inforMATIon A Publication of the Midwest Association of Translators & Interpreters
FALL 2009 - issue 22
From the
President’s Desk Dear MATI Members, I hope this edition of inforMATIon finds you enjoying the cool Midwest autumn weather. It seems like so much has happened since the last issue. We held a successful annual conference in Indianapolis. We were fortunate to have Dierk Seeburg from the ATA Language Technology division, Karin Ruschke and Alejandro Maldonado from NCIHC, and Alp Berker, a local freelance translator from Indianapolis to present at the conference. We had one of the best turnouts ever and afterward, many of us enjoyed dinner at the BARcelona tapas restaurant, which has become our favorite hangout place in Indianapolis. From October 27 to October 31, I represented MATI in attending the 50th annual ATA conference in New York City. A dozen or so MATI members were also in attendance and we enjoyed each other’s company when we gathered for drinks on Thursday night at the Marriott Marquis. Frankly speaking, I’m still recovering from the conference. Spending nearly a week in NYC will do that to you! We will provide an article on the ATA conference in the next issue of inforMATIon Best Regards, Di Wu President - MATI (Midwest Association of Translators & Interpreters) www.matiata.org
6th Annual MATI Conference 9 Submission guidelines
Editor Dear MATI Colleagues and Friends, Thank you to all who were able to attend MATI’s 6th Annual Conference in Indianapolis and special thanks to Montserrat Zuckerman for submitting a detailed and insightful synopsis of September’s conference for the current issue of inforMATIon. I very much look forward reading accounts of the New York ATA conference in the upcoming winter issue and encourage those of you who were there to share your stories and experiences with the rest of us through this newsletter. If you are not currently ATA certified and would like to be, mark your calendars, because coming up on March 20, there will be an ATA Certification Exam Sitting in Fort Wayne, IN. Please note that in order to sit for the exam, you must have been an ATA member for at least four weeks prior to the date of the exam. Further information can be found on the ATA website at: https://www.atanet.org/certification/index.php. Please remember that anyone and everyone can submit articles and announcements for inforMATIon and are welcome at anytime to do so. We would love to hear from you! Best wishes, Alexis Pollitz
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A Publication of the Midwest Association of Translators & Interpreters
A Publication of the Midwest Association of Translators & Interpreters
6th Annual Conference MATI
by Montserrat Zuckerman
Dierk Seeburg
According to Dierk, quality is a function of resources (people, tools, information), what we charge for our work, and time [Q=f(R,C,T)] (Can you tell Dierk trained as a scientist?). Awareness of these parameters helps us to balance between the possible and the reasonable and by establishing and following a process from receipt of the translation project to its delivery, we can more effectively apply QA measurements. Quality is based on good resources; for our purposes: good translators, good tools, good information. Translator/editor check: Does s/he have the necessary preparation for the task at hand? R Basic: does the translator have comprehensive knowledge of and writing ability in both the source and target languages, familiarity with the culture, customs and social settings of the speakers of the source and target languages R More specific: 1) does the translator keep abreast of the culture, register used by speakers depending on their social stratification through listening to native language radio, watching TV, reading
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Dierk Seeburg started our day with the first of his two presentations: Quality Assurance in the Translation Industry: Tips and Tricks, which he opened by asking the question: Why is QA important and why should we pay particular attention to it in the present economic climate? He went on to argue that by emphasizing quality we will not only be able to better survive the economic downturn and stiff competition from abroad, but will place ourselves in a more advantageous position when the economy improves.
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ATI’s 6th Annual Conference took place this past September on a beautiful early fall day. The meeting attracted close to forty interpreters and translators, specialists and generalists from as far as Wisconsin, Illinois and northern Indiana. Dierk Seeburg flew from Phoenix, Karin Ruschke from Chicago and Alejandro Maldonado from Minneapolis; local presenter Alp Berker drove himself from Carmel, Indiana. President Di Wu welcomed attendees and presenters and thanked former MATI President and IUPUI professor, Enrica Ardemagni, and IUPUI for its generous donation of the use of the facilities.
Tools check: R Software needed for particular project? How does the client want the translated text delivered: original format, other? R CAT (Computer Assisted Translation) tools: are they compatible for use with the source text file? Dierk highly recommends the use of CAT tools to increase efficiency and consistency. To increase efficiency, Dierk recommends a two-phase approach to translation: Phase 1. Evaluation and rough translation of the source text: When the translator evaluates the text to be translated, s/he asks the following questions: R Do I understand the topic, the context in which it is presented, the imagery, puns, metaphors, similes used by the author(s)? R Does the source text make sense? R Does the translation make sense? R Does a back-translation of the translated text make sense?
Phase 2. Fine-tuning the translated text: R Resolve problems with untranslatable text (e.g.: idioms and regionalisms.) R Resolve disagreements between team members regarding translation. R Check that trade names have not been translated. R Links: Check that they not include text or punctuation marks that are not part of the link. R Graphics: Are they in the right place in the translated text? Are they appropriate in the translation? R Spreadsheets: Has the text been saved in the appropriate cell and tab? R Proper and geographic names: Are they translated appropriately? R Check spelling! R Check localized items: dates, time, currency, measurements. R Check alphabetical order. R Terminology check: false cognates, offensive, discriminatory or inappropriate terminology. Is terminology used appropriate to the context (finance vs. hospitality, e.g.)? Have idiomatic expressions and regionalisms been transposed adequately? R Pay attention to anglicisms and avoid. R Check consistency regarding gender.
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Information check: Does the translator have at her/his disposal and know how to use various information sources in both languages: dictionaries, thesauri, style guides, encyclopedias, discussion boards, websites specific to the field or industry related to the text, etc.?
This check can be done to the text as a whole and also sentence by sentence. Dierk recommends that at this stage the translator should consult with cotranslators and team members, keeping a log of errors, inconsistencies and ambiguities, as well as notifying the person in charge of the text as soon as they are identified. He pointed out that the appropriate way to translate a marketing text is to transcreate it, using the literary devices of rhyme, assonance, alliteration, etc., a technique applicable also to idioms and other untranslatable text.
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websites, newspapers, etc.; 2) does the translator have the necessary intuition to pick up common expressions and nuances in both languages, as well as the receptiveness to acquire “passive knowledge�. As Dierk made a point of emphasizing the term, I looked it up in Google and came up some interesting analysis as to its meaning and who is using it (NASA, engineering firms, attorneys).
A Publication of the Midwest Association of Translators & Interpreters
A Publication of the Midwest Association of Translators & Interpreters
Dierk’s afternoon presentation, ComputerAssisted Translation (CAT) Tools, started with a review of the field, including a short glossary of acronyms commonly used by tech savvy translators, a brief history of the use of this technology by translators, a definition of the term CAT tool and a listing of the types of tools that are considered CAT tools, including term extraction tools, term management tools, concordancers, word count tools, localization tools, machine translation programs, look up tools, Translation Management Systems (TMS)
Ultimately, the goal of the presentation was to help the potential buyer evaluate her/his needs and choose the appropriate tool based on those. However, Dierk managed to impart a lot of technical information and make it understandable enough to get us started acquiring the kind of passive knowledge that we need to search for these tools and have a handle on the questions we need to ask of ourselves and the tool vendors. Dierk elaborated a bit on machine translation (MT) to remind us of and try to dispel the knee-jerk dislike translators express toward it. He pointed out that when we use CAT tools for translation management (TM) we are availing ourselves of the technology of MT and are therefore using MT. For me, it brought to my attention that as translators we need to stay abreast of what is happening in the field of MT, its use in technical and other fields where the consistency of material lends itself to the accumulation of translations that can then be recycled on a large scale. Dierk effectively argued that while MT will not replace the individual translator it can do wonders to open up information gathered in the Internet and by institutions, which is of such volume that it realistically cannot be translated by individuals. You may have heard of Google’s efforts in this regard and use Microsoft’s MT tools when you use Word. And there are many other companies engaged in these efforts.
Dierk dedicated the majority of this presentation to familiarizing the audience with the different tools and what each can do, with examples of the commercial and open source tools that are available to the translator.
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All translations should also go through a secondary quality assurance check, which includes: checking that the file is in the format needed for delivery; checking content by doing a side by side reading of source and target (he calls this a “stereoscopic” reading), which is ideal for checking for completeness, correct terminology and that the source text is truly reflected in the translation; checking for style, which asks whether register and terminology are consistent and appropriate, whether the translation is too literal or whether it has been over-translated, assesses cohesiveness, coherence, and identifies possible ambiguities. This secondary quality assurance check also includes a final look at syntax, punctuation and spelling.
and Integrated Translation Environments (ITE).
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For quality assurance checks per se, Dierk recommends primary and secondary checks. As a primary quality assurance check, he recommends: checking your own work, consulting with colleagues through listserves and networking with colleagues, checking that the translation meets industry standards, when appropriate, and evaluating whether it is publishable.
A Publication of the Midwest Association of Translators & Interpreters
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Our next speakers, Karin Ruschke and Alejandro Maldonado, have been at the forefront of the efforts to provide national certification for medical interpreters through their work with the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC) and with the National Council on Health Care Interpreter Certification (NCC). They gave two presentations at the conference: Speak up, the NCC is listening! A Preliminary Report from the Front Line and The Next Step in the Professionalization of Healthcare Interpreting: A Forum on Setting Standards for Healthcare Interpreting Programs. Karin gave a brief report on the efforts of the NCC to work through a national certification process to develop standards for the training of medical interpreters. Together with Alejandro, they organized the audience into a focus group charged with answering questions regarding, among other things, aspects of the job of the interpreter that are not covered in programs already in existence. By working as a focus group, the participants had a chance to think more deeply about the issues involved in the difficult process of arriving at certification standards and certification training to fit those standards. For more information on these efforts and to keep abreast of the process, log on to http://www.
the wide range of opportunities available and the government’s requirements. This is a very worthwhile and complete
Karin Ruschke
healthcareinterpretercertification.org/, the website of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters. By the way, the formation of the commission was only publicly announced on September 15, 2009, three days after our conference! Alp Berker gave a superb and wellorganized two-part presentation on his experiences building a freelance translation business, aptly titled Working with the US government and with European Translation Agencies. With regard to the first part, working with the US government, Alp emphasized that the government is a huge employer and should therefore not be overlooked by translators and interpreters as a source of work. The 2010 census alone should offer some opportunities. He walked us through the federal government’s jobsite (http:// www.usajobs.gov/infocenter) to illustrate
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One final recommendation from Dierk was to look up LTD News, which is the newsletter of the ATA Language Technology Division. You can find it at the link: http://www.ata-divisions. org/LTD/. The website is a gold mine of well-organized technology information for translators, written in plain English. You can access the link to LTD News in the section labeled “Pages”.
Alejandro Maldonado
website, replete with help on how to go through the process, including building a resume. Before launching into the topic of working with European translation agencies, Alp first explored why working with agencies is a good way for a freelancer to start building up his/her business and learning more about the industry. European agencies, in particular, have a very large market when it comes to European languages, and they also get work from the institutions of the European Union. These institutions as well as European corporations oftentimes need work translated into one of the Union’s main languages (English, French and German) as a step to translation into other European languages. Alp’s language pair is Turkish-English, so he has translated Turkish texts into English so that they can then be translated into Spanish. He referenced the European Commission’s website for translation (http://ec.europa. eu/dgs/translation/index_en.htm) which lists work for contractors (freelancers and agencies) on the main page and also in the link “Work with us” from that same page. The website has a link to
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Some other interesting tips: Alp noted that it is important to keep track of the value of the dollar and invoice accordingly. When the dollar is weak, it pays to invoice in pounds and euros. The advantages and disadvantages of receiving payment through Paypal or Moneybookers (the British equivalent of Paypal) versus wire transfers and checks were discussed. Alp emphasized that you need to be flexible, but be aware of what is cost-effective for your situation and try to keep it simple. He pointed out that there are cultural differences the freelancer needs to be aware of when working with European agencies. In regard to payment, he shared that he has noticed a clear difference in time elapsed between invoicing and getting paid: longer the further south you go. So in Sweden you might get payment within two weeks, in Italy you might have to wait two months. When working with deadlines, we have to keep in mind the time difference for delivering our work on time. Another useful tip he gave was that Europeans favor the CV over the resume, whereas in the US a resume is considered a better document when looking for work. One interesting website that appears in my notes from Alp’s talk and that I thought worthwhile passing along is www.freelancers.com.
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resources (Translation aids) in twenty three European languages. In Alp’s experience, in addition to the large market they draw from, an advantage to working with European agencies is that they seem to be more in tune than American agencies with the needs of translators and interpreters.
A Publication of the Midwest Association of Translators & Interpreters
The day ended with Dierk and Alp, along with a nice group of attendees at the Barcelona Tapas, a popular restaurant in downtown Indianapolis, where we continued to expand our passive (and active) knowledge! So, why attend a MATI conference? How about the opportunity to listen to speakers who are at the cutting edge of the profession, having an impact on the
SAVE THE DATE! Saturday, March 20, 2010 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. ATA Certification Exam Fort Wayne, IN Register at: https://www.atanet. org/certification/ upcoming.php
hot issues of our profession, learning pertinent and applicable business tips first hand, and last but not least, networking with colleagues and adding them to our list of experts with whom we consult. This year’s conference provided all of these. See you next year at MATI’s 7th Annual Conference. In the meantime, stay tuned for regional educational activities and other purely networking opportunities. •
Welcome new
MATI members: SPANICUS J Brandt Badger Carlos Carrillo Calderon Julie Chang Christopher Galiardo Ratib Habbal Sadia Hussein
Marco Lopez Jimena Lopez-Rehmer Gary Martenson Arweephan Meyers Ali Omran Jeanette Pendell Carlos Priego Nicholas Scramuzza Jeanne Trombetta Penielis Williams Ben Van Wyke
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A Publication of the Midwest Association of Translators & Interpreters
A Publication of the Midwest Association of Translators & Interpreters
Submission guidelines We encourage our members to actively contribute to inforMATIon. We ask that you submit items of interest in the fields of translation,
interpretation, and languages. Below is a list of submission types we
Maximum length for features is 2500 words. Photographs and graphics in the form of .gif or .jpeg are also accepted.
Submission deadlines: • February 1 for the Winter issue • May 1 for the Spring issue • August 1 for the Summer issue • November 1 for the Fall issue Microsoft Word files may be sent as e-mail attachments, with clearly labeled e-mail subjects. File extensions (*.rtf or *.doc) should be added to short file names. Do not send files with *.exe extensions. Please add a title and author’s name inside the word file—please do not put it only in the e-mail. Add 3-4 lines of biographical information at the end of the article.
Submit articles to the Editor, Alexis Pollitz, at apollitz@gmail.com. The editor reserves the right to edit each article.
2008-09 Officers and Board of Directors President Di Wu, champlanguage@aol.com (Term: 2008-2010)
Secretary: Maria Schwieter, circe@mallofmagic.com (Term: 2009-2011)
Vice President Lilian Jiminez-Ramsey, lilian.ramsey@comcast.net (Term: 2009-2011)
Treasurer Saul Arteaga, saulart@msn.com (Term: 2008-2010)
Directors: • Christina Green, green_christina@hotmail.com (Term: 2009-2011) • Gema Aparicio, gaparicio@verizon.net (Term: 2008-2010) • Alexandra Wirth, alexandrawirth@wi.rr.com (Term: 2008-2010) • Marna Renteria, renteriasolutions@yahoo.com (Term: 2008-2010) • Elizabeth Colon, ecolon@metaphrasislcs.com (Term: 2009-2011)
inforMATIon is published
four times a year by the Midwest Association of Translators and Interpreters. EDITOR Alexis Pollitz apollitz@gmail.com DESIGN AND LAYOUT Esmeralda Morales-Guerrero esmeralda.morales.a@gmail.com 773-406-0018
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• comments on issues within the profession • letters to the editor • biographies • book reviews • Q&A • summaries of monthly meetings • announcements such as awards, job opportunities, weddings • announcements of events relating to the profession
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