She describes how humans, through their 7,000-some-odd world languages, have created a structure that engages different cognitive parts of our brain.  For example, she describes how English is an agent-centered language, even if an accident is involved (”John broke the vase”), while Spanish or Japanese report the same accidental event by saying “the vase broke itself”. 

Look at how this plays out.  This fundamental view of the world around us substantially influences people’s view of life in the respective cultures.  Because English is agent oriented, it abhores use of the passive voice (”the vase broke itself”, equivalent to “the vase was broken”), always preferring to state the subject and then the action that subject took, in that order. This action-driven view of the world through our language profoundly influences our legal system and the way we comprehend what we see as proper and fair action to take in the case (punishment of the agent rather than restitution to the victim).

Studying another language is a unique study of the human brain.  Language and culture are as intricately entwined as a strand of DNA.  They are inescapable mates and provide a chicken/egg conundrum:  which came first, or at least, which one influences which?  I believe that they both continually reinforce one another. 

In order to really internalize and understand another culture, it is imperative to study its language.  Business people, government officials and public servants in contact with the myriad of nationalities in these United States would benefit immeasurably from learning a second language–not just to be able to communicate, but to experience a new sense of empathy with the foreign language speaker who behaves in a way that is culturally appropriate for his own upbringing and but strange to ours.

Short of pleading, “My language made me do it!”, communication and comprehension of any other-language-based culture truly begin at the fundamental level of word.

The Wall Street Journal just ran an article about a Colorado woman named Letha Sanders who has started a business called Shorthand Translation Services.   She accepts documents written in Gregg shorthand from people who can’t figure out what the “heiroglyphics” say and translates them (transcribes, them, actually), much as a foreign language translator would do.  Here is the link to the article, where you can see examples of the shorthand  she translates. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703303904575292982869708158.html?mod=djemLifeStyle_h

Do you wonder that people stop and gawk?  When you stop to think about it, Gregg shorthand IS a foreign language to the average person.

I was so excited about this that I wrote to Ms. Sanders.  I wanted to tell her how much I admired her.  I studied shorthand in high school and used it during the summers to help pay my way through college.  I still use it, in fact, when I take personal notes.  (Trust me, you wouldn’t be able to read them. You’d have to call Ms. Sanders to decode them for you.)  I love the system.  It’s an elegant, brilliant way to capture the spoken word in just a matter of a few graceful penstrokes. To think that somebody is making money deciphering this stuff is so cool to me it’s totally off the wall.  More power to ya, Letha!

This makes me want to go find my Gregg shorthand book and review my brief forms!  (That’s not underwear.  It’s abbreviated phrases.)  

I guess it just goes to prove that a translator is a translator in any language–even when the subject is the English language coded in inscrutible squiggles.  You think that fifty years from now someone will be deciphering abbreviations for texting?   CUL8R!

Tapas are served at places that specialize in these things.  The practice is a grandly social one of “tasca hopping”–going from place to place (tapa bar to tapa bar) to sample the tapas.  Do it with friends, and you end up with a delightfully full tummy at a fraction of the cost of a sit-down meal and with a whole lot more fun in the interim. 

Here is a link to this article, which is fun just to read! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703787304575075523479248834.html?mod=djemLifeStyle_h

Hooray for Spain!

¡Buen provecho!

See the cartoon here http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2010/03/28/.

 If you want to make a positive impression on foreign speakers, ad hoc translation and interpretation sure aren’t how to get the job done.  

Eloquence will never put your credibility in peril.  Call us.

What kind of impression is YOUR organization making?

Machine translation, which is what this is, has long been a subject of intense disagreement among language professionals and the entities promoting automation.  David Bellos, Director of the Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication at Princeton University, offered a clear perspective on this in a March 20, 2010, New York Times op-ed piece entitled “I, Translator” (see the article here).

Language and its use are a key distinction between humans and other creatures on our planet.  The human infant’s brain is enriched and exponentially expanded by listening, watching and experiencing the communications of other human beings all around it.  Mastering speech, syntax and written communication skills in one’s own language takes years, if not decades.  Some people never master it. And those who master it especially well become society’s writers, speakers and leaders. To think that a machine can replicate the talent of a gifted native speaker is inconceivable. 

Language is created out of need–the need to express something ineffable, something that specifically moves one human’s brain to reach out to another.  Language is created by feelings to create feelings. Machines don’t feel. Speaking or writing launches an arrow targeted squarely at the listener or reader. How it lands–or whether it lands at all–and how perfectly the language is communicated make the difference between inspiration or indifference.  Don’t be fooled into thinking that the magnificent human brain can be replaced by a language robot. When it comes to nuances and the fine details of foreign language translation work, no machine, no matter how sophisticated, will ever replace a sentient human being. Machines are incapable of that exquisite flash of insight with precisely the perfect word to nail the target. To get the job done right, ask a human.

Ordinarily those of us in this industry bill for our services based on the word count of the document provided, in the case of outright translation, or else on the time spent, in cases such as editing or proofreading.  Most people are familiar with and understand that kind of measurement, and we all have charges correlated to what it will take us to serve our client well at a reasonable cost while still making a living for ourselves.

Most of us in general, and Eloquence Language Services in particular, seek to establish ourselves as professional providers of a service, not a product.  Translators and interpreters have spent years trying to educate the public about the importance of selecting a professional who can offer precisely that result.

So today a colleague just wrote a boatload of us in the business begging for anyone’s input on how to bill a job in GIGABYTES.  Gigabytes?  Talk about commodity pricing!  That’s a rather demeaning idea, considering that untold time and effort go into delivering a top-notch translation, and then to reduce it to no more than a bunch of ones and zeroes?  Geez, guys, give us a break!

A 1949 book called the  English-Turkish Conversation Book written by one M. Vasif Okcugíl attempted to provide English sentences for those Turks wanting to speak the English language.  Each entry in the book is a phrase that is first written in English, then transliterated into Turkish orthography and then finally into Turkish itself.  Unfortunately, anyone using this book would have been looked at by any English speaker with puzzlement and then probably with either amusement or pity.  Here are some examples of a few of the English results.  Some are discernible, and others are just plain unfathomable.  A piece of advice?  If you speak Turkish, don’t buy this book!

Put your napkin to your front.

This paper is blotting.

Pleat your thumb and the second finger.

You did not administrate the establishment.

He did not take care to my advices.

Did you divine the enigma?

If I am not get up when I awake, I am deadly sleeping again.

Is it killed anybody?

They did not agitate the question.

What o’clock is it?

Of course, the real kicker in English is our determined propensity to pronounce similar spellings in different ways.  No wonder English is so hard for non-native speakers to master!  Think about the following examples, which we native speakers just take for granted (and for those of us with children, we spend years correcting them on):

“ONE”:    One    Gone      Tone

“OU”:   Hour    Four    Tour   Should    Moustache

“ERE”:    Where    Here    Were

“OO”:    Food    Good    Door    Cooperate    Blood

“IM”:    Climb    Limb

“IMB”:  Climber     Limber

“UMB”:  Plumber     Lumber

“IPED”:  Piped    Biped    Worshiped

“AUGH”:  Caught    Laugh

“INT”:   Pint    Tint

And then the “king” of the confusing diphthongs,

“OUGH”:  Though   Through    Thought    Tough   Trough   Thorough    Bough     Cough     Hiccough

ENOUGH  SAID!

The Los Angeles Times just published an article by Tina Susman regarding how translation and niche specialization can play an important role in the world’s needs today.   Here’s a link to the article

It highlights a woman who specializes in the German language and waste management–”The Trash Lady”–and it illustrates how detailed and complex a translator’s job can be.  It also highlights how being a specialist is key to nailing down the finite details of the translation job.

Nicholas Hartmann, President of the American Translators Association, whose convention I just attended in New York, made excellent points about the need for professional competent human translators rather than using a machine or the native-speaking guy you have in your office.  He gave fascinating examples of embarrassing errors that have occurred recently even on the international level where due diligence was missing.

Translators who know their stuff are priceless when it comes to enabling accurate communication. 

Clearly, translation and interpretation aren’t going away any time soon.  So long as people must communicate with one another, Eloquence will be your language bridge. You can depend on us not to “trash” your job!

I just returned from New York, where I attended the 50^th Annual Conference of the American Translators Association.  The ATA is our industry’s premiere organization.  What an event!  There were dozens of exhibitors, focus groups and meetings and hundreds of interesting sessions given in multiple languages by scores of top quality presenters.  Held at the beautiful Marriott Marquis Hotel right on Times Square, over 2,300 professionals attended this 4-day event.

What astonished me was that translators and interpreters came not just from the United States, but from fifty-three foreign countries to the American Translators Association conference!  What a strange feeling it was to be surrounded by thousands of people just like me who live and breathe the esoterica of what I do all day without needing an explanation.  Say what you will about the state of today’s world economy, it’s gratifying to know that the art of communication in word and speech is alive and well!