It’s not a really good idea to approach a conversation by asking “How do I say this in French?” A better approach would be to say “How would a French person express this?” or better still, “How would my particular French self express this?”

He describes the idea of getting into character, of creating another self that speaks the other language. Instead of matching up words from one language to the other, you think about how your other self would express the same idea.

This, essentially, is what translation is all about. A literal or word-for-word translation isn’t necessarily more accurate, because it may not be the most natural way to express an idea in the other language. It might end up being nonsensical or — even worse — convey the wrong meaning.

So the translator’s job is to take in all the details of what is being said in one language and how it is being expressed, and then find the best way to express the same idea in the other language. A translator doesn’t just know multiple languages. As Coates would say, a translator has multiple selves.

For the past year, Spanish-speaking parents in Milford, Delaware, who brought their children to the playground facilities near the Lulu M. Ross and Mispillion elementary schools were greeted by a sign that warned them of possible police action if they attempted to use the playground without the proper permit.

That might have been fine, if not for the fact that the English version of the same sign required no such permit from visitors, only adequate parental supervision.

Source: Gawker

It looks like these elementary school playgrounds reused the (accurate) Spanish translation of signs posted at the middle school and high school sports fields, which aren’t open to the public. The silver lining is that this news story raised awareness about translation and showed how important it is to check translations before using them. And as a result, those bad translations at the playgrounds are already being taken down. You can read the rest of this story and see photos of the offending sign and read about the district superintendent’s response.

Here are a few tips to avoid ending up in the same situation:

• Start with a professional: Always use an experienced, professional translator to ensure that the translation carries the same message (in both meaning and tone) as the original.
• Check the context: When reusing a translation, make sure that the original text that it is based on hasn’t changed and that the translation is being used in the same context as before.
• Review the translation: If you want to reuse a translation in a new context, include a translation check before you use it. You may not have to have the text re-translated, but an experienced translator can perform a review or a full edit to make sure the translation is accurate and effective in that context.
• Test the translation: When in doubt about a translation, do a test run with your intended audience. Have native speakers look at both the original text and the translation, and make sure they agree about what it means. Your audience will be the ultimate judge of a translation’s effectiveness!

Remember: It can save you money to reuse a good translation … but only if you know it’s still accurate! If you need a review of a text that was translated from Spanish into English, let’s get in touch! I would be happy to help you make sure your audience gets the right message.

Members of the Spanish Language Division will want to get to bed early on Friday—the division meeting is bright and early on Saturday, 8:30-9:30 a.m.

There are plenty of sessions for Spanish translators (you can find a list of them in the ATA session schedule), although I did notice that there aren’t as many sessions oriented toward Spanish to English translators. But if you attend the Preconference Seminars, you can work with Marian Greenfield on Translating Financial Analysis (Spanish>English) and with Thomas West on Advanced Spanish>English Legal Translation. I’m sorry to be missing those!

If you are a bit of a technology nerd like me, you will also be interested in hearing what the Language Technology Division has planned for ATA 2012:

• The Annual Meeting of the Language Technology Division is on Friday, from 2:00 to 2:15 p.m.
• Be sure to attend the session “Subtitling Motion Pictures: Techniques and Technologies” with the LTD’s distinguished speaker, Alain Martinossi of Technicolor. His session is scheduled for Friday, 2:15pm to 3:15pm.
• All “Language Technology” sessions are listed in the ATA session schedule and on the LTD website.
• If you can stick around after the ATA conference ends, you can also catch the AMTA 2012 (10th Biennial Conference of the Association for Machine Translation in the Americas). Keynote speakers are Bonnie Dorr, DARPA Language Technology Program Manager, and Luis von Ahn, founder and inventor or reCAPTCHA and Duolingo and a notable TED speaker.

This process creates some real challenges, and I recently made a breakthrough. The design demanded code to deal with two issues: The front page has two columns that must be of equal height, and the rest of the pages have one column that needs to have at least the same height as a second column. Because the content in these columns is dynamic, I couldn’t just set a fixed height for any of them. I needed to find a solution that would automatically adjust the design when the content changed.

Luckily, I found a solution to the first problem with a little research. Someone had already written Javascript code to set equal column heights:

    <script type="text/javascript">
    jQuery.noConflict();
    function equalHeight(group) {
        tallest = 0;
        group.each(function() {
            thisHeight = jQuery(this).height();
            if(thisHeight > tallest) {
                tallest = thisHeight;
            }
        });
        group.height(tallest);
    }
    jQuery(document).ready(function() {
	equalHeight(jQuery("#container,#primary"));
    });
    </script>

The real problem came when I wanted to work with other pages. Try as I might, I couldn’t find a piece of code that successfully set a minimum column height based on the height of another column. So I took matters into my own hands—I modified the code above to fit my needs. Then I added an if/else statement so all of the code could be pasted into my theme’s functions.php file:

// script for column height function
 
function my_scripts() {
  if (is_front_page()) {  ?>
    <script type="text/javascript">
    jQuery.noConflict();
    function equalHeight(group) {
        tallest = 0;
        group.each(function() {
            thisHeight = jQuery(this).height();
            if(thisHeight > tallest) {
                tallest = thisHeight;
            }
        });
        group.height(tallest);
    }
    jQuery(document).ready(function() {
	equalHeight(jQuery("#container,#primary"));
    });
    </script>
 
  <?php } else { ?>
 
    <script type="text/javascript">
    jQuery.noConflict();
    function fixMinHeight(group) {
        thisHeight = 0;
        group.each(function() {
            thisHeight = jQuery(this).height();
        });
        jQuery("#container").css("min-height", thisHeight+100);
    }
    jQuery(document).ready(function() {
	fixMinHeight(jQuery("#secondary"));
    });
    </script>
 
 
<?php }  }
add_action('wp_head','my_scripts');

The result? All the columns work as they should. Someone else may come up with a more elegant solution, but I solved the problem. I jumped around the living room for a good five minutes after I got that to work!

For me, this process is very similar to translating. Like coding a website with an existing design, translating requires me to write based on a source text. When a puzzling term or tricky bit of grammar arises, a little research can sometimes lead me to a solution. If, however, a solution doesn’t already exist, I have to rely on a bit of ingenuity to come up with my own.

I didn’t know much about META (Multilingual Europe Technology Alliance), so I took a peek around their website. I came across some interesting information and resources:

META-SHARE - A repository of language data sets, tools, technology, and resources. Read more about META-SHARE.

META-NET Language White Papers - These white papers discuss the language technology support for specific European languages, considering the particular needs of each language. I am particularly interested in the white papers on Spanish and English, although there is a long list of papers in the series.

META-RESEARCH - This section is specifically focused on research in machine translation. There are limited materials available on the website right now, but at a time when many translators fear and misunderstand machine translation, I think it is worth keeping an eye on how this research goes.

Language Technology World - This is the META knowledge portal. There is a lot of information here, including links to other information sources, language tools, commercial products and services, and other language technology projects.

Six months later, I started seriously considering it as an option. Soon after that, I started studying German. Now I am writing this blog post as I sit in my living room in Aachen, Germany. How things change!

What this move means for my clients:

• I am now living on Central European Time (GMT+1). I still try to do most of my work during normal business hours, but my late-night habits mean that I often see emails from US clients as they arrive in my inbox.
• I can more easily work with clients and partners in Europe, including UK clients looking for a native US English speaker and clients in Spain looking for a translator who specializes in business, marketing, and international development.

What this move means for me:

• I am now able to visit Spain more easily—in fact, I traveled to Barcelona in November!
• I am discovering new resources, both local (such as the Asociación para el fomento del hermanamiento Aquisgrán-Toledo) and regional/national (such as the BDÜ, the Federal Association of Interpreters and Translators in Germany).
• I am learning German. I won’t be translating from German any time soon, but learning a new language keeps me thinking about language issues in general. And it’s fun!

I want to thank everyone who has been patient with my transition to a new country. It is a long process, and I’m sure surprises will pop up along the way. However, I am excited about what this new country—and new year!—have to offer.

This is a day to reflect not only on our day-to-day work, but also on our role in this global culture. As the world changes and technology brings us closer together, translators are becoming more, rather than less, important. The need for translation is obvious in our everyday lives. Even as non-translators take advantage of widely-available machine translation, they can see its shortcomings. There is a clear place for professional translators in our globalized world. Translators connect governments, businesses, doctors, development workers, students, … We make it possible for people with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds to work together to improve their lives and the lives of others. That is a profession I am proud to be a part of. Happy Translation Day!

In honor of our patron saint, here is a painting of St. Jerome by Jusepe de Ribera that I saw recently at the San Diego Museum of Art:

However, there is one sentence I dread. It usually comes in an email from a client. The email explains that the client has a project with a translator already lined up. And then the dreaded sentence:

“I am looking for a proofreader.”

What’s so wrong with that request? Shouldn’t I like hearing that my clients need me? Of course I should, and I do. But not everyone has the same idea of what it means to edit or proofread a translation. That one sentence doesn’t tell me what the client actually needs me to do. In other words, we end up wasting time trying to define what we both mean by “editing” and “proofreading.”

What is Editing?

Think of editing as the big picture process. The translation is compared to the original (source) text, and the translated text is reviewed as a whole. The editor should check for things like word choice, clarity, conciseness, consistency, jargon, and register. This editing process should answer a few simple questions:

1. Does the translation accurately convey the meaning of the source text?
2. Does the translation use the appropriate terminology and style for its intended audience?
3. Is the translated text consistent? (This is especially important when more than one translator was involved.)

A Word of Caution: Think twice before using a Spanish/English editor who offers “edition services.” The Spanish word for editing, edición, is sometimes mistranslated as the word “edition.” This kind of word choice error is exactly what a good editor should be watching out for!

What is Proofreading?

If editing is looking at the big picture, proofreading is like getting out the magnifying glass and doing a careful inspection. At this stage, the goal is to clean up the text; the source text is forgotten and the translated text must stand on its own. Issues to consider:

1. Style Guides: In-house guide and/or professional guides (such as The Chicago Manual of Style)
2. Mechanics: Spelling, capitalization, punctuation, abbreviations, numbers
3. Sentence Structure: Run-on sentences, comma splices, sentence fragments
4. Regional Differences: UK v. US English spelling and punctuation

A proofreader may have specific duties that depend on the kind of document or the client. My favorite client sends a checklist to all proofreaders, to ensure that our work is consistent and covers everything the client needs. After proofreading, the translation should be ready to use.

Who is the Editor/Proofreader?

So who do you contact for editing, proofreading, or both? Most translators include some amount of editing and proofreading in their workflow. For example, when I translate a document, I always compare my translation with the original document. I check it for accuracy, and then I rewrite any part that doesn’t flow well in English. After that, I proofread the entire document for mechanical and formatting errors.

For some documents, this process is sufficient. If the translation will only be distributed internally, you probably don’t need to get bogged down in additional editing. However, even the best translators won’t catch every error in their own work. If you are translating marketing materials or other documents to be published, an independent editor and/or proofreader will help create a polished product.

The editor should be an expert in both languages, while the proofreader may be monolingual. The editor should also know the subject matter deeply—nothing wastes your money like having errors introduced in the editing stage after paying top dollar for an expert translator. Proofreaders may or may not be experts on the subject, but they should be experts on the writing style guide used in-house and in your field.

When requesting editing and proofreading services, be clear what it is you need. Define the service you are looking for and your requirements for the person who carries it out. When it doubt, ask your language services provider to explain what is included in each service. Spending a little extra time at the outset will ensure a more accurate quote and the best translation for your needs.

There are a few things that translators need to be really good at: For one thing, I am an expert in both of my working languages. I spent years studying Spanish, visiting Spain, and working to build my fluency and language expertise. I also spent many years strengthening my writing skills in English, my native language. In addition, I have specialized knowledge in the fields in which I translate: marketing, business communications, international development, and humanitarian aid. (Learn more about my specializations and services here.) I spend a lot of time maintaining my language skills and knowledge base.

In order to stay focused on my areas of expertise while still diversifying my income, I have built up my translation business in several ways:

• Spanish to English Translation for a diverse client base: I work for a variety of clients, including translation agencies and direct clients. I prefer to work for smaller, similarly-specialized agencies (which may serve larger companies as their end clients) and with direct clients that tend to be smaller businesses and NGOs. By not focusing all of my work on one or two large companies, I am able to provide personalized service to each client and avoid putting all my eggs in one basket.
• English editing services: As a specialist in the English language, I also offer editing services to clients who produce documents in English, translate documents into English, and need to adapt British English to U.S. English. I include editing and proofreading in all of my translation projects—and I truly enjoy it!—so providing editing as a standalone service is a natural extension of my skills.
• Teaching translation: I teach a course in Spanish to English translation for the translation/interpretation certificate program at the University of California, San Diego Extension. It is incredible to be plugged into this community of successful Spanish-English translators and interpreters as well as aspiring language professionals. As a teacher, I can contribute to training future translators as well as growing and improving the language industry as a whole. Teaching also requires me to continually renew my language and writing skills. Thanks to my students, I am always learning!
• Business workshops for translators: I have also offered two workshops at UCSD Extension centered on best practices for translation businesses. Creating Your Own Website teaches translators how to create a simple, professional website that will help get them noticed by potential clients. Formatting Translation: Integrating Desktop Publishing into Your Workflow introduces translators to basic DTP skills and discusses how to offer clients different kinds of DTP services.

My diverse streams of income provide stability for my business while maintaining a focus on the language services industry. I am also looking into ways to develop more passive streams of income, such as recorded webinars or e-books about my areas of specialization. My goal is to do what I love without sacrificing long-term, financial stability … so far, so good!

Do you want to hire me for Spanish to English translation or English editing? Learn more about my services or contact me directly and get started right away.

Are you looking for a instructor for translation courses or business workshops? Would you like someone to give a presentation about the translation or language services industry at your San Diego-area event? Contact me with details about your needs and timeline.

The mission of the American Translators Association’s certification program is “to evaluate the competence of translators according to guidelines that reflect current professional practice.” ATA certification is neither a requirement for translators in the United States nor a guarantee of a translator’s ability to excel on any particular translation project. (And some translators point out that current professional practice involves computers, which are not allowed in the ATA exam.) There are also excellent translators who are not certified. However, ATA certification is one measure of a translator’s ability. And despite required qualifications for taking the exam, the overall pass rate is still below 20%.

In my case, ATA certification is added to my education, training, and growing experience. It isn’t my only qualification, and it isn’t the end of the process of becoming a great translator. I don’t get to sit back and relax now. For me, being a certified translator means that I have to work harder! I hope to continually improve my work and provide better service to my clients. I also hope to continue to educate myself in both the translation field and my fields of specialization. Part of why I love translation is that it gives me ongoing opportunities to learn!

So this just one step in my career, but it’s a step that I plan to celebrate!