“Just like a musician, an interpreter must have a keen ear for accents as well as a certain aptitude for languages,” states an article published this week in the Orlando Sentinel. The article is on the prosperous business of translations, which, according to the ATA spokesperson, is a 17 billion dollar-a-year industry worldwide.  The article highlights the work of Cuban Erik Camayd-Freixas, a simultaneous translator who has been the voice of the Hispanic community for televised events like George W. Bush’s declaration of war in Iraq, the Mass given by Pope Benedict XVI in Yankee Stadium and Barack Obama’s victory speech on election day. His deep voice, neutral inflection and precise enunciation have been keys to his success.
“When I’m interpreting, I can’t react. It has to look as natural as possible,” said Camayd-Freixas, who is also the Director of Florida International University’s Interpreting and Translation. The article also points out that one of the challenges in simultaneous translating is being able to express one’s self as if he were the speaker. After passing an audition, like an actor, an interpreter must then prepare for their part by studying related vocabulary and learning as much as possible about the topic to be discussed, as well as the person that he or she will be interpreting.
In the American Translators Association’s annual conference, ATA President Jiri Stejskal commented that one of the organization’s biggest challenges is “educating the public on the need for using professional translators and interpreters,” given that not doing so can leave a lot of things to chance.  “It does not matter if it’s a million dollar contract or a manual on medical equipment, a translation error can cost a lot of money, even a life, or as we’ve seen, the elections,”  said Kirk Anderson, association spokesman (See previous posts–  “Election Mistranslations and Mistakes” and “Fatal Mistakes”).

He went on to mention some of the words and phrases John McCain used in his campaign as examples, including “maverick” (res sin marca/ inconformista, disidente) and “You betcha” (puedes apostarlo), declaring that, while these do not have an exact translation and are very “English,” their Spanish versions did not have the same impact as the originals.

Trusted Translations, the leading producer of Spanish translation services in the U.S., has set the goal of reducing paper consumption by 90% in the next two years. Using the Environmental Working Group’s Ten Elements for Improving Environmental Performance and Compliance, Trusted Translations will implement policies to optimize and maximize the use of electronic means of internal and external communications by employing highly developed content management tools and secure high speed electronic delivery systems.

It is hoped that such policies will improve the corporate culture of Trusted Translations, as well as that of other companies in the industry. Also, by collaborating with NGOs, Trusted Translations aims to help raise environmental awareness amongst the Hispanic population.

Myth 1: Anyone bilingual person can be a good translator.

This is probably the most common misconception. It is indeed necessary to know more than one language to be a translator, but to be a good translator, the most important requirement is being a good writer. A professional translator needs a mastery of words, plus control over different writing styles and registers that he or she can employ for different types of projects, such as legal, medical, fiction, financial, etc.

Myth 2: You need a degree in translating or a foreign language  to be a professional translator.
This is not necessary to be able to work for the vast majority of translation agencies, and even less so for freelance work. In fact, translators often come from different fields, such as engineering, medicine or law, and then use their background knowledge to specialize in that type of translation.

Myth 3: Computer programs are better translators than humans.
Computers are great tools for translators, with their online glossaries, CAT tools, etc., but machine translations have a long way to go before they can produce something comparable in quality to a translation done by a professional translator. Check out the video below for a few examples of these funny translation mistakes.

We are constantly bombarded with advertisements promising us products for keeping our bodies looking young. But… What about our minds? Should we just assume that there’s no way to keep our minds getting old? Well, before you let this get you down, science has a bit of good news for bilingual people: it appears that having the possibility of communicating in two languages may help us fight “mental aging.” A recent psychological study discovered that compared to people who speak only one language, bilingual people have a greater ability to stay focused on a task in the midst of a constantly changing environment. This ability to stay focused, to find meaning in the madness and solve problems is known as “fluid intelligence,” and is one of the first brain functions to weaken as we get older. Researchers suggest that the ability to stay focused and concentrate on the task at hand while ignoring unnecessary information may be involve some of the same brain processes associated with using multiple languages.

The dictionary defines a bilingual person as someone who is able to communicate in more than one language, be it actively (oral and written) or passively (reading and listening comprehension). I have a preference for the definition that a very intelligent Engineer who spoke Spanish and English gave me several years ago: “People often ask those of us who speak two languages which language we think in. Being bilingual is first thinking, having an idea (or a question, answer or comment) shaped in your brain, and then deciding which language to say it in, because it’s all the same to us to use either one.”

I always think about a professor from University who would insist– and rightly so– that it was imperative for us to check and recheck that we had correctly translated all the different figures correctly: prices, amounts, measurements, dates, etc. An incorrect sum or total in a contract, for example, could lead to a serious problem and even legal action. The wrong measurements on blueprints could make a building crumble or a bridge collapse… But an incorrect dosage on a medical prescription –stressed the professor– could be fatal. “Imagine that a patient is supposed to take one pill every four hours and is given four pills every hour.” And we would laugh at his example…
But the truth is– it’s not funny at all. A translation error in the instructions for implanting a knee prosthesis led to problems for 47 patients who underwent the surgical procedure in 2006-2007 in a hospital in Berlin. Apparently, the doctors implanted the prosthesis without first applying the necessary adhesive because “non-alterable [prosthesis] that requires adhesive” was translated as “prosthesis that does not require adhesive.”
In March of 2007, a similar error caused four deaths (and various complications in another nineteen patients) in a hospital in France. It appears that the patients suffered overexposure to X rays because the instructions for using the medical software were incorrectly translated.
Being in a hurry to finish the job and make the deadline is no excuse. Knowing that someone, perhaps an expert on the subject or a proofer, will go over it after the editor does not make it ok. Medical negligence can cause serious injury, and negligence on our part can do the same.

After hearing about the now infamous Obama/Osama slips (John Ashcroft, Mitt Romney, etc.), plus the thousands of intentional “jokes” (Rush Limbaugh, Liz Trotta) on an almost weekly basis, one would think that the election and campaign mix-ups and mistakes would have run out by now. But a translated letter sent out to Spanish-speaking voters in Westchester, New York told potential voters that election day was November 9th instead of November 4th.

This unbelievable oversight was in the Spanish language section of a letter on voting procedure in Westchester, New York that was sent out by the Board of Elections.  This is the very same New York Board of Elections that sent out over four hundred absentee ballots with an option to vote for “Barack Osama” (instead of “Barack Obama”).  The letter with the incorrect election day is said to have been sent to nearly twenty-thousand people.

Will all of this have an effect on election results? Doubtful. Is this a lesson on the importance of proofing? Definitely.

Many people think that anyone who speaks a second language would make a good translator. It’s not enough however, for the translator to just be bilingual. He or she must be “bicultural” as well.

Understanding their “second language’s” culture is a must for translators. A professor from University used to tell us: “Navidad is an easy word to translate: we look it up in the dictionary and there it is: Christmas. But phrases like “Christmas mood” (humor o atmósfera de Navidad) or “Christmas landscape” (paisaje navideño) are not going to express the same sentiment in Spanish (or Finnish, or Russian…) as they do in English, given that the whole “Christmas experience” is not the same in every country. While Christmas is celebrated in the middle of summer in the southern hemisphere, the U.S. and other European countries with their falling snow and various traditions have a very different experience.

Having a dictionary is not enough for translating well. It is not only about translating words. For example, you could learn the words poner and pilas, but still not understand the meaning of the idiom ponerse las pilas. One also has to know about the particular phrases that require one special combination of terms (collocations) and not another: though people would most likely understand Prospera Navidad, this combination, while not technically “wrong,” would sound as strange as Happy Christmas or Merry Birthday.
One must take cultural references into account. A friend once had the task of translating a book for veterinarians in which there were instructions for a certain procedure for rabbits that had to be done “in January and February.” But if this was translated for the southern hemisphere, then January and February (summer in the southern hemisphere) would be the wrong time of year, with who knows what consequences for the poor animals.  (In this situation, she decided to add “in the northern hemisphere” in parentheses and let the veterinarians figure out that it should be done in July-August if they are in the southern hemisphere.)

With so much often said about the infiltration of English into the Spanish language, one often forgets that borrowed words and loan words are a two-way street. United States English has its share of linguistic contributions from Spanish, words that come from Mexico, Cuba, Spain and beyond. The two most common classifications are foreign words, which maintain the original meaning and spelling, and true loan words, which have the same or a similar meaning, but with an adapted spelling.

Foreign words– these are Spanish words that most English speakers will understand, though probably pronounce with a dubious accent.

“There’s a fiesta at Brody’s house tonight!

“Easy there macho man!”

“Don’t you know I’m loco?

Loan words- these are words that originate from Spanish, but have a different spelling, different meaning, or both.

“I’ll have a strawberry daiquiri.” (The word daiquiri comes from the name of a town in Cuba, which is a leading producer of rum and was once home to the Bacardi brand.)

“My dream is to go skiing in Colorado.” (Colorado means reddish or colored in Spanish.)

“I want a Corona and some nachos.” (As the story goes, the chips and cheese snack known as Nachos was invented by an Ignacio Anaya. Nacho is the Spanish nickname for Ignacio.

These are just a few of the many, many examples of Spanish’s influence on the English language. So the next time you’re having nachos and a daiquiri in Colorado, be thankful that the English Only locos are fighting a losing battle.

“Translations”

The same thing always happened to him. When someone translated one of his poems into a foreign language (at least, a foreign language that he knew), his own verses sounded better than in the original. This is why it came as no surprise that he found the French version of his poem “Time and the bell” amazing, graceful and full of substance.

Two years later, an Italian translator who did not know Spanish translated that French version. Although he had never been a big supporter of indirect versions (keeping in mind however that this is how he had been introduced to Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Confucius years before), he greatly enjoyed his poem” in italico modo.”

Another three years passed and an English translator who, like most English translators, did not know Spanish based his translation on the Italian version based on the French version. Despite being so far from the original, it was the most pleasing to the original Spanish speaking author. It just surprised him a bit (he actually attributed it to a printing error) that this new indirect version was entitled “Burnt Norton” and that the name of the alleged author was a T.S. Eliot. Nevertheless, he liked it so much that he decided to personally take on the task of translating it into Spanish.

Mario Bendetti

in Cuentos Completos (Ed. Seix Barral 1994, p.497)
Mario Bendetti (born in Uruguay in 1920) is described as a poet who also writes stories and novels. His novel La tregua (1960), whose cinematic version was nominated for an Oscar in 1974, has been translated into 19 languages. He has published over 80 books and earned countless awards.

The general consensus about Spanish in the U.S. is that its use, in terms of the number of speakers and general “visibility” (mainstream media, advertising, etc.), is growing exponentially. And with record numbers of Spanish-speaking immigrants coming from South and Central America, it looks like this will continue indefinitely. So, there is no doubt that thousands, millions of Spanish speakers are going to the U.S; the question, however, is this: Does the Spanish that immigrants take with them take root in the U.S or is it ultimately lost?

With more than thirty-five million people in the U.S. speaking Spanish as their main language at home, its use is certainly more than a blip on English’s radar. Add the large number of English speakers studying Spanish, be it in elementary school, at college, or as part of job training (medical professionals, govt. workers, etc.), and you have a very significant portion of the U.S. population with at least a basic ability to communicate in Spanish. Bilingual education programs are bigger now than they have ever been before, and businesses and corporations are spending more money than ever on bilingual advertising. So why is there any doubt?

For one, studies have shown that Spanish is rarely passed on to third generation Hispanics in the U.S. Children that do learn both languages at a young age generally have a much greater proficiency in English than in Spanish, due to the educational system and sheer exposure to English. History has also shown that even large numbers of immigrants cannot maintain a language that is not passed down by the generations. German, for example, was once widely-spoken in the U.S., but due to events like World War I and II, immigration reform, etc., the current number of German speakers in the U.S. has dwindled to tiny enclaves.

So will the use of Spanish in the United States ultimately rise, fall or hold steady? That remains to be seen.

The United States has long prided itself on being a “melting pot” of different cultures and backgrounds and this becomes especially apparent amidst talk of the different voter demographics and the pledges made to different ethnic groups. Apart from the Spanish translations that I mentioned before on McCain and Obama’s websites, something caught my eye the other day that seemed to be a true sign of the times.

It’s a website (http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/TranslatorsforObama) called Translators for Obama, and it employs a wiki-style approach towards translating Obama’s speeches and important articles already on the web, as well as subtitling and dubbing commercials and audio clips into a number of languages. Members can provide their own translations and information in any language they can. Links to Spanish, Chinese and Arabic translations are all available, plus related content in a myriad of languages. As the site’s creators themselves put it, they are “limited only by the number of languages [their] members know.”

Political parties aside, the most inspirational aspect of this to me is the ability to get a group of translators to unite (pro bono even!) and work together towards contributing something they believe will make a difference.

She is known by many names: Malinalli, Malintzin(Spanish transliterations of her original name– the tzin suffix was added to indicate hierarchy and nobility), “Doña Marina,” or most commonly, La Malinche. Malineli Tenepatl (c.1502 – c.1529), a Mexican girl born into the upper class, was presented to Mayan chiefs in Tabasco following a war between the Mayans and Aztecs. As a result of this situation she fluidly spoke both her native language, Nahuatl, and the language of her new owners, Mayan.

The chiefs gave the young slave to Hernán Cortés after he defeated the Tabascans at the Battle of Centla. Cortes christened her “Marina” and gave her to one of his captains. Upon learning that she spoke Nahuatl, he began to use her as a Nahuatl-Mayan interpreter, with Jerónimo de Aguilar (a Spanish survivor of a shipwreck who was freed from captivity by Cortés) completing the circle by translating Mayan into Spanish. All of the exchanges between the Spanish and Aztecs were carried out in this manner, using three languages and two interpreters, until Malintzin learned Spanish: it is most likely that this did not take very long, based on the fact the indigenous records usually leave out Jerónimo de Aguilar and reference Malintzin as having been the sole interpreter.

Apart from serving as interpreter, Malintzin advised the Spanish on the local customs and military tactics, possibly performing what would today be called “intel” and “diplomacy.”

There are many legends and conjectures about Malinche, but the facts are harder to come by. The Spanish word “Malinchismo” is derived from her name, a term meaning a preference for something foreign over local, to want to appear foreign over Mexican, and opportunistic and willing to betray one’s own country to aid foreigners. The reality however is that as an orphan passed between tribes and countries, Malintzin did not have a country to sell.

A few people also consider Malinche to be the “First Mother of Mexico,” initiating the birth of a country and in a more general sense, motherhood itself.

Personally, one of the things about translating that gets under my skin is having to check over it once I’m done. I hate it. But after a few jobs where I wanted to bang my head against the wall because I hadn’t gone back over it and spotted my stupid mistake (but of course someone else did, and was kind enough to point it out to me)…..Well, let’s just say that I accepted that reviewing translations is a must and cannot be avoided. And it may seem unnecessary if our translation is going to be revised by an editor, but isn’t it better for us to correct our errors before they do?

My solution? I always try to leave at least a couple of minutes before delivery time for going back over it. 10 or 15 minutes is plenty. The first three or four minutes are to relax: I finished the job. I’m no longer looking for words, I’m not after that exact phrase. I’m done translating. I go to the kitchen for some juice, maybe eat an apple, or step out on the balcony for some fresh air. And then I come back to face the final step.

I run spell check (for Word documents, which are the most common for me), which is necessary and helpful. But you have to remember that it’s not perfect: spell check doesn’t know when “sí” needs an accent and when it doesn’t, when you want to say “tale” or “tall” or when you’ve mistakenly written “his high-heels.” You have to reread the text, there’s no way around it. Sit down and read it closely and carefully. The little break between translating and reviewing helps you distance yourself from it a bit, making it seem “newer.” Being so into the text causes our eyes to play tricks on us, leading us to believe that we had written evrey word perfectly…

With the U.S. presidential election around the corner, both John McCain and Barack Obama are fighting harder and harder for the Hispanic vote. McCain however, has been accused of trying to take advantage of the supposed Spanish-English language barrier to make contradictory claims to English and Spanish speaking voters.

It is ironic that McCain would want anything related to his campaign translated, given that he voted to “amend title 4 United States Code, to declare English as the national language of the United States.” And although he has a website in Spanish, Spanish radio ads, and numerous translated print ads, until now they have been fairly straight forward. The new ad however, in which McCain is portrayed as being dedicated to improving guest-worker programs and the path to citizenship, goes directly against his English language position:

“[I] have pledged that it would be among my highest priorities to secure our borders first, and only after we achieved widespread consensus that our borders are secure, would we address other aspects of the problem in a way that defends the rule of law and does not encourage another wave of illegal immigration.”

So what is McCain’s real stance? Obama supporters say it depends on who he’s talking to.

If there is one thing that almost all translators can agree upon, it’s that two of the most things to translate, no matter what the language, are jokes and poetry. Jokes, because they usually have a play on words or phrases with a “double meaning” that are practically impossible to transfer from one language to another.

Take this English one-liner for example:

“Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He’s all right now.”

One possible translation would be: “¿Te enteraste de ese chico al que le cortaron todo el lado izquierdo? Ahora está bien.” It would be technically correct, understandable, but missing the punch line. The joke works in English because “right” here means “bien” and “derecho.” Maybe you could make a play on words with “derecho” in the sense of “recto,” or maybe in the sense of laws… Eventually, and with a good bit of work, a good translator could get some kind of humor out of it.  But it would never be the same joke.

And poetry holds even greater challenges, even if it the original does not rhyme or you decide not to try and make the translation rhyme, it still involves meter, cadence, and rhythm that tend to be most difficult to translate. If it’s not a translation, you’re writing a new poem… A poem is a unique combination of special words- and not others– that are also laid out in a unique arrangement. How does one do that? So then, does everyone need to learn the original language in order to read the poem? Exactly how many languages do we need to learn? Right.
Every language has its own ways to twist words around, its own double meanings and plays on words. It’s not exactly vital to translate jokes since every country or region has its own style of humor. But for poetry, I feel that we translators don’t have a choice. we wouldn’t have access to Russian poetry, Greek classics, Latin sonnets, or Japanese haikus if a translator hadn’t first taken on the task of translating them. And although it may not turn out “perfect,” I think we should keep trying…

Maybe one of the higher ups forgot that the handbook has to be in Spanish as well as English. Maybe part of the PowerPoint presentation is missing and needs to be translated into English for tomorrow’s meeting. Whatever the case, if you’re the client, you need it now. And if you’re the translator, you need to do it now. Here are a few tips on what both sides (client & translator) can do to make a situation known for causing nervous breakdowns go as smoothly as possible.

For the Client: Make sure that the translator or translation company has all the information they need, plus anything else you can provide (glossary, translation memory, translation style guide, etc.) so that there are no hold ups once the ball gets rolling. Answer any questions coming from the other side as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. And above all, remember that a quality translation takes time and hard work. Miracles can happen, but impossible demands will not get them.

For the Translator: Take a deep breath. Get all of your materials together, make sure you’re clear on the exact specifications of the project, and then get to work. Here’s the trick though: take a lot of short breaks. I know it seems impossible, but force yourself to do it. Rush projects typically result in low quality not because of the time crunch per se, but because a translator spends 8 consecutive hours translating and errors get made, the translator zones out, and the translation itself becomes more and more literal. So take 5 minutes and take a walk or eat an apple. Whatever you need to stay fresh. And follow the golden rule of course, save early and save often!

Harry Shaw is credited with saying, “There is no such thing as good writing. There is only good rewriting.” Believe it or not, translation is no different. In a best case scenario, a project will be translated, edited and then proofread by three different qualified translators. Most reputable Spanish translation companies provide these services as part of their normal translating process. Now maybe you don’t have time to give your document the full treatment, or you feel like you’d be wasting money by getting anything but a bare bones translation. Things come up out of the blue of course, but remember where that difference in time and money spent is going to show up: in the quality of the translation.

It comes as a surprise to many, but having a good translator does not always result in a good translation. A million things can go wrong: a misspelled word here, a missing phrase there, etc. These are the little things that, if not spotted, can blemish an important article, make you and your company look careless and possibly ruin a business opportunity.

As the world becomes more and more globalized, the realities of translation are reaching the mainstream. Machine translation does not work. No single translator is perfect. A project needs to be reviewed, revised, and corrected before it goes out. So a final quote to stress the importance of editing and proofreading.

“Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear.”
——- Patricia Fuller

When looking at the use of the Spanish language in the U.S., the numbers speak for themselves. According to the 2006 Census, the United States now has more than 35 million Spanish speakers, meaning there are more people speaking Spanish in the U.S. than in Venezuela, Chile, or Cuba. In fact, the U.S. currently has the sixth largest Spanish-speaking population in the world. The annual growth rate for the Latino community in the U.S. is approaching 4%, more than triple the overall growth rate, and experts say that by the year 2050, more than 25% of the U.S. population will speak Spanish.

These numbers have caused quite a stir, sparking debates on a “national language,” immigration policy, language in schools, and more. Even Presidential candidate Barack Obama has spoken his mind on the subject, stating “Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English. They’ll learn English. You need to make sure your child can speak Spanish.”

Now, what do you do when millions of people in the same country aren’t speaking the same language? Translate of course. Television, magazines, and other media now provide translated versions to reach a greater audience. Businesses like McDonalds and Coca-Cola spend millions on translating and localizing their marketing efforts to reach U.S. Spanish speaking customers. The intention here is not to provoke debate, but rather to point out that translations and translators, both formal and informal, have become the new liaison in the U.S.

The act of translating can be a very gratifying experience…or a pain in the neck.

Talking about the satisfying side is easy (and rather boring), and because the enjoyment is personal and distinctive for each one of us, it doesn’t do us much good in regards to learning or improving our skills.  The problems we face while translating however, if we were to share them, discuss them with colleagues and try to solve them, could help us grow in our profession.

What are some common problems that we face as translators? We have gone to great lengths to master the twists and turns of our own language, its rules and idiosyncrasies. Not to mention a new language, one that we grasp almost as our own, that we know so much about, but always with so much more to learn.  And we have a specialty, or a topic we prefer, or one that comes easily to us. But we also have the thousands of topics that we know nearly nothing about, that are hard for us to figure out, and that the mere thought of having to translate frightens us.  Even in best case scenarios, no translation is “ideal.” We have all had experiences with the client who doesn’t understand what we do, the time and the effort that we put into it. Not everyone understands that we are not machines that you enter words into and then a little while later the translation pops out automatically.

And the texts we work with? How does one deal with “clippings” with no context that give no clues as to the appropriate meaning/verb tense/pronoun? How many times would we give “our kingdom for a glossary” that wasn’t provided?  There is also the client that asks for explanations once the work is finished, or even returns the work “corrected.” And of course we have the small day to day decisions: “This sentence is correct, but… who is the translation for?” Things like not using the formal “usted” for elementary students, and tailoring our translations to a specific audience, be it Latinos in the US or Argentineans in Buenos Aires, or on the other side of the coin, British English versus American English. And if there are two choices for the same term (baúl/maletero or trunk/boot) we must select the proper “flavor” for our intended audience.

Although records of translations date back more than two thousand years, the Information Age has sparked quite a boom in the need for translation. The world has become more interconnected through international commerce, improved communications, and of course, the World Wide Web. This is especially true for Spanish and English, as things like NAFTA, the record numbers of Spanish-speaking immigrants in the U.S., and the loosening of trade restrictions has made increased communication between English and Spanish speaking countries essential. One can reach almost the entire world if they use the right channels, and the implications of this are enormous for both the Spanish and English speaking communities.

From a business perspective, the ramifications of this are unparalleled. The number of potential customers can jump exponentially overnight, and corporations have known this for years. Now we are seeing it trickle down to mid-size and even local companies, who use translations and a little cultural awareness to reach a new audience. With more than 300 million Spanish speakers in the world, companies are opening their doors to new potential customers by marketing directly to the Hispanic consumers. And with English as the world’s current lingua franca, Spanish speaking countries are doing likewise by translating into English.

In this blog, we are going to be talking about Spanish into English and English into Spanish translations. I hope to keep the topics varied enough so that everyone can learn a little about this specific style of translation, how it’s done, and why it’s important. Our goal is to provide information for everyone: an author looking to translate his or her work for the first time, a professional translator who wants to learn a little more about their trade, essentially anyone interested in Spanish-English translation.