Archive for the ‘Professional Translation’ Category

As we ring in the new year (Happy 2009!), I thought it fitting to provide the list of tips that the AIIC (Association Internationale des Interprètes de Conférence) for any of my readers who are embarking on a new career as an interpreter to coincide with the start of a new year. This is the foremost organization in the field and the tips are essential for anyone looking to make a strong start in their career. I should note that I am not a member of the organization, but I do often check on their site for interesting articles related to people with interests in multilingual issues. Many of the tips apply to all fields in translation, not just interpretation, so it’s a plus for all to click on the link and make sure they are getting the most out of their career.

http://www.aiic.net/ViewPage.cfm/article2305.htm

1.    Open MultiTerm. Then open the already created termbase.

2.    Open the Workbench. Go to OPTIONS, and then go to TERM RECOGNITION OPTIONS and select your version of MultiTerm.

3.    Click on EXAMINE and with a click on the + sign select the local termbase. Select the source and target languages.

4.    When you click ACCEPT, you Hill see the MultiTerm window in the Workbench (in the extreme right).

5.    Now you can work. When you open a document, the saved glossary terms Hill appear in this MultiTerm window. If you notice that nothing appears in the MultiTerm window during too many segments of the translation, it’s possible that the MultiTerm has been disconnected. Open MultiTerm again or the Workbench.

6.    In the tool bar of Trados you will see new buttons, those of MultiTerm.

7.    If you click the middle button of those that have red brackets above (get current term), the program will insert the term as if it were a segment.

These days it is impossible for a translator to do his or her job without using a computer. But let’s not forget that it wasn’t always like this…

A few decades ago, before there was such a thing as advanced technology, translators worked only with pen and paper. Research was a very difficult aspect, since it required a lot of effort to access texts from other parts of the world. In addition, those were different times, since the translations had to be written out by hand or, even better, on a typewriter. Finding out that some friend or acquaintance was traveling to another country was a big deal, since this gave the translator the perfect opportunity to get his or her hands on priceless material. Informational material handed out by certain foreign companies was also of great value.

Today this reality has changed. In certain ways we have become salves to technology. By this I only mean that a translator who does not have at least a fundamental understanding of software and other technological aspects of the job will not see as many opportunities. To work with a variety of clients, be it with companies or with translation agencies, we need to be well-versed in the finer workings of programs such as Acrobat, Excel, Word, Multiterm, Trados, among other. For this reason, it is highly important that we are certified in these tools. If we are already working with these software programs, we have to stay constantly up to speed on the latest features and changes. Unfortunately, a translator who fails to stay updated on technological issues will fall behind the rest.

I first came across this sign a few months ago, but I feel it’s important to complement justinb’s post to emphasize that ANYONE interested in translation, especially those looking to run an agency, really soak in what happened here. For those of us who have no knowledge of Welsh, we brush it off and turn left (provided that we are not a heavy goods vehicle). However, a Welsh-speaking truck driver with no knowledge of English is pretty much stuck. The sign in Welsh reads, “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.” At least that’s what they tell me.

As professional translators and people interested in someday running our own agency, this tells us a few things:

First, have more than one person who understands the target language look at what is being sent along, especially if it is being used for publication in a place where many, many people can see it.

Second, if a translator you normally work with sends you a translation with no additional comment, confirm that it is a translation and not an automatic message or something that they otherwise sent without thinking.

Third, if you’re generally working with one specific language pair (here, Welsh-English), make sure that your emails are correctly in both, in case someone is looking to contact you from either end.

Last, learn from your mistakes or those of others…mistakes like these can only be prevented by thorough attention to detail from every party involved.

There are dozens and dozens of errors like this out there…don’t have me add yours to the list later…

1.    Open MultiTerm. Go to TERMBASE > CREATE TERMBASE.

2.    Choose the folder in which you want to save the database and click ACCEPT.

3.    The Termbase Wizard will open. Click NEXT.

4.    Select the option LOAD AN EXISTING TERMBASE DEFINTION FILE. Click BROWSE… to search for the .xdt file in your system. Once you’ve found and selected the file, click NEXT.

5.    Write the name and, if you wish, the description of the termbase. Click NEXT.

6.    The languages of the termbase are already preconfigured in the .xdt file. Therefore, don’t do anything and directly click NEXT.

7.    The descriptive fields of the termbase are already preconfigured in the .xdt file. Therefore, don’t do anything and directly click NEXT.

8.    In this step the entry structure is configured, but it isn’t necessary to do anything. Directly click NEXT.

9.    Wizard has finished. Click FINISH.

10.    The MultiTerm window opens with the termbase just created.

11.    In order to import the glossary terms, go to TERMBASE > IMPORT ENTRIES… > PROCESS…

12.    Click BROWSE… to search for the .xml file. The log file path is created automatically. Click NEXT.

13.    Write the name of the exclusion file. This file will include the invalid entries or those that present problems during the importing process. Click NEXT.

14.    A summary of the previous steps appears. Click NEXT.

15.    When the program finishes importing, click NEXT.

16.    Click FINISH and then ACCEPT.

We often ask ourselves if it’s important to be registered as a translator. I think it is. Belonging to an association that brings professionals of the same field together offers different benefits for all of us.

Professional registration is useful in marking a difference. Registered translators, regardless of the quality of their work, will have a significant advantage, since they can perform certifiable translations as long as their fees at the institution are paid in full. This is a very important aspect, since legalizing our translations grants them a sense of legitimacy, in the same realm that public documents give testimony to a specific situation.

In addition to legalizing them, the associations also allow us to share our experiences with colleagues and perhaps (why not?) develop our “political” inclinations. Maybe we are interested in doing something for ourselves and our colleagues, perhaps trying to change some aspect of the profession that many of us are unhappy about. In that case, we can officially approach the organization and have discussions, debates, and meetings centered around that issue. Let us not forget that taking part in a group that works for the benefit of our profession puts us in a good position.

Likewise, we can also benefit from the different opportunities that our association offers us, such as extra references in the library, discounts for courses, seminars and other types of qualification, among other things.

I recommend to all translators to register in an association. Having this opportunity opens many doors in the professional world, since by being part of an institution we are thus included in the database and there is always the chance that someone searching there will find us.

I hate to break the news to you, but I am officially declaring the language as beyond any point of hope in terms of understanding its systems, conventions, and rules. Wait…was I supposed to put that comma before the final item of the list? It depends on who you ask!

I was browsing through the updated version of the European Commission Directorate-General for Translation’s English Style Guide (PDF version available here) and was simply overwhelmed with how arbitrary so many things are, even when explained by a committee of experts. While this document is obviously essential for reference for anyone composing a work in English for use or publication within the European Union, it is still baffling in its choices. For example (I have not poured through the entire work, instead I simply clicked on different sections, so this list is far from thorough):

• The use of “-ize” vs. “-ise”. As someone who was raised with English in the United States tradition, where the “-ize” suffix is taught 100% of the time, I will personally never understand the British tradition of preferring “-ise” when the sound is a “z” and when the Greek roots where the words are derived from were formed with a “ζ” (zeta). Be that as it may, the Style Guide goes out of its way to say that there are generally 40 exceptions in British spelling where “-ize” is preferred, though it does not list any. Pick a horse and ride it, United Kingdom. I chose mine.
• Split infinitives. This is perhaps the most vexing aspect of English. There is no justifiable grammatical basis for it to be incorrect to split the infinitive, i.e. include an adverb between “to” and the infinitive, as in “to boldly go where no man has gone before”. Some claim that it comes from the fact that infinitives were never split in Latin and, therefore, they can’t be split in English. Seriously, that’s the only explanation I have ever heard (add more below if you know any…PLEASE!). Er, English is not derived from Latin so there is no need for any of their conventions to be similar, moreso when Latin infinitives were one word and, logically, cannot be split. The Style Guide shows deference to this practice by encouraging writers to avoid that practice. Why? What is the justification??? If you are a skilled writer, you can create sentences that are provocative and insightful by using a split infinitive when it would not be possible to have the same effect without it (the example above is a fantastic illustration). If you are a bad writer, you are going to mess a lot of things up so trying to avoid certain conventions will make little to no difference.
• Belgium. Stepping outside of strict English usage issues, but remaining within the scope of translation issues, is Annex 2 “Notes on Belgium”. Wow. Read that only if it is highly necessary. It lays out the various conventions concerning when to leave names in Dutch or French. Suffice it to say that I think we should treat that lovely little country like an Etch-a-Sketch, shake it up, and let them come up with clear and concise language guidelines so that we can work quickly without having to worry about which exact community we are working for and how angry they will be if we leave a word in the wrong language.
• Serial (”Oxford” or “Harvard”) comma. I purposely avoided it because there is no solution. And I will kick anyone in the shins who says they don’t think it should ever be used. My shoes are sharp, too.

In order to work with MultiTerm, first you must create a glossary for terminology in an Excel document, with the entries in column A and the translations in column B.

You must import this glossary Excel file into the MultiTerm Convert program in the following way:

1. Open MultiTerm Convert. Click NEXT.

2. Click NEW CONVERSION SESSION and then NEXT.

3. Choose the glossary format (Excel) and then click NEXT.

4. In INPUT FILE, click BROWSE and select the glossary. The rest of the boxes are automatically completed. Click NEXT.

5. In INDEX FIELD, select first the source language and then the target language. You can complete DESCRIPTIVE FIELD if the glossary has, additionally, some kind of extra information, such as references, for example. Finally, click NEXT.

6. The steps completed are shown, click NEXT.

7. A summary of the steps competed appears. Click NEXT.

8. The Excel file must be converted to .xml and an .xdt is to be created. When the process is finished, click NEXT. Then click FINISH.

Most translators these days work with Spanish and, especially if it is not their native language (or even if it is), they come across sentences and constructions that they don’t understand. That’s why I would like to take some time to talk about an essential tool for anyone doing work in the Spanish language: http://www.rae.es/rae.html, which is the Internet resource for the Real Academia Española.

To begin it is essential to make the distinction between the two tools available on the site: the RAE’s dictionary itself and the Pan-Hispanic dictionary of doubts, both available for searching on the home page.
The dictionary itself offers us all of the options that the printed version offers us: looking up, definition, and grammatical context of any term. For translators, it is important to remember that every term that is not in the dictionary is NOT accepted and, therefore, its use is not valid. In addition to multiple ways to filter the search of a word, we can also access a form to make queries and suggestions on this page.
The second option available on the site is what translators often refer to as “the pan-hispanic”, which provides us with a a plethora of possibilities for investigation. This dictionary is useful for looking up terms that generate doubts that go beyond their definition. For example, they could be doubts on use of the term, preposition usage, anglicisms, punctuation, etc. As one who works with the Spanish language regularly, I think this is one of the finest tools in my job, since it is common for us to have doubts about words that are not resolved just by reading a definition. Likewise, I recommend related articles, which are grouped in different aspects of the Spanish language that regularly present difficulties as we perform our job.

In summary, I would recommend that you become friends with the RAE’s web page, since it offers knowledge, clears away doubts, saves us time, and helps us to avoid mistakes in our work.

As a translator, I have asked myself this a thousand times while I was going to school and I had to work out the answer when I got my degree. Right now I am going to outline some advantages and disadvantages of both situations so that everyone can come to the conclusion that makes the most sense for them.

Autonomy

Being an autonomous, or as it is referred to in the industry, “freelance” translator in an interesting choice from the point of view of comfort and organization of your time. Since you don’t have to go to an office at a specific time, you can work comfortably from your own home and decide the schedule and working conditions for yourself. It also the important advantage of income: once you have established yourself in the market, the jobs you will receive will allow you to earn more than with a monthly salary at a company.

On the other hand, independence has its price. When there is a lot of work and you are tempted to take on more, it is hard to know where to draw the line and decide, for example, to take a break instead of working all weekend. We also shouldn’t forget that unfortunate circumstances can always arise when it comes time to collect on a payment, since the translator him/herself is the one responsible for the organization of how much he/she has worked and how to receive the money that is owed.

Lastly, one of the essential topics for this subject is the social aspect. Working alone at home can be productive, since you are relaxed, but we can’t forget that a group setting is what nourishes us and helps us grow.

Direct employment

As far as direct employment, without a doubt its greatest advantage is security, both in the source of work and in the simple fact that you know there will be some money coming into your account every payday. Likewise, some people enjoy having a structured workday and the ability to check out of their professional responsibilities when the end of the day comes. Another irrefutable positive aspect of direct employment are the benefits associated with most jobs, such as a health care plan, among other things.

However, this working relationship takes away some of our freedoms as far as the chance to make certain decisions and, as a result, limits us. In certain working environments it is difficult to grow, whether in regards to salary or professional development. Additionally, having a set schedule presents difficulties in solving personal situations, whether they involve going to an office to file some paperwork or taking a nap after lunch.

And now revisiting the social aspect, it is the greatest advantage of working as a direct employee, from my point of view. Group work is completely gratifying, as it allows us to learn and, at the same time, to share our knowledge. This setup keeps us from being isolated, which is a vice that is all too common in our profession.

So what is the right choice?

How do we decide? That decision with be the result of many factors: our age, our economic situation, our confidence in ourselves, the translation market where we live, the path we want our career to take, our goals, and, fundamentally, our own will.

If you are a translator working with the Trados CAT tool, you may have seen a component called MultiTerm in your product package. So, just what is this tool and how practical is it for every-day translation jobs?

MultiTerm is ideal for translators working with bilingual glossaries or ongoing projects with highly specific terminology. Many times clients will send their glossaries in an Excel sheet with their own translations of product names or terminology for the sake of consistency between terms found in user manuals, online material, etc. In these cases, it is critical to use the glossary sent by the client. What the MultiTerm product does is convert the glossary into an .xdt file which is recognized by Trados and can then be linked to the Trados workbench. What this means for the translator is that instead of searching through countless entries of an Excel file looking for the right term, Trados will automatically recognize if the term is in the glossary, and if so, it will display the corresponding translation in the “Term Recognition” window on the Workbench.

While there are several steps involved in the process, I have found that it is well worth the time and energy to learn how to use this product, as well as its other features. Not only is this ideal for translators, but it is also great for project managers who are using several different translators for a document with very specific terminology.

Most translators have heard of the new online machine translation option called “Google Translate”. While many would argue that machine translations have several issues regarding accuracy and the inability to understand the text like humans do, this has become a widely popular tool, so much so that YouTube recently announced the launch of a Translate option for captioned videos.

This feature provides real-time translations of video captions with a variety of language options, all powered by Google Translate. While YouTube readily admits that machine translations have flaws, they hope to make their videos more accessible to a broader audience.
Here are the instructions from YouTube’s blog: “To get a translation for your preferred language, move the mouse over the bottom-right arrow, and then over the small triangle next to the CC (or subtitle) icon, to see the captions menu. Click on the “Translate…” button and then you will be given a choice of many different languages.”

Take a look at how this works with the link below.

YouTube Translation

So what do you think? Will the widespread use of machine translations, particularly Google Translate, cause a stir amongst more traditional translators? Or is this just another way to help tackle the language barriers?

In another post, we mentioned this type of contract which is commonly used in today’s market filled with the hustle and bustle of the business world. Adhesion contracts are pre-printed contracts used by the majority of companies who market mass products or services.

The legal issue behind these “contracts” is the consent of one of the parties, which does not have the freedom to enter contracts/negotiate and, as such, the very “contractual” nature of this relationship has been questioned.

The essence of the contract requires that two parties enter into a relationship and negotiate the terms and conditions of such relationship reflected contractually. However, this does not occur in an adhesion contract which resembles nothing more than a simple administrative form.

Furthermore, in the majority of adhesion contracts, there are endless one-sided or abusive clauses, which in many cases would annul the validity of the contract if the users filed to annul such conditions in the judicial system. In other words, these contracts that are so popular and practical undermine basic contractual principals, which is why they are questioned by many.

In the field of legal translation, it is important that we pay special attention when translating these documents and carefully choose the appropriate legal terminology.

The news these days is full of market reports, minute-by-minute updates on the stock market and countless stories of small businesses being driven into bankruptcy. There is a general sense of tension especially for small business owners, and rightly so! So, what does this mean for the translation industry and how will it be affected?

Glancing at any timeline of the financial crisis is proof alone that all of our markets are interwoven, and what happens in one market will affect others on a global scale. As the translation industry largely depends on these global connections, to what extent will our services be affected? Across the globe, many freelance translators have been forced to find other sources of income and countless translation agencies have closed up shop as a result of the recession. While the demand for translations is undeniable, the resources to pay for them are now limited. Clients are struggling with their payments to the agencies, and in turn, payments to freelancers are delayed. As a result, more agencies have begun to enforce more rigid policies for clients regarding payment options, since the word “credit” nowadays is enough to strike fear into small business owners worldwide. However, many clients cannot afford to pay up-front and thus turn to the competition. Some agencies have increased their prices to compensate for overall losses, which places translation services out of the reach of many potential clients. On the flip side, other agencies have decreased their prices in an attempt to attract new clients. For many, the volume of work has slowed down, increasing competition for projects and thus driving down the prices of translation services.

So how will translation agencies and freelancers pull through this crisis? There is no easy solution to the problem, and much of the success of one business over another will be determined by their responses to the crisis and the whether or not the international relief packages will actually trickle down to small business owners.