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It's November already and we're coming to the end of a very busy year! This month's newsletter will kick off with an in-depth interview with Stefan Grand, our newsletter editor. A milestone for the month includes the steady progress that has been made on developing e-Learning modules on various aspects of translation, revision, assessment and other topics that will interest you. Once the content is complete, these will be made available to all translators and revisers working with us – you can read about this in more detail further down in the newsletter. Language Line will also be hosting a free morning workshop on Saturday 16 November which is open to all translators and interpreters. This workshop will focus on effectively marketing your translation and interpreting services and how to give your business a tune-up. Finally, we'll also look at a coded document and its selective translation along with some tips and tricks on translating numbers.

Happy translating!

Q.R.

This newsletter is written for you. As such, we want you to tell us what or how we could improve its content. What would you like to read? Give us your feedback.

If you’re not Julius Caesar, it’s a bit odd to write about yourself in the third person. Since I don’t aspire to be an Imperator (although I used to when I was a child), I’ll introduce myself in the first person. My name is Stefan, and I am the editor of this newsletter. After four years at the helm of the French Department of a private translation agency here in Wellington, I joined the Translation Service and have been the external relations advisor for about a year now. Half German, half French, I grew up in the beautiful Provence, studied in Paris where I got a Master’s degree in translation studies, and moved to Wellington five years ago with my partner. We had originally intended to stay here for two years, but you know how it is…

Here are my answers to the Proust Questionnaire. I hope you enjoy them!

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Having long and delicious, epicurean dinners with friends and family in a home by the sea or in the woods.

What is your greatest fear?

Since moving to New Zealand, I am most afraid of spiders – I know it’s silly, but I often wake up in the dead of the night looking for spiders in the bed. I’m also afraid of vampires.

Which person do you most admire?

My history professor when I was in classe prépa in Paris – an astounding teacher, with a great sense of humour and a certain je ne sais quoi which enabled him to turn a rather dull subject (rural France from 1815 until the 1960s) into a fascinating learning experience.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

My gullibility – I could write books about the made-up stories that people made me believe.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Dishonesty.

What is your greatest extravagance?

When I got my current job about a year ago, I decided to treat myself and bought a $2,000 coffee machine. I love coffee.

On what occasions do you lie?

Hm… I suppose that I lie by omission to protect peoples’ feelings. I always try to put a positive spin on things.

What makes you happiest?

Travelling. Cooking and eating. Hot summer days. Swimming in the ocean. Snow. Southern France. The Black Forest. And many more things…

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I wish I took more risks and were better at handling uncertainty.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Convincing my partner to move to New Zealand with me three weeks after we met. We are getting married in the Rangipo Desert in January!

If you died and came back as a person or thing, what would it be?

Wouldn’t that make me a zombie of some sort? I’d rather avoid that.

What is your most treasured possession?

My glasses – I can’t see a thing without them.

Who are your heroes in real life?

My grandfather was my hero. He had hundreds of stories of his time in Russia, how he learnt his trade in a Siberian gulag, escaped and crossed Europe to return to my grandmother who had been waiting for him.

What is it that you most dislike?

Shrimps. Too many feet for my liking.

What is your motto?

Don’t worry, be happy.

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.

Our free phone number is 0800 TRANSLATE (or 0800 872 675). Now, imagine that you have to translate our website or our brochure. What do you do with this number? Should we translate it? Should we keep ‘0800 TRANSLATE’?

The answer isn’t as straight-forward as one may expect. In France for example, it is very uncommon to use words in phone numbers, so as a professional translator I would recommend using ‘0800 872 675’. That said, it may be fine to use a word for other languages, but don’t just translate ‘TRANSLATE’. Your aim is to make sure that the reader dials the right number. So you can either keep ‘TRANSLATE’ or find a meaningful word in the target language that reproduces the same number. For instance, ‘0800 TRADUIRE’ (in French) or ‘0800 ÜBERSETZEN’ (in German) wouldn’t work as the former equates to 0800 872 387 and the latter to 0800 823 773.

Another point to bear in mind is the location of the reader. New Zealand free phone numbers are only available if you call from New Zealand. You might need to add a note stating ‘from within New Zealand’ and maybe draw the attention of your client to the need to insert a number for overseas callers, starting with ‘+64’. You might also need to include the country code: say for example that you are translating a legal document issued in Germany. It is printed on letterhead paper and contains all the lawyer’s contact details. Your client is located in New Zealand. Do you need to translate the contact details in such a way that they are meaningful to your client and that he or she can use them? If so, you would probably need to include country codes in the phone numbers, and maybe add ‘Germany’ to the address.

Contact details, including phone numbers, are often overlooked or quickly translated, and not much thought is given to them. But they are an integral part of a translation and as such, they require the same critical approach as any other element of the original text.

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

S.G.

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.

It has been a while since this newsletter last mentioned our training programme, but don’t despair: this project is still going ahead. Although it may not look like it from your end, we have made a lot of progress (‘a lot of work has been going on behind the scenes’ as my former manager would say).

We have tested different Learning Management Systems, including iLearn (the Department’s LMS for employees’ professional development), the LMS of the Ministry of Education, and Edmodo which creates an online classroom with a very Facebook-inspired design. The one that seems the most appropriate is the Ministry of Education’s system. In due course, you will each receive login details to access e-learning modules that will have been assigned to you. You will also be able to sign up for modules that you would like to take.

For now, there are three streams of e-learning: Translator, Reviser, and Assessor. They complement each other, and you would be expected to complete the Translator stream before starting any module of the Reviser stream. This being said, we will adapt the e-learning programme to your needs and your objectives. If you know how to use track changes in Word, there is no point in assigning this module to you. There is also no point in assigning you Reviser training if you don’t wish to carry out revision work.

You will receive a certificate on completion of an e-learning stream. Our hope is that you will be in a better position to perform well. This in turn will be reflected in the fees that we will pay you. As a matter of fact, we are reviewing our payment structure, and an emphasis will be put on quality.

We are currently developing the e-learning material using a programme called Articulate – and I must say that I’m very excited about the possibilities it offers! Here is a list of the modules that are planned so far:

• Welcome to the Translation Service: this module will allow you to meet the team, find out who we are and learn about our expectations;
   
• What is a good translation?: this module will set out translation principles that should be followed when translating for TTS. There will be some theoretical background but not too much! It will primarily make use of examples and give some advice and a few translation strategies;
   
• The Art of Selective Translations: this module will take you through the selective translation process step-by-step, and will put an emphasis on practice;
   
• The Art of Full Translations: this module will explain the full translation process and draw upon some fundamental translation principles. Formatting issues and other TTS standard practices will be addressed as well;
   
• Basics of Word Processing: this module will help you make the most of word processing software;
   
• The Art of Revision: this module will take you through the revision process and explain exactly what is expected from you;
   
• Getting to Grips with Track Changes and Comments: the title is transparent. This module will take you through the track changes and commenting functions of word processing software;
   
• The Art of Test Translation Assessment: this module will help you understand what is expected from you when assessing a test translation. It will take you through our quality assessment metric and provide some practice opportunities.

This is a work-in-progress, so any feedback is welcomed. Would you like to add anything to this list? If so, let me know.

S.G.

Language Line, the phone interpreting service of the Department of Internal Affairs, is organising a workshop for professional translators and interpreters. Those of you located in the Wellington region might be interested in attending.

As an interpreter/translator, are you marketing yourself effectively?
Could your interpreting/translation business do with a tune-up?

If you are an interpreter/translator or wish to be one soon, you are warmly invited to a professional development seminar which will give you information about developing your practice.

Where: Level 1, TSB Building, 46 Waring Taylor Street, Wellington

When: Saturday 16th November 2013

Time: 9:00am – 1:00pm

It is free to attend and lunch is included along with plenty of networking opportunities. Please tell your interpreting/translating friends about this event.

Click here for more information and register!

Contact the Language Line team on language.line@dia.govt.nz or 08000 656 656.

Archives NZ, which is part of the Department of Internal Affairs, gives access to a wealth of historical documents, and they have set up a Flickr page to share it more easily. Many of the documents held by the institution are charged with emotional value and offer insight into the history of New Zealand and the forging of a nation. Our selective translation of the month uses a coded telegram that was sent from the Buckingham Palace to announce the birth of Prince Charles. The process following a royal birth was slightly more elaborate then than it was earlier this year when Prince George was born. Click the image to find out how to deal with all this when doing a selective translation.

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.

S.G.

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 a book titled Übelsetzungen – Sprachspannen aus aller Welt, published by Langenscheidt. We hope you enjoy them.

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

1. A Treacherous Sign
   The beautiful waterfalls of Agua Azul in the rainforest of Mexico are often overlooked by foreign tourists who run to the Mayan ruins nearby – and maybe that’s for the better. Those who make it to the waterfalls are welcomed by a sign reading ‘Dangerous not to swim’. Given the powerful current, ‘Dangerous – Do not swim’ would have been a more accurate translation…
    
2. Speak to the English Well
   Lake Garda attracts many international tourists, and rightly so. But all tourists aren’t welcome. A shop in Salò is quite frank about the shopkeeper’s poor social skills, especially towards some nationalities, and their love of Italians: a sign reads ‘Entrances also unfortunately we do not speak well to the German and English but we are many simpati to us’. A word to the wise.
    
3. Do not Eat Panda
   Contradicting thousands of years of human history, a wildlife sanctuary in Chengdu, China advises tourists at the panda enclosure that ‘Wildlife is not food’. In case they were wondering, the panda is not for food.
    
4. Follow-up on the turkey blunder
   Denise laughed at last month’s turkey blunder and wished to share an interesting fact: as the turkey is a native bird of America, which was ‘East India’ for Columbus, the French word ‘dinde’, which is a condensed form of ‘d'Inde’ (from India) is in fact accurate, whereas the English word ‘turkey’ must be attributed to a geographical mistake. The same goes for the word ‘guinea pig’: in French, the pig comes from India (‘cochon d'Inde’) since it originates from America (a.k.a. India), and not from Guinea.

Thanks Denise for sharing!

S.G.