Talofa Lava and welcome to Samoan Language Week and our third edition of Translator Update!

We are lucky enough to welcome Alfonso Mannella onto our team here as our chief Administration Officer in charge of email communication. His role is to liaise between clients, translators and revisers so you will no doubt get to know him well over the coming months.

This edition features some further tips and trick on selective and full translations as well as the trials Mox faces. We would also like to discuss what it means to be a translator for government and the heightened value placed on the integrity, transparency and ethics in our translations. The purpose and function of a translation determines the best approach to translating and, of course, the purpose and function of an "official" translation differ significantly from published translation such as a website or brochure.

Ethnic Affairs held the EthnicA conference last month and our Stefan will report on this successful event. June is also a busy month with the Epic NZ conference coming up in Wellington and the NZSTI annual conference in Tauranga.

Happy reading and happy translating!

Feiloai

Quintin Ridgeway
Manager

The suggestion of setting up a training programme prompted a lot of interest from many of you. As setting up such a programme is a long-term endeavour, it will be progressively implemented as content is developed.

It is unclear yet which platform will be used, but we are very likely to make use of social media and online tools. We might also run workshops in Wellington, film them and put them online.

If you have any ideas, feel free to share them with us.

Alfonso, a.k.a. ‘Fonzie’ or ‘the Fons’, joined the Translation Service only just recently – many of you probably already know him from the time he spent at NZTC as a very competent project manager. Originally from Naples – his sunny accent and football allegiances are testaments to his origins – Alfonso moved to New Zealand with his wife three years ago and is now the happy father of a one-year-old daugther, with whom he will now be able to spend more time. Here are his answers to our nosy questionnaire – read on to get to know him better, and join us in welcoming him on-board!

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Having my backpack packed and ready for a new adventure!

What is your greatest fear?
Outliving my children.

Which person do you most admire?
Sandro Pertini. He was an Italian partisan who fought for freedom during the fascist regime in Italy. He spent time in exile and in prison for what he believed in and eventually became President of the Republic in 1978.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Insecurity.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Hypocrisy.

What is your greatest extravagance?
I am obsessed by maps, especially old ones. I can spend hours looking at them.

On what occasions do you lie?
When my wife asks me if I ate all the sweets in the cupboard. I obviously lie all the time.

What makes you happiest?
When my one year old daughter calls me "papà" (dad in Italian).

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My pronounced Italian accent, although many people find it funny!

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Learning the ropes of parenthood.

If you died and came back as a person or thing, what would it be?
I would like to be a pine tree in the Naples bay so that I could enjoy the most beautiful view ever every day.

What is your most treasured possession?
My vintage Vespa scooter. Unfortunately it is still in Italy.

Who are your heroes in real life?
There are a lot of people that I admire, but I have no heroes. When I was younger my heroes were my two grandfathers. They lived the atrocities of the war and I will never forget their teachings and their humility. If they were still alive they would definitely be my heroes.

What is it that you most dislike?
I am a proud supporter of my hometown Football team: SSC Napoli. Therefore the thing I dislike the most is FC Juventus Turin.

What is your motto?
Se vuoi qualcosa nella vita, allunga la mano e prendila. (if you want something in life, reach out and grab it).

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 us an email for more details.

Many of you carry out full translations for us, from English into a foreign language or the other way around. If they are to be issued on our letterhead (eg. diplomas, birth certificates, powers of attorney etc.), please make sure to use our preferred font, i.e. Arial size 11, and to insert the following heading preceded by 8 line breaks:

Translation <job number, eg. 2209/3>
Issued in Wellington, New Zealand on 3 June 2013

[Translated from <language>]*

*If the translation is from English into a foreign language, please translate that line accordingly. For instance, for a translation into French, the line would be: [Traduit de l’anglais].

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.

The Office of Ethnic Affairs held its third annual EthnicA Conference on a wintry day in Wellington – after the first two held in Christchurch and Auckland. New Zealand ethnic communities are one of the main stakeholders of the Translation Service’s activities, and greatly contribute to its raison d’être. As such, TTS could not afford not to be represented at the event.

Titled ‘Leading with Passion’, the series of conferences addressed the subjects of leadership and ethnic diversity, the challenges and hurdles faced by ethnic individuals, and the great untapped potential that New Zealand’s ethnic diversity represents, both within New Zealand (differentiated skills and interests, flexibility, cultural awareness etc.) and towards overseas economic partners (language skills, connections with countries of origin etc.). In this regard, as a trustworthy translation provider, we play an essential role: we enable communication between ethnic communities and government agencies, and help New Zealanders and New Zealand organisations communicate with the rest of the world.

As the day unfolded, with numerous presentations, panel discussions and workshops, I had the pleasure of meeting two of our panel translators, namely Sevana, one of our Armenian translators, and Arti, one of our Gujarati translators. Arti agreed to contribute to the newsletter and write a few lines on the conference (thank you Arti!):

The Ethnic Conference is an annual event organised by the Office of Ethnic Affairs. The New Zealand society has become much more diverse over the years with the influx of immigrants of various ethnicities. This conference involves speakers and engages audiences in a dialogue about various aspects of ethnic diversity and leadership. The audience gets the chance to hear and discuss not only with experienced leaders but also with emerging ones, through panel discussions, sessions and workshops.

I attended the Ethnic conference of 2013 in Wellington and managed to hear many interesting sessions. The conference was intellectually stimulating and culturally rich. Short and diverse musical performances were enjoyable and reflected Wellington's cultural diversity.

Personally, I found it quite positive to hear success stories of immigrants and the hurdles they experienced in their respective journey. It was inspiring to see that immigrants have new ideas and special skills that could create amazing and beneficial results for New Zealand, if the right support was provided.

Deputy Mayor Ian McKinnon had an impressive approach to include ethnic communities not only at a professional level but also at a personal level. He was very positive about the interesting mosaic ethnic diversity this can create for any city.

I attended the workshop "A piece of New Zealand's Artistic Kaleidoscope" and felt that Wellington is so fortunate to be like a melting pot with artists from different countries bringing their unique skills to add to the artistic scene of the city. I enjoyed hearing Hui Luo, director of the Confucius Institute at Victoria University of Wellington, and looking at a range of unique driftwood sculptures created by Ronal Villalobos from Chile.

The EthnicA Conference series was a resounding success – while celebrating New Zealand’s ethnic diversity and many individual success stories, it also addressed important issues and challenges, and represented a great opportunity to network. We strongly encourage you to take part in next year’s series of events.

Tired of the English climate, Prince Charles and Camilla have decided to apply for permanent residency in New Zealand and need a selective translation of their marriage certificate. 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.

You should now have all received our updated guidelines. We hope that they are useful to you and that they help you meet our expectations. 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 here for a larger PDF version of the images below).

A few years ago a German translator gave me one of her translations to review. The original document was a university diploma that had been authenticated. As such the original was attached to a first page certifying that the signature on the document was genuine. There was also a ribbon along with a seal. The translator did a fine translation, and felt that she needed to recreate the extra-textual elements such as the seal and the ribbon. She didn’t go as far as to punch a hole in the translation and affix a blue ribbon, but she did scan the original with a view to copy and paste the images of the said elements into the translation.

A similar issue arose a few weeks ago. An unhappy customer presented us with a translation that she had had redone by a NAATI-accredited translator based in Australia. The translation we issued and that which the client got from the other translator looked very different. While ours was obviously a translation – it was printed on our letterhead, had the heading ‘Translation xxxx’ etc., stated ‘[logo]’, ‘[stamp]’ and ‘[signed]’ where appropriate – the second translation looked like it had been issued by the same authority as the original. The two documents looked exactly the same, the translation even bore a copy of the official seal. The only indication of its true nature was a line in small print at the end stating the name of the translator.

AUSIT’s Code of Ethics clearly states that ‘interpreters and translators should] maintain clear boundaries between their task as facilitators of communication through message transfer and any tasks that may be undertaken by other parties involved in the assignment’. If a translation is issued by the same authority as the source text, it should be clear from the start that the reader has a translation in front of his/her eyes – reproducing stamps, signatures, coats of arms etc. may lead to unnecessary confusion, and borders on unethical practice.

In that regard, it should be noted that the NZSTI and AUSIT Codes of Ethics are now fully aligned. The NZSTI membership will formally vote on this at the AGM later this month due to be held at the conference.

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 Internet and contributed by Yuri (thank you!). We hope you enjoy them.

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

Pregnancy-friendly horses

Pregnant women are relieved! A tourist agency in the Czech Republic promises a service that is suitable for expectant mothers: ‘Take one of our horse-driven tours – we guarantee no miscarriages’.

Unforgiving synonyms

In Thailand a billboard advertising donkeys for sale asked passers-by: ‘Would you like to ride your own ass?’ Unfortunately all asses are not donkeys.

Interesting hamburgers

Yuri, one of our Ukrainian translators, attended the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany. A Russian author was presenting mock-ups of her various culinary books translated into English. One of them had photos of how to decorate hamburgers in humorous ways. The title? ‘Fanny Hamburgers’.