Dos and Don’ts of Translation Project Management

Posted On January 31, 2013By TranspanishIn Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators/  No Comments

For freelance translators, project management can end up being one of the more time-consuming roles that they fill. It is a multi-faceted set of responsibilities, and mastering it is essential to making sure everything runs like a well-oiled machine. It covers everything from managing time schedules and deadlines, to setting rates and communicating expectations. It means covering your bases up front to avoid potential miscommunications later on, but also being prepared to deal with situations that don’t go according to plan.

  • Always plan. Planning involves several aspects, including working within deadlines. As a project manager, you are responsible for assigning projects and making sure that deadlines are realistic given the availability of the translators and proofreaders that you work with.
  • Get to know your workers. Understanding the abilities and shortcomings of the people that work under you can help avoid surprises along the way. If you know, for example, that a particular translator takes longer to do a particular type of job, first make sure that the agreed deadline takes that into account, or that you have someone else on hand to do it. And this leads us to the next point.
  • Avoid putting people in the wrong roles. For example, don’t assign a medical translation to someone who specializes in legal translations. Not only would it likely take longer to get the job done, but the end product may not be up to standards.
  • Form the right teams. This is an extension of knowing the people that you work with, but we’ll expand on it here because managing people is always one of the most difficult, and important things that a manager must do. If you know that certain translator doesn’t get along with a proofreader, don’t put them to work together. Get to know their skills as well as their personalities to make the most effective team combinations.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Very few translators are experts in every field, even project managers. At some point or another, everyone could use a little help or advice. And even the best project manager can meet their downfall by failing to ask for help when it’s needed. Instead of taking that risk, seek collaboration among the people that you work with. Not only is the communication good for everyone on the team, but it also reminds them — and you — that you hired them for a reason.
  • And the final point is that if you ever see a battle brewing between the members of your team, don’t take sides. Neutrality is an important quality in a manager and once lost, you may never get it back. On the other hand, don’t avoid problems or try to ignore them. Dealing with issues head-on, in a neutral, problem-solving way, can keep them from cropping up again in the future.

If you’re currently working under a project manager, or if you are one yourself, consider the effectiveness of those efforts in relation to the points listed above. A small change could make a big difference.

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Cocoliche and the origins of a regional dialect

Posted On January 30, 2013By TranspanishIn Did you know?, Languages, Lunfardo, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/ 1 No Comments

Regional differences in the way Spanish is spoken can usually be attributed to either the influence of native languages that exist in a particular area or the languages brought by immigrants that blend with Spanish to create a unique regional dialect. The Spanish spoken in Buenos Aires, as we have discussed in our series on Lunfardo words, is no exception.

Another example of a language influence is Cocoliche, which takes its name from Antonio Cuculicchio, a theater worker in the Podestá theater company established in Argentina and Uruguay towards the end of the nineteenth century. An Italian immigrant, Cuculicchio’s accent was apparently often mocked by others, giving rise to the comical caricature of a figure called “Cocolicchio”, representing a southern Italian.

Cocoliche is a hybrid language that arose from the meeting of Spanish in Argentina and Italian brought to that country by immigrants around the turn of the twentieth century. The result was a pidgin — an oral form of communication that blended elements of two languages to foster communication between diverse groups of people, in some cases simplifying the grammar and lexicon of each language.

Over time, as the Italian immigrants in Argentina spread out geographically and blended more into their new culture, Cocoliche began to disappear. Yet as it became more and more rare to hear the language spoken, per se, its remnants were left — and still remain — in the form of surviving words and turns of accent. Indeed, Cocoliche is the origin of some characteristics commonly associated with the Argentinian accent of Italian immigrants, such as the “ch” sound in “diche” (dice).

Italian family arriving in Buenos Aires

Some cocoliche words:

 

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A Call to “Erase” Racism from Spanish

Posted On January 28, 2013By TranspanishIn Did you know?, Languages, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

Uruguayan Musician Rubén Rada supports the campaign

A new campaign is picking up steam to eradicate instances of racism in the Spanish language. The contentious phrase, “trabajar como un negro” (“to work like a black person”), is unifying musicians, famous athletes, and officials in a call to Spain’s Real Academia Española (RAE) to eliminate the phrase for being discriminatory and outdated.

The RAE is a royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language including its lexicon, grammar, orthography and other linguistic aspects. The institution received an open letter signed by several figures which was then published and disseminated around the Spanish-speaking world by various media outlets.

The phrase has roots in the history of African slavery on the continent, and is sometimes compared to the expression “to slave away” in English. Proponents for its eradication from common speech argue that it recalls a time of discrimination, inequality and subjugation which Uruguay — and the Spanish-speaking world as a whole — would best leave in the past. They also argue that removing it from the Spanish language would help break the cycle of using pejorative language in reference to certain ethnic groups.

The petition can be viewed at http://www.borremoselracismodellenguaje.com/s.php. Those who would like to add their name to its list of supporters can also sign the petition at the same web address.

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Do Children Benefit From Language Mixing?

Posted On January 24, 2013By TranspanishIn Did you know?, Languages, Tips for Translators/  1 Comment

More information continues to come out about the challenges and benefits of young children learning two or more languages simultaneously. Studies in recent years have largely focused on how early bilingualism or multilingualism affects learning in other areas, as well as the effect on a child’s vocabulary both short-term as well as long-term.

 

A recent study in Canada looked at the specific issue of language mixing — borrowing words from one language while speaking in another, often resulting in individual sentences with two languages. Children who were raised bilingual from birth were found, as toddlers, to have slightly smaller vocabularies as a result of their parents engaging in language mixing while communicating with them or teaching them new words.

There were a few reasons for mixing languages thus which many parents cited, such as the nonexistence of an exact translation for a particular word, not remembering the equivalent of a word in the language they are using, or difficulty with pronunciation. It was also noted in the study that parents will often mix languages when teaching new words, so their child could learn the word in both languages at the same time.

Yet while the study pointed to resulting vocabularies that were smaller in the short term, the researchers noted that it is likely that a bilingual child’s vocabulary would expand at a faster rate later on. The short-term challenge of categorizing and distinguishing between two different languages when they were so mixed would eventually be counterbalanced by the learner’s increased ability to compensate for such challenges in reasoning and other cognitive skills. These skills include, for example, an increased ability to switch between strategies as well as the ability to learn two new rules at the same time.

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Understanding the Hispanic Labour Force

Posted On January 23, 2013By TranspanishIn Latinos, Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

As the largest ethnic minority group in the U.S., Hispanics constitute a significant and growing percentage of the workforce. Many of these workers are involved in the construction and landscaping industries, though they are present in just about every industry and region of the U.S. As such, it’s important that employers understand the complexity of cultural differences which they present in order to effectively manage their team of workers.

 

Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

To begin with, Hispanics immigrating to the U.S., even on a seasonal basis, are not a homogenous group. Coming from more than 20 different countries, they present distinct cultural habits and expectations. Some of them are educated and some are not; some speak English while others do not. A worker who comes from a rural area with little formal education and no knowledge of English, for example, may show exceptional creativity and problem-solving abilities. So the Hispanic labour force represents a heterogeneous group that a manager would do best to try to understand in order to effectively navigate.

However, it is natural that language plays a significant role in managing Hispanic workers, due to the primacy of communication. The idea that immigrants coming to the U.S. should learn English is not only limiting for business purposes, it is also limited in perspective in many cases. For example, it is sometimes the case that a Hispanic worker does not know how to read or write in their own language, making it a significant hurdle for them to learn a new language. But even those with formal education, many report that English is simply a very difficult language to learn. Managers who recognize these limitations are better prepared to accommodate them — providing safety manuals in Spanish, for example, or video tutorials with images, or illustrations to clarify company standards.

Accommodating language difficulties, as such, can go a long way in preventing injuries and even fatalities on the job, in addition to familiarizing Hispanic workers with safety precautions that may be nonexistent in their countries of origin.

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The Meaning of the Lunfardo Word ‘Gamba’

Posted On January 22, 2013By TranspanishIn 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.

 

What does gamba mean?

As with many Lunfardo words, the origin of ‘gamba’ is dubious at best. However, it does have a documented history which elucidates its presence in modern Argentinian parlance.

We can begin with it’s equivalent in Italian, also ‘gamba’, meaning leg. The Italian term fits with its usage in Argentinian Spanish in the common phrase “haceme la gamba” — referring to someone who is helping or has good intentions. Similarly, it’s verb form in Italian, ‘gambettare’, is along the lines of to avoid a conflict — as one who helps a situation may do. This usage often comes up in the context of football (American soccer). That is, a player who handles the ball in such a way that a member of the opposite team cannot steal it.

However, the word takes on an opposite meaning in its usage in the Spanish expression “meter la gamba”, similar to the expression “meter la pata”. Both of these expressions of course mean to screw something up, more or less — the polar opposite of helping a situation, and sometimes at odds with having good intentions. This last meaning perhaps stems from the latin usage of the term ‘camba’, as in leg, referring to that of cavalry.

Another, unrelated usage of the Lunfardo term is in reference to money: 100 pesos or other currency in use, to be exact. ‘Tres gambas’, for example, might be 300 pesos.

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Language Barrier Linked To Worse Diabetes Control

Posted On January 20, 2013By TranspanishIn Languages, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

The ability to receive effective health care and follow recommendations is contingent on open communication between doctor and patient. Barriers to communication not only hurt the doctor’s ability to understand what is ailing their patient, but they prevent patients from understanding treatment options and, often, how to implement them. Indeed, health-related problems are some of the most costly effects — both in terms of costs to society and personal costs — that come from language difficulties.

People involved with the healthcare industry have long been able to identify the problem. But what has been less clear are the scope of the problem and it’s immediate consequences. A recent study has shed some light on these questions, conducted by researchers at UCSF and the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. Their study analyzed the ability of Latinos with limited English skills to adequately manage and control their diabetes. The findings were surprising.

Among Latino patients with limited English abilities, those who saw doctors for their diabetes which did not speak Spanish were twice as likely to have little or no control over their blood sugar levels than those whose doctors spoke Spanish. In addition to highlighting the huge discrepancy in how these patients were able to handle their disease, the study was also able to draw a clear and direct connection between doctor-patient communication and the ability of patients — in this case, diabetes patients — to receive effective health care.

As the largest minority in the U.S., the Latino population has one of the highest rates of diabetes of any ethnic group. In addition, roughly 14 million adults in this group speak English less than “very well”. It should also be noted that as far as ailments go, diabetes is a very complex and relatively difficult-to-manage disease to begin with. Among these patients in particular, access to Spanish-speaking doctors and information translated to Spanish could have a tremendous effect on patient outcomes.

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Spanish Is Second Most Used Language On Twitter

Posted On January 18, 2013By TranspanishIn Did you know?, Languages, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

According to Spain’s Cervantes Institute, Spanish has officially become the world’s second most used language on Twitter after English. With the most speakers of any language globally, Chinese is in third place. And while China does have its own version of Twitter, Weibo, it is undeniable that Spanish is currently seeing a growing presence on the internet in general.

Transpanish

With more than 500 million Spanish speakers worldwide, and counting, the language currently occupies the place of third most used language online. And even with that, it is estimated that roughly 60% of Latin Americans still have not joined the web. In the non-digital world, the Cervantes Institute reports that the number of people learning Spanish globally is witnessing an 8% increase year on year.

Much of that growth is taking place in the U.S., which is estimated to have the largest Spanish-speaking population in the world within three or four generations, but it’s also happening in Asia. Indeed, the demand to learn Spanish in China currently far exceeds teacher availability — resulting in many applications to learn it being rejected. The Asia-Pacific region as a whole is seeing an increase in Spanish language instruction spurred by economic growth and close ties to another region making strong economic gains — Latin America.

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Integration: An Unstoppable Force

Posted On January 15, 2013By TranspanishIn Languages/  No Comments

Countries are rarely monolingual, and not only due to the effects of globalization on cross-border movement. Nearly every country of the world counts at least one, and often many native languages among those spoken within its borders. Nonetheless, each area maintains one dominant, modern-day language that is used for government, commerce, industry, education, etc. While populations speaking languages native to an area are often integrated in modern society, it is very rare that they cannot communicate in its dominant language.

Imagine living not only in a modern, but a highly urbanized and populous area, without knowing even the basics of the dominant language? It seems impossible, but that is the effect that globalization and cross-border movement are having on some countries, particularly in Europe.

integration

An article published by BBC News last month looks at the existence of migrant communities within Great Britain which get by solely with the languages from their countries of origin. The Romanian population, in particular, is a case in point as a community so large and enclosed that many of its members cannot speak or understand even basic English. And it’s not unique to European countries. The history of the US is filled with examples of communities — the Irish in New York, the Japanese in California, etc. — which came and settled among each other, resisting to some degree integration with society at large. And yet resistance to learning the dominant language — in this case, English — never lasted more than a generation or two.

According to the BBC, such is the case with migrant groups in the UK. While parents may never learn English, their children invariably pick up the language in school, and more recently in their use of technology. Regardless, as immigration shows no sign of slowing down, governments increasingly employ interpreters and commission translations of documents to accommodate these migrant communities. Some argue that this simply encourages them to not learn English.

And yet ultimately, it doesn’t really matter how many satellite TV channels are available, or whether the shop owner down the street doesn’t speak English either. Integration is a force that can’t really be completely stopped. It might be delayed for a few generations, but whatever forces cause the rejection of integration — fear, disinterest, lack of resources – it will eventually give way to curiosity of one’s surroundings and their proximity.

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Organizing Your Time As a Freelance Translator – Part 2

Posted On January 11, 2013By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators/  No Comments

Continuing with our last post which looks at ways to manage your time effectively as a freelance translator, we’re including some more tips to maximize your time efficiency. The following items are designed to help freelancers with task management.

Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Task management can be a tricky thing, and begins with organization. One thing that can either hurt or help is organization software. This is something that many people try out, only to end up back in the same place of too much to do and too little time to do it. Software tools such as Swift-To-Do List Professional, for example, offer a valuable service, but only if your workload justifies it. If emails from clients wondering when you will finish a project are what remind you that there is a project, then having a tool to organize your jobs with deadlines may be a good idea. Then again, if you’re able to mentally keep track of your assignments, or use some other method of documenting them, then using another software tool could just take up more of your time.

An often overlooked way to be a more efficient freelancer is to de-clutter — not only physically, but mentally as well. Mental de-cluttering requires a certain amount of compartmentalization; that is, separating relevant thoughts and activities from those that are not related to work, and saving the latter for another time and place. A clutter-free physical environment can also go a long way in minimizing distractions and helping you stay focused on the task at hand. So don’t forget to clean and organize your work space, too.

And finally, task management — even for a freelance translator — does not have to be a solo endeavor. Knowing when it’s time to seek collaboration can make all the difference in effectively managing a heavy workload or completely losing control of it. And since it’s not always easy to predict when a little help will be needed last-minute, staying in touch with other translators that you’ve worked with and keeping those professional contacts could end up being a wise decision for your business.

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