation. Communicating with distributors in another country may also be required, as well as communicating with import and export agents or government representatives.

In sum, there is certainly a plethora of options to consider when researching language-related careers. Each carries its own set of requirements and non-language related training. But an in-depth knowledge of at least one foreign language will certainly open a variety of doors in the job marketplace.

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When you should turn down a translation project

Posted On December 21, 2012By TranspanishIn Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

Translator thinking

It may sound counterintuitive, or even just scary, but there comes a point in every freelancer’s career when they have to – or should – turn down a job. Far from being a bad thing, it is a necessary part of freelancing that will ultimately be better for your career and the clients that you work with. Here are some reasons why:

Not Enough Experience or Not Within Your Expertise

Though a project might sound promising and you might be tempted to gain a new client, you should not take projects that will be very difficult to complete. Consider, for instance, that you are an English to Spanish translator, always translating to your native language Spanish. You receive a Spanish to English project and are tempted to accept it, even though you know that you don´t have the right experience. Or maybe you receive a medical translation when your specialization is law. Once the excitement and sense of calm from getting new work wears off, you’ll be stuck trying to hurry through and complete a translation that takes too long because it is outside of your expertise.

Client Has a Tight Deadline

This might be a client that contacts you suddenly for a rush project, or who claims that every job is “urgent”, or who calls you on Thanksgiving day, or on Sunday afternoon, etc. There are plenty of these clients out there, and they should be avoided (unless you really enjoy being at someone’s beck and call and having no life or freedom, or unless they are willing to pay an extra charge.) You might have the patience to get through one or two jobs with this type of client, but beware when that patience runs out and you’re both stuck with a deteriorating situation.

Money Matters

All clients want to save money, it’s just a part of business. But freelancers should be wary of those who ask for big discounts. It could indicate that the client will not value your work, but it also has a negative impact on your business as a translator. Taking low-priced jobs means that you would need to accept more jobs. And that can make you more stressed about finishing projects quickly, and consequently lead to lower quality in the work that you do. Ultimately, charging a higher rate (not abusive, but a reasonable rate) is better for both the client and the translator.

In addition, projects with payment terms that are far from what is acceptable for you should be avoided. This point is particularly important because when working as a freelancer, you have to make sure that you are creating a cash flow that is sufficient to cover your living expenses. If a project does not include payment terms that would allow you to do that, it is best to pass on the project.

Research the Client for Red Flags

With so many online resources for checking up on a client’s profile or reputation, it just makes sense to do it. A good practice is to always search for a new client on Google and to also look them up on a site like the Better Business Bureau for US and Canada (http://www.bbb.org/). If you are working for a translation agency, a good place to see the agency reputation is http://www.proz.com/blueboard.

While you can’t necessarily believe everything you read online, if you Google a client and several sites with complaints about them come up, it’s a pretty good indication of what you can expect from working with them. The kinds of information you may find online include whether they pay on time, if they are easy to work with, and any specific issues that tend to come up in their business relationships.

Uninformed Clients That Are Not Willing to Learn

Beyond the deadline issue, some clients are just pushy and make unrealistic requests for projects. For instance, they ask 100,000 words translated in a couple of days, and aren’t willing to learn what translation is about (and why that request is not realistic.) A savvy translator will not spend too much energy on these clients. Rather than getting frustrated with uninformed expectations, you can explain politely why the project is unrealistic or tell them that it is not the way you work. If they wish to work with you, they can alter the request.

Follow Your Instinct

A final note is to watch out for clients that just seem too eager to hire you and pay you right away without getting basic information. There are new scams created every day, and experience in picking them out can protect you from falling prey. But even if you don’t have so much experience under your belt in dealing with clients as a freelancer, you can always fall back on your gut instinct. This also goes for projects that are not necessarily “scams” but that just don’t seem right for you, your schedule, or your expertise.

There are many reasons why a project might not be right for you, and it’s in your best interest to know what a “right” project looks like.

 

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The Risks of not Providing Safety Information in Workers’ Languages

Posted On December 19, 2012By TranspanishIn Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

It is no surprise that Hispanics entering the US with limited or no English abilities often end up working in factories across the country. With a limited capacity for communication in English comes a limited set of options for work. Yet factories can be some of the most dangerous places to work in any country, where the ability to read and understand warnings and cautionary signs can mean the difference between health or injury.

Safety and Spanish Translations

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This issue famously came up in mid-2011 in an incident at Tyson Foods, an international corporation with headquarters in Arkansas. The factory incident revolved around a poisonous gas leak that occurred when a worker failed to read the label on a container, pouring a chemical into it that, when mixed with the residue of the chemical previously held in the container, produced chlorine gas. The Center for Disease Control interviewed the worker after the accident, and reported that he said his primary language was Spanish and that he could not understand the label written in English.

While Tyson Foods contests that the argument of the worker in question—claiming instead that his primary language is English and that he simply failed to take note of the label—the case highlights the importance of warning and safety precautions in factories, and the ability of workers to properly understand them. It doesn’t necessarily make sense for companies that run factories and other sites with Hispanic workers to provide language training to all of their employees—in terms of the time and resource investment. So it would seem that providing translations of things such as container labels, warning and hazard signs, etc. would make the most sense.

Another issue that arose in the Tyson Foods case corresponded to the way employees are trained for these potentially dangerous jobs. While the company claims that hands-on training is already practiced in its factories, cases such as this one emphasize why this form of training in the employees’ native language(s) is preferable to video or reading-based training techniques, in which employees may only understand part of the information provided in English, or none at all.

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Branching Out: The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Work

Posted On December 14, 2012By TranspanishIn Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators/  No Comments

Translators work in a variety of contexts, whether independently as freelancers, with an agency, or as a manager and/or editor within their own agency. The career trajectory that some choose to pursue, after entering the industry under the wing of an agency, is to branch out on their own as a freelancer. Armed with the knowledge and experience they acquired at said agency, these guys are ready to conquer the world. But what happens when things are going too well, and they can’t handle all the work coming in?

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Many freelancers worry about building their client list so that they have enough work coming in on a consistent enough basis to pay the bills. But the other side of the coin is managing that work so that you’re not inundated and turning away clients who then look elsewhere. When the risk of turning away business arises, freelance translators may choose to find other freelancers and outsource the excess work. This can obviously be a positive development in their career and can mean growth for their fledgling business. But it can also carry some risks of its own.

The immediate benefit of outsourcing extra work is that a client list can continue to grow and create more consistency of work coming in. Translators may find that they have jobs on a more regular basis, as they can accept work without having to worry about high volume times, since they have a backup translator or two to help out. It can also allow them to be more choosy regarding the types of translations that they do—focusing on particular areas of interest, and doling out the others to the people they hire.

In these cases, specialization can take root not only with the independent translator, but also with the people that he or she hires to help out. However, it is important to remember that a certain amount of time may be required to sufficiently train the freelancers in their particular area. Whenever outsourcing occurs, the person who outsources the work and maintains client relations is ultimately responsible for the quality of submissions.

Indeed, translators who began their careers working for agencies may underestimate the amount of time required to train the freelancers that they outsource to. There may be a learning curve to consider when working with others to achieve consistency in translations, especially with highly technical terminology or in cases where the client has set expectations regarding how they want certain terms translated. This is important particularly if the outsourced work is for regular clients in order to free up more time for newer clients. Any time there is more than one translator working on documents from a particular client, consistency will be an issue that is front and center and that will require some time dedication, at least initially.

In the process of outsourcing extra work, some people will find that they have a talent not only in doing translations but in managing the work of others. And if that is the case, he or she might consider hiring translators who work with other language pairs. Of course it would be important to make sure qualified and reliable proofreaders are on hand to ensure consistency and accuracy with the other language pairs.

Ultimately, the option to outsource extra work can be highly rewarding for freelance translators who have a real talent for what they do. But they should also be aware that doing so makes them accountable to the work of other people, and will most certainly end up being more time-consuming with the addition of new tasks that must be managed.

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Did a bad translation put horns on Moses’ head?

Posted On December 13, 2012By TranspanishIn Did you know?, Languages, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

Many translators are familiar with the controversy surrounding the horned Moses and his sometimes-amiss translator. Although that translator, commonly known as Saint Jerome, concerned himself with biblical analysis, theological debate, history, correspondence and translation, he earned his place in history mainly through his translations and revisions of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

Jerome translated these texts from the original Hebrew into Latin, and was humble enough to admit ignorance when warranted and to revisit parts of his translations when it became apparent that he had made a mistake. Nonetheless, his Latin translation of the Bible was later recognized by the Council of Trent as the official version, and to this day he remains a widely respected and studied biblical translator.

The controversy in question concerns part of the text in Exodus 34. The original Hebrew version can be read idiomatically as stating that Moses had “rays of light” coming from his head when he descended from Mt. Sinai. However, the same word for ray of light also meant “horns” depending on the context. And in what some may consider a classic case of mistranslation, Jerome chose the latter meaning.

The result of his possible mistake was a horned Moses appearing in the official Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible. And as a lesson to students of translation and art alike, Michelangelo secured that image in our collective consciousness by basing his 1515 sculpture of Moses on Jerome’s translation—along with a list of other contemporary and subsequent artists.

More recently, scholars have attempted to justify this transgression by citing the metaphorical relevance of horns to “glorification, strength and authority”, in an attempt to align them with the meaning of light emanating from Moses’s face. Similarly, some artists such as José de Ribera in his 1638 interpretation, have tried to visually combine the light rays and horns to be essentially the same. Students of translation, however, will likely take from this a reminder to always look into the meaning behind the words and their historical context.

 

Michelangelo’s Moses with horns

 

José de Ribera’s Moses with rays of light

 

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Language Proficiency Testing Among Doctors and Hospital Staff

Posted On December 11, 2012By TranspanishIn Languages, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

An EU directive allowing doctors from member countries to work anywhere in the European Economic Area has come under fire recently. Following the case of a 70 year old British patient who was killed by an incompetent German doctor, critics of the directive have begun pushing for competency tests as well as language proficiency tests as essential measures to protect patients.

 

 

The attention has focused on doctors working in the UK without ever having undergone tests to prove that they know enough English to communicate effectively with their patients. Currently, such testing is prohibited under a directive issued from Brussels which considers such measures to be an impediment to the free movement of labor across EU-member country borders. The result, critics say, potentially puts patients at risk of encountering doctors without the basic English skills necessary to work in Britain.

While issues such as this are not new to the EU, which combines so many languages with borders open to travel and commerce, it highlights a concern that can be seen in any area where multiple languages come into frequent contact. If it is not the doctors, for example, who speak different languages, it may be the patients. And that raises the question: at what point is it necessary for hospitals to employ multilingual staff to meet the needs of their patients? Or, as in the case of the EU, at what point should staff be tested for proficiency in one language?

Certain areas of the United States have had their own contact with this issue, particularly in southern states with high and increasing Hispanic populations such as Florida, Texas and Arizona. In some areas, mostly close to the border with Mexico, street signs can be read in Spanish, and even the occasional advertisement in a movie theater will be in Spanish before a movie in English begins. The issue of Spanish-speaking doctors working in hospitals and clinics, of course, goes beyond the question of convenience or marketing to a particular group. As the example in Britain illustrates, the results can be fatal.

At what point, then, does proficiency in Spanish become “necessary” for doctors in the U.S.? How large does the Hispanic population need to get before requirements are put into place? These are questions which face a very complex political environment, particularly in border states. The answers may not come easily, but given the existing population of Spanish-speaking individuals, the discussion is certainly worth having.

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Translation: It’s History and Trends

Posted On December 10, 2012By TranspanishIn Did you know?, Languages, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

The term “translation” hails from the mid-fourteenth century with an etymological base in the Latin word translationem, a noun of action from the stem of transferre. It also shares roots with the word from Old French meaning “the rendering of a text from one language to another.” The verb form in English, translate, is from the Latin translatus, literally “carried over.” Interestingly, the word translate replaced an earlier word in Old English which carried a similar though not exact meaning, awendan, literally “to turn, direct.”

Beyond the etymology of the word, the act of translating texts has a long history that is intricately connected with human religious, artistic and scientific expression. From the Bible to the travels of Marco Polo along the silk road and beyond, the diffusion of knowledge and cultural heritage—and, indeed, cross-cultural interaction itself—owes a great debt to history’s translators. As many would expect, the bible still holds the title of the most-translated book. But according to the Guinness Book of World Records, another book holds the title of most-translated for a living author—O Alquimista, or The Alchemist, by the Brazilian Paulo Coelho.

The First Translation of the Bible Into English – Ford Madox Brown (1847)

And if you’re interested to know what the most-translated languages are, UNESCO actually keeps a running tally in its Index Translationum. According to the index, the most-translated source language in the world (through 2011) is English, followed by a distant French. It lists German as the language most translated into, or target language, followed more closely this time by French.

You can also find a list of the most-translated authors within the index, with a few surprises. Despite being the author of the most-translated book by a living author, Coelho actually didn’t make the list of the top-50 translated authors. Coming in first on that list is Agatha Christie, followed by Jules Verne, William Shakespeare, Enid Blyton, and Vladimir Lenin filling out the top five spots. Indeed, the former USSR block makes a good showing on this list, with the region contributing a total of seven authors.

 

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The meaning of ‘Cana’

Posted On December 6, 2012By TranspanishIn Did you know?, Lunfardo, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

Argentine Spanish is strewn with words and colorful phrases from Lunfardo, a rich vocabulary born on the streets of Buenos Aires in the second half of the 19th century. Now considered a fixture of the Spanish language in Argentina (especially in and around Buenos Aires) and Uruguay, linguists cite the use of Lunfardo as a defining characteristic of the Rioplatense dialect. Add a dash of Argentine flavor to your Spanish vocabulary with the Transpanish blog’s ongoing feature highlighting some of the most frequently used terms in Lunfardo.

Of all the slang terms that languages use, it seems every language has plenty of words for police. One of these within the Spanish language is the Lunfardo word “cana”. Although it is decidedly a Lunfardo word that made its way into Argentinian Spanish, its etymology is still disputed.

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It has a long history, to be sure. The word “cana” actually appeared in the work of Cervantes to mean a police informer. But if it was not originally from the Spanish language, it may well have made its way to Spain from France, as some believe. The word has a striking resemblance to the French word “canne”, which means a reed or cane. This etymology would make sense in the context of its current usage, since police officers historically have carried batons which are very cane-like.

Of course the explanation may be more simple—the word could just be an abbreviation of the Spanish word for canary, “canario”, which has been used in Spain since the sixteenth century. Staying with that region as the word’s source, another option is Spain’s neighbor Portugal. Similar to the Portuguese word “encanado”, literally meaning prisoner in a cage made of reeds, the word could have made it’s way over to Latin America via Brazil.

There’s a more humorous usage relating to being a prisoner, with a possible etymological history in reference to someone who has had a setback of some kind, and who may consequently find himself languishing in jail. Or it could have been a reference to re-hired police officers who had already retired, whom thieves used to call “canosos” for their grey hair.

But however the word made its way into Argentinian Spanish, it has managed to become entrenched in the culture. With frequent appearances in the lyrics of tango songs, and common usage in the general population, the Lunfardo word cana is a well-understood synonym for policia.

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Aesthetics and Meaning: The Balancing Act of Literary Translation

Posted On December 5, 2012By TranspanishIn Languages, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

Words carry more than just their meaning. They also possess an aesthetic quality that can derive from their meaning, their sound when being pronounced, or even the appearance of the word if it contains symmetry. While these are purely subjective and personal preferences, translators can find themselves faced with the task of trying to decipher and properly transfer that aesthetic quality into another language. As if this alone wasn’t tricky enough, it must also be balanced with the accurate translation of meaning and sense.

 

 

Literary translations, by their very nature, offer plenty of opportunities for a translator to use his or her personal judgement when deciding how to translate a text. Indeed, if machine translators ever reach the level of accuracy that a human translator can possess, literary translations may be the final frontier where machines cannot compete. Only a true and complete understanding of techniques being used, such as implied references, understatement, irony, parallelism, rhyme and rhythm in all their manifestations, etc. can produce a correct translation of a particular literary text. The degree of subjectivity in literary texts, and the interpretation that it requires, means that a machine or less-than-apt translator could hardly do justice to the original when translating the meaning into another language. The degree of subjectivity in literary texts, and the interpretation that it requires, means that a machine or less-than-apt translator could hardly do justice to the original when translating the meaning into another language.

Yet when translating a work of poetry or prose, for example, the translator must be sure to remove his or her self and personal expression from their understanding of the text. They must interpret the work on the level intended by the author. It requires walking a thin line of interpretation without interference, with a balancing pole that carries stated meaning and accuracy on one end, implied sense and aesthetics on the other. When done correctly, translating literature of any kind is the ultimate balancing act.

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How Much Does a Translation Cost?

Posted On December 3, 2012By TranspanishIn Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

As the most common question that a person looking for a translation provider has, it sounds deceptively simple. How much a translation costs is the first and sometimes most important piece of information that a potential client wants to know. However, this can only be determined by a translation provider after taking into consideration a few different factors, which we’ll discuss here.

 

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Perhaps because it sounds like a simple request, clients will often call or send an email asking for a price quote with little or no information on what they need. In these cases, being able to look at the document—or a sample, at a minimum—will usually provide all that a translator needs in order to accurately gauge how much it will cost to complete.

If it is not possible to send the document in question or a sample, here are some things to consider:

Because of globalization, professional translation rates can vary widely, from $0.06 to even $0.25 per word or more. The languages involved affect the rate—as translations dealing with rarer languages will generally have higher rates than those of more widely-known languages. And the complexity of the text and subject affect the rate as well, which is why simply stating the source and target languages is not always enough to provide a rate quote.

The best way to get (or give) an idea of how much a translation will cost, is to evaluate the time required to deliver the translation in addition to the amount of words, the complexity of the subject matter, and of course the target and source languages as well. When counting the words, it is best to go by the number of words in the source text, so that the client has a clear idea of what his or her cost will be prior to submitting the work. The time required to complete the translation should also be taken into account, which the complexity of the text also affects, so that the client knows beforehand whether the translation can be completed by their deadline. And as mentioned above, the source and target languages will also affect the rate.

In addition to the number of words and the source and target languages, a client should also include information regarding the document format and their deadline. Providing this information up front can help a translation service provider answer that common question of how much something will cost in a more timely and accurate way so that everyone can get on with the business at hand.

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