Translation Blog

Comma splice

2010-03-01T08:19:43+00:00

I�m sure you�ve been there too: you�ve had a hard day at work followed by a strenuous workout at the gym and all you want is a nice, relaxing bath. You get in and start enjoying a bit of peace and quiet when the phone rings. You ignore it. It rings again, so you decide to get out and pick it up. This happens not twice, but three times, which leads to the following text conversation:

Me: CAN I ENJOY MY BATH WITHOUT HAVING TO GET OUT EVERY TWO MINUTES???
Bath-ruiner: You�re in the bath??!!

Me: Well I was, I got out as people are clearly intent on ruining it.

Bath-ruiner: Tee hee. (Awful comma splice in your last text, btw).

Follows a lengthy text argument on the finer points of English punctuation. Unfortunately, my "friend" was right, as was confirmed by wikipedia:

Comma splicing is the use of a comma to join two independent clauses, instead of a conjunction, semi-colon, or period. For example:
It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark.

Comma splices are generally considered errors in English, although they are acceptable in some languages, including French and German, and compulsory in others, including Russian and Ukrainian.

So, my sentence should have said �Well I was, but I got out as people were clearly intent on ruining it� (or rather �Well I was, but I got out, as people were clearly intent on ruining it�). See the wikipedia article for a handy summary of acceptable uses and corrections and the Purdue Online Writing Lab for a more complete set of guidelines for the use of the comma in English. I think French people should definitely be exempted from following this particular rule, especially in a text conversation.

Shower curtain photo by Darwin Bell.

Upper and lower case

2010-02-18T08:22:41+00:00

Have you ever wondered where �upper case� and �lower case� come from? I hadn�t until I came across an explanation as I was trying to work out whether it should be Beaux-Arts or beaux-arts. The �case� (from Latin cassa, �box�) refers to the type cases used by printers to keep their movable type. Capital letters (from Latin caput �head�, as these were used at the beginning of a sentence or a word) were put at the top of the case, while minuscules were at the bottom of the case, hence upper case and lower case letters.

Typewriter photo by Marcin Wichary.

The White Ribbon

2010-02-08T21:01:45+00:00

This entry has nothing to do with English, French or translation. I just really want to share a film that I saw at the weekend. Once again, it�s directed by Michael Haneke, who is fast becoming my favorite director. After Cach�, a powerful portrayal of France�s colonial guilt, The White Ribbon (Das Weiße Band) (2009) is an amazing study of the decomposition of a repressive, hypocritical society where power is concentrated in a few hands. Visually, it�s incredible. In these times dominated by multi-million pound computer generated effects with bright colours and supernatural landscapes, it is wonderful to be reminded how expressive, subtle and stunningly beautiful a black and white film can be. I could go on and on, but this Guardian review encapsulates it perfectly.

Nut roast

2010-02-01T08:48:53+00:00

I spent last Monday interpreting in East Sussex. After a busy day, we all ended up in a lovely pub with an interesting history in Lewes to have dinner and talk about forthcoming projects. Little did I know that a major incident had only just been averted thanks to the keen eye of the British lead partner.

A few days earlier, a menu had been sent to the French partners so they could make their choice for dinner. For the main course, one of the options was �nut roast�, which was translated as r�ti de noix. The problem was that, in French minds, r�ti is almost inevitably associated with meat, and noix happens to be a cut of meat: �eye� in English. So the meat-loving French all picked the nut roast. Thankfully, the British project lead knew that her counterpart wouldn�t be impressed with a meat-free dinner, so she made sure he was served a good old steak-frites. The others got their nut roast (which I translated in French as terrine v�g�tarienne) and enjoyed it.

The translation of cuts of meat is generally very difficult and I haven�t managed to find a good English to French glossary on this subject. If you know of one, I�d be grateful if you shared it with me, otherwise I�ll have to compile one myself!

Nuts (and bolts) photo by paulmoody

___________
UPDATE

Thanks so much to my Twitter buddy @falena84, who gave me links to a beef glossary and a meat cuts manual.
Also on Twitter, @neliafahloun chirped in with a very nice post on buying meat.

Fanlation

2010-01-20T09:01:46+00:00

Fanlation is a term that I've come across very recently, and I came across it again when I received Jost Zetzsche's Tool Kit newsletter:

I had just suggested that we use a new term for the kind of crowdsourced translation that the likes of Twitter and Facebook do when they engage hordes of enthused users to translate their products: fanlation.

When I wrote my post about crowdsourcing, this is exactly the process I had in mind, but actually, it's not necessarily how crowdsourcing work. What I was talking about was "fanlation", only this term didn't exist yet. These new translation concepts are evolving all the time, with language playing catch-up, so I thought it'd be useful to compile a short glossary of these terms as I understand them.

Fanlation
Translation done by enthused users ready to donate their time for a product.

Crowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is a neologistic compound of Crowd and a short for Outsourcing, for the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a group of people or community, through an "open call" to a large group of people (a crowd) asking for contributions.
Word coined by Jeff Howe, a Wired Magazine writer, in 2006. Definition from Wikipedia.

Collaborative translation
Emerging approach to translation in which companies use the elements of crowdsourcing in a controlled environment for working on large corporate projects in short periods of time.
Definition taken from Common Sense Advisory.

CT3
CT3 mixes community, crowdsourced and collaborative translation to offer a translation which is quick, good quality and in tune with users' experience. It can involve professional translators or not.
Coined by Global Watchtower.

So will fanlation have an impact on my work? One of the criticisms of fanlation is that the quality is likely to be inferior to the output of professional translators, but nowadays, some markets are driven by speed and usability rather than quality. A translation that is "good enough", quick and cheap may well be sufficient to satisfy some clients. Personally, I don't currently see fanlation as a threat to my work, the bulk of which requires specialist knowledge and strong writing skills. I can't imagine that there are enough people out there combining free time, passion for the subject, language skills and in-depth knowledge to create a community able to take on the kind of translation that I do.

As for collaborative/crowdsourced translation, I think that, as long as projects are well-managed and use people with sufficient skills, these processes, by making more information more widely available, will be hugely positive: any improvement to global communication is to be welcome. By opening new markets, the surge in material translated brought about by collaborative processes could even provide us professional translators with work opportunities, with companies increasingly seeing it as compulsory to communicate with their potential clients in their own languages. I would also be interested in participating in a crowdsourced translation, to see how it works from the inside: with web-based tools being created all the time, working as part of a multinational team of translators is a very exciting prospect. Maybe that should have been in my objectives for 2010!

A translator's resolutions for 2010

2010-01-15T16:21:33+00:00

I thought it�d be a good idea to cast my mind back on 2009 and give myself some ~~vague pointers~~ objectives for 2010.

2009 was meant to be the year where I took advantage of a move to Leeds to work less, discover a beautiful region and resurrect my moribund Spanish. This didn�t quite work out and it ended up being the busiest year of my career so far. I just didn�t have the heart to turn down many interesting projects for excellent clients. I utterly failed to relax and expand my horizons, but I did achieve a few things:

Out of 60 invoices, only 5 were to translation agencies. I consolidated my direct client base, which is good thing. Although the translation agencies I work with do an excellent job and are a pleasure to deal with, I prefer building long-term relationships with my clients, which allows me to give them the best possible service
I vastly improved my invoicing and accounting system (see my entry Accounting for freelancers)
I gave one talk about translation in front of French students
I attended 3 webinars and one workshop. This doesn�t sound like much, but it�s much better than 2008 (0 webinars and 0 workshops)
I really got to grips with social media: I learnt how Twitter can work for me, I gave up on LinkedIn for ethical reasons and I�m thinking of how I can use Facebook
I redesigned this website, which is my main marketing tool
I started looking at other translation and productivity tools

In 2010, I intend to:

Start learning Spanish again, this time via Notes in Spanish�s podcasts and worksheets.
Start using dictation software (probably MacSpeech) and OmegaT
Carry on attending webinars and workshops and hopefully a conference
Get one more direct client in the field of international development, which I find particularly interesting (strategy yet to be decided)
Join the Institute of Translation and Interpreting
Get involved in the business community in Brighton, where I�ll be moving back
Focus on blogging again
Accept at least one invitation to give a presentation
Keep an eye on translation�s rapid evolution (crowdsourcing, collaborative translation etc.)

What are your goals?

Departed

2010-01-03T18:41:50+00:00

I spent a lovely Christmas and New Year at my parents� new house near Bordeaux, in the Entre-Deux-Mers region, surrounded by vineyards and ch�teaux. We flew back on Saturday. My mother is always anxious when we're travelling, particularly when the weather is bad, so she went online to track our flight from Bordeaux. She entered our flight number on the KLM website and one word appeared: Departed. She guessed it meant that it had left, but used Google Translate to check. The result was: d�funt, disparu (defunct, deceased). A slightly better French translation would have been parti. Should she sue Google for emotional trauma?

Happy 2010 everyone!

Accounting for freelancers

2009-12-07T13:13:06+00:00

Do you hate doing your accounts? Keeping track of invoices? Do you shudder with dread whenever you see an email from your lovely accountant in your inbox? Do you burst into tears at the mere thought of having to file a VAT return? Freeagent is for you. This is what this SaaS (Software as a Service) does:

Taxes
Invoicing
VAT return
Online banking
Real-time accounts
Project management

All this in a simple, attractive interface. It will even put reminders in your calendar to make sure you don�t forget important tax and accounting deadlines. I can honestly say it�s the best thing I have bought this year. Go and check it out and if you decide to use it, click on this badge and we�ll both get 10% off.

Avatar

2009-11-20T11:17:28+00:00

While reading PoPCo, by Scarlett Thomas, I learnt that the word �avatar�, which refers to an Internet user�s alter ego in online forums and other communities, comes from a Sanskrit word meaning �descent of a deity to the Earth in incarnate form�.

According to Wikipedia, it was popularised by Neal Stephenson�s Snow Crash (1992):

While Stephenson was not the first to apply the Sanskrit term avatar to online virtual bodies (the video game Habitat did that), the success of Snow Crash popularized the term to the extent that avatar is now the accepted term for this concept in computer games and on the World Wide Web.

I think I know what my next book will be.

Image: Vishnu with his 10 avatars (incarnations): Matsya, K�rma, Var�ha, Narasimha, V�mana, Parashur�ma, R�ma with the Ax, R�ma, Krishna, Bouddha and Kalki.

Interpreting: how to react when stuck

2009-11-13T09:39:33+00:00

However thoroughly you prepare for an interpreting assignment, there will always be surprises. I�m not talking about having to hop on a tractor so the client can see it in action, although my client was very grateful that I didn�t mind working in unusual conditions (mind? I loved it!). I�m talking about terminology.

I had researched everything to do with sod-cutting, including soil composition, so when the English client explained that the sod-cutter worked well on loam-based soil, I congratulated myself and used the French word �loam�, which was part of the little glossary I had compiled.
The French looked puzzled. They had never heard of �loam�. In this type of situation, panic or cursing online dictionaries is a tempting option, but it must be resisted. The best thing to do is to acknowledge the problem to the clients and find a way to go around it. In this case, I asked for a description of loam and was told that it was �between sand and clay�. When I relayed this information to the French, they exclaimed �Ah, du limon!�

It would be nice to know everything about a subject when interpreting, but it�s impossible. When faced with a problem, the main thing is to accept one�s limitations, not feel too bad about it and concentrate on quickly finding a way to overcome it (without falling off the tractor).

Of mice and fairies

2009-11-05T08:35:23+00:00

�Look! I have a wobbly tooth!� says my niece Jasmine, who is six.
�Brilliant! Will you put it under your pillow so the little mouse comes to get it?�
�A MOUSE??! In my BED??!�
Cross-cultural confusion alert! Backtrack or the little girl will never go to sleep again, terrified that her bed is about to be taken over by tooth-loving rodents.
�The fairy! I meant the fairy! The lovely tooth fairy!�

Although no one knows for certain the origin of the little mouse and the tooth fairy, it looks like they might come from a French fairy tale called La Bonne Petite Souris, where a fairy turns into a mouse to help a good queen defeat an evil king.

Jasmine recovered from her shock. After all, this is the auntie that once told her that chocolate was brought by, wait for it, not a rabbit, but BELLS at Easter. Whatever next?

Mouse photo by PixCat

Guest post: An interpreter's dilemma

2009-10-30T14:03:23+00:00

The verb �to interpret� has two common meanings, which in a sense are somewhat contradictory. The first relates to the act of interpreting written documents or oral statements, in the sense of giving one�s �take� on them. The use of the word in this sense suggests circumstances in which a fair degree of subjectivity is permitted.

The second sense, with which NCTA members are likely to make an association, relates to the art of oral translation, whose practitioners are expected to eschew subjectivity and to render the target language with an almost scientific precision.

Translations are often chiseled out of rough source language and fashioned in their final form with the aid of dictionaries, by consulting colleagues and, as a last resort, by asking the client for a clarification of the intended meaning. Interpretation assignments, such as the cross-examination of witnesses, allow no such luxury. Rather, the thrust and parry of these verbal brawls sometimes makes one yearn for the days when one knew only a single language and life seemed simpler on that account.

While driving back from one such assignment, a Hebrew-language deposition, I was mulling over one or two of the trickier terms that the deposing attorney had been pitching across the table at his victim. The deponent for whom I had been interpreting was a flower seller. The deposing lawyer, confident that he was about to establish a case of forgery, dramatically flourished the document he held and asked the deponent: �So does this purport to be your signature?� As the word �purport� comes up fairly often in legal settings (and being myself a retired lawyer), I knew the Hebrew equivalent. But I anticipated a familiar trap.

While I had no doubt that the flower vendor could, if called upon to do so, expound at length on the subtle differences between various types of chrysanthemums, I was equally confident that he had never heard the Hebrew equivalent of �purport.� If, therefore, I rendered a translation of that word so precise as to qualify me for a top grade in any Hebrew-language test, I knew that the deponent was highly likely to reply �I didn�t understand the question.�

This kind of situation is pregnant with danger for the interpreter. At best, furtive glances are likely to be thrown in the interpreter�s direction, with all present assuming that the correct rendition of the lawyer�s question had proven beyond the interpreter�s language skills. At worst, the deponent�s counsel, looking up from his newspaper, is likely to see in the deponent�s state of bamboozlement a golden opportunity to come to his client�s defense (which he may well not have done in any juridical sense), by stating for the record �We seem to be having a problem with the interpreter,� or some such gratuitous comment.

Determined not to become a victim of the blame game, I decided, on the spur of that fateful moment, to break all the rules of professional interpreting, and to take a little professional license, by lowering the register of the question. I therefore rendered, in Hebrew, the equivalent of �So are you claiming that this is your signature?� I held my breath as I waited to see whether my self-protective, unprofessional sleight-of-tongue would have the desired effect. Would it, I wondered, elicit an answer that would demonstrate that the deponent had understood the question and if he had not, would it be he or I who would take the rap? His reply, in Hebrew, was: �Not only do I claim that this is my signature, but it is in fact my signature.� I took one more small step, if not for humanity, then at least for the interpreting profession, and rendered the answer back into English as �Not only does it purport to be my signature, but it is in fact my signature.�

My gamble had paid off. The pair of distortions had cancelled each other out. I had demonstrated beyond all reasonable doubt that the deponent�s powers of comprehension extended far beyond the realm of chrysanthemums. I had allowed the deponent�s counsel to continue reading his newspaper without the need to sort out any bothersome misunderstandings. I had in fact performed a valuable service to all parties.

I am hoping that the parties who paid me to interpret for the flower vendor are not regular readers of Translorial, because they may not fully appreciate the interpreting resourcefulness that I displayed while on contract to them. But if this frank discovery of mine (in the legal sense of that word) should elicit a complaint, or a demand to stick to the straight and narrow path of interpreting when carrying out future assignments, I intend to plead argumentum ab inconvenienti.

By Jonathan Goldberg, French/English and Hebrew/English interpreter and translator residing in Los Angeles. Article published with the permission of Translatorial, Journal of the NCTA.

Flower photo by Gertrud K.

Loire valley castles

2009-10-22T16:56:36+00:00

I visited many stunning castles during my recent holiday in the Loire Valley. Guess what these are called in the comments and if you're the first to give all the right answers, you'll win a month of free French podcasts courtesy of frenchpod101.com. Go!

Castle 1 is mainly known for its incredible vegetable garden.

Castle 2 was the home of one of Napol�on's ministers, whose nickname was "the limping devil".

During the Second World War, one end of Castle 3 was in the free zone and the other in the occupied zone.

Castle 4 is one of the earliest French Renaissance castles.

Castle 5 was the home of Agn�s Sorel, the very first official royal mistress.

Crowdsourcing and translation

2009-10-12T08:21:21+00:00

Crowdsourcing is the act of using the general public to take on, generally for free, work that would normally be assigned to contractors.

Some companies have decided to use crowdsourcing to translate their website, relying on thousands of volunteers to work for them for free (step 6 of the crowdsourcing process above doesn't always happen) and produce a result that will help them increase their revenue. The results have been of varying quality, with Spanish users of Facebook, in particular, reporting grammatical errrors and confusing terminology.

I can understand why a not-for-profit website might choose to ask its users to translate it in several languages: when budgets are tight, it is tempting to use the skills and good will of others. Besides, members of an online community might have an emotional investment in it and might be only too happy to give up their time for it. The result might not be as good as it might be, had it been done by professionals, but if it�s good enough to attract other users, then the aim has been achieved.

There is a perception out there that, in order to be a translator, all you need is to know two languages. Our profession struggles with recognition and that is why when LinkedIn, a for-profit organisation, sent me an email asking me whether I�d be happy to translate their website for free, to have fun or to get a badge, I was very annoyed, along with a lot of other translators. Not because LinkedIn was choosing to use crowdsourcing, but because, in asking me to give away my services, it seemed to contradict its main aim, which is to help professionals further their career. No professional is going to further her career by accepting to work for free, and as LinkedIn clearly wasn�t interested in supporting me as a professional, I deleted my profile.

When Twitter announced that it was looking for volunteers to translate its interface for free, I wasn�t surprised. There is a real �community� feel about Twitter, and they knew that many people would be interested in contributing to a website that they feel very much a part of. I won�t be helping, as although I love Twitter, I feel decidedly uncomfortable working alongside amateurs, however talented they are, and being associated with a final result that I might not be entirely proud of. I shan�t be deleting my profile either: Twitter has made no claim as to what it can do for my career or professionals in general, and so I see no contradiction there. All I see is a business decision, with which I disagree: in my work, I strive for quality and I�m prepared to pay for it.

It�s a shame that some big companies aren�t prepared to treat their non-English speaking users with enough respect to hand their localisation needs over to professionals, who are best placed to produce a translation which will enhance the experience of all users, whatever their language. In fact, I can even see how crowdsourcing could be used within the translation process: once the work has been done by translators, it could be extremely beneficial to submit it to the community for comment, to make sure that it responds to its needs and respects its inherent culture. This combination of translation expertise and user feedback could be a real recipe for success.

Crowd photo by TwOsE

National Poetry Day

2009-10-08T11:19:15+00:00

Today is National Poetry Day. I do like reading the odd poem now and then and I thought I�d share one that particularly touched me, from Marion Sharville, whose blog, A carrot in the toaster, I enjoy very much.

CHILD WITH A BLANKET
Round eyes gazing
over a grubby blanket;

thumb-sucking
grip on life;

comfort soft;
rock secure.

I also get a regular poetry fix from the James Nash Podcast. This month�s untitled sonnet on the subject of Autumn is a perfect evocation of this time of the year. I'd like to read more poets writing in French, do you know any?