Welcome to the year 2012 and guess what, time is still of the essence. Because there is a lot of talk around the world regarding this year being our last year on Earth as we know it, I have the growing sense that more people are in even more of a hurry to get things done than never before.

And I mean NOW.

Below are the 3 principal drivers to continually take into account preceding this year’s translation projects.

TIME – As I had mentioned in my previous blog post Gambling Quality http://spanish-translation-blog.spanishtranslation.us/gambling-quality-2011-07-19.html, quick turnaround times often means timesaving methods are being carried out during the work flow to meet client deadlines. When there is not sufficient time to administer a correct translation or Desktop Publishing quality assessment (DTP QA), there is a danger of mistranslation and loss of future business. This occurs mainly when translated files are to be printed or financial amounts within contracts are incorrect.

QUALITY – Like I had written in October 2011 http://spanish-translation-blog.spanishtranslation.us/top-4-tips-for-rush-translations-2011-10-19.html, starting a project without arranging in advance the guidelines is not recommended particularly when you are working under a tight deadline. The most important factors to firmly establish are the target market, dialect, tone, register and measurement conversion/localization.  Remember, if you do not follow this crucial step, you will not have the time to alter the translation after the final delivery is completed.

PRICE – Do not forget the common expression of “You get what you pay for”. This idea can be applied in the translation industry as well. Be aware of companies which may offer under market value price quotes and unrealistic turnaround times because these companies are most likely processing your translations using “under value techniques”.

Whether or not you believe the hype about our planet suddenly lighting up like a match stick or Big Foot to finally appear to eat our beautiful home like a delicious wild Malus sieversii apple, you should still stop and take a deep breath before you start your important ventures in 2012.

The phrase “lost in translation” may remind the average folk of a famous movie title from back in 2003. In that movie two Americans, played by the voluptuous Scarlett Johansson and the comical Bill Murray, meet and share a few melodramatic romantic nights in Tokyo.

Translators know that for them “lost in translation” means much more than a movie or a saying. It is something that they must keep in mind at all times when working on a translation, especially when it comes to translating a book or an advertisement.

Keeping in mind what the original document is trying to say, the translator not only has the job of translating, but many times that person has to do the job of a creative writer.  In cases like these, there may be a lot of back and forth with the client to make sure that what the translator has written gives off a similar message as to what the original document is trying to express.

Conveying the meaning of the original document is very important when translating in different languages. Some languages and cultures are more conservative in their advertising and wording in general.  This is another reason as to why the translator must be a native speaker of the target language because they have a better understanding of the culture and how far they can push the boundaries as to what  is acceptable and what is not.

In today’s expanding global market, the importance of delivering high quality projects at competitive prices with tight deadlines has never been so critical.  While working as a senior account manager in the translation industry, I see that “RUSH” projects with short turnaround times are starting to become a common client request.  After 4 years of experience, I have indentified 4 important tips to take into consideration when both time and quality are as equally crucial for a successful delivery.

1) Pre-Planning:  It is important to provide at least a sample source file along with a detailed description of the projected scope prior to the start date in order to begin the translation process “RUNNING” upon final approval.  Simply assigning the project to properly qualified resources can take up to 1 full day depending on the language pair and content complexity.  Any extra time you can save pre-planning can make the difference between the project’s success or failure.

2) Set Guidelines:  Starting any project without setting predetermined guidelines is not a good idea, especially when it is time sensitive.   The key factors to be confirmed before starting your project are target market, dialect, tone, register and measurement conversion/localization.  When working with hard deadlines, there may not be enough time to correct and update the translation after final delivery.

3) Additional Fees:  If there is any reason not to wait and hurry a project, it is to avoid additional rush fees.  Translation companies can charge up to double their normal rates due to last minute requests and translators working through the night and weekends in order to meet deadlines.

4) Reformatting Issues:  If you require the translated files to mirror the original source materials, reformatting often will add additional days to the project work flow.  If this is not considered, the translated files will be delivered as text only, without formatting, which often can make or break the project in the end.

I guarantee, if you follow each of my 4 tips for all of your future Rush translation projects, you will not be sorry.

What really is a translation? Is it someone interpreting one language into another? In reality it is a lot more complex than that. The definition of Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source language text accomplished by an equivalent target language text.

For many centuries the prevailing language used in education, religion, and government in much of the Western world was Latin. This was later replaced nearing the end of the 16^th century by our now more widespread living languages such English, French, Italian, etc. This marked the death of Latin, putting an end for a common language. With the division of countries and continents, diversity of languages increased. Now, due to globalization,  connections are becoming inevitable among nations, and we therefore face a huge need for source material in one language to be accurately rendered into the target language, with special attention paid to cultural nuance and style.

High quality translations are being offered at competitive rates due to the demands of today’s market. Within a growing market, different variables are taken into consideration during the client’s decision such as Quality vs. Price. This gives way to a new age in translation that produces the need for “Specialization”; in other words, the more technically complex or specific translations are outsourced to a renowned translation agency in order to streamline the entire process altogether. A competent professional translator who specializes in a specific field of knowledge is contracted to render accurate translations. We can clearly determine that the entire translation process is not solely based on a single translator; instead it includes editing, proofreading and processing by a team of many.

As a company with 10 years in the industry, we understand our client’s needs and vouch to excel your expectations.

Following my last entry, I’m going to start off with some shocking and/or interesting statistics of the ever changing fabric of our American quilt.  While there are many demographics of immigrants and non-native English speakers in the US, this entry will focus primarily on the rapidly growing Hispanic population in the US.

• Young people 24 and under represent 35% of all Hispanic online users.  (Emarketer)
• The US Hispanic market that is online has grown from 15.7 million to 20.9 million in the last 5 years alone.  (Emarketer)
• “The 47 million-plus Hispanic population in the U.S. accounts for 15% of the total U.S. population and have spending power of $850 billion. (University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth)
• From 2000 to 2006, Hispanic purchasing power in the US climbed more than 63%, to $798 billion. (University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth)
• Latinos and other minorities were responsible for 85% of US population in the last 10 years (Adage)

It’s clear to see that the Hispanic market in the US is nothing to ignore.  There is an ever growing percentage of Americans that are looking for your messages, your products, and your services: in Spanish.  Making this connection isn’t easy, but it’s not as hard as you might think; it’s a learning process.

However, if we’re learning anything at all, it’s that Google translate isn’t going to get us there.  A translation is not just a translation; reaching out to the Hispanic market takes more.  It means understanding cultural nuances, sensitivities, humor and colloquialisms. In addition, Spanish phrases and idiomatic expressions are not consistent among all Spanish speaking countries.

Esther Novak, CEO, VanguardComm hits the nail on the head here when she says “Those who are anxious to tap the market but inexperienced at reaching it must not make the easy mistake of “selling to the Hispanic bloc” — the assumption that a Cuban thinks like a Mexican thinks like a Puerto Rican. Each of the 22 Latino nationalities has its own cultural nuances, idioms and assimilation. Businesses need to understand these factors, which include a connection to home country; multi-generational households; mistrust of institutions; a belief in fate; respect for the elderly; the influence of community leaders; the role of faith; and the upholding of tradition, celebrations, humor and cultural icons.”

Here I have a couple examples of a good and bad way to approach the situation:

Here’s a failed attempt by AT&T.

The telecommunications giant AT&T created a series of marketing ads in Puerto Rico where a wife tells her husband to go downstairs and call Mary because they are running late.   Seems innocent enough, right? Oh no!  In Puerto Rico this behavior was seen as offensive, as many wives would never order their husbands in this way nor would they think it’s necessary to call regarding their late arrival.

This campaign proved to be ineffective and failed to resonate with the consumer on a personal and cultural level.   It did not draw on cultural experiences nor connect with the consumer.  Instead the poor translation became distracting and was merely an advertisement gone awry.

Here’s a successful approach by The Home Depot.

When I say successful, I mean excellent.  The Home Depot has successfully integrated a variety of ways to approach the Hispanic population.  They have shown a strong commitment by providing bilingual signage on all of their products, offering bilingual workshops and how-to-clinics, as well as tips and tools on Spanish directed Youtube site.  What’s more, they sponsor Major League Soccer as well as the Mexican National soccer club.  They clearly understand the cultural importance of soccer to their Hispanic clients and show their loyalty by supporting their teams.  By taking this multi-faceted approach The Home Depot is able to connect with their customers not only in Spanish but also to their cultural needs and wants.

Bottom line is this: It is important to address this rapidly growing and changing market in the correct way; not only in their own language but also within the context of their local culture.  Working with a translation agency is an excellent way to bring your message full circle by providing cultural understanding.  They can work with you directly to understand what you are trying to do and figuring out the best ways to approach your translation. Concisely expressing your message in the tone and voice of a native speaker is priceless.

The value of up-selling & cross selling.

To increase revenue and margins of an order by selling products / services at higher prices i.e. up-selling or by selling add-on products and accessories, a tactic also known as cross selling, share the idea of needing to prove our consumers that there is something in it for them. We must show them increased added value.

Value is the term that expresses the concept of worth in general. For example, value would be a high pay back for a small expense, also discussed in terms of ROI (Return on Investment). Payback is the tangible return delivered by the benefits of your products and services. The greater the value to your customers, the greater the payback.

Moving on, the formula for calculating value is the benefit minus the cost of achieving or acquiring the benefit, i.e. VALUE = BENEFIT – COST. Hence, it is important that we use meticulous questioning techniques to uncover as many needs as possible, for which we can offer, benefit oriented solutions. We need to be able to explain & sell benefits. The more needs we can uncover, the more benefits we can deliver, the more benefits the greater the payback, the greater the payback the higher the value, the higher the value, the better the chance to up sell & cross sell.

Proving value, we can use the funnel or focus questioning technique which will uncover needs. However, it is one thing to uncover the need it is another to prove that there is adequate pay back & value in fulfilling the needs.

Having uncovered the needs we must probe & find out as much as we can about those needs & the implications to the consumer if they are not met or fulfilled.

To be continued…

My entire life I grew up hearing from both my parents and school teachers “to assume, makes an A** out of U and ME”.  I always felt a jolt of annoyance flash through my body whenever this phrase leaped out of someone’s mouth.  I always thought to make an assumption was simply to not state the obvious which in return, saves time for everybody involved.

Well, the day has finally arrived for me to relinquish my pride and admit I have never been so wrong.

After 4 years of experience working as an Account Manager in the translation industry, I conclude the most common cause of project breakdown lies within the assumptions made by both client and provider before translation ever begins.

Examples:

Client Assumptions about Provider

• Works within same time zone
• Translations are exclusively  done INHOUSE
• Desktop Publishing services are included without additional turnaround time or costs
• Translations are processed by human translators
• Proofreading service is included

Provider Assumptions about Client

• Client has internal reviewer
• Translated files are NOT to be printed
• No project deadlines
• Partial deliveries NOT required
• Unlimited project budget
• Target language dialect is always “Neutral”

The result of both parties not simply taking the extra time to clarify ALL project guidelines prior to starting EACH separate project often ends with loss of time, revenue and future business.  Even worse, if both parties are at fault and/or cannot come to an agreement to resolve any particular issue, the conflict could end in the court-of-law.

In conclusion, no matter how big or small the project scope or how great the previous business relationship is, both parties MUST be on the same page without a single assumption in order for any project to succeed.

Google announced that it would be introducing text-to-speech translation via google translate for Android in February 2011. It will be launched in English and Spanish, but will soon be available in more languages.

The service consists of a three-step process:

• Speech recognition and conversion into text.

• Automatic text translation.

• Translation converted back to into speech, using a text-to-speech program.

Google makes it clear that service is still in its initial stages of development, and therefore it cannot handle different accents or other contingencies such as background noise or very fast conversations. Its use is limited and the accuracy in not consistent.

Human Telephone Interpreters

Phone interpretation is becoming a less practical option for real-time communication in several languages.

An interpreter is usually:

• a professional.

• Has experience in the field or related areas

• Is helpful to those involved in the interpretation.

• Can answer questions.

• Can express himself/herself clearly in the required languages.

• Can transcribe and record the call if necessary.

The main objective of this service is to communicate the meaning of what each party is saying, in order to achieve the desired goal: effective communication.

It is fair to say that Spanish translation is the U.S. is divided equally between the domestic and international market. These markets each have their own idiosyncrasies that represent only one aspect of the language problem in the United States.

U.S. based translations face a very different situation from that experienced by markets in other Spanish speaking countries. On the one hand is the domestic market, where the target audience is highly heterogeneous, submerged in bilingual media and at times with low educational level. This is a population that innocently uses Spanglish. On the other hand is the international one, in which translations can be aimed at any of the 22 countries of the Hispanic world, or to all countries equally.

The U.S. market makes the translation process more difficult for the translator and the translation company. Typically, translations into Spanish need to have very specific guidelines or the translation can be plagued with differences. Translators from different backgrounds tend to use different terms and forms of expression. Reason why it is so important to keep in mind that Spanish speakers often react strongly to the use of words that are not common in their countries. Of course all this has a solution: if translators work with a glossary and a style manual, customers will ultimately receive a satisfactory translation.

However, the Spanish language is basically the same for all countries. The most noticeable differences between the various forms of expression in Spanish are at the level of speech. The lower the educational level of the speaker, the more pronounced is the difference of expression. But no matter what dialect is used, if it is written in good basic Spanish, any Spanish speaker will understand it.

Having said that, it is important to recognize the idiosyncrasies of the market. For example, when translating for a U.S. audience, numerals should be the same as in English. That is, one dollar and fifty cents is written one point fifty and not one comma fifty. The reason for this is obvious: U.S. Spanish speakers live in a world that expresses decimal points with a period and not a comma as in their countries of origin. Changing it would be extremely confusing and may even cause lawsuits. Moreover, some Latin American countries are increasingly adopting the decimal separator. For example: Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Puerto Rico.

Spanglish

The most troubling aspect of the U.S. market is Spanglish. In short, it is the use of English words and, in many cases, combined with an English syntax. Requests to translate in Spanglish already exist in the market. This is obviously for marketing purposes to reach to a potential buyer and sell a product. However, Spanglish is not a dialect and its use should not be encouraged. Promoting Spanglish can have unpredictable consequences for the evolution, or rather the involution of Spanish or Hispanic heritage in the United States.

There are a number of organizations who are advocates of the importance of language, localization, and global content. As frequent industry contributors, they organize events to promote quality standarization and help strengthen a community that spreads across the globe. Translation Manager, Localization Managers, Translation company owners and operators, among others, meet at such events to discuss the latest industry trends, ideas and insights from around the world. Below are a few of the conferences being held this year and early next year.

LISA Forum Europe: Building Quality, Building Customers

The program will feature tracks on defining localization quality, assessing quality, planning quality, and on the impacts of various technologies and development methodologies on localization quality.

The Multilingual Web: Where Are We?

The MultilingualWeb project, funded by the European Commission and coordinated by the W3C, is looking at best practices and standards related to all aspects of creating, localizing and deploying the multilingual Web. The project will raise visibility of what’s available and identify gaps via a series of four events, over two years. This is the first event.

ATA 51st Annual Conference

The ATA Annual Conference is held each fall in a major city or popular resort area. This four-day event showcases panel discussions, expert presentations, training workshops, and scholarly papers. The conference also features a job marketplace, a vendor exhibit hall, certification testing, and networking sessions designed to build professional contacts for attendees.

GALA 2011: The Language of Business. The Business of Language.

GALA 2011 will bring together the community of professionals involved in global content delivery. This community consists of all parties charged with transforming original content (software code, website content, product information, technical documentation, marketing materials, and more) into translated and localized content for consumption by people around the world.

ITI Conference 2011

ITI Conference 2011 is the flagship conference of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, and marks ITI’s 25th anniversary. There will be plenary sessions, panel discussions, workshops and talks on practical aspects of interpreting and translation, such as technology for interpreters and translators, project management and running your business, as well as the training of interpreters and translators and professional development.

If you have a business or company in the United States and are considering investing in Spanish translations, it is important to have access to Hispanic trends, census data, and demographic information. Below are some good resources:

United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Statistics – Information and statistics on the population and economic strength of Hispanics living in the United States.

The Hispanic Population – U.S. Census – United States census data relating to the growing Hispanic population in the U.S.

Hispanic Marketing -United States Hispanic Market – Demographic projections.

Pew Hispanic Center -Research center focused on: demography, economics, education, culture, identity, attitudes, immigration, labor, politics, remittances.

Hispanic Business -Online magazine that offers a variety of business services such as career placement, recruitment services, business research, surveys and advertising.

What to read:

Online resources

The book club Mosaico for ideas about what to buy

Críticas and publisher catalogs such as Ediciones Serres, Random House Español, and Ediciones TUTOR

Spanish is becoming increasingly more common in the U.S., stimulated by an increasing growth of the Hispanic population. Many Hispanics, even those fluent in English, want to maintain their cultural identity by continuing to learn and speak Spanish. Finally, there is a growing group of English-speaking, non-Hispanics who are learning Spanish as a second language.

Below is an excellent list of online resources for Spanish and bilingual publications.

Latino Book & Family Festival (LBFF)

The Latino Book & Family Festival promotes literacy, culture and education.

Barnes and Noble Bestseller List

“The best selection of Spanish-language books, music and movies” according to their page.

Publishers of Spanish Language and Bilingual Books

Arte Público Press

Emphasizes U.S. Hispanic culture and cultural recovery.  Includes fiction, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies, drama, non-fiction, and reference.

Continental Book Company

Importers and distributors of books in Spanish, French, German, Italian, bilingual Spanish, and ESL English.  Spanish collections include text books, videos, critical studies, readers, and much more.

Dominie Press

Spanish K-3 reading materials, including books, magnetic letters, parental involvement tools, and alphabet books.

Editorial Pax México

Leading Mexican publisher trade and educational titles, distributed in the U.S. through Whitehurst & Clark Book Fulfillment.  (website is in Spanish)

Grupo Editorial Norma

Translated and bilingual books for children and adults.  Features text books, literature, and titles of general interest.

Lectorum

An imprint of Scholastic, Lectorum publishes translated versions of familiar old and new classics, including Franklin, Dr. Seuss, and Arthur books.

Lee & Low Books

Publisher of multicultural books for children, website includes booktalks and classroom guides.

Libros Sin Fronteras

Latin American, Spanish language and bilingual books for children and adults.  Core collection development services are provided as well.

Mariuccia Iaconi Book Imports

While not a publisher or an imprint, MIBI’s catalog consists of children’s books in many foreign languages, including Spanish and bilingual titles.

Océano Grupo Editorial

An imprint of the Gale Group.  Specialty is reference materials for children and adults in the arts, computing, math, history, science, and more.

Pinata Books

An imprint of Arte Público Press, features books for children of all ages.  Most picture books are bilingual; fiction books for older kids are about Hispanic cultural identity and maintaining a sense of self.

Spanish Book Distributors

Most titles are translations into Spanish. Catalog includes books in a variety of topics including business, computers, health, history, parenting, reference, religion, travel, and much more. Translated current fiction best-sellers and romance titles are also available.

Barahone Center for the Study of Books in Spanish for Children and Adolescents – (also bilingual)

Has a frequently-updated database of recommended titles in Spanish. You can search by author, title, publish, etc.

According to the 2000 census, over 21 million people in the United States have limited English proficiency (LEP). Nearly 28 percent of all Spanish speakers in the United State fall into this category. This language barrier can be a serious disadvantage in providing quality health care. It can affect an LEP patient’s access to services, their ability to give informed consent for medical treatment, and their compliance with drug regimens and follow-up. Patients who speak little or no English may be at greater risk of medical error or misdiagnosis if they are not provided with an interpreter, are less likely to use preventive care services, and more likely to use emergency rooms than English speakers. They also need more diagnostic tests, are less satisfied with the medical care they receive, and are often dissatisfied with the quality of the translated material they are given.

Addressing these concerns, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health has issued a number of guidelines which are primarily directed at health care organizations with the goal of providing meaningful access to LEP patients; however, individual providers are also encouraged to use the standards to make their practices more culturally and linguistically accessible. These guidelines are detailed in the Department’s National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care (CLAS). Most relevant for this article is Standard 7, which states that “an effective language assistance program ensures that written materials that are routinely provided in English to applicants, patients/consumers, and the public are available in commonly encountered languages other than English. It is important to translate materials that are essential to patients/consumers accessing and making educated decisions about health care”.

These guidelines discuss in great detail the importance of using qualified translators and the need for establishing procedures that will assure the quality of the translated materials given to the public:

The section ends with the injunction to “avoid ‘wildcat’ translations (e.g., the doctor’s sister who took Spanish in collage), however tempting the financial advantages”.

Spanish Translation US has teams of life science expert Spanish translators that can work on all life science related documentation from complex pharmaceutical manual to patient customer care documentation and forms.

For more information, visit: Spanish Life Science Translation

For more information about CLAS standards, visit:

Related News:

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) voted in favor of President Obama’s health care reform proposal. They belive it will greatly improve the quality of life for millions of Latinos. The measure is expected to expand coverage to 8.8 million Latinos, or 60%of the currently uninsured Hispanic community.

“This bill is important for all Americans, but it is particularly critical to our Latino communities which have the highest uninsured rate of any racial or ethnic group in the country. The bill provides access to affordable health care to the millions of uninsured Latinos in this country through Medicaid expansion, access to health insurance exchanges, and subsidies to help low and moderate income families,” said Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), the Chair of the CHC Task Force on Health.

A press release from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus:

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Calls for Passage of Health Care Reform

A dictionary is a simple tool which helps us with the pronouciation, spelling and grammar needed for correct and effective communication. A glossary is an alphabetical list of technical terms in some specialized field of knowledge. The list below are helpful resources for general and specialized terminology in English and Spanish aimed for students, teachers, professionals and the general public.

English and Spanish Dictionaries and Glossaries

Biology Glossary English – Spanish glossary of technical terms used in ecology, evolution, and systematics

Business Dictionary English to Spanish terminology and vocabulary

Child Welfare Glossary English – Spanish child welfare terms from the Child Welfare  Children’s Bureau

Deaf & Blind Glossary English – Spanish glossary of concepts and terms from the National Consortium of Deaf-Blindness

English Spanish Glossaries Portals and search engines that take you to a large number of glossaries on every topic imaginable, as well as general dictionaries, encyclopedias and other resources for translators. If you are looking for a very particular glossary that does not fall in the other categories, check the portals in this section

As I promised here’s the last part of the glossary of Neutral Spanish terms, which I shared with you in previous posts.

quitar (take off, take out)
rabo (tail)
rasurar (shave)
refresco (soda,”coke”)
refrigerador (fridge)
renta (rent)
retrete, excusado (toilet)
rosquillas  (donuts)
sabroso (tasty, yummy)
sala (living-room)
salchicha  (hot dog)
sanitario (lavatory, w.c., bathroom)
sofá (couch, sofa)
sortija (ring)
sostén (bra)
sudar (sweat, perspirate)
sujeto (guy,chap)
tienda (store, shop)
tienda (de campaña) (tent)
tina (bathtub)
tocino (bacon)
tontería (silly thing)
traje de baño (swimsuit, bathing suit)
trasero, nalgas (butt, bottom, bum, buttocks)
trozo (piece, bit)
tubo, tubería (pipe, pipes)
velada (evening/night)

I’d like to remind you once more that this glossary was created mainly for subtitling and voice over. Although it’s a useful guide, some terms are debatable.

In the US, when a transcript contains a translation of conversations spoken in a foreign language, a qualified witness must authenticate and verify the translation. See United States v. Llinas, 603 F.2d 506, 509-10 (5th Cir. 1979).

A party who wishes to challenge the accuracy of a translation is responsible for presenting another translation. The jury may then choose which version to believe. United States v. Rosenthal, 793 F.2d 1214, 1238 (11th Cir. 1986) (citing Llinas, 603 F.2d at 509).

For more information, please visit:

http://www.leagle.com/unsecure/page.htm?shortname=infco20091124124

Remember the Telephone Game? Most of you probably remember it from childhood. You would whisper a short sentence into someone’s ear and so on until it went full circle. When the message reached the last person it was totally different from the original and it had everyone laughing out loud. You’re probably thinking, “Yes, I remember that game. But what does it have to do with Machine Translation?” Machine Translation is playing a fast-growing role in the translation industry. Some companies admit that it’s only partially effective (some say 70%); I beg to differ. Let’s play the Telephone Game and see what happens after 10 consecutive translations of the same text.

If you have a text you need translated, we recommend professional translation services from our company, Trusted Translations.

Can anyone stop the ever growing Spanglish movement in the U.S.? After all, Spanglish is not a language but rather people who speak English and Spanish badly. The North American Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE, for its initials in Spanish) has taken on this challenge. Seen by some as the “language police”, the Academy has teamed up with the U.S. government to improve and standardize the use of Spanish particularly in government public service communications. Their mission is to help implement the use of correct Spanish for the 40 million Hispanics living in the U.S.

For more information, please visit: www.nydailynews.com/latino/2009/05/14/2009-05-14_academy_to_become_spanish_inquisitor_.html

It is commonly believed that any bilingual person can translate. However most fail at written translations. This is because such informal translation is oral, not written. For an informal translator, any translation which communicates the main idea of the message suffices. But in a professional translation, the original document must be understood thoroughly and accurately. There are professional standards which a translator needs to follow. And while bilingual interference may not be as important in an informal translation, it is a serious problem in professional translation. Later I’ll continue on the subject by talking about the importance of Consistency.