Every Term Matters (Global Watchtower) March 7, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Translation Sites.1 comment so far
This is sure to be one of those news tidbits that every translation blogs picks up and runs with, but I believe when it’s done right there is no need to repeat it here. Nataly Kelly and Renato Beninatto of the Global Watchtower were the first bloggers to report on Hillary Clinton’s linguistic faux pas on a gift to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The State Department left out a few crucial Cyrillic letters, changing the entire meaning of the word. I highly recommend reading their blog post on the subject. Hey, mistakes happen to everyone. Unfortunately it seems a lot of language-related mistakes happen to our government :-P.
Procrastination and flow January 21, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings, Translation Sites.4 comments
Ryan at the GITS Blog has a fabulous post on Translator Flow. Rather than me summarize his insights, I encourage you to check it out.
It took me forever to get into the flow this week, but now I am firmly in it – and am now taking a few minutes to write about it and hope to get back into it when I’m done. I had a client call on Monday with a 3,000 word job due Wednesday morning. I procrastinated on Monday and only translated 500 words of it, because I figured I could finish it yesterday – forgetting all about the Inauguration. Oops. I spent yesterday scrambling to finish and stressed out. I moved my work computer into the living room to listen with half an ear while translating (never a good idea, BTW). I took time out to watch the actual swearing in ceremony, but then promptly turned off the TV to devote myself to my translation. I finally started getting into the flow about 4, which only left me about two hours before I had to leave for my dinner plans. Since I was the organizer I couldn’t bail, but I did cut out earlier than everyone else to go home and finish the translation. I finished it at 2 AM and sent it to my colleague to proofread, who wakes up earlier than me and had it ready for me when I woke up this morning. I delivered it on time – maybe even an hour early – and the PM told me she looks forward to working with me again soon.
Procrastination is a hard habit to break, but as a freelance translator with deadlines you soon learn how to not procrastinate in order to meet your deadlines and be ready to start another job. Back in November Scientific American explored the topic of procrastination in its article Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit. The article defines procrastination as:
Procrastination does not mean deliberately scheduling less critical tasks for later time slots. The term is more apt when a person fails to adhere to that logic and ends up putting off the tasks of greater importance or urgency. That is, if just thinking about tomorrow’s job pricks the hair on the back of your neck or compels you to do something more trivial, you are probably procrastinating.
A penchant for postponement carries a financial penalty, endangers health, harms relationships and ends careers.
The article goes on to state that most people procrastinate and offers tips on how to break the habit of procrastination. I find if I am dreading translating a text or even a sentence or paragraph in a text I have a tendency to procrastinate (the article calls it “task aversiveness”). It is hard to motivate yourself and break through the wall, but it can be done. I am pretty good at not procrastinating if a deadline is far away, but if I have no deadline (just a “oh, whenever you can get to it”) I will procrastinate until I finally realize it’s been a week and I haven’t even touched it.
The article claims “the third oft-cited explanation for unreasonable delay is arousal”:
The “arousal procrastinator” swears that he works best under pressure, loving—perhaps needing—the rush of a last-minute deadline to get started. Such a person believes procrastinating affords a “peak” or “flow” experience, defined by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi of the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University as being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. Time disappears. The ego dissolves. … But procrastination does not facilitate flow.
Which made me think of Ryan’s blog post, which I had just read moments before. Funny how I read two similar articles today on the subject. I think the universe is trying to tell me something, so I should probably wrap this up and get back to my 12,000 word job that is due Friday.
The best way to avoid procrastination for me is to stick to my job board and ensure it always has a couple jobs on it at all times. But I’d love to hear from you as well. Are you a big procrastinator? It’s ok to admit it as long as you always make your deadlines. As Ryan states, the client doesn’t care how long it takes you to translate something; they only want it delivered on time.
What strategies do you invoke to keep from procrastinating? Share your tips in the comments.
Wanted by the FBI: Employees January 6, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Random musings, Translation Sites.comments closed
NPR reports this morning:
The FBI has launched one of its biggest hiring blitzes ever. It needs to fill 850 special agent positions. It also has openings for more than 2,000 support staff. Officials say this is the agency’s largest job posting since just after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The openings are largely due to attrition and a wave of retirements.
If you want to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a linguist, you need to be aware that it will take at least a year for the background check after you have completed the 12-page application and passed the testing process. You also must be a U.S. citizen. The linguist test is a battery of tests that includes oral and written comprehension as well as translation ability from the foreign language into English. The first part is a written test with multiple choice questions testing reading and listening comprehension and then the translation of several texts. Most of those who take it (70 or 80%) fail this test. If you have passed the written test you will be invited back for a 20-to-50-minute telephone interview. The telephone interview tests your listening and speaking comprehension in the foreign language. The interviewers rate you based on the linguistic content of your responses and not on your knowledge of the subject matter. If you are fluent I can guarantee that you won’t notice when the interviewers raise the linguistic register and will find the phone interview quite enjoyable.
Once you have passed the battery of language tests, you will then have to pass the polygraph and an audiometer (hearing) test. The polygraph is mentally and emotionally grueling. They ask you about anything you may have omitted on the application and questions that might preclude your employment by the Bureau and about your character. I was so mentally exhausted after the polygraph that I took a 1-hour nap when I got home. You may also have to submit to a drug test, especially if you are offered a language specialist position. As a contract linguist, the folks in Cleveland decided I didn’t need to take it, but I was more than willing to. If you are an upstanding citizen you will have nothing to worry about from the polygraph or drug tests.
Having passed the language tests and polygraph, they will then begin conducting your background check. The application has you list every address you have ever lived at and name one person who can attest to your having lived there for each address. I also had to include a list of all of my clients at the time. The FBI visited everyone listed on the application and asked them about me and my character. They even went door-to-door on my parents’ street (and I imagine the street I grew up on for 21 years) asking the neighbors about me. I was glad I had warned my clients that I was applying to the FBI, because the secretary at one agency called my project manager to tell her “there are people from the FBI here who want to speak with you” – not something you hear every day and not something a foreign national usually wants to hear 🙂 .
I was a contract linguist for four years. It took them a while to finally start sending me work and even longer until they sent me to DC for training. However, it might have just been my field office and supervisor. I eventually got disillusioned and decided I no longer wanted to work with them. However, I know plenty of people who are contract linguists and enjoy the work. The texts I translated were indeed very interesting – Internet and banking fraud, letters rogatory, and extradition documentation. If you specialize in legal and financial texts this might be a good choice for you. If you are working at a field office as a contract linguist you will be expected to bring your dictionaries with you to the office. They never provided me with any dictionaries. Headquarters, on the other hand, has plenty of dictionaries. You will need to insist on having Internet access, because a lot of the things you translate and terms you encounter will not be found in a dictionary.
Contract linguists are paid by the hour, and the hourly rate is determined by language. As a contract linguist you would be self-employed and will not receive benefits. This means you will also be responsible for paying taxes out of the $34 or $35 an hour you are paid. You will keep a monthly time log and submit it at the end of the month in order to be paid. It is a nice little side job, but if you are chosen as a contract linguist you may or may not be given steady work depending on the needs for your language. Language specialists are considered full-time employees, and the assignments are rare. You may also be required to relocate or work from headquarters. Most people are contract linguists. Contract linguists may be given opportunities to travel (but assignments tend to require long stretches of time) or may remain in their city of choice and work from the local field office. Due to security concerns and the need to protect evidence, contract linguists must work in the field office instead of their own home or office.
The FBI does not distinguish between translators and interpreters, or between people who translate in one direction or another. The bulk of their work (perhaps 80%) goes into English, but a similar percentage of contract linguists and language specialists are non-native English speakers, so by definition most of their translators are working into their non-native language. Language specialists do not have the luxury of turning down assignments because it is into their non-native language or requires a skill set one may not have (such as interpreting). As a contract linguist you may have the luxury if there is a competent native speaker who can accept the assignment, but if you are in a language of limited diffusion you will most likely translate in both directions.
On a positive note, the FBI and other government entities are one of the few steady in-house jobs out there for translators. I have my fair share of gripes with them, but realistically it enabled several of my friends to keep freelancing until they establish a stable of regular clients. In-house jobs in the private sector are almost nonexistent, especially if you translate into English. You are also doing your part and helping your government in its dealings with other countries, which I really liked.
For even more information about working for the FBI and other government entities, I encourage you to read “Translating and Interpreting in the Federal Government” by Ted Crump. Many thanks to Corinne McKay for fact-checking, feedback and a couple additions to this post!
Max Planck magazine mistakenly runs brothel ad on cover December 11, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, Translation Sites.1 comment so far
This translation error makes the “out of office” message in Welsh pale in comparison. The Max Planck Institute, a well-respected German research institute, mistakenly ran an ad for a Chinese brothel on its cover page while seeking to illustrate a special report on China with Chinese characters. The institute bought the picture of Chinese characters in good faith from a photo agency and had it checked by a Chinese speaker, who said it “looked good and didn’t appear to pose a problem.”
After it was published about five weeks ago on the cover page of the journal devoted to China, readers noticed that the text included a reference to an ad for “hot housewives in action” from a brothel in Northern China. Oops! That edition of the journal has since been recalled, and the institute has apologized to readers, a Max Planck spokeswoman said.
The institute quickly acknowledged their mistake and admitted they had not contacted a native speaker for verification. “To our sincere regret … it has now emerged that the text contains deeper levels of meaning, which are not immediately accessible to a non-native speaker,” the institute said in an apology. “By publishing this text we did in no way intend to cause any offense or embarrassment to our Chinese readers.”
If the institute hadn’t quickly admitted their fault in this, I could see this actually becoming the first case in which a “translator” might be sued – and rightly so. But obviously the person wasn’t a professional, because I would hope that a professional would have actually read and understood the text – native speaker or not.
For more information check out this article on the incident in German or this article in English. The English article is particularly informational and entertaining, particularly the last paragraph or two in which they talk about various forum comments.
Fight for your rights if you have to December 10, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Translation Sites.7 comments
My disagreement with my client has been peacefully resolved, with everyone except maybe the end client happy (but then again the survey was huge, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the bill will be expensive…). My PM has apologized, and I have graciously accepted her apology and told her we should put it behind us and all is forgiven. Forgiven, but not forgotten. I won’t forget the lessons I learned from this incident, and I am vowing to stand up for myself more with this client.
They are my best client, and I have put up with a lot of things from them that I wouldn’t with other clients. I don’t mind churning out several thousand words a day for them, because the jobs are usually very easy and do not require a lot of effort looking words up. It pays very, very well, and I for one appreciate it. They are marketing surveys asking German respondents what they thought of this ad or that ad and why. I generally translate the phrases as fast as my fingers can type, which was last recorded at a little over 90 words per minute. Sure, I often have to decipher atrocious misspellings and typos, determine which umlauts are sometimes missing, and figure out what the respondent was trying to say, but after four and a half years I have gotten really good at that.
The problem stemmed from the exporting. The exporting tool was aborting in the middle of the word count exports, and that caused the PM to think that the word count was half the amount I was claiming. She redid the word count at my request and came up with a higher word count, but it was still 10,000 words less than the word count I had. In the end I had to call her boss, and a third party familiar with the tool reviewed the word count and agreed with me. I just sent my invoice. Unfortunately I didn’t have the heart to charge for the time I spent reexporting everything for a detailed word count, but it was worth the effort since I was able to get my full word count recognized.
So you are probably wondering what the point of this post is. For all those of you who are new to the business and reading this, please realize that you have every right to insist on being paid for your work. If the PM refuses to discuss it with you and you know you are right, go over their head and talk to someone else. If you do the work you should be paid for it.
I have also decided that I will be insisting on more reasonable deadlines in the future. Their end client needs to be taught that translators are not machines. If I keep killing myself to make the unreasonable deadlines, the end client gets used to it and starts to expect it. And that doesn’t benefit anyone but the end client. Client education is so important, and I for one intend on working to educate the PMs there as often as I can.
When is it worth quibbling over word count? December 1, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings, Translation Sites.11 comments
I spent the weekend translating a really big online survey. The client had also translated some responses, so I copied and pasted the responses I translated into Word for an accurate word count. My word count ended up differing from the client’s word count by 226 words, which was an improvement from the 625 word difference the client initially reported (he hadn’t taken a second tab into consideration). Since we were dealing with over 6000 words I decided not to quibble over the 226 words and accepted the lower word count. After all, I’m not perfect and might have made a mistake while copying and pasting responses all weekend (but I doubt it 🙂 ). In the end it was only a $25 difference, so I am not freaking out about it. But I’m curious to hear how you all would have handled this. Would you have let it go and accepted the lower word count since the PM did a word count three times and came up with the same count the last two times?
I hate fighting with clients about prices and nickeling and diming them to death, but sometimes you have to in order to make a profit. I did a job for a client about two months ago. I spent more time dealing with their administrative paperwork than I did on the actual job itself. It was a conference call and I billed for two hours (one hour prep work and one hour on the phone). I had to sign their contract three different times (because for some reason they didn’t want me to fill in the date, which is stupid because my signature is dated 8 days before the date on the top of the contract. whatever) and fax and mail it back to them (in England). I managed to talk them into allowing me to add 5 euros to the bill to cover those costs. I got my phone bill over the weekend. My fax costs alone were $16. Not to mention postage to England ($0.94 a pop). OK, that’s my fault for using AT&T and not some 0150 number or some online fax service, but I will definitely think twice before working with them again. I will also think twice before faxing overseas from my office fax machine. I made a small profit on the job, but it is definitely a lot smaller than it would have been otherwise.
The Art of Translation on NPR November 24, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff, Translation Sites.3 comments
NPR published an interesting article/podcast on Saturday about the art of literary translation. Thanks to JLibbey of pandltranslations, who just started following me on Twitter and brought this to her/his followers’ attention. I liked it so much I posted it to my Facebook account for my friends to read and learn a little bit about what I do and the hurdles we face as translators. After all, a good translation needs to be true to the original and able to stand on its own for a new audience, and that is why there can be different translations of various books published. The example NPR uses is Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables, among others. The thing NPR stresses is how translation is not literal and how much is truly involved in translating texts, which I think is a good message for its readers/listeners to hear.
Certified translations – truth or myth? November 24, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Translation Sites.add a comment
Unlike the way things work in Germany, where translators apply with the courts to become beglaubigt, which then allows them to stamp and certify their translations, “certification” in the U.S. is a whole other ball of wax. Let us not get this confused with ATA certification, which entails taking (and passing – no small feat!) a test and having to complete a set number of continuing education points every two years in order to maintain your certification. You do not have to be an ATA certified translator to certify a translation.
I am talking about the translation and certification of legal documents, such as birth certificates and divorce decrees. NOTA published an article by Nancy Huskins, Doing the Impossible – Quite Possibly What Translators Do Best, in the May 2005 NOTA BENE that details the situation very well. We also have numerous quotes from our members about certification and how they certify documents.
I feel one comment in particular summed it up best:
I don’t really know what people want when they say “certified translation” and I guess they don’t know either. For whatever purpose they need a translation, they have been asked to get the translation “certified” and they pass the requirement to the translator. I also have continuous requests for “certified translation” and it always involves birth certificates or other type of certificates and also diplomas. What I do, after the translation, I just add a sentence which reads, “This translation has been prepared by me, (name). I am a professional translator and fully competent to translate, and to the best of my knowledge and ability, this translation is
complete and accurate.” Signed, dated and signature notarized, and it always works. Which leads me to believe that this is a “certified translation.”
When I need to certify a translation I include a cover page (see below) and go to a notary public to get my document(s) notarized. The notary public can be a secretary, someone at a bank, or a fellow translator. There are several translators I know who are notary publics. They, like other notary publics, still can’t confirm that the translation is a “true and accurate translation of the attached original,” but they can notarize you “appeared before them and acknowledged that [you are] an active/certified member of the American Translators Association and that [you] executed the document as [your] free act and deed”. You also might want to include a disclaimer such as “to the best of my knowledge and ability.”
The best certification example, which was submitted by Dr. Lee Wright and a version of which I now use, is as follows:
[to be printed on translator’s business letterhead]
[date]
I, [translator’s name] ([translator’s academic or other credentials, if any; e.g., Ph.D.]), a translator of proven expertise in translating to [target language] and an active/certified member of the American Translators Association by a certificate attesting thereto issued on [date], do hereby CERTIFY that the foregoing translation of [a] document[s] pertaining to:
corresponds to its/their original in [language], which I had in my possession.In [city], [state], USA, on the ____________ day of _______________, ______.
_____________________________________________
[TRANSLATOR’S NAME]
STATE OF [STATE]
COUNTY OF [COUNTY]I, the undersigned Notary Public, do hereby certify that [translator’s name] appeared before me and acknowledged that [she/he] is an active, certified member of the American Translators Association and that [she/he] executed this document of [her/his] own free act and deed.
In witness whereof, I have set my hand and seal, this ___________ day of ______________________________.
_____________________________________________
NOTARY PUBLIC
Naturally, you shouldn’t include the “original in [language], which I had in my possession” if you only had a copy of the document. And of course it goes without saying that you should always charge for the time and extra work involved with certifying a document.
A stellar job opportunity November 17, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Translation Sites.9 comments
I just received the following job inquiry and couldn’t resist sharing it with you all.
Hello,
Looking for an interpreter/Translator that can translate from english to any foreign language or vis-visa.I have a project at hand that demands some vital language learnings. This book has been written to help parent know thier duties and obligation to kids from age of 2 to 12 years. I will like to know your area of specialization? and also what language suit your knowledge.As this book will be publish and distributed around the world.The book contain 25 pages,words counts is 9,000 thousand to 11 thousands..written in english.I will like to know the cost to translate this to your specialization for my usage.I will need your contact information.Once your payment is okay by me,I will update you with the copy of the book through fax or mailing it to you.You can also contact me through my email.If i am unable to pick my call, you can email me back,I will like to have an agreement with you before sending you copy of the book. Note that there will be no editing as regards translating it…I will await your cost to do this with your name and address so that i can send your payment to seal our agreement after which i will send you copy to proceed with your job.I hope you will be able to finish this within 1 month? to aviod mistake.The book is title (WHAT TEENAGERS NEED FROM THIER PARENT). I will await your response asap. Thanks.
Wow, I’m going to jump right at the chance to translate this guy’s no doubt stellarly written English into “any foreign language and vis-visa”… NOT! A book that contains just 25 pages and 9-11,000 words? Sounds like a brochure to me… I love the fact that he is asking what my field of specialization is despite the fact that he states the book is “to help parent know thier [sic] duties and obligation to kids.” Sorry, I don’t specialize in child rearing. I’ll resist my rant about modern day parenting and simply delete this dude’s e-mail. If you received it I suggest you do the same.
Funny how this inquiry differed dramatically with another inquiry I received this morning. It was only one line, but I have no doubt it is on the up and up and I responded with a proper quote:
Dear Jill
Can you please send me a quote on translating the attached document from German into English.
Kind Regards
What a difference proper English and attaching the actual document makes. He’s also going to have to pay upfront for the translation, but I have no doubt that I will actually be paid for the latter job.
Amazon UK launches Literature in Translation store November 12, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Random musings, Translation Sites.2 comments
Blogging Translator reports that Amazon UK has launched a Literature in Translation store last week. I think I will be bookmarking the site just as a reference for new books to read. The store features a scroll bar with the top 48 Bestsellers in Literature in Translation, and they also focus on one or two authors. They are focusing on Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk and Austrian/Czech author Franz Kafka (he was born in Prague, but was from a German-speaking Jewish family) at the moment. I am always open to new and interesting book suggestions.
This is also a great way to publicize our profession. Even if they haven’t made a huge announcement, we can. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell other colleagues.
Having worked at Borders for several years when I first moved back to the States (practicing what I preach to budding translators – get a part-time job to pay the rent while you are just starting out and trolling for clients), I came to realize most customers had no clue they were reading translations, which is a huge complement when you are the one who translated the book but not so ideal in terms of publicizing the profession. Heck, most customers didn’t even know the author’s name… I got really good at trying to figure out what they were looking for based on vague descriptions or knowing what Oprah just recommended. 🙂
I also love that publishers are finally starting to prominently feature the name of the translator on cover pages. I’m reading Out by Natsuo Kirino right now, which was translated by Stephen Snyder, and his name is featured prominently on the cover page as well as in the Amazon listing. This is a great advancement for us. Most literary translators were never mentioned on cover pages in the past.
Amazon UK prefaces their Literature in Translation store as follows:
Welcome to our Literature in Translation store. Browse here for great deals on top fiction from around the globe. You can search by language or by genre to discover new authors, and see what other people are reading and rating.
so check it out.
Musings from an overworked translator 