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