Merlin: Translation News, Services & Directory

Affinity Translation website: http://www.affinitytranslation.com

When we saw the conclusion (implied in the title above) of a news article on Google’s efforts to facilitate translation, we thought it would be interesting to include it in our blog. It seems that Google is working on instantaneous translation software for phones. If you talk in English into the speaker of the phone it would translate it, and produce French, or Spanish, or whatever, in the receiver of another phone.

The Googler working on the project, Franz Och, says it should only take a few years to complete. Franz says the more people that use it, the better it gets.

“Speech to text is imprecise on phones we’ve used. Web-based translation services are also imprecise. Add them together and you have a great opportunity to be misunderstood,” according to the report published in the Business Insider.

11,000-member Association’s Letter to Obama: Technology alone is not the answer

(Alexandria, VA) October 19, 2009 — The American Translators Association (ATA), the largest association of professional translators and interpreters in North America, issued a pointed response to a call for “automatic, highly accurate and real-time translation between the major languages of the world” in the White House’s recent Strategy for
Innovation policy paper. In a letter dated October 2nd, ATA President Jiri Stejskal urged the Obama Administration to “take a long-term approach to language security by investing in human skills and promoting greater awareness of and expertise in foreign languages.”

“Are we against technology? Certainly not,” continued Stejskal. “Most translators use computer tools to speed up their work.” However, “both translation software and qualified human translators are vital to language security,” he noted. “Today all the leading proponents of computer translation recognize that human beings will always be
essential, no matter how sophisticated translation programs become.” The stakes are high: from diplomatic embarrassments to potentially lethal mistranslations in medical device instructions, translation errors create unnecessary hazards, cause misunderstandings, and diminish prestige and good will in international relations, national security and global commerce.

Press coverage of the Obama initiative has confused the issue by creating a false conflict between humans and technology. “This approach misses the point entirely,” noted Kevin Hendzel, national media spokesman for the Association. “Translation software and human translators simply have different capabilities,” he said. “Software is indispensable for ‘gisting’ – translating large volumes of information in cases where immediate access is more important than accuracy – but only an experienced human translator has the skill and cultural awareness to convey every nuance when you absolutely have to get it right.”

“The challenge for translation consumers lies in understanding the proper application of each,” Hendzel noted. “Translation software is like a chain saw. It’s an invaluable tool when you need to chop a lot of wood in a hurry – but you need skill to use it safely, and it’s not recommended for surgery. When you need precision and sensitivity, you need a human translator.”

About ATA
Founded in 1959, the American Translators Association is the largest organization for translators and interpreters in the United States. Its primary goals include fostering and supporting the professional development of translators and interpreters and promoting the translation and interpreting professions. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, ATA currently has nearly 11,000 members working, with proven skill, in hundreds of languages worldwide. To learn more, visit www.atanet.org or call 703-683-6100.

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There’s an interesting article on the topic of translation appearing online at cnn.com today. It speaks for itself so we’ll simply provide a link to the article here. The highlights: 

• Facebook and Google are finding new ways to translate the Web
• Facebook favors human translation; Google leans on its computers
• Google claims to be the largest translation service online, with 51 languages
• Facebook announces a new service to let Internet users help translate site

To read the full article click here.

On our blog we frequently like to mention interesting tidbits of news that touch upon language and in particular the Spanish language. So we were particularly delighted to see a recent mention concerning Salma Hayek, who as most people know, is a native Spanish speaker. It seems that Ms. Hayek was less than pleased about her experience at an LA restaurant and expressed her displeasure in Spanish, prompting comments about the need for “translation.”

For those interested in reading more the full article can be viewed here. For us we’re just thrilled to have sufficient justification to feature the photograph below that elevates times about 1000 the usual graphical appeal of the images included on our blog.

In New York City the City Council approved legislation yesterday requiring large pharmacy chains to provide translation services in the city’s most popular languages.

The bill, which was approved by a vote of 36 to 7, would apply to pharmacies with more than four locations that are under the same ownership. Opponents of the bill say it is another example of the city overregulating private businesses.

According to a 2006 survey by the New York Academy of Medicine, 88 percent of randomly selected pharmacists served people who spoke only limited English every day, but 50 percent did not translate labels or did so less than once a week. About one in four New Yorkers do not speak English.

In a related announcement, Mexico City pharmacies will not be required to provide customers with product labels in any language other than Spanish.

Recently it was announced by The Californian.com that the City of Salinas has launched a new Spanish language website. According to the report:

“The city of Salinas has created a Web site that allows residents to view community information as well as submit online crime reports, maintenance requests and other forms in Spanish.

The site, http://espanol.ci.salinas.ca.us, went live Thursday.

The city paid its vendor about $19,000 to translate its English site at www.ci.salinas.ca.us, said Tom Kever, the city’s finance director. The vendor company will get an additional $1,700 per month to translate updated pages.”

For the record, we’d have done the job for $18,950.

According to an Associated Press published story from the past week, New York City is getting sued over translation services for welfare clients.

A group called Legal Services NYC filed the lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Manhattan on behalf of six clients. The suit alleges that language barriers caused lost or delayed benefits, among other things. The plaintiffs in the case speak Spanish, Mandarin or Cantonese Chinese, and Soninke, a West African language.

In defense of the city’s position, Commissioner Robert Doar says the Human Resources Administration provides 7,000 to 8,000 contracted interpretation services each year. It also uses hundreds of bilingual staff and community resources.

Doar says the agency has translated 800 forms, brochures and notices into required languages. The plaintiffs in this case it seems are not swayed.

Well is seems that the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission has been instructed to “consider” translating into Spanish a statement given to all drunken-driving suspects. That’s the recommendation of an appeals court that upheld a Hispanic man’s conviction for refusing to take a breath test. The court said state law does not require translation.

However, the judges said the MVC should consider having the statement translated into Spanish and “perhaps other prevalent foreign languages.” The court said recordings could be played for suspects who need translation. Police read German Marquez the 11-paragraph statement explaining the test after he was arrested following an accident in Plainfield in 2007. Marquez responded in Spanish that he didn’t understand.

We’re confident that consideration is taking place.

Non-English speakers who have to deal with Wisconsin’s legal system still aren’t getting the services they need when they go to court, according to the director of the state’s court interpreter program, as reported by Gil Halsted of Wisconsin Public Radio.

Carmel Capati heads the office in charge of translation services in state courts. He says they could use the help, especially with certain refugee populations. Those include 70 refugees from Myanmar who have arrived in the state this year, and an increase in the number of both Somali and Iranian refugees over the past two years.

Federal money to hire more interpreters could get congressional approval this year. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin) has just re-introduced a bill he’s been pushing for years to send more money to the states to train and hire court interpreters. If it passes this year, it could mean $100,000 to add interpreters in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin currently has 65 certified court interpreters. 59 of them speak Spanish. The others include American Sign Language, Russian, German, Hmong, Chinese Lao, and Vietnamese.

The Pew Hispanic Center has released a report on Mexican Immigration to the US. Citing from the report:

The flow of immigrants from Mexico to the United States has declined sharply since mid-decade, but there is no evidence of an increase during this period in the number of Mexican-born migrants returning home from the U.S., according to a new analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center of government data from both countries.

The Mexican-born population in the U.S., which had been growing earlier in the decade, was 11.5 million in early 2009. That figure is not significantly different from the 11.6 million Mexican immigrants in 2008 or the 11.2 million in 2007.

The current recession has had a harsh impact on employment of Latino immigrants, raising the question of whether an increased number of Mexican-born residents are choosing to return home. This new Hispanic Center analysis finds no support for that hypothesis in government data from the United States or Mexico.

Mexico is by far the leading country of origin for U.S. immigrants, accounting for a third (32%) of all foreign-born residents and two-thirds (66%) of Hispanic immigrants. The U.S. is the destination for nearly all people who leave Mexico, and about one-in-ten people born there currently lives in the U.S.

The entire report can be viewed by clicking here.

The following was reported on the receipts at a Red Robin restaurant in Arizona.

Notice the bottom of the receipt. In English, it says “Thanks for visiting RED ROBIN. Please Pay Your Server”. Underneath that, in Spanish, it says “Please Pay Your Server. Tip is not included.” Are they insinuating that Mexicans don’t tip and have to be reminded to include a tip, whereas English speaking people are good tippers and are welcome at Red Robin any time. One might argue that perhaps tipping isn’t common in Mexico. However, tipping is just as prevalent and expected in Mexico as it is here, so that isn’t a valid argument.

Or to our way of thinking the more obvious question is if there were four guests why only two drinks? It’s Arizona for goodness sake. Everyone’s always thirsty there.

A new study from Northwestern University highlights the challenges many pharmacy-counter exchanges might present for those who speak only Spanish. Researchers there surveyed pharmacies in Texas and Colorado (which have had, for some time, large Latino populations) and Georgia and North Carolina (which have burgeoning Latino populations).

Of 764 pharmacies, only 43.3% could solidly offer instructions in Spanish, 21.7% offered some translation services and 34.9% offered no such  services.

Reference information available at: 1) The Northwestern news release and the journal abstract in the June issue of the journal Medical Care, and 2) Manual Merck de información médica para el hogar.

The abstract concludes: “The majority of pharmacies surveyed offered limited or no translation services. Lack of translation services is not isolated to rural areas or locations with a marginal Latino population. Spanish-speaking patients encounter barriers to acquiring instructions that support the safe and effective use of medications.”

A recent publication in Chief Marketer provides some tips for managing Spanish translation projects. It’s one perspective, and we include a sampling of their comments here for consideration.  

1. Go neutral
Today, thanks in part to widely available media like Univision, major Spanish newspapers and the Internet, these disparate varieties of Spanish are familiar and increasingly comprehensible to Spanish speakers of different backgrounds.

Meanwhile, a “Neutral Spanish” has developed to bridge the gap. Sometimes known as Latin American Spanish, it tends to disregard local grammatical and vocabulary differences in order to standardize the language. This makes it a perfect translation solution as it is likely to be easily understood by all Spanish speakers with whom you are communicating.

2. Don’t forget the visual
Colors, symbols, images — all are part of your message. Often these elements are responsible for the initial response in your audience before even a single word is read. So it’s imperative to adapt the entire communication, not just the words, to ensure the desired result.

This requires understanding both the protocols and the taboos that define ways of communicating in a given market. Cultural adaptation provides the cultural lens through which your non-English-speaking customers view your message, your products and services, and ultimately your value.

3. Create a style guide and glossary for consistency
Developing a reference manual can be a useful tool for helping ensure consistent translation results every time. Think of it as a sort of dictionary of terms and concepts and how they should be correctly translated and presented.

Creating a glossary in which to record the desired translations of product or services names, their features and other pertinent information is also key for consistency. By guaranteeing that translations are consistent across documents, you avoid confusion and present a unified image to your customers and potential customers.

4. Save time and money with translation memory
In the case of documents that don’t change much over time (i.e., technical information or order forms) you can store the translations in a database system called a “translation memory” for future use.

This resource gives the translator the option of choosing a stored translation when working on an identical or similar document. The translator uses the context of the project and past experience to determine if the translation requires modification. Large documents that go through new editions on a regular basis are especially good candidates for translation memory.

5. Don’t forget the review
Finally, it is essential to present your style guide, glossary and term list to your in-house or community reviewers and translation teams at least a week in advance of the launch of a project. They require sufficient time to ask questions, get clarifications and make changes to help ensure accuracy, consistency and the nuance of your community.

Review by program managers or qualified members of the target audience can be another critical step in achieving the desired quality for your translated materials. It is best performed by one of your staff or a trusted associate.