Tēna koutou!

Happy New Year! The past month has seen both Matariki and the new financial year for government as well as Māori language week. This has been a time for us to reflect on our annual customer survey results as well as statistics on how well we've been meeting deadlines and the quality of work we've done this year. Overall the results have been good. Our customers have ranked us well – still with some room for improvement – but overall their feedback is encouraging and warrants a big thank you to all translators, revisers and project managers who have helped make this year a success.

As a side note, our translation numbers have reset to 0000 for the new year. Please keep these as four digit numbers by adding leading zeros (i.e. please use the number "0023" rather than "23").

The other major event this month was the NZSTI conference last weekend where NZSTI adopted a new Code of Ethics that is fully aligned with the Australian (AUSIT) code. As a trusted public service, ethics and integrity lie at the heart of what we do. I'd like to affirm that we fully endorse the new code and that the whole team here strives to ensure we demonstrate excellence in our ethical conduct and integrity. The new code can be viewed online.

This month's Update features an interview with our Hindi translator Vishal Anand as well as a discussion of government translation and the first part of the ten key qualities we are looking for in a translator. Best wishes for the new year and happy translating!

Quintin Ridgeway
Manager

Vishal Anand is K.G.’s 37-year old son – based in Haryana, India they have been providing us friendly and efficient translation services from and into various Indian languages, including Punjabi, Hindi, and Marathi, since 2008. Vishal lived in Melbourne for a decade before returning to India at the end of 2012. He holds a post-graduate degree in Information Systems and has an interest in languages, particularly English and Indian languages.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
In my opinion, nothing in this world is perfect. There is always room for improvement. So for me happiness will come from seeing smiles on the faces of all members of my family and my friends, and working towards making other humans smile.

What is your greatest fear?
Being alone in old age.

Which person do you most admire?
My father and my wife, both of them are fighters under difficult circumstances. Both have an optimistic approach to life that I need to emulate.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Taking rash impulsive decisions and regretting them later.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Manipulative nature and cheating.

What is your greatest extravagance?
The time I waste thinking philosophically rather than taking meaningful actions. Time equals money.

On what occasions do you lie?
When a truth can get me in an awkward situation – be it at work or at a social gathering

What makes you happiest?
Smile on close ones’ faces.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Become an optimist.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Still in pursuit of one as there is always scope for improvement.

If you died and came back as a person or thing, what would it be?
I would like to come back as me and improve on shortcomings of this life.

What is your most treasured possession?
Memories of my departed wife.

Who are your heroes in real life?
People working in professions helping humanity - doctors, nurses, firemen

What is it that you most dislike?
Hypocrisy.

What is your motto?
Be good. Karma says what goes around comes around.

We feature a staff member or one of our freelance translators every month. The featured profile includes a picture, a small biography and the person’s answers to a light version of the Proust Questionnaire.

Do you wish to be featured in one of our newsletters? If so, write to Stefan for more details.

It’s easy and straight forward: when returning a translation, just go back to the email you originally received from us, hit the reply button, and send us your translation. This way, it will go back to the right person, with all the details we need.

Feel free to ask us questions if anything is unclear, or share your tips and tricks with other TTS translators.

Mox is a young but well educated translator. Two PHDs, six languages… and he hardly earns the minimum wage. Find out more about Mox’s adventures on his blog.

As freelance translators of the Translation Service, you all work for a government agency. Our collaboration may be more or less intensive, depending on your language combination and our needs. But what does it actually mean – to be translating for government? Is it any different to working for a private translation company or private clients?

I (Stefan Grand) started working at the Translation Service last October after spending four years as an in-house translator and head of department within a translation company. Working for the public sector is different to working for private companies in a variety of ways: the clients are different; the types of translations are different, although there is some overlap; the purpose of the translator’s work is different.

The Department of Internal Affairs’ raison d’être, and by way of consequence, that of the Translation Service, is to ‘connect people, communities and government’. In contrast to a private company, which understandably seeks commercial benefits, the logic of public service is paramount to the Translation Service’s operations and is reflected, among other things, in its mission to cover all language communities present in New Zealand, which are deemed unprofitable by the private sector. In other words, if a member of the public or a government agency requires a translation from or into a language of low diffusion or a language that is for whatever reason more difficult to source, we will endeavour to meet that client’s needs. Providing high quality translations in those languages can be a challenge, but one that we are ready to take on.

Unsurprisingly, central and local government agencies call upon our services when they wish to communicate with the increasingly ethnically and linguistically diverse population of New Zealand. Providing high quality translations is essential, as they reflect on the perception that our communities have of the NZ government. We also translate or proof material to be used overseas – international conventions and treaties, information etc. These translations matter too, as they reflect on the image of New Zealand abroad.

The bulk of our translations – about a third of our work – is however directly related to citizenship or immigration applications. This includes selective translations of birth details, marriage certificates, adoption documents etc., and full translations of love letters, testimonies, court decisions, medical reports and so on. As these translated documents play a significant role in the outcome of their applications, clients care very deeply about them and will ask for amendments to be made or explanations to be given if they are unhappy with the translation(s) they receive. This, of course, has its own drawbacks, as it can lead to heated debates with conflicting ideas about what a translation should be.

But our work does matter, and that in itself is very rewarding. In no way am I saying that translating for private companies does not convey the same sense of satisfaction – they sometimes do: I remember translating material for NGOs operating in Africa, and immigration papers for private clients for instance. However, I also remember enormous localisation projects with chunks of text that had no meaning, and hundreds of questions that remained unanswered as the client couldn’t care less.

How do you feel about working for the Translation Service? Do you see a difference compared to your other clients? Let us know your thoughts!

To complete their application for permanent residency, Prince Charles and Camilla need to include information about their past marriages. Unsurprisingly, Prince Charles provided a divorce certificate… The year was 1996 – British royalty and the world were shaken by Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s divorce. This is what a selective translation of their divorce certificate would look like. As you know, a selective translation should only reflect what is in the original – any added comments such as place names should be inserted between square brackets to draw the attention of the reader to the fact that it is added information.

The sample selective translations of this series are here to illustrate our guidelines and help you improve your selective translations. We hope you enjoy these mock translations as much as we enjoy doing them. Feel free to send your comments and questions.

Disclaimer: Members of the royal family do not need to lodge an immigration application to come to New Zealand.

Click on the image to open it in your Web browser and find out about the art of selective translations.

(View a PDF version of the images below).

1. Have a clear understanding of the text you’re about to translate

This may sound like a platitude to you, but this is by far the most important principle of translation and needs to be reiterated. To be able to translate a text into a language – preferably your mother tongue – you need to understand every nuance of meaning it contains. Depending on the level of difficulty, you will need to do research on the Internet or using other resources; you may have to refer questions to a native speaker or a specialist (if so contact us and we will help you). If there's something you're unsure about, don't just take a guess and hope for the best! A good translator doesn’t assume knowing everything – he/she is able to recognise gaps in his/her knowledge and has a set of sound strategies to overcome them.

2. Think about the translation’s purpose and target audience

Understanding the source text includes thinking about the actual translation. Before starting your translation you should answer a certain number of questions: What is the translation for? Who is it for? What level of language will you use? You wouldn’t use the same language for official documents and brochures aimed at ethnic youths, would you?

3. Watch your language

Your translation shouldn’t contain spelling mistakes, poor grammar (unless it is voluntary), and other language errors, and should conform to the typographical rules of the target language. An upper-case letter in the source text – English LOVES capitals – does not necessarily equate to an upper-case letter in the target text. French, for instance, has very specific typographical and punctuation rules issued by the French National Printing Office. Check if an equivalent set of rules exists in your mother tongue; if not, you read the leading newspapers written the target language, and follow their lead.

4. Keep your formatting simple

As stated in a previous issue of this newsletter, our preferred font is Arial 11. Full translations should all start with our heading, except if otherwise instructed: insert 8 line breaks, than ‘Translation xxxx’ in bold and underlined, another line break followed by ‘Issued in Wellington, New Zealand on [automatically updated date]’ in bold, 2 line breaks and ‘[Translated from xxxx]’ in the target language. Please refrain from using textboxes or hitting the tab key too often: inserting tables will do the trick and are much easier to format.

5. Be consistent

Make sure that you are consistent throughout your translation – in terms of tone, style, term choices, and formatting. Consistency is an important issue as a lack thereof may be confusing to the reader.

[To be continued.]

Do you have one or several golden rules that you always follow? Tell us and we’ll include it in our next issue.

All translations are not equal. A good translation is one that conveys the same meaning as the source text and sounds natural in the target language (if that is the desired outcome of the translation). Some do just the opposite. Here are some of the greatest howlers found in translation, taken from the Engrish website. We hope you enjoy them.

If you come across funny mistranslations, feel free to share them with us.

Interesting food

If you feel lonely and neglected, head to Busan, South Korea. The café The Table offers ‘Delicious love making just for you’. Let’s hope it comes with a long black.

Beware of what’s in your plate

Thai cuisine is famous around the world for delicious, fresh and spicy flavours, balancing disparate elements to create a harmonious finish. In Pattaya, Thailand, a restaurant took it one step further and offered: ‘Fried Horse Cr*p with Lime’. Now that’s a balancing act!

Rock your valuables

You either have style or you don’t. Catering for the rock stars that we all are deep inside, a bowling alley in South Korea has a ‘VIP Rocker Room’. Don’t just lock your valuables, rock them.