Does It Makes Sense To Charge For Translations By The Word?

This is how I have been charging for my translations, with few exceptions, since I hung out I my shingle as a freelance translator in San Francisco in 1987.

But is it the best way to determine how much a translation should cost?

As far as I know, the most common method in the United States is to charge based on the number of words in the target language. Since I translate into English and live in United States, the cost of my translations is determined by the number of English words in the translated version of the original document.

There is a way for translators to abuse this arrangement. For example, I can translate the word “mochiron” in Japanese, or the word “selbstverständlich” in German to English as:

1. “obviously”, which is 1 word,

2. as “of course”, which is 2 words, or

3. as “it goes without saying”, which would be 4 words.

It goes without saying that many translators will tend to favor the “it goes without saying ” version in their translations to achieve a higher remuneration of their efforts. And there are translators who will shamelessly abuse the English language by trying to cram as many English words into their translations as possible, which is a technique also known in the industry as “word count padding”. But since you can’t keep padding the words in your translation without making it painfully obvious, even to a relatively unsophisticated customer, that you are simply doing it to increase the cost, people who use this technique are very likely to ultimately lose the customer.

Other methods for arriving at the cost of a translation are used in other countries.

When I used to work for Japanese translation agencies back in the nineties, these agencies counted the pages in the original language in a format called “genko yoshi“, which means something like “a standard page”, roughly corresponding to a double spaced page in English with about 250 words on one page. I am guessing that this method is still probably used in  Japan. This method kind of makes sense, especially since it is not clear what is a word in  Japanese as there are no spaces between words in that language.

A similar method is used in Germany, except that as far as I know, most people there use the price per a standard line with 55 characters on one line and 25 lines on a double spaced page. Since there are so many compound words in “the awful German language” as Mark Twain described it, this method also makes sense. For example the term “Medikamentenabgabeeinrichtung” is only 1 word in  German, but the English translation, “medication dispensing device”, has 3 words.

German translators who translate foreign languages into German are thus at a significant disadvantage because the word count in German is by about 30% lower than for instance the word count in English. Some translators into German for this reason charge based on the word count in the original language, for example English.

Charging for translation based on the source rather than the target language thus also makes sense, especially in view of the fact that by using this method, one can give the client a precise price quote ahead of time.

PDF files in languages such as German, French, Russian or Japanese used to present a major problem for me because the word count had to be estimated page by page, which took a long time. But it is quite easy now to convert PDF files in many languages into MS Word with Adobe PDF Converter, which costs 20 dollars for a yearly subscription. This program can be used online from any computer by clicking on the “Convert to MS Word” option. This is very helpful also for estimated word counts for translations from Japanese because if the character count in the Japanese MS Word file shows 6 thousand words (which is completely incorrect regardless of how one would define the “word unit” in Japanese), this means that the translation will have about 3 thousand English words because 2 Japanese characters (hiragana, katakanaor kanji) roughly correspond to 1 English word.

Different languages will have slightly different word count in MS word due to different structure or orthographic rules, etc. For instance, because Slavic languages have no article (except for Bulgarian), personal pronouns such “I” are often optional, and also because they use fewer prepositions – things like “from”, “to”, or “about” can be indicated not only with prepositions in Slavic languages, but also with endings of nouns which will then count as 1 word, they tend to have a slightly lower word count than English. For example, “He said it to me”, which is 5 words in English, would be “Řeklmi to” in Czech, which is only 3 words.

French, on the other hand, tends to have a slightly higher word count than English, partly due to different orthographic rules in French – “in this model;”, which is 3 words in English, will become “dans ce modèle ;” in French, which will be counted as 4 words due to the obligatory space in front of the semicolon.

Some translators say that it would be best if translators were paid like lawyers, by the hour and in increments of 15 minutes.

Perhaps it would be best. But it is never going to happen because the customers would then have no control over how many hours we charge. Slow translators would also then be making more money than their faster colleagues for the same number of pages, which would hardly be fair.

Customers do put up with having to pay lawyers by the hour because they really don’t have much choice  in the matter since this world is run by lawyers – look at the US Congress, for example – which is why the world is in such a bad shape, many would say.

But since translators are hardly in a position to dictate their preferred payment terms to their clients, a remuneration method that is based on the word count in European languages or even in Japanese, with modifications depending on the language, is in fact very rational, at least in the field of technical and patent translation – provided that both the translator and the customer understand the rules in advance and agree to them.

On the other hand, I also think that the word count method is not really fair if we are talking about translation of novels, or translation of slick advertising and seductive commercial propaganda and other interesting translation niches in which translators often must be much more creative than mere technical translators such as myself.

http://patenttranslator.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/does-it-makes-sense-to-charge-for-translations-by-the-word/

Lawful Translation Referred

When an difficulty regarding the several lawful constructions of languages materialize, the legal agent as well as the shoppers are instructed to obtain translation support which will mend the barrier among authorized techniques, language, and lifestyle and just give literate translations relatively than literal technical manual translation.The action of changing texts while in the subject of law is thought as legal translation. For law is known as a culture dependent spot, legal translation isn't really that effortless. An authority translator must be described as a specialist within the job of changing documents. The instant you will find a mistranslation, there may be lawsuits and lots of cash will probably be put in.

Any time a translator translates a text inside the subject of regulation, she have to guidance the following as part of your mind. Firstly, the lawful translation merchandise is built on the subject of the culture which happens to be based mostly within the legal language. In the same way, the prospective textual content needs to be go through by an individual who proceeds to generally be familiarized with another language or legislation.

A specialist translator should be thought of a linguist or maybe a lawful particular person just after some detective operate readily available to guarantee that he is capable to acquire the foremost points inside of a textual content. Furthermore, a translator must have the ability to research and concentrate the strategies relating to ways to explain authorized strategies verified within just the resource language of your textual content that are not such as the goal language and it is actually laws. In addition, the translator need to have the chance to decode the origin text and rebuild its indicating inside of the focus on text. In various conditions, a translator can certainly be minimal even though checking out for suitable text, phrases and parenthetical clarifications. This really is due to the truth that exact translation just isn't definitely probable.

Legal text translators of textual content such as start file translation ordinarily find the assistance of regulation dictionaries like bilingual legislation dictionaries. Having said that, the translator really should be very careful for the reason that quite a few bilingual law dictionaries are of very low top quality high quality moreover they can be only ready to cause mistranslation. Each translator have to support the principles every time they decode a text. The translations needs to be decoded within the authentic textual content and they must be transformed completely and precisely. They should to also persist with the format and layout within the primary textual content way too. The translator will have to not alter any names of folks, marks of nobility, activity titles, and under no circumstances the exact spelling on the title and it ought to be taken frankly inside the first textual content.

A highly skilled lawful translator who operates collectively with certification translation should realize that you will discover diverse vicinities of regulation that display unique translation approaches. A contractual producing features a tiny element that may be comparable to self-discipline, administrative certification, along with a judicial selection or statute. One translator needs to learn about how you can seek the advice of a monolingual authorized dictionary and at the same time a dissertation pertaining to the subject material. Also, bilingual dictionary may possibly even be used but they should for being used meticulously.

Besides from lexical gaps or vocabulary lacunae, the translator can emphasis on a few of particulars. Textual conventions that are inside the native language are usually culture-dependent and will never coincide using the textual conventions within the target lifestyle. You will find no similarity among your linguistic buildings from your source language and in addition the goal language. This is why the translator need to look for with the buildings inside the concentrate on language which is much like the responsibilities from the constructions with the native language.

http://www.zimbio.com/News/articles/bBXs6a-XeC9/Lawful+Translation+Referred

Is It Time for Freelancers to Slow Down?

We freelancers seem obsessed with speed. There are many articles out there to instruct us on how to get more done in less time.
Not only that, but I’m often contacted by freelancers who are looking for ways to do their work more quickly. The common thinking is that the more a freelancer does, the more they will earn.
And it’s not just freelancing. Our entire culture seems to be in a rush.

But is it true? Is faster better? The signs are out there that it may be time for many freelancers (and others) to slow down.
In this post, I’ll describe some of the problems associated with trying to accomplish too much. I’ll also address one reason why freelancers try to work too fast.

5 Problems with Going Too Fast

What could be wrong with trying to get more done?
A lot, it turns out.

Here are five unfortunate consequences of trying to get too much accomplished in too little time:ù

Mistakes. The faster you try to work, the more likely you are to make a mistake in your work. And while some mistakes are relatively minor, some are not. Serious mistakes can mean that you have to redo part or all of the work. In fact, taking a little more time on a project initially could mean you ultimately spend less time overall.

Skipped Steps. Another drawback to trying to work too quickly is that you may skip steps in a project that you really should complete. And your record keeping for a project is probably sloppier when you are in a hurry. In the long run, skipped steps can come back to haunt you later.

Less of a Personalized Touch. One of the big advantages of freelancing is that you can offer the client more personal attention than a larger organization could. Trying to work too fast completely destroys this freelancing advantage. Instead of taking the time to offer a client personal attention, a hurried freelancer is likely to avoid or minimize interactions.

Missed Deadlines. An overloaded freelancer is likely to forget to do something important and miss a deadline. And even they don’t forget, it’s likely that they will have underestimated the amount of time one or more projects actually takes to complete. Even one wrong estimate can cause a domino effect that makes all of a freelancer’s projects late.

Stress. Last, but not least, is that trying to get too much done in too little time is really stressful for most freelancers. And we all know that stress is usually not a good thing. So, why make your life more stressful than it has to be? Slow down and take the time to do your projects at a comfortable pace.

The bottom line is that placing too much emphasis on working quickly is bad for both freelancers and clients. But, is it really possible to slow down?
I think it is.

How You Can Slow Your Freelancing Business Down

Many freelancers think that they have to work at a break-neck pace in order to make a living. But the only time that is really true is if you are marketing yourself as the cheapest alternative in your field.

If you sit and wait for clients to come to you or if you find your clients mainly on bidding sites, then your unique selling proposition for your freelancing business is probably having the lowest price (even if you don’t realize it).

You can shift your selling proposition by changing your marketing strategy. Target a different breed of client (one that is willing to pay you to spend more time on your projects) by:

Networking with company decision-makers. Ideally, you should do this online and face-to-face. Make an effort to follow and interact with high-quality potential clients on social media. Be a part of any relevant professional organizations or conferences that meet in your town.

Contacting select companies directly. Many freelancers are afraid to contact companies directly. They are afraid of rejection, but direct marketing (through cold calling or targeted mailings) can actually be quite effective if you have something of value to offer.

http://freelancefolder.com/slow-down/

Taus translation technology landscape report

From Luxury to Utility

The translation technology segment is at a deeply transformative point in its evolution. For one generation the segment was largely comprised of solutions that serviced the professional translation industry. These tools improve the productivity and consistency of human translation and they remain relevant for their steadily growing target market.

However, in the last five years the grandfather of all translation automation technologies, machine translation, began to be adopted by the professional industry en masse and is increasingly ubiquitous on the worldwide web.

The ubiquity of continuously improving data-driven or statistical machine translation is one of three factors creating a paradigm shift in the demand for translation. In addition, global economic growth is shifting to non-English speaking markets and globalization is leading to previously unseen levels of cultural exchange.

TREND CONVERGENCE DRIVES TRANSLATION AS A UTILITY

Together these major technology, economic and social trends are converging to create a paradigm shift in translation from a “cost of doing business” for a few thousand organizations and a luxury professional service for almost everyone else, to a utility sector. That is to say, a necessary service for all players in the global information society, with differentiated quality expectations dependent on purpose.

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About The TAUS Translation Technology Landscape Report

The 60-page report will help beginners to understand the main uses for different types of translation technology, differentiate offerings and make informed decisions. For more experienced users and business decision-makers the report shares insights on key trends, future prospects and areas of uncertainty. Investors and policymakers will benefit from analyses of underlying value propositions.

http://translationautomation.com/reports/taus-translation-technology-landscape-report

5 examples of how the languages we speak can affect the way we think

Economist Keith Chen starts today’s talk with an observation: to say, “This is my uncle,” in Chinese, you have no choice but to encode more information about said uncle. The language requires that you denote the side the uncle is on, whether he’s related by marriage or birth and, if it’s your father’s brother, whether he’s older or younger.

“All of this information is obligatory. Chinese doesn’t let me ignore it,” says Chen. “In fact, if I want to speak correctly, Chinese forces me to constantly think about it.”

This got Chen wondering: Is there a connection between language and how we think and behave? In particular, Chen wanted to know: does our language affect our economic decisions?

Chen designed a study — which he describes in detail in this blog post— to look at how language might affect individual’s ability to save for the future. According to his results, it does — big time.

While “futured languages,” like English, distinguish between the past, present and future, “futureless languages,” like Chinese, use the same phrasing to describe the events of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Using vast inventories of data and meticulous analysis, Chen found that huge economic differences accompany this linguistic discrepancy. Futureless language speakers are 30 percent more likely to report having saved in any given year than futured language speakers. (This amounts to 25 percent more savings by retirement, if income is held constant.) Chen’s explanation: When we speak about the future as more distinct from the present, it feels more distant — and we’re less motivated to save money now in favor of monetary comfort years down the line.

But that’s only the beginning. There’s a wide field of research on the link between language and both psychology and behavior. Here, a few fascinating examples:

1. Navigation and Pormpuraawans
   In Pormpuraaw, an Australian Aboriginal community, you wouldn’t refer to an object as on your “left” or “right,” but rather as “northeast” or “southwest,” writes Stanford psychology professor Lera Boroditsky (and an expert in linguistic-cultural connections) in the Wall Street Journal. About a third of the world’s languages discuss space in these kinds of absolute terms rather than the relative ones we use in English, according to Boroditsky. “As a result of this constant linguistic training,” she writes, “speakers of such languages are remarkably good at staying oriented and keeping track of where they are, even in unfamiliar landscapes.” On a research trip to Australia, Boroditsky and her colleague found that Pormpuraawans, who speak Kuuk Thaayorre, not only knew instinctively in which direction they were facing, but also always arranged pictures in a temporal progression from east to west.
   .
2. Blame and English Speakers
   In the same article, Boroditsky notes that in English, we’ll often say that someone broke a vase even if it was an accident, but Spanish and Japanese speakers tend to say that the vase broke itself. Boroditsky describes a study by her student Caitlin Fausey in which English speakers were much more likely to remember who accidentally popped balloons, broke eggs, or spilled drinks in a video than Spanish or Japanese speakers. (Guilt alert!) Not only that, but there’s a correlation between a focus on agents in English and our criminal-justice bent toward punishing transgressors rather than restituting victims, Boroditsky argues.
   .
3. Color among Zuñi and Russian Speakers
   Our ability to distinguish between colors follows the terms in which we describe them, as Chen notes in the academic paper in which he presents his research (forthcoming in the American Economic Review; PDF here). A 1954 study found that Zuñi speakers, who don’t differentiate between orange and yellow, have trouble telling them apart. Russian speakers, on the other hand, have separate words for light blue (goluboy) and dark blue (siniy). According to a 2007 study, they’re better than English speakers at picking out blues close to the goluboy/siniy threshold.
   .
4. Gender in Finnish and Hebrew
   In Hebrew, gender markers are all over the place, whereas Finnish doesn’t mark gender at all, Boroditsky writes in Scientific American (PDF). A study done in the 1980s found that, yup, thought follows suit: kids who spoke Hebrew knew their own genders a year earlier than those who grew up speaking Finnish. (Speakers of English, in which gender referents fall in the middle, were in between on that timeline, too.)

http://blog.ted.com/2013/02/19/5-examples-of-how-the-languages-we-speak-can-affect-the-way-we-think/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TEDBlog+%28TEDBlog%29

Translation: who's responsibility is it anyway?

While there is such thing as translator’s responsibility, legal cases over translations are very rare in Hungary. The usual means of settlement in the case of mistakes, dissatisfaction or disagreement generally involves reaching a mutual agreement, often with a discount thrown in.

Mistranslating a poem usually lies in the bounds of “translators’ artistic freedom” and, even for mistakes in a novel there isn’t much more punishment than long days of internet mockery, as in the case of Hungarian translation of 50 Shades Of Gray where the band Kings of Leon became Lion King. However, a mistranslation in a legal document could cause serious problems between the contracting parties and, potentially, damages beyond enumeration.


So, while translating sitcoms or novels might be a good second job or provide some pocket money for linguistic students, legal translation require a full committed specialist with in-depth knowledge. Knowing the language is not enough. 


“Translating a legal document is perhaps the hardest of them all,” said Kinga Hetényi, partner at law firm Schoenherr. Without a law degree, the task is almost impossible to fulfill as in legal practice words have very specific meanings. “When a legal translation has to be very good and accurate, there are two possibilities. Either we lawyers translate the text, or we assign the work to a translator and then we verify the result,” she explains.

“However, the verifying process, unless it’s a very good quality translation, is long and wearisome work. We have to check the original text, translate its meaning, than verify if the translated phrases mean the same. We have too think over the whole text in two languages simultaneously. Altogether, it’s not necessarily true that a translation is cheaper or quicker using a translator and then a verifying lawyer.” Hetényi added, however, that she had never heard of a client suing a translating agency or independent translator.


Lajos Énekes, managing director of the Reflex Translating Agency, said it was clear where responsibility lay. “Of course, there is such thing as translator’s responsibility, and the service provider is always liable,” he explained. “If our translating agency makes a mistake and hence causes damage to the client, our company is responsible exclusively, as we signed the contract.”

If a customer was to sue the agency, it would go after its subcontractor or employee who made the faulty translation. But the problem rarely goes to court; Énekes has never heard of someone actually suing for translation liability throughout his career. “These cases always finish with mutual agreement: the translation agency corrects the mistake at its own expense or the client cancels the order,” he said. “First of all, we examine, if the complaint is justified or not,” he explained the Reflex approach. “If yes, we fix the problem for free, and top it with a discount. Sometimes the client doesn’t want to work together with us any more. In these cases, we lose all the money and of course, our translator doesn’t get a penny. However, sometimes the complaint is not justified, for example, the customer seemingly wants only to reduce the costs of translation. In these cases, if the sum is high enough, we will start a trail, and one or two years later we get our money legally. In these cases, of course, the innocent translator gets all his allowance. Finally, preparing for the worst, we have a liability insurance for a claim of up to HUF 25 million, but we never had to used it,” he added.


Freelance contract translator Ákos Müller explains that “As far as I know, translators are liable for the results of their work up to the sum of their allowances.” However, fields and boundaries of responsibility are always detailed in the contract between the agency and its subcontractor. Moreover, there is a fine method to dodge responsibility regarding legal texts: such documents usually contain a clause in which the original and authoritative language is determined. 


Besides mistranslations, confidentiality is also an important issue in terms of liability, since translation agencies and their translators often have access to highly sensitive client information in the course of their work, said Dániel Bodonyi, managing partner for language services at Helpers Hungary Ltd.

Quite a different problems comes from the fact that, although most major universities in Hungary offer specialized translator training programs, translation quality has been decreasing due to a lack of well defined, widely accepted quality standards and increasing price pressure in the market, which has caused some agencies to reduce wages to levels unseen since the late 1990s.


“The quality of the written word appears to have become less important for society in general,” Bodonyi said. “It is not rare even for major Hungarian news sites to run articles with spelling and grammar mistakes in them, and a significant number of otherwise highly competent professionals are often unfamiliar with basic spelling rules. Despite the increasing adoption of ISO and other quality assurance standards and a few general recommendations by the Association of Hungarian Translation Companies, a lot remains to be done in terms of the precise definition and large scale adoption of translation quality standards and procedures to enable the industry’s further development,” Bodonyi added.

http://www.bbj.hu/business/translation-whos-responsibility-is-it-anyway_64800

Understanding Intercultural Communication Part 1 - Saying 'no'

When discussing the implications of English as a lingua franca (ELF) in the world of English language teaching, we sometimes seem to be stuck in a place where debates tend to be about whether ELF is a variety in its own right or whether proponents of ELF are at all advocating the dumbing down of the teaching of lexis and grammar.

However, the fact is, English is increasingly being accepted as the main lingua franca of global business and trade, and perhaps the issues this is posing to intercultural communication are really discourse-related, and not strictly grammar- or lexis-related. But can we look at the discourse of intercultural communication without considering the different discourse styles of the different cultures? Would that then mean that English teachers now need to also be cultural trainers?

Some claim that as language trainers, we should just be teaching language. We could of course confine ourselves to looking at the linguistic differences between cultures and how people use of language to convey a more hidden illocutionary force. Let me further exemplify.

When I say to my partner, ‘Why are these shoes sitting in the hallway?’, the real meaning behind my utterance is ‘These shoes don’t belong in the hallway. You really should have put them away.’ This ‘real meaning’ is the illocutionary force of my utterance.

However, my partner completely misunderstands me and perceives this to be a real question. The perlocutionary force for him is ‘I really want to know why the shoes are in the hallway’. So he proceeds to explain that the shoes were wet when he came in from the snow, and how he didn’t have time to put them on the shoerack. From my point of view, the time he has taken to explain why the shoes are in the hallway could have been better spent just putting those shoes away.

Clearly, what is meant by the speaker is not always perceived correctly by the interlocutor. And some say that this could be put down to the simple cultural differences between the way men and women speak.

When everyone agrees and we’re all saying ‘yes’, things are usually much simpler. But having to say ‘no’ to someone is a face-threatening act (FTA) and often has to be handled with a bit more tact.

When a Japanese person looks at a proposal and says ‘Omoshiroidesune…’ (i.e. That’s interesting…), it is really a polite and face-saving way of rejecting the idea and saying ‘no’. In fact, learners of the Japanese language often find out soon enough that the word for ‘no’ is hardly used in Japanese. So someone asks me ‘Are you Japanese?’, I’d answer ‘Eh…chigaimasu…’ (i.e. Well…that’s different…).

The act of saying no to offers can conversely be used to show how much we hate to burden our conversation partner. Such preservation of what Applied Linguists call ‘negative face’ is seen quite often in the UK and Ireland. When asked if one wants a second helping at the dinner table, it is often polite in English/Ireland to refuse by saying things like, ‘Oh, I couldn’t possibly.’ The host would then insist once or twice in order to tell the difference between a true refusal or one that is only meant to be polite.

Host: ‘Would you like more potatoes?’

Guest: ‘No, I couldn’t possibly.’

Host: ‘Oh go on. Have some more. Go on…’

Guest: (looking apologetic) ‘Oh, okay, if it’s not too much trouble...’

Polite refusals in Germany, on the other hand, are often taken at face value. 

Host: ‘Would you like more?’Guest: ‘No, I couldn’t possibly.’Host: ‘Ok, then.’

My German friend who was having dinner with a family in Dublin found it incredibly irritating that he had to reiterate his refusal of those potatoes several times before being understood, while his Irish counterpart found it shocking that his initial polite refusal was immediately accepted in Bavaria, and he was left hungry and wanting more food, but not wanting to seem rude.

As we can see, confining our training to merely linguistic differences can sometimes overlook the different rhetorical conventions of the different cultures. In what is becoming a common maxim in the service culture, the use of the word ‘no’ or any form of negative in a sentence is to be avoided at all costs when speaking to customers. Here’s a recent experience my partner had that perfectly exemplifies how this can sometimes lead to frustration and misunderstandings.

Flight Attendant: What would you like to drink?Passenger: Fanta orange, please.Flight Attendant: We have Coke, Sprite, Orange juice and Apple juice.
(She avoids saying ‘no’ to the passenger’s question)
Passenger: It doesn’t have to be Fanta. Any kind of fizzy orange drink will do.
(The passenger has failed to understand her illocutionary force: ‘No, we don’t have any fizzy orange drinks’)
Flight Attendant: Well, I can put some orange juice into fizzy water for you if you like.Passenger: So, you don’t have any kind of fizzy orange juice?(exasperated and thinking, ‘Why is she not answering my question?)
Flight Attendant: Well, I can give you Sprite or Coke, if you like?(exasperated and thinking, ‘Is he being daft or just difficult?’)
Passenger: Oh, alright then, give me a Coke.(still perplexed but has given up on trying to get a straight answer out of the attendant)

The expectation of a more direct answer has left the passenger feeling condescended and frustrated by the end of the conversation, and the culture of never saying ‘no’ in the flight service industry clearly has not worked for this one exasperated flight attendant.

As seen in the above examples, the term ‘culture’ is in no way limited to discussions solely about national cultures. Each different social or gender group, community, company, and industry could have a culture of their own, and even so, this culture is dynamic, and always changing and developing. As it develops, it might even take on the qualities or values of the cultures of new participants or new influences.

In the above example, the assumption that indirectness is always more polite and therefore the preferred way in customer service industry could be due to the fact that quite a lot of recent customer service training has its roots in the USA, and therefore is very much based on an American/British discourse pattern.

As English becomes a lingua franca of global businesses, would the culture of the economically dominant native English speakers also become the norm in such global industries as flight service? Or should we take into account the fact that such customer service approaches might not work as well when communicating with those from cultures that expect more direct answers?

Do you consider these issues worth discussing in your language classroom?

http://www.eltknowledge.com/understanding_intercultural_communication_part_1__saying_39no39_31678.aspx

You Don't Need an Interpreter!

Those who interpret in community and court settings will probably be quite familiar with this interesting species: the person who does not really need an interpreter, but who requests one (and is certainly mostly entitled to one) anyway. We've never personally seen this happen in conference interpreting settings (or at least we don't find out, but we have heard of conference attendees who get a headset to listen to the interpreting just to see if it's good). Those who DNRNAIs (=do not really need an interpreter) can present a wide variety of potential challenges, and it also makes for an interesting interpreting assignment. Here's our take on how and why this happens and how to deal with it.

The first thing to keep in mind is that the interpreter is there to interpret and has not been retained to give an expert opinion of the person's ability (or lack thereof) to speak the language. Many times, attorneys, especially during highly contentions civil depositions, will try to pull the interpreter into the argument, asking him or her to "tell us if the deponent (the person who has requested an interpreter) speaks _________." When we are in that situation, we politely say that we are not qualified to give an on-the-spot language ability assessment  nor has it been agreed upon which criteria or scale should be used. Our advice: don't give an opinion. While you may have some insight into the person's language ability, you are probably not qualified to give an expert opinion, so you should not. Stick to your role.

Now that it's probably been established that the interpreter should stay (after much bickering between attorneys or other parties), the tough part starts. For example: it is probably quite true that the person in question (the DNRNAI person) understands the source language quite well. That means that the DNRNAI person doesn't really need an interpreter to understand the question, but does need one to answer, as he or she is simply not that strong in the second language -- understanding is always easier than speaking. There are a variety of reasons for requesting an interpreter when you don't truly need one (again, there's a lot of debate as to who needs an interpreter):

• For tactical advantages in court. We've seen this a lot during divorce and custody proceedings. Sometimes things are so contentious that the parties don't want to leave anything to chance, even though they can communicate in English with their attorneys just fine. However, once proceedings start, the parties (or party) do want an interpreter, many times in the hopes that court interpreters will simplify or explain the proceedings to them, which of course we cannot.
• As a security blanket. Some parties just want an interpreter present in case they don't understand something and request the interpreter to be on stand-by. Usually the other party loudly protests this and demands that the interpreter either interpret everything or nothing. Of course everyone knows things will take a lot longer with an interpreter, which is why occasionally attorneys will kindly suggest sending the interpreter home. Again, as the interpreter, we don't chime in. We sit there, looking pretty (if we can), smile, and let the parties sort it out. 
• Because they can. Depending on the state, the jurisdiction and the type of case, people have a well-established right to an interpreter (Civil Rights Act of 1964, etc.), so many times people just want their interpreter, period. Sometimes, this can get a bit odd. Judy has interpreted for well-known business owners who've lived and worked in the United States for years, yet want an interpreter for their native language (Spanish), which is no longer their dominant language. The problem: when you interpret correctly into their native language, they oftentimes don't understand it, because English is really their dominant language. Still, they insist on answering in half-English, half-Spanish. We just keep calm and carry on.

Now, during the actual proceedings, DNRNAI persons will routinely NOT wait for the question to be interpreted, since they understand it just fine in English. They will start answering the question in their foreign language immediately, even while the interpreter is still rendering the (unnecessary on all fronts) interpretation. Usually, their counsel will instruct them to let the interpreter finish, but that rarely works (in our experience). One must be prepared for hours of constantly being interrupted. This also really confuses the court reporter, and it's one of the big problems of interpreting for someone who doesn't need an interpreter. In addition, their attorney will usually instruct them to answer exclusively in their native language and let the interpreter do the job. The problem with that is that they are no longer fully fluent in their native language and thus speak Spanglish, Denglish, etc., which is of course also challenging  on all fronts, especially since they use many terms incorrectly.

As you can see, interpreting for people who don't really need an interpreter (DNRNAI persons) is full of potential landmines, but somehow, we manage to enable communication without too many problems. What's your experience? We'd love to hear about it. 

http://translationtimes.blogspot.it/2013/02/you-dont-need-interpreter.html

Machine Translation: Oversold And Under-delivered, But Who Is To Blame?

We all know the promise of MT: cheap translations, lingua franca, and the ability to keep up with the content explosion. Some folks have been standing on the street corner preaching the end of the world (ok, maybe just translation as we know it) for some time. And just like they do to the guy on the street corner, people have been diverting their eyes and stepping around him and the topic for years. (Full disclosure: I am a fellow MT zealot).

The question, though, is why have we not realized the vision? Is it the fault of MT technology providers? Perhaps the universities, where much of this technology is birthed, just aren’t turning out good enough doctoral candidates? No, surely it’s the consumers’ fault; they’re just too demanding! The real answer, in my not so humble opinion, is: it’s my own fault. Mine and the rest of the translation buyers’.
I don’t intend to let the suppliers, academics, developers, and others completely off the hook, mind you; they all have some work to do. However, nobody controls the pace of the technology and its adoption like the buyers. I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say “MT doesn’t work for us,” or “The quality isn’t good enough for our content.” All too frequently, the answer to my follow-up question (“Have you actually tried it?”) is, “Well, no.”

Often it comes down to risk aversion. People are afraid that, if a quality mistake or two creeps in, they will lose credibility. But I haven’t spoken to a single executive who wasn’t willing to accept a quality excursion or two for a dramatic reduction in cost. And what about the customers? I have personal experience and data that says customers prefer timely data they can use over “pretty” content. Of course, there are always exceptions; certain industries, like medical devices, have very strict quality standards, and certain languages and cultures have less tolerance for imperfect translation. But on the whole, I have found that MT with post-editing can be used successfully without upsetting the customer or your credibility. In fact, I think there is only upside to MT.
I challenge anyone who hasn’t tested machine translation in their ecosystem to take a risk. You might just find yourself on the right side of executive scrutiny.

It Takes More Than Translation to Go Global

What does being global really mean for a website? For some organizations, it begins and ends with offering a version of their site in multiple languages. And this is certainly an important step - research shows people are more likely to purchase from a site in their own language.
But there are few sites where the content can truly stay the same across all localities. E-commerce sites usually sell different products and services in different global, or sometimes even regional locations, and at least need to offer customized information about shipping options. Audiences for news sites will generally have different interests, depending on where they live. A reader in Berlin, for example, won't be as interested in a U.S. election as a reader in Chicago.
Localizing both the language and content of a website is a significant, complex undertaking. But by doing so, you are speaking directly to your users and creating a simpler, more useful experience for them.

What Are Your Options for Globalization?
To illustrate the different options for creating a global site, let's assume you have a site with audiences in the United States, Mexico, and Spain. You could have three possible permutations of your content:

Translation
Content	Language
International	English
International	Spanish
Regionalization
Content	Language
U.S.	English
Mexico	Spanish
Spain	Spanish
Regionalization and translation
Content	Language
U.S.	English
U.S.	Spanish
Mexico	English
Mexico	Spanish
Spain	English
Spain	Spanish

As you can see, the amount of effort involved in creating content for each site increases as you offer more options for consuming content. In the translation model, you only need one version of your content, translated into two languages. In the regionalization model, you need to create three versions of your content, with no translation. In the regionalization and translation model, you need to create three versions of your content, and translate all three into another language.

When Translation Alone Works
The United Nations (UN) uses the translation model, so while it offers content in six different languages, the content in each version is exactly the same. This approach makes sense for the UN because it's an organization focused on international cooperation, where each audience needs to be aware of everything that is going on in their organization, around the world.

UN site in English:

UN site in Spanish:

Region and Language Tied Together

The regionalization model seems to be the most common approach for global sites, where regionalized content is displayed in the official language(s) for that region.
For an example of this model, see the CNN website. CNN offers four different versions of its site: U.S., international, Mexico, and Arabic (in this instance the label "Arabic" seems to stand for both the Arab world and the Arabic language). In these different regions, the language changes, but the content also changes to fit the interests of readers in that region.

CNN U.S. site:

CNN Mexico site:

This model can be tricky if your target regions don't neatly subdivide into languages, in which case you'll generally need multiple versions of the regional content in the different relevant languages. The other drawback is that not all content is available to all users. For example, an English-speaking reader who wanted to read CNN's full coverage for Mexico would need to use an outside translation tool, such as Google Translate (which often yields awkward results) to translate the Mexican site.

Which Model Is Right for You?
To create your global site, you first need to examine your user base and determine where your customers live, what languages they speak, and what content they're interested in. You can get some of this information through your analytics program, but you'll also want to do some deep research into your customer base, either through surveys or interviews.
You then need to determine what resources you have available, both in terms of translators for your target languages and content creators who have a strong base in your target regions and can create regional content.
Offering regional targeted content in multiple languages takes more resources, but as people move around more and countries become more diverse, this model will become increasingly valuable to organizations - and their customers.

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2243386/it-takes-more-than-translation-to-go-global?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The Usefulness of CAT Tools

I find that a lot of people only use CAT tools for repetitive texts. And that is of course what they were originally developed for. Modern CAT tools, however, have so many other useful features that it’s worth considering using them for non-repetitive texts as well.
Here are some of the reasons why I use my CAT tool for most of my texts, even creative texts:

• Terminology
  It’s great when a client provides you with a terminology list, but I personally hate having to go back and forth between my translation and a terminology list, especially when you end up with more than one list (not unusual, in my experience). If you import your terminology list(s) in your CAT tool, you will automatically be notified if a term is available in the list and you can easily insert it in your translation. You can also easily edit your terminology list or add new terms to the list.

• Consistency
  Even if texts are not repetitive, consistency is still important. The concordance feature in your CAT tool allows you to search for words or phrases so you can check how they were translated before. This is also very useful in case you haven’t got a terminology list (yet).

• Quality control
  These days, CAT tools offer more and more quality control options. You can have your translation checked for, among other things, correct punctuation, conversion of numbers, tags and consistent terminology. If, like me, you tend to mix up numbers (typing 1956 instead of 1965 for example), it’s good to know you no longer have to worry about this, because your CAT tool will warn you when you’ve made a mistake.

• Reference material
  Ever received a 200-word translation job which came with about ten different bilingual and monolingual reference files and going through all those reference files took almost as long as actually translating the text? I have… CAT tools offer alignment options and ways to import reference files which help you efficiently find the information you need in those reference files while you’re translating.

• Formatting
  Clients love it when you are able to deliver their prettily formatted Word document or PowerPoint presentation in exactly the same format. When using a CAT tool, you don’t have to bother with the formatting: you can focus on the text while working in the CAT tool and when you are finished you can export your translation in exactly the same format. I’ve found this is especially useful for PowerPoint presentations containing lots of diagrams with text boxes: instead of having to edit every single text box separately to enter your translation, all you need to do after you have exported your translation is go through the slides to check whether the text fits in the boxes and adjust their size if needed.

• Backup
  You always have a backup of your translations and because each segment is saved after you have translated it, you will never lose more than one sentence of your work if your computer crashes. I discovered the advantage of this very soon after I started working with a CAT tool years ago: just when I was about to save my 1.5-page translation to send it to the client, Word crashed and my Word file was corrupted. If I hadn’t used my CAT tool, I would have had to do the translation all over again, but now I was able to take the original source file and have it pre-translated using my TM.

• Planning
  My CAT tool always knows exactly how much progress I’ve made: it indicates the percentage of translation/proofreading I’ve completed and for exact figures I can run an analysis at any time. I find this particularly useful for larger projects.

These are the reasons I use my CAT tool for pretty much every translation I do. One downside, especially for more creative texts, is that, by default, a CAT tool splits up your text in segments based on sentences. Most CAT tools, however, allow you to define different ways of segmentation and I have found that paragraph segmentation, rather than sentence segmentation, works better for creative texts. Paragraph segmentation will lead to fewer match results, so it is not recommended for repetitive texts, but since creative texts are typically less repetitious anyway, matches aren’t really an issue.

 https://pbtranslations.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/the-usefulness-of-cat-tools/