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.
PC Magazine goes all digital November 21, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Tech tips.1 comment so far
Ziff Davis Media’s PC Magazine is the latest monthly magazine to quit printing and become a purely digital operation. The January issue will be its last print edition.
I am uncluttering my office at the moment and, in my effort to get rid of the piles of paper on my desk, have written a bunch of draft posts on blurbs and articles I have torn from magazines like PC World and PC Magazine over the years. I will be posting them here over the next few weeks. As I was going through the articles today I ruminated on my decision to cancel my subscriptions to PC World and PC Magazine, only to discover this news item in my feed reader. I had canceled my subscriptions, because I found that I simply didn’t feel reading the magazine was a priority and would let them stack up until I had a free afternoon to go through them. I figured I could read them in the library or catch up online. Obviously many people felt like me and now rely on the web sites for their helpful articles.
Moving to an all-digital format seems like a natural and inevitable progression. I look forward to visiting their website now instead.
Transit NXT was released yesterday November 21, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Tools.4 comments
One of the busier listservs I belong to is discussing the new version of Transit, Transit NXT, which was released this week. I got a chance to see a demo of it at the ATA conference and was quite impressed with it. I like Transit because it strips all the formatting from the actual translation, and you as the translator don’t have to deal with it.
The Transit tool offers a lot of configurable options, so that is why they don’t advertise the price anywhere. This allows you to pick and choose the features you need and disregard those you don’t (like the project management tool, which isn’t useful for a freelance translator who works with only one or two language pairs).
One thing I haven’t liked with previous versions of Transit is that the windows tended to overlay on top of one another and weren’t all visible. They seem to have fixed this problem with “Bubble windows,” which are dynamic windows that appear when you need them and disappear when you don’t. The fuzzy window disappears when you don’t need it and other information, such as similarity to the source text, segment status, words that appear in the dictionary, etc., is also visible at a glance. No one outside Star Group has had a chance to really become familiar with it yet, so we need to allow a week or two for translators to become familiar with it and then the real info will start trickling out.
The consensus among my fellow translators is that people are getting increasingly frustrated with SDL Trados’ support (or lack thereof) and its rigid thinking. The biggest complaint I hear is that support isn’t responsive to translators’ questions. Most questions are more effectively answered in translator forums such as tw_users. The second biggest is that they are too focused on the agencies and not enough on the needs of the translator.
I’d love to hear what you guys think of Star Transit and Trados. Fire away!
TGIF: In honor of the first major snowfall of the year November 21, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.2 comments
Since we are supposed to get up to a foot of snow here in Cleveland overnight I am posting one of my favorite snow-related videos. I hope this doesn’t happen to you this winter. Is it Christmas yet? It sure feels like it somehow…
TGIF: Adventure at the laundromat November 21, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.add a comment
I can always count on the Berlitz ads to bring the funny. Here’s another Berlitz ad for your enjoyment.
Keeping your Internet profile clean November 20, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.6 comments
As a professional it is so important to keep your online profile clean. A careless comment in a blog, a website publicizing an illegal or questionable pastime, or a racy photo on MySpace can really hurt your chances of landing a good client or job – not to mention generating lots of gossip among those who know you. It never ceases to amaze me how many people don’t think about this.
I attended my twentieth high school reunion last year, and everyone was talking about how one of the guys was a “pervert” because he had posted a picture of his johnson on MySpace. This was just recently impressed on me again when one of my clients asked if I knew a certain translator who had applied for an in-house job because they became wary after viewing his MySpace page.
According to May 2008 article in the Washington Post, Keeping Your Profile Clean, “a recent survey by ExecuNet, a networking organization for business leaders, found that 83 percent of executives and corporate recruiters research job candidates online, and 43 percent have eliminated a candidate based on search results. Even if you’re not in the market for a new job, it’s a good idea to clean the skeletons out of your digital closet.”
The author suggests doing a Google search “to pinpoint any negative hits you’d like to remove.” She also talks about setting up a Google Alert on your name to keep tabs on your reputation and mentions several other services one could use to improve one’s online reputation. This seems like a lot of work to me. I simply suggest not doing anything to generate those negative hits in the first place.
If you are going to participate in social networking sites like MySpace, Xanga, LiveJournal or Facebook, I suggest thinking before you post. Think of these sites as an extension to your résumé. Ask yourself, “Would I put this information in my résumé or a job application?” A picture of you drunk at a party – or worse – is clearly not a good way to promote yourself. It is also important to make sure that your friends do not post inappropriate pictures or information about you on their sites.
Of the social sites I mentioned, Facebook is a little better, because you can control who has access to your information. You have to “friend” (i.e., approve) someone before the person can have access to your page. However, it is important to remember that many institutions may hire students or have sites themselves and they could request access to your site. And you certainly should not befriend a client on Facebook if you don’t want the client to know mundane details about your life or the fact that you are hung over from the big party last night – especially if you have a big translation due at the end of business. They and everyone else who is linked to you might then be asking themselves what you are doing partying if you have a big job due in the first place. But that’s a whole other can of worms…
The unclever blogger November 17, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.add a comment
Pearls Before Swine isn’t necessarily my favorite comic strip, but every once in a while there is a good one that makes me chuckle. This one was in Sunday’s newspaper. I should have used Pig’s lines at the ATA conference. It certainly would have sparked some good conversation 🙂
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.
TGIF: Font conference November 14, 2008
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Fun stuff.3 comments
Thanks to Metrolingua for posting this video. It cracked me up! The video is an excellent personification of the fonts we know and love. I just want to know why Rage Italic is German…
Musings from an overworked translator 