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The Translator as a BiCultural Being

Putting a human face on your language services provider

Translators tend to be at home in more than one culture—be it by birth, circumstance, or the conscious choice of immersing themselves in different cultures. But what sets them apart is that, while assimilating to the culture they live in, they also cultivate their membership to other cultural circles. This gives them a unique perspective, not unlike the vantage point of the artist, who needs to step outside his or her paradigm to get a clearer grasp of what shapes its realities.

 

 

The little differences

You might recall the opening dialogue of Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”, when John Travolta’s character shares some surprising discoveries of his stay in Europe—like the re-naming of a burger staple necessitated by the metric system or the unusual way of eating French fries (with mayonnaise). What appears to be completely ordinary to someone who has grown up in a certain culture can be quite astonishing to anyone not accustomed to it. The life of a translator is full of such epiphanies, because no matter how well you know your working languages and cultures, you continue to discover things that would escape you if you did not see them in association with what they are outside of their habitual setting.

 

Going the distance

By association alone, as a matter of fact, can one small word that may not even be any different in two languages result in an entirely different meaning. After Germany’s liberation from Nazi rule and to clearly distinguish the Allies’ sectors from the Soviet sector, newly or re-founded institutions in Berlin were labeled as “free”: the radio station Sender Freies Berlin for instance, and, as it is still known today, the “Freie Universität Berlin”. 65 years later, it would never occur to Americans that a “Free University” in Europe has anything to do with the “Free world”—free of Nazis, free from communism—instead, they are very likely to mistake it for meaning “free of charge”. Historical and geographical distance creates a new context that can easily be misread, but serves as the road the translator travels when carrying messages across and discovering worlds in between.

 

Inside out

Immersion is everything, or so we are told, when learning another language and adapting to another culture. And while it is only by way of immersion that we delve deep enough to understand a culture’s treasures and truths, the translator’s work is accomplished by being there and somewhere else at the same time, which tends to characterize how he defines himself otherwise as well. The “other” is never far, because you are trained to keep it present and your identity resides within this continuous duality: You are forever creating the subtitles to your own film. Ironically, this heightened self-consciousness enlightens yet another conceptual and even psychological difference between the English and German languages: While someone who is conscious of his or her self is understood as having (self-) confidence in German (Selbstbewusstsein), self-conscious doubles as insecure in English.

 

 

Serving two masters

With the consciousness of complexities, however, comes the mandate of clarity. As Confucius puts it: “If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything.” The need to be loyal to what is said is trumped only by the necessity to be clear when rendering it in a different language. Striving to do justice to source and target is the daily bread of the translator, and the answer is different every single time. Decisions are called for consistently, and the knowledge that two things can never be the same runs deep.

 

A band apart

In a world and time where you are defined by what you do rather than by who you are, we easily become what we do. Over the course of a career, the cultural and linguistic as well as social and intellectual sensitivities required to successfully translate from one language into another will thus rather deepen than disappear, making the translator all the more aware of his status caught in perpetuity between the lines. Living in two worlds is living rich, but it also means living apart. Yet, as in art, expression is the key. Continuing to discover, to learn, and to communicate creates a well of knowledge for everybody—or in Ella Fitzgerald’s words: The only thing better than singing is more singing.

Nanette Gobel

Global Clinical Trials: Using the Translator as a Recruitment Tool

Translators are notoriously not provided with an understanding of the purpose of a project. This is not intentional. It is the product of many people seeing translation as a non-strategic entity, just a required piece of the global puzzle. Changing this thinking can improve your patient recruitment and retention figures.

It’s a fact: patient recruitment can make or break a clinical drug trial. Most pharmaceutical industry studies indicate as many as 80 to 90 percent of clinical trials fail to complete on time and at least 72 percent of trials go over by at least one month. With the average daily cost of running an average phase III trial costing around $35,000 per day, time is indeed money. The usual culprit in creating trials that run over is a lack of consistent enrollment at the trial site.

Keeping this in mind, many companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire a firm that will develop a recruitment strategy and identify potential populations for the study. Rarely, however, does anyone stop to consider how the recruitment strategy needs to be adjusted in order to adapt to the cultural influences on participation.

In the United States, for example, sponsors run radio ads encouraging people with a specific ailment who satisfy certain criteria to call a number to inquire about participating in a clinical study. Then trial sites are added in South Korea. The documents and radio ads are translated and they look great However, no one stopped to contemplate that Koreans consider radio ads to be an untrustworthy source for information on resources concerning their health and only trust a doctor from which to get this information. Changing the language is not enough. A translator specializing in clinical trials knows this.

Translators understand the sponsor needs to enroll quickly, get good consents, have ready access to their data and be able to retain the participants for the life of the study.

They also understand that culture drives willingness or lack of willingness to consent. Not language. A woman will not consent because she feels that participation is a decision she cannot make without her husband’s approval. No straight translation will work to ease this cultural issue. But subtle changes can be made, within the translation process that addresses these issues. Adapting recruitment and retention material can be easily done – and can have a great impact cross-culturally.

Translation agencies need to be provided with a mandate that allows for excellence. This excellence, appropriate for patient recruitment and retention, comes from less rigidity and more focus on content and purpose. Translators need to be involved in the planning and implementation of the strategy for a trial. They will, ultimately, be responsible for communicating across languages and, hopefully, across cultures.

A culturally applicable retention program is the key to successful and consistent patient enrollment. Translators are an underutilized resource that can help mold recruitment tactics that work.

Sherry Dineen

Pharma Companies Can Weather the Storm

As hurricane Sandy meets a turning gulf stream and a nor’easter winter storm to unleash havoc on the Mid-Atlantic region, so too is the pharmaceutical industry entering an era of the perfect storm.  Recent trends and events have set the industry up for major shifts and changes.

The current blustery economic recession created, not a drop in pressure, but a drop in industry growth.  In prior years, a billion dollar industry expanding its growth at about 10% per year did not need to worry about small niche markets or tiny fifty-million dollar areas of market growth.  With pharmaceutical companies fighting for market share and growth, times have dramatically changed.

Concurrently sweeping across the country is a jet stream of demographic change.  The 2010 census results reported for the first time the US had more minority or mixed-race newborns than non-Hispanic whites.  Surely, this tipping point will effect the US population for decades to come.

Additionally, the winter storm (with its chilly reception by some) of the Patient Affordable Care Act of 2010 increases the number of insured in the US to 33 million in 2014, forty-three percent of which will be from multicultural population segments.

Unlike the path of destruction Sandy is currently cutting across the Eastern Seaboard, this perfect storm creates a tremendous opportunity for pharmaceutical companies.  A whole new influx of consumers will suddenly be up for grabs and getting their attention will be necessary for a company’s survival.  Roughly 14 million non-English speaking patients will require information on navigating new terrain created by the Affordable Care Act.  

Multicultural marketing budgets, often considered optional and usually the first budget cut in recessions, will be a necessary lifeline as multicultural consumers’ loyalty will go to those who made the effort to reach them.  Educating multicultural populations on how to use the whirlwind of state specific online Health Benefits Exchanges for buying insurance under the Act will give companies the lead in market share and help them weather the new environment in which the pharmaceutical industry now operates.

 

Sherry Dineen

Next Please

Patient/provider relations via medical interpreter

While meant to facilitate communication in hospitals and doctor’s offices, the fact that a third party is involved in very personal matters can often lead to awkwardness and even misunderstandings. Healthcare providers are well advised to educate themselves and their patients so both can reap the full benefits of having a professional interpreter assist during appointments and procedures.

 

The elephant in the room

As with the proverbial elephant, it is helpful to start by acknowledging the presence and clarifying the role of the interpreter at the very beginning of each meeting. Everybody will be more at ease if introductions are made and it is established what kind of interpreting services are required. For patients with little to no knowledge of English, the interpreter will translate consecutively what is said. This means that he/she speaks after the respective source-language speaker has finished, rendering the message in the target language.

 

Turning invisible

In this process, the consecutive interpreter will actually take him/herself out of the conversation as much as possible by translating in the first person. While such a linguistic device is not a cloak of complete invisibility, it does make the dealings between healthcare provider and patient as direct as possible. The interpreter relies on memory, so the segments need to be short enough to memorize. If the answer to a physician’s question is more complex—for instance if asking about a patient’s medical history—or the doctor or nurse is explaining a diagnosis or procedure, it works best if the speaker pauses after every other sentence to allow for translation.

 

Keeping it familiar

The interpreter can also serve as a comfort factor, especially if the patient is visiting from another country or seeking treatment abroad. The anxiety often associated with a doctor visit tends to be heightened in unfamiliar territory. In such a situation, the presence of someone who speaks your native language and knows the local customs and conventions will have a calming influence. Cultural differences and barriers can be more easily addressed and overcome, with the interpreter acting as intermediary. Even if the patient speaks basic or conversational English, having an “ally” who shares his or her native background will create a feeling of safety.

 

One-way might be the way

A patient in this kind of scenario may opt for having the interpreter translate only what the healthcare provider says and express him/herself in English. The interpreter will then stand by and assist if anything is unclear. This also works the other way around: Some patients may feel confident that they understand what is said but are insecure about their own language skills. However, if the care provider prefers that everything be translated, the linguist will proceed with the consecutive interpretation. The same applies if the patient requests that the interpreter only be present during the consultation and not during the exam or procedure. While the physician will in most cases grant the patient’s request to make him or her as comfortable as possible, it is ultimately the physician’s choice since the services of the interpreter are usually a requirement on the part of the hospital or practice to ensure effective communication.

 

Party of four

That’s one of the reasons why some patients are actually surprised and—in most cases—relieved to find an interpreter when arriving at their appointment. Since they are not notified in advance, some bring a friend or caregiver to help with the translation. Pursuant to hospital guidelines, however, family members or friends of the patient should not act as interpreters, since the risk of mistranslation is too great. Errors can have serious consequences on diagnosis and treatment—and the healthcare provider must be able to rely on the language skills of the interpreting individual, which is only possible if the service is provided by a certified professional. But the cooperation between interpreter and caregiver can be valuable, since the person accompanying the patient is usually familiar with his or her medical history, allergies and prior doctor’s visits leading up to the appointment. The situation may sometimes be complicated by the fact that more than two languages are involved or the patient’s difficulty to focus on the interpreter, especially if the patient is elderly or a young child. Different scenarios may require different solutions. The interpreter will be glad to offer his or her professional opinion and always defer to what the healthcare provider deems best.

 

Red tape

A patient’s Odyssey at a clinic or practice often continues beyond the end of his visit or procedure. The assistance of an interpreter may be needed even more urgently when the patient is dealing with office matters such as payment, scheduling, and insurance. Especially the latter can be quite complex and involve foreign language documents that need ad hoc translation. Medical interpreters are trained accordingly and will stay with the patient at the hospital or practice until all bureaucratic issues are solved as well.

 

Jack of all trades, master of none?

In the daily life of a healthcare interpreter, he or she may spent one morning assisting in an MRI procedure, then move on to an OB/GYN appointment and finish the day interpreting in a neurological consultation. The terminological challenge is tremendous. Patient and medical staff must be aware that they cannot expect the interpreter to know every term in the book. Based on their experience and training, interpreters will have certain fields of expertise but are required to serve across the board, including questions of insurance and billing as mentioned above. All professional interpreters in the healthcare industry, however, are trained in general medical terminology, ethics as well cultural traditions and idiosyncrasies. They continue their education on an ongoing basis by attending classes and seminars and master the art of interpreting, which requires a high level of skill and concentration.

 

So when everyone is on the same page and knows what to expect, an office visit aided by a professional interpreter will be just what the doctor ordered.

Hitting the Mark With A Hispanic Audience

What is the best way to build trust and improve medical adherence with your Hispanic audience?  Considering the Hispanic population’s varied background and different levels of acculturation and socio-economic status, it may seem like there could be no singular way.  Or is there?

According to the February 2012 Patient Journey Study conducted by Univision Communications, there is a strong correlation between medical adherence and in-culture communications. 

“We found that targeted communications have a strong influence during the adherence phase.  If marketers connect with Hispanics in their language and culture, they tend to feel more comfortable about taking the medication” said Eric Talbot, Univision Vice President of Brand Solutions/Healthcare.

When creating communications for a Hispanic audience, you have choices.  Using a neutral-dialect, “Universal Spanish” that speaks to everyone is fine for communicating the news or recording phone system messages but is not a wise choice when trying to reach a target audience through their emotions and feelings.

To gain compliance from your audience you need to connect with them specifically.  You need to create a mental image or emotional connection with the action or role you need them to take.  When you take the time and energy to recognize cultural nuances through accents and word selections, and become sensitive to their belief systems, differing cultures and frames of reference, you connect on a deeper level with your target audience.

This means tailoring your message according to the cultural characteristics of your identified market.  It means making more effort on your part to create multiple ad campaigns instead of just one.  This effort shows your audience you are committed to them and they are worth the added budget it took to reach them in their language and culture.

There are many ways to target a Hispanic audience.  If you wish to gain medical compliance from them, you need to make them feel valued.  The best way to connect with them is in a culturally targeted and honest way.

The Wild Life of Words

Not to personify here, but did you know words are born, die and have mid-life crises?

According to a team of statistical physicists, words emerge into a language and are either sustained or driven to extinction.  In a March 2012 paper entitled “Statistical Laws Governing Fluctuations in Word Use from Word Birth to Word Death,” the authors, using Google’s Ngram viewer estimate there are one million words in the English language.  Google’s Ngram Viewer is a searchable corpus of digitized texts (4% of all the books ever printed) allowing for quantitative study of cultural trends and human behavior through computational lexicology known as “culturomics.”

These scientists see language existing in a competitive evolutionary environment, just like Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection.  During statistical studies of word patterns in English, Spanish and Hebrew they discovered strikingly similar trajectories for the rates of birth and death for words.

English grows at an estimated rate of 8,500 new words per year, a “birth rate” that is slowing.  They hypothesize this slowing is due to an already existing rich environment of words.  Current objects are well described and new words are quickly born but limited because they describe something singular and new like “iPad” or “YouTube.”

The death of a word, unlike human mortality, refers to an extreme rarity of its use.  Historically, there is a notable increase in word deaths after the 1950s.  Modern day publishing with strict editing procedures and spell check technology created a homogenization effect on our language contributing to a faster natural selection of words.  Despite the arrival of texting, the birth rate of misspelled word variations has dropped dramatically.  Synonyms choke out words too, for instance “loanmoneys” died around 1950 when it was replaced by “loans.”

Words cycle through a mid-life crisis too: a universal “tipping point” identified by the study.  The authors claim 30 to 50 years after being born, words either become part of the long-term lexicon or die from disuse.  Theories for why this exists include a generational acceptance or rejection of (their parent’s) terms or the point where dictionary publishers decide to include a term or not.

Words live, die and compete for survival just like the dodo bird.  Their continued existence depends on historical context (international crises create common media attention increasing lexical diffusion), trends in global communication and means for standardizing communication (technology).  Just like the animals on Darwin’s Galapagos Islands, some will make it and others will not.  

Welcome to the wild life of words.

 

Sherry Dineen

Translating Idioms: Not Quite a Dime a Dozen

While they can be dismissed as unimportant parts of speech, idioms add spice and life to a language.  They are born from their culture of origin and they differ radically from one language to another.

There are different strategies for translating idioms and the care with which your translator uses these strategies can make or break your translation.  Inexperienced translators who only consider plugging one expression in for another may fail to transfer the true meaning of the source text.

Minimizing the effect of idioms to preserve the lexical form of the source language will also ruin your translation.  In both cases, the intended effect on your target reader will be lost and deprive them of the illustrative color idioms provide.

One of the more common solutions for translating idioms is translation by paraphrase.  For instance, in translating “it’s a piece of cake,” a translator would create a phrase in the target language equivalent to “it’s easy” or “no problem.”

In rare instances, the strategy might be to simply leave it out.  When single words have no match in the target language, cannot be easily paraphrased or perhaps the style does not match, sometimes its gotta go.

When two cultures have idiomatic expressions with similar meanings, the easiest strategy is to substitute one for another.  This substitution should be based on inherent meaning, not similar linguistic elements or similar images created by the idiom.  A phrase is needed to serve the same purpose in the translated language as that from the source language.

Of course it you don’t truly understand the meaning behind the idiomatic expression and the cultural triggers that create it, how can you choose a similarly functioning idiom in the target language?  What if there is no equivalent in the target language? 

Sometimes languages do not overtly express meaning and idiomatic expressions are linked to social behavior or cultural convention that may not translate (for example, “say when” is a very English expression).  This doesn’t mean the expression is untranslatable, just a little more difficult to handle.  This is also where an experienced translator pays off.

Idiomatic expressions make a communication interesting and vivid.  Cats with tongues and bats from hell produce memorable images in your reader’s minds.  Failing to translate them well can create lackluster target text.  Don’t throw caution to the wind.  Make sure the idioms in your source text receive the attention they deserve.

Sherry Dineen

Going with the Flow

Understanding the workflow of translation projects

When I was in 7^th grade, my small town in Germany celebrated its 750^th anniversary, and for this special occasion, our school performed a massive play illustrating the different eras that had come and gone since the town was first founded. To represent the industrial revolution, about 40 of us lined up on stage executing a series of strictly coordinated, repetitive movements in flashing strobe lights (yes, it was the 80s). To this day, that’s the image my mind conjures up when I think of production and workflow.

While translations might not be made on the assembly line, there is nonetheless a specific process involved that needs to be followed in order to create high quality products. In addition thereto, we have the individual workflow of each translator, typically handling multiple projects for different end clients at once.

Phoning it in

Clients will usually contact their language services provider of choice via phone or email and submit their electronic file(s) for a quote, or contact several providers for a bid. What happens behind the scenes—and for this article, we ask that you do pay attention to the man usually hidden by the curtain—is not so much wizardry but a rather technical process of assessing volume, industry, exact language pair (Spanish, yes, but is it Castilian or Latin American?) and type of the document to be translated. If the source file is in English, the project manager will be able to handle most aspects, but if the project is to be translated from another language into English, he or she may contact one of the agency’s linguists specializing in the respective language pair to assist. Any translation cost estimate will be based on these factors, since the prices are contingent upon word count, language, and area of expertise plus turnaround (rush or regular).           

Onto the conveyor belt

Once the quote has been presented to the client and the project is green-lighted, the bands get rolling. The raw material, so to speak, goes to the linguist(s) in the corresponding language pair(s) selected by the project manager based on their project-relevant expertise and experience. This first group of translators performs the actual translation into the target languages. But that is by far not the end of the line. The next step, usually referred to as editing, involves a second group of linguists with an excellent command and a keen sense of style in the target language. Since the original translation process requires a constant back and forth between two languages, it is crucial to have another pair of eyes solely concentrating on the target document to ensure fluency and readability. And the belt keeps going after that—to yet another set of linguists who now will go back to the original document and compare it to the translation, checking for missing lines, confirming all figures, and generally making sure that all the pieces fit. It’s quality control—in the world of language also referred to as proofreading.      

Door-to-door service

Any questions that come up in the process of translation as outlined above will always go back to the original translator, since he or she has the fullest grasp of the source text. The client, however, gets turnkey service—placing the order and submitting the material, then receiving the final top of the line product in all requested languages on the agreed delivery date. Only if there are company-specific terminology issues or document errors (missing pages, illegible text), the client may be contacted for clarification during the process, but in most cases, such issues are clarified beforehand. Translators accepting assignments from their agency clients need to carefully manage their time to ensure they are not only able to perform the translation in a timely fashion but also available to promptly respond to inquiries from editors and proofreaders. If they are serving in one of the latter functions on a different project within a similar timeframe, they have to tend to each of these assembly lines so that nothing gets backed up.          

 

Modern times

Just like in Chaplin’s classic, the whole elaborate scheme can fall apart if only one little wheel fails to turn or unexpected elements are introduced, or if the entire machinery becomes too large or too fast for its own good. One of the precautions the client can take is to ensure that the project is complete before placing the translation order or, if he or she knows that changes to the source document might still be made but needs to get started on the process, alert the project manager to the fact. All reference materials should be submitted together with the source file(s), such as glossaries, illustrations, etc. Turnaround times should be established reasonably—in case of an extreme rush, there is always the option of splitting a project up among several translators, but the workload for editors and proofreaders will be greater in such a scenario, since they will have to create continuity in terms of style and vocabulary throughout the document(s).

 

We didn’t have a Little Tramp in our anniversary show (might have been a little too dark for the famously neon-lit decade), but something to take away from the film and maybe from above description of the translation process is that no matter how automated we make our processes, the major part of the work is still done by humans, for humans. And for me personally as a translator, it’s always a labor of love.

Nannette Gobel, MA

Why Bother?

If English is becoming a lingua franca with a billion speakers, why bother learning a foreign language?  Isn’t it enough to speak English?  Oh ye of the limited view. 

This is why everyone should be learning a foreign language RIGHT NOW:

It makes you smarter.  Learning a language involves mental flexibility, problem solving, conceptual thinking, reasoning and creativity.   Studies show children studying a second language score higher in reading, language arts and math tests.

It keeps your mind strong.  A study of proficient, elderly bilingual speakers found they were more resistant to the onset of dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.  The greater the proficiency, the later the onset.

It makes you a mental ninja.  Learning unfamiliar cultures and ideas equip you to handle new situations and adapt to a fast-changing world.

It’s friendly.  In today’s increasingly globalized world, how can it not be practical to speak another language?

 It helps you understand your own language.  If you want to manipulate your own language with full command of its subtleties you need to understand its specific differences.  How better than to learn the intelligent nuances of your own language than by learning another?  Writers and speakers of English, this means you.

It opens minds and creates respect.  Language grows from culture.  If you know the language you intimately understand the culture.  This richness lets you see the world from another’s point of view, fostering respect for other ethnic groups, customs and lifestyles.

It’s an ego boost.  What fun is it to travel to Paris if you don’t speak French?  Not to mention how proud you will be ordering your cafe au lait en Francais instead of broken English or frantic hand signals.

It makes you valuable.  Not everyone speaks another language so why not stand out from the crowd?  Here’s a short list of employers looking for people with foreign language skills:  the government,(IRS, CIA, FBI, Department of State, DEA, Armed Services), business leaders, teachers, marketing/public relations firms, social services, healthcare facilities...

It’s music.  Each language has its own alphabet and set of sounds.  You hear the lilt and rhythm of a language before you understand its meaning.  Don’t believe me?  Rent an Italian film, close your eyes and listen.  Tell me you don’t hear music.

 

Sherry Dineen

(For pricing on language programs, contact Jaclyn.berberian@aiaTranslations.com)

The Future of English

Upon birth, we first learn to eat and sleep (fortunately, breathing and eliminating come naturally).  Language, because it is so important to our survival and quality of life, is next on the list.  The first language you learn is your mother tongue.

No two people learn or use language the same way.  The influences on our language patterns are endless.  The music we listen to, books we read, neighborhood we live in, parents, friends we hang out with and where we go to school (and for how long) all determine how we use the language we grow up learning.  

What happens when two people who need to communicate with each other learned different mother tongues?  In the days of the Ottoman Empire when Mediterranean port cities were the hot bed of commerce and diplomacy, this was a real problem.  The solution was Lingua Franca.  

A common language, Lingua Franca was mostly Italian mixed with a smattering of French, Spanish, Greek and Arabic for commonality sake.  Franca means frankish since Europeans were called “Franks” or “Franji” in Arabic and “Phrankoi” in Greek.

Today, “lingua franca” has become a general term for common or commercial languages used by peoples of diverse speech.  There are several potential lingua francas in existence today.  Spanish, French and Chinese are good candidates but due to the popularity of Western culture, English stands out as the most widely spoken language in the world.

Considered by some as the first global lingua franca, and by others as the most “successful” language in the world, its initial spread began with British colonization.  However, English has not belonged to England for quite some time now.  

Once the United States became a global superpower after WWII, the spread of English could not be stopped and is currently spoken by more than 1 billion people globally.  It even infiltrated Cuba, a country purposefully isolated from the United States over the past half century. 

As English spreads across cultures, new speakers under differing cultural influences hybridize it for their own needs.  For instance, in Singapore, an English-based creole language called “Singlish” is popularly spoken, much to the chagrin of its government whose intervention tries to promote “good” Standard English.

Of the billion or so people who speak English, only one-third of them learn it as a mother tongue.  Worldwide, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish have greater numbers of native speakers.  English is most widely taught as a foreign language.  In the European Union, 89% of school children study English.    With a greater number of nonnative speakers, the fate of English lies in the hands of people who are learning it as a second language and morphing it for their own purposes. 

With so much history behind it and so much outside influence effecting it, the question begs: what is the future of English?

 

Sherry Dineen

Schreibtischtäter [ˈʃra͜iptɪʃtɛːtɐ]

Musings on the raw material of a translator

Your average translator is somewhat of a bookworm, and most definitely a pencil pusher (if the electronic age would not forbid us to actually use pencils). His or her working time is entirely spent in the company of words—source words, target words, dictionary terms, glossary terms, vocabulary lists, reference lists: amazing what can be accumulated by seemingly endless combinations of only 26 individual characters in many of today’s languages.

For most people, language is not really something they think about—it’s a tool we use on a daily basis, but why and how it works is rarely on anyone’s mind, unless you happen to be a professional linguist in some shape or form. The latter variety of course has studied the phenomena for centuries, but I am not about to discuss the many theories and models they have come up with. Nevertheless, I do invite you to marvel for just a little while on the workings of language, without which hardly any of our modern commodities could have been created in the first place.

The sound and the thing

There is not much that confirms the will (and sheer necessity) of coming together like the mutual agreement on a certain sound to signify a specific object, action or characteristic. Imagine our hunting and gathering forefathers repeatedly producing the same grunt to designate a certain plant or animal, recognizing that by assigning a sound to a thing, communication loses the limitations of pointing and shouting. Such an agreement didn’t have to be set in stone, neither literally nor otherwise—continuing consensus formed fluidly, just as it does today when a new term or expression emerges. If enough of us start using a word with a certain meaning, it will become part of our vocabulary, and the same goes for all the other fun parts that make language the incredible living tool that it is—what we commonly dread refer to as grammar. As many rules (and exceptions) there are, the process that really happens is simply one of “spreading the word”. The writing down and making up rules portion happens only in hindsight. It’s a truly democratic procedure, and one of the most creative I can think of—after all, we have evolved from grunting at a tree to expressing ourselves in highly complicated structures that we still all agree on, and therefore understand.*

The power of Babel

We all love the story of how God allegedly kicked us out of the tower trying to make us lose that understanding we had gained thanks to language, because it apparently made us too powerful. Of course, nothing good can happen if everyone gets along. Fact is though, whether you look back at the common language we really might have once had, trying to dig up its archeological treasures, or if you look at the riches we can find in the many languages existing today that reflect back on our different cultures, you are always peering deep into the human soul. More than any other of our “symbolic activities” as Ernst Cassirer once defined them—the others being myth, religion, art, and science, together constituting the power of human abstraction—language is part of our everyday experience, regardless of who you are and where you are. It thus carries with it and continuously evolves the knowledge and history of its speakers.

The writing on the wall    

Already in its earlier days (commonly dated back to the Bronze Age), language gained a whole other dimension by the efforts of recording its own utterances. After connecting sound and object, yet another connection had to be made, that of associating the entity of sound and object to one or several symbols that could represent it. Just like we developed our verbal skills from barking sounds to elaborate sentences, writing systems evolved from pictograms and glyphs to scripts and alphabets. The first forms were not even reminiscent of the verbal designation of an item but rather a separate representation. After all, it’s much easier to draw a picture of a tree than to figure out what symbols to use that eventually will represent the sounds in /triː/.

From the safety of our desk, translators get to take these blocks of meaning apart, only to put them back together again in a different design. Different combinations will mean different things to different groups of people, based on what they all agreed on. If “schreiben” means “writing” to you, “Tisch” means “table” and “Täter” “offender”, you are part of the group that grasped the opening building block. If you are left with the individual elements, use your imagination—or a professional translator that will recreate the wor(l)d for you.

*If you are a secret linguaphile, I have to recommend Guy Deutscher’s “The Unfolding of Language”.

 

Nanette Gobel, MA

Return Ticket

Why back translations don’t necessarily guarantee a safe roundtrip

When you need material translated from English into a variety of foreign languages, you might look for a standardized way that allows you to ensure accuracy and completeness of the different translations. Back translation seems to be a good option: After rendering the source text into the respective target languages, the target texts are translated back into English by a different set of translators. While the first translator group specializes in translations from English into their respective native language, the second group specializes in translations from the respective foreign language into English.

Roadblock

As straightforward as this may sound, language generally does not work like mathematics where we can arrive at the same result even if we use different numbers and then reverse the process. It is impossible to check a translation the way we verify an invoice, and equations don’t really have a place in linguistics. If we could simply replace one word with another, Google Translate would have already taken over the world—probably not only—of translation (more about that feature below). When a translator takes on an English document to be conveyed in his or her native language, a wide range of considerations enters the process of phrasing each sentence and shaping the material as a whole, including structural and cultural aspects, subtext, style, and target audience. The choices made might stray from the original on a purely lexical and even semantic level. With the back translation, however, an entirely new process of interpreting and expressing the material takes place, this time based on the choices of the initial translator, which will lead inevitably to a different version of the original source text.

Lost

The result, at best, is confusion on the part of the client. Why does the back translation read “creating room for unique experiences” when the original is talking about “helping amazing experiences emerge”? And how did we get from the original “truth of technology” to the “mystery of technology”? Are these mistakes? Is the entire translation a failure? What usually ensues is a back and forth between client and translator via the translation agency, the Client denoting individual lines or words that seem to be “wrong” or missing, making suggestions, and the translator (or sometimes the back translator) trying to come up with alternatives to accommodate the client. Often, however, this kind of piecing together will hurt the flow of the text and might even create inconsistencies, unless the original translator or an editor or reviewer goes over the entire translation once again. There is rarely enough time to do so, which ultimately leads to the risk that the “final” translation achieved via the observations made in the back translation is actually of lower quality than the original translation, which was carefully composed and reviewed as a whole.      

Short cuts

Going without the back translation does not mean taking a short cut or missing out on understanding what happens to the original text in its target versions. There are other ways to communicate and discuss the transformation where needed, which we will talk about in the next paragraph, and which will actually cut short the time spent inquiring (on the part of the client) and explaining/revising (on the part of the translator) the items brought up as a result of the back translation as outlined above. Back translation short cuts that will get you nowhere are, as you might have guessed, instant translation tools as provided by Google or Babblefish, since even as they are becoming somewhat more sophisticated, they still reduce language to mathematics.

 

Safe haven

The best guarantee for high quality translation is working with translator teams selected by a high-end language services provider based on their special expertise and experience in the respective subject matter. If desired by the client, and as a way to avoid going through the process of back translation, the initial translator (in each language) will highlight and comment translation choices that may seem to depart from the original, but are made to serve readability, cultural sensitivities and similar. This is a typical procedure for marketing translations but can be adapted in other areas as well. An editor in the target language then proofreads the translation, ensures its completeness and accuracy, makes necessary corrections and may suggest alternatives to some of the translator’s choices. Before the translation goes to the client, however, the translator will have a chance to review the editor’s changes and notes, consider the material once more in its entirety, and finalize his or her work, including comments. The latter may, as a matter of fact, contain actual back translations of certain phrases to help the client understand the target text, but always in connection with an explanation as to why such a choice was made.

 

If the truth of translation is that there is never one truth or one translation, the secret of translation is that some languages may have several different words for something that other languages can only express with one term. If you have to go from one to several and then return to one again, the choice might remain a mystery, unless the translator is given an opportunity to elaborate.

 

Nanette Gobel, MA

RISK COMMUNICATION AND THE MEDICAL LINGUIST

Whether through verbal or nonverbal language, we communicate with others continually and without much thought. Communicating a message clearly and concisely under normal circumstances is an art in and of itself. The style and goals of this form of art become more complex when communicating in emotional or risky situations. Translating this specialized form of communication into a foreign language is the job of a medical linguist.

Risk communication is a research-based approach to effectively communicating with diverse audiences in emotionally charged situations involving high stress, controversy and oftentimes, low trust. Regardless of the language spoken, communicating in these situations, whether in person, by phone or through print medium, the goals of a risk communicator remain the same.

In emotionally charged situations, people need to feel their concerns, regardless of their validity, are understood and accepted. The first goal of a risk communicator is to address the emotional response of the target audience and minimize any undue fears and concerns. Acknowledging concerns is an important step in diminishing them.

There is a fine line between minimizing fears and downplaying the risk. The next goal is to enhance trust in the source of information. People will judge the quality of the information they receive based on the perceived credibility and trustworthiness of its source. Being too matter-of-fact or making false promises can negatively affect your credibility and increase worry.

Lastly, a risk communicator needs to increase knowledge and create understanding. Once created, that understanding is used to empower your target audience to make informed decisions. Especially in any type of crisis situation, people feel they have some personal control over a situation in which they are able to participate in a response or decision making process.

Medical linguists are a specialized and talented group of professionals. Some work in facilities that translate for patients in person or over the phone, others work behind the scenes to create informed consent documents, health education materials, and patient information sheets like discharge materials or advance directives. Regardless of where, or in what medium they work, when it comes to healthcare communication, action, or inaction can be associated with risk. Through effective risk communication techniques, medical linguists are specially trained to facilitate patient access to health care services by clearly and concisely communicating this risk.

Sherry Dineen

Legalese

Translating the language of the law

Somewhat sarcastically—or desperately, depending on who you are talking to—considered a language in its own right, legal speak in any tongue is a hard nut to crack for those not acquainted with it. Its specific terminology extends far beyond individual terms and encompasses an extensive set of phrases and expressions. The latter are extremely rigid, to such a degree that even the slightest change can invalidate them, and since the raison d’êtreof any court document, decree, contract, waiver or disclaimer is its inherent validity, every effort is made to avoid such changes. This of course often results in an almost archaic language that requires some decoding.

Rule no. 1: Know thy glossary

Familiarity with this specific vocabulary and jargon, an aptitude for deciphering the “code” in its individual context and the ability to work said code into different types of legal texts are the top requirements for the translator, which applies to his/her source and target languages. As the archaic elements of legal lingo may not have changed much since the early days of a particular judicial system for the reasons shown above, the job of the translator could be mistaken for simply memorizing century-old terminology. His core challenge, however, consists in determining where an equivalent in the other language (and system) actually exists and is called for and where he or she is forced to use a literal, yet comprehensible, translation. Lawyers in most countries, for instance, will use a severability clause in standard contracts, and the translator has to be familiar with its designation and phrasing in the target language(s), which is not necessarily a word-by-word rendition (“Salvatorische Klausel” in German, for instance, from Latin salvatorius, meaning maintaining or preserving, and “Clause de sauvegarde” in French, meaning safety or protection). Were we to translate the above into English, we would end up with “Preservation” or “Protection clause” rather than “Severability clause” if unfamiliar with the concept in question, and thus introducing an inaccuracy.

Rule no. 2: Know thy concepts

Then there is the opposite case. Even in countries with similar legal systems, like the US and many of the European countries, different structures (e.g. the court system) and concepts exist that do not have an exact equivalent. If we look to Asia or the Middle East, the gap becomes even more apparent. Many books and papers have been written about how a domestic court should handle and/or interpret specific laws and regulations of other countries (ranging from the difference in the validity of electronic signatures—Germany and the US—to the notion of Mahr, the Muslim custom where the groom has to give a gift to the bride in consideration of the marriage). The translator finds himself to a certain extent in the middle of the discussions without being able to wait for an outcome, but rather with the obligation to find a workable solution for the text or document that awaits translation. In that sense, the language of the law is in just as much fluctuation as all other linguistic expressions, and needs to be adapted to new circumstances and developments. Research is a constant companion to all professional translators, and an in-depth knowledge of legal processes, systems and concepts is the foundation to be built upon.

Rule no. 3: Write for thy audience

Writing for your audience bears yet more responsibilities in this context than it does in a purely commercial or marketing context. The translated text needs to be not only understandable and readable, but it must be applicable to the target group. While contracts will usually contain a clause asserting that they are only enforceable in the language they were originally written in, disclaimers, waivers, non-disclosure or license agreements that appear as part of product packaging or online rely on their binding effect in translation (ironically, the latter example also relies on the disputed electronic signature discussed above). Enhancing the readability of translated legal texts does not involve simplifying complicated sentence structures—even though one of the characteristics that make legalese so “foreign” is its intricate and elaborate (read: long-winded) phrasing. Rather, the wording used in the translation must be familiar and part of the legal canon of the target country. If a new concept has to be introduced, the terminology must come as close as possible to the terminology that would be used in the target language if its speakers were to adopt this concept into their legal system (and if you know the severability clause, you know this provision comes pretty close to it).

In witness whereof, I assure you that this article may not be used against me in any court of law in any language.

Nanette Gobel

Along for the Ride

How to map out successful routes that steer your translation projects the right way

Which question would you respond to positively: “Care to join me?” “Would you like to come with me?” “Can you please come?” Or are they all the same? Translations can be the object of much scrutiny, and sorting out what the proverbial bone of contention may be in individual cases is difficult. Let’s take a look at the process and see if there are any road signs that will help avoid complicated detours.

The beauty of the linguistic landscape

In any given language, there are many ways to express an idea, a fact, an opinion. Whether in conversation or in writing, we have to choose one, and our decision will be based on a variety of factors—the best-suited vocabulary and terminology, the most befitting grammar, the proper style. Yet, the choice is subjective in that we are to decide what works best on all those levels, and someone else might argue that it can be said better, or more eloquently, or more pointedly. The same is true for the translator. While it is the translator’s responsibility to decode and interpret these aspects in the source document, when it comes to choosing how they are best rendered in the target language, more than one option will present itself.

Knowing the difference

Even when clear mistakes and misinterpretations are ruled out, there might be translation options that can’t make the cut for other reasons. 1. The terminology is correct, but the client uses a different variant. 2. The sentence structure is accurate, but lacks flow and clarity. 3. The style corresponds to the original, but is not appropriate for the target audience. Experienced translators will do their best to avoid these pitfalls and (1) check with the agency if the client has supplied specific terminology, (2) choose readability over literality, and (3) customize the text for the intended market.

Where content and form converge

One of the classic rules of thumb for translators is the seemingly straightforward “Don’t add anything, don’t leave anything out”. Of course, if the source text reads “The fish weighed 250 pounds”, the translation should not be “The fish weighed a whopping 250 pounds”. Or should it? As a matter of fact, if the next sentence goes on to make a statement about the fish’s weight to this effect, it is a recognized translation technique to reorganize the text structure in a way that is more suitable in the target language. What’s more, all the examples above defy the line that is drawn by this rule between content and form, i.e. implying that the latter can be changed while the former needs to remain consistent. The two aren’t necessarily as separable as we might wish. Philosophy has long claimed content and form to be indivisible, so how are we to divide them in translation? Artists always strive for a balance of the two, because “When form predominates, meaning is blunted… When content predominates, interest lags.” (Paul Rand).

Feedback that gets you on track

Reviewing a translation thus involves taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture. This includes an in-depth look at the original document. If the reviewer finds a statement in the translation of a marketing message that seems out of line with local policies, it must be verified if it is indeed the translation of the message that creates this impression or if it is the message itself that may be appropriate for one market but not for another. There is a limit to what a translator can do with regards to adapting form and content to the target audience. If cultural concerns are involved and the entire concept needs to be replaced—for instance because of religious or political references, or because of the use of colloquialisms that are acceptable in one culture but not the other—client and translator should work together to come up with a solution. If the source document contains information or facts that the reviewer in the target market feels should not be put out to this particular audience, the translator’s hands are bound. In this case, the rule of refraining from adding and eliminating elements fully applies: There is no way the translator can add the weight of the fish into the translation or take it out.

Alternate ways to your destination

To arrive at a target document that is the best it can be and as free of controversy as possible, defining and discussing your goals with your language service provider of choice as well as with your foreign partners on the outset is crucial. When placing the translation order, let the agency know if you are concerned with culturally sensitive issues. If the material turns out to require adaptation to match target market customs and conventions, for instance because it addresses the audience in a way that wouldn’t be appropriate or uses humor in a way that might be misunderstood, the agency will assign translators specializing in this type of material. If your foreign affiliates are concerned with the choice of information and facts or feel that even providing company terminology and other guidelines will not result in a translated document customized enough to appear on their websites, packaging etc., there is another option. You can let them know from the start that you will have your source document translated as is, but that they can customize it after the fact, i.e. make changes that include adding and taking out components of the text. This version is then back translated, so that it is clear where the differences lie and headquarters remains in control of the distributed content.

Key is that the ride never really is the same, but understanding what matters to get you there and working closely with your co-pilots should make it equally joyful and successful.

Nanette Gobel

I Eat Your Liver

Nothing reveals the character of a language and thereby—to a certain degree—of its speakers more than idioms and colloquialisms, standardized expressions that usually defy attempts of literal translation. Their use can be great fun but also (quite literally…) spell trouble when addressing a global audience.

“Argot” as the French call it—giving the phenomena a somewhat more sophisticated ring than the English “slang”—is usually so engrained in our daily communications that we do not notice anything strange, even if we are saying things that can appear quite absurd. We never really “nuke” our food nor does it actually rain cats and dogs. But have you ever wondered what it rains in other cultures? Well, you might be surprised to find out that in South Africa, it’s raining old women with knobkerries (clubs) and in Norway, female trolls. The Spanish offer husbands, and the Polish, frogs.

Each expression tells a story and invites to speculate on the origins of the idiom as well as the associated idiosyncrasies of the respective culture. I am probably not the only one who is reminded of the end scene of the movie “Magnolia” by the last example above. While some have interpreted the sequence as a biblical reference (Exodus 8:2) – which could in turn explain the Polish saying, given the strong catholic tradition in the country – recent studies go as far as establishing “raining animals” as a scientifically explainable occurrence, reported from many cultures throughout the ages.

The magic of words

Scientific proof or not, the power of the image can be tremendous, as Anderson’s 1999 film showed. There is probably no one who used the artistic device of bringing metaphors or sayings to life as extensively and masterfully as French author Boris Vian. He created an entire short story from the expression “Love is blind” (L’Amour est aveugle, 1949),

based on the proposition that by having to rely on our remaining four senses and eliminating the critical eye of others (and thus the sense of embarrassment), we are finally free to love. The story, full of clin d’oeuils, unravels our fixed perception of the world and its values by painting a surreal setting from a familiar phrase—it’s a mysterious fog that robs the people in the story of their eyesight, just long enough to discover their newly found freedom. The Oedipal ending in reverse plays on our morals just as much as on our literary heritage.

Playing the game

You don’t need to go that far to create an effect when playing with words for marketing or similar purposes, but it is not a bad idea to keep in mind how much of the game touches on cultural references and sensitivities. Even product names can fire back, as Clairol’s curling iron famously proved a few years ago when introduced into the German market: “Mist Stick” sounds a lot like “Miststück”, meaning “piece of manure”– a quite common curse word. An example going the other way around comes from Sweden: the international advertising team of a popular vacuum manufacturer was apparently not aware of the various connotations of the verb “to suck” when they released the slogan “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux” in the English-speaking markets. Granted, this happened back in the sixties when the expression “this sucks” was just emerging, but it goes to show how crucial it is to be tuned into the latest linguistic trends and developments. Language is a living thing, and the paradox about idiomatic expressions lies in their timelessness—some seem to have been around forever—paired with the ever-new creation of words and coining of phrases.

Keeping up with the latest

Market research groups around the world put a lot of work into keeping track of every trend and fad, but only by teaming up with professional linguists specializing in the field of creative adaptation in the respective target languages can marketeers ensure that their message will indeed come across. Even if bringing back classics—Shakespeare originated or at least popularized countless idioms, among them such staples as “dead as a doornail” or “to be in a pickle”—we cannot always be sure that they translate well or are as commonly known in translation as in their original version. (I couldn’t help but look up this last one: Apparently the bard adopted it from Dutch, where it indeed referred to the uncomfortable notion of being stuck in brine and vinegar, i.e. pickling juice). It gets more complicated when using modern speak, and the fact that English is penetrating colloquial lingo around the globe triggers quite some confusion while only seemingly standardizing popular culture and language. Ultimately, it is crucial for the translator or adaptation specialist to have a keen sense of what exactly an expression conveys in the source language in order to then find an equivalent (which may be entirely different linguistically) that can take its place in the target language.

Creative forces

When it comes to coining catchphrases or making them accessible to the general public, the “Shakespeares” of today are often members of the pop culture—we find them in music, movies (You talking to me?), TV—but copywriters themselves are actually a driving force as well. While we don’t know if any of the contemporary creations will have an impact as lasting as those of the famed playwright, unlike his, they have to stand the test of immediate internationalization. “Got Milk?” has been going for almost 20 years, nevertheless stumbling in its first attempts of going global: After being released in Spanish, it turned out that the tagline actually read “Are you lactating?” The web of course is another great source for new jargon with the added benefit of immediately going worldwide. Wired.com published “10 Updated Colloquialisms for the Modern Age” last year (by Anton Olson, 1/25/2010), including such treasures as “That’s a hard act to unfollow” and “One #hashtag does not a trending topic make.” Only time will tell if they prevail and for how long—the doornail example above (which actually had to do with a specific use of real nails) shows that even when a technique or technology becomes obsolete, the expression can live on.

Not all imagery may prove as persistent as the many figures of speech involving a certain body part in Armenian: As Irina Petrosian and David Underwood put it (in Armenian Food: Fact, Fiction & Folklore) Armenians “love with their liver, feel pain in their liver, talk with their liver and eat with their liver”. And when they want to eat your liver, they are head over heels for you.

Nanette Gobel