February 2002 Volume XXXI Number 2 The

Chronicle A Publication of the American Translators Association

in this issue ata divisions: past, present, and beyond

February 2002 Volume XXXI in this issue Number 2

Features

A Publication of 10 Conference Sessions Approved for Continuing Education Credit the American Translators 12 ATA Award Recipients Association

14 International Certification Study: Finland and Sweden By Jiri Stejskal

16 Pursuing Failure By Barton Goldsmith Editor Work to encourage your team to pursue possible failure, and they will respond by Jeff Sanfacon pushing the envelope all the way to the top. [email protected]

17 Thoughts on Evolutionary Aspects of Language and Translation Proofreader By Ruth Bittorf Margaret L. Hallin

The ability to speak and think and the emergence of different languages are evolutionary Design/Layout developments that the translator helps to reintegrate to facilitate communication. Ellen Banker/Amy Peloff

19 The ATA Interpreters Division Update Advertising By Helen D. Cole Brian Wallace The success of an organization requires everyone’s participation. McNeill Group Inc. 20 Message from the New Administrator of the Portuguese Language Division [email protected] By Tereza d’Ávila Braga (215) 321-9662 ext. 38 The annual conference is not your only opportunity to meet and network with colleagues. Fax: (215) 321-9636

Executive Director 21 French Language Division Annual Meeting Summary By Michèle Hansen Walter Bacak The FLD celebrates continued growth and the hard work of its members. [email protected] Editorial Advisors R. Michael Conner, Leslie Willson, Mike Stacy Columns and Departments Membership and 6 About Our Authors General Information 7 From the President Maggie Rowe 8 From the Executive Director [email protected] 13 Conferences and Events Document-on-Request: 45 Accreditation Forum 1-888-990-3282 47 Dictionary Reviews website: www.atanet.org 52 The Translation Inquirer 54 Humor and Translation 55 Display Advertising Index 56 ATA Chapters and Groups

Illustrator Jon Berkeley’s interpretation of teamwork. Illustrator Jon Berkeley’s 58 New Active and Corresponding Members

American Translators Association 225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 590 • Alexandria VA 22314 Tel: (703) 683-6100 • Fax (703) 683-6122 E-mail: [email protected] • Website: www.atanet.org 2002 Chronicle The Editorial Calendar A Publication of the American Translators Association Chronicle 1999 FIT Best Periodical Award Winner January Focus: Professional Practices Submission Deadline: The ATA Chronicle Submission Guidelines November 1 The ATA Chronicle enthusiastically encourages members to submit articles of interest to the fields of February Focus: ATA Divisions: Past, translation and interpretation. Present, and Beyond 1. Articles (see length specifications below) are due the first of the month, two months prior to the Submission Deadline: month of publication (i.e., June 1 for August issue). December 1 2. Articles should not exceed 3,500 words. Articles containing words or phrases in non-European writing systems (e.g., Japanese, Arabic) should be submitted by mail and fax. March Focus: Marketing 3. Include your fax, phone, e-mail, and mailing address on the first page. Submission Deadline: 4. Include a brief abstract (two sentences maximum) emphasizing the most salient points of your January 1 article. The abstract will be included in the table of contents. 5. Include a brief biography (three sentences maximum) along with a picture (color or B/W). Please April Focus: Terminology be sure to specify if you would like your photo returned. Do not send irreplaceable photos. Submission Deadline: 6. In addition to a hard copy version of the article, please submit an electronic version either on February 1 disk or via e-mail ([email protected]). 7. Texts should be formatted for Word or Wordperfect 8.0. May 8. All articles are subject to editing for grammar, style, punctuation, and space limitations. Focus: Literary Translation Submission Deadline: 9. A proof will be sent to you for review prior to publication. March 1 . Standard Length June Letters to the editor: 350 words; Opinion/Editorial: 300-600 words; Feature Articles: 750-3,500 Focus: Agencies, Bureaus, and words; Column: 400-1,000 words Companies Submission Deadline: April 1 July An Easy Reference To ATA Member Benefits Focus: Science and Technology Submission Deadline: Your ATA membership has never been more valuable. Take advantage of the discounted programs and May 1 services available to you as an ATA member. Be sure to tell these companies you are an ATA member and refer to any codes provided below. August Focus: Independent Contractors Business Owners Insurance MasterCard Submission Deadline: National Professional Group MBNA America June 1 (888) 219-8122 Reference Code: IFKV September www.ata-ins.com (800) 847-7378 • (302) 457-2165 Focus: Interpreting Submission Deadline: Collection Services/Receivables Medical, Life, and Disability Insurance July 1 Management Mutual of Omaha October Dun & Bradstreet (800) 223-6927 • (402) 342-7600 Focus: Legal Translating/ Mike Horoski www.atanet.org/mutual.htm Interpreting (800) 333-6497 ext. 7226 Submission Deadline: (484) 242-7226 Overnight Delivery/Express Package Service August 1 [email protected] UPS Reference Code: C0000700415 November/December Focus: Training and Pedagogy Conference Travel (800) 325-7000 Submission Deadline: Stellar Access www.ups.com September 1 Reference Code: 505 (800) 929-4242 • (619) 453-3686 Professional Liability Insurance Moving? Find an e-mail: [email protected] National Professional Group www.stellaraccess.com (888) 219-8122 error with your www.ata-ins.com address? Credit Card Acceptance Retirement Programs We’ve done everything possible to ensure Program/Professional Services Account Washington Pension Center that your address is correct. But sometimes NOVA Information Systems (888) 817-7877 • (301) 941-9179 errors do occur. If you find that the informa- Reference Code: HCDA tion on the mailing label is inaccurate or out (888) 545-2207 • (770) 649-5700 of date, please let us know. Send updates to: The ATA Chronicle • 225 Reinekers Lane, ...And, of course, as an ATA member you receive discounts on the Annual Conference registration fees and ATA publi- Suite 590 • Alexandria, VA 22314 cations, and you are eligible to join ATA Divisions, participate in the online Translation Services Directory, and much Fax (703) 683-6122 • [email protected] more. For more information, contact ATA (703) 683-6100; fax (703) 683-6122; and e-mail: [email protected].

4 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 22 Kevin Hendzel Sets PBS Viewers Straight: “Babelfish is 400 Years Away” By Alexandra Russell-Bitting ATA members continue to set the record straight about machine translation.

23 Spanish Language Division: Up, Up, and Away! By Rudy Heller With over 2,000 members, there is no telling where 2002 might take us. The ATA Chronicle (ISSN 1078-6457) is published 24 Update from the Japanese Language Division monthly, except bi-monthly By Izumi Suzuki in November/December, Faces new and old came together to help make the JLD’s activities at the conference by the American a success. Translators Association.

25 Minutes from the Annual Meeting of the ATA’s Nordic Division Reprint Permission: By Marianne Dellinger Requests for permission to Newsletters, exams, and Mexican food—an overview of the annual meeting of the reprint articles should be sent to the Chronicle editor ATA’s Nordic Division. at [email protected]. Subscription rate for a 26 Where Do We Go from Here? member is $43 (included in By Tim Altanero the dues payment). U.S. A brief overview of the evolution of the localization industry. subscription rate for a non- member is $50. Subscribers in Canada and Mexico add 27 The Chinese Language Division in Los Angeles $25; all other non-U.S. sub- By Yuanxi Ma scribers add $45. Single Read about the Chinese Language Division’s plans for the coming year. copies are available for $5 per issue. Second-class 28 German Language Division Report from the Administrator Postage rates paid at Alexandria, Virginia, and By Dorothee Racette additional mailing offices. An overview of our activities during the past year and a glimpse of what is to come.

Postmaster: 31 Educating Future Leaders Changes of address By Olgierda Furmanek should be sent to The ATA A new certificate in Spanish translation and interpreting at Wake Forest University Chronicle, 225 Reinekers offers a different approach to the role of T/I courses at the undergraduate level. Lane, Suite 590, Alexandria, VA 22314. The 34 Translating Official Documents for African Immigrants American Translators Association (ATA) was By Adrián Fuentes Luque established in 1959 as a The influx of immigrants from developing countries poses new challenges not only for not-for-profit professional politicians and social agents, but also for translators, who are confronted with official society to advance the documents of varied and often unfamiliar ethnic, legal, and cultural backgrounds. standards of translation and to promote the intel- lectual and material inter- 36 Two Hands Clapping: Nuances of Sound and Style in Prose Translation ests of translators and By Cindy Schuster interpreters in the United In an analysis of the process of translating a short story by María Luisa Puga, this article States. The statements discusses how the language used to convey certain sounds functions, not only to evoke made in The ATA their aural qualities, but also to clue the reader in on how a character’s perception of Chronicle do not neces- sarily reflect the opinion sound metaphorically reveals her psychological state. or judgment of the ATA, its editor, or its officers or 39 Some Thoughts on the Modern Scientific Principle of directors and are strictly Systematic Oversimplification those of the authors. By Steve Vlasta Vitek No matter how many times you proofread a poor translation, the only way to turn it into a good translation is to start from scratch.

43 Fifth International Conference on Translation By Eva Jover and Else Mogensen From Arabic technical terminology to a Polish version of Alice in Wonderland: a report on the Fifth International Conference on Translation at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 5 About Our Authors...

Tim Altanero, Ph.D., is an associate dean and has worked as a translator, interpreter, is ATA-accredited (German<>English) and associate professor at Austin Community terminologist, and localization specialist in works as a full-time freelance translator from College, where he founded and manages the Polish, English, Spanish, and French. Contact: her home in upstate New York. Contact: localization program. This program, a first of its [email protected]. [email protected]. kind in the nation, has received international recognition. He is also a freelance translator of Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D., has started, devel- Alexandra Russell-Bitting has been a senior Afrikaans and Spanish. Contact: oped, and sold three companies, which gives translator/reviser at the Inter-American [email protected]. him a unique understanding of entrepreneurs Development Bank in Washington, DC, for the and those striving for success. He is a con- past 14 years, working from French, Spanish, Ruth Bittorf is a self-employed tributing author to numerous books and busi- and Portuguese into English. She has done German<>English translator with 11 years of ness journals, including The Los Angeles freelance translations for other international experience based in Washington, DC. She has a Business Journal. Contact: organizations such as the United Nations long-term interest in the evolutionary and www.BartonGoldsmith.com. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural historical aspects of human development and Organization, the Pan American Health linguistics. Contact: [email protected]. Michèle Hansen is the assistant administrator Organization, and the Organization of American of ATA’s French Language Division. Contact: States, as well as for the U.S. Department of Helen Cole is the administrator of ATA’s [email protected]. State. She has taught translation at Georgetown Interpreters Division. She has been an active University and the Université de Paris VIII, and Chinese interpreter in the Washington, DC, area Rudolf Heller is the administrator of ATA’s is a regular contributor to the Chronicle. for almost 10 years. Contact: Spanish Language Division. Contact: Contact: [email protected]. [email protected]. [email protected]. Cindy Schuster is a poet and literary translator Tereza d’Ávila Braga is the administrator of Eva Jover holds a degree in translation and (ATA-accredited, Spanish>English). She is co- ATA’s Portuguese Language Division. Originally interpretation. She is a freelance translator and translator (with Dick Cluster) of the anthology from Rio de Janeiro, she is a freelance trans- assistant teacher at the Universidad de Alicante. Cubana: Contemporary Fiction by Cuban lator in Dallas, Texas, specializing in Brazilian Contact: [email protected]. Women (Beacon Press, 1998). She teaches Portuguese in the areas of marketing, adver- Spanish, Latin American literature, and transla- tising, legal, and financial materials. She also Adrián Fuentes Luque teaches translation at the tion in the Department of Hispanic Studies at works as a seminar interpreter with the U.S. University of Cadiz in Spain, and works as a the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Department of State and as a translator with sworn English translator and interpreter (certified Contact: [email protected]. the Organization of American States. Contact: by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs). He [email protected]. recently completed his Ph.D. thesis on the recep- Izumi Suzuki is the administrator of ATA’s tion of translated audiovisual humor and culture. Japanese Language Division. She was born in Marianne Dellinger holds a master’s degree in He has taught at the University of Granada Yokohama, Japan. After graduating from the translation and interpretation (Danish<>English) (Spain) and the University of Portsmouth (U.K.), Japan Interpreters Training School and then from the Aarhus School of Business in and has worked as a senior interpreter/translator from the ISS Simultaneous Interpreters Training Denmark, and is a Danish state-authorized at the Australian Embassy in Spain. He has pub- Course, she became a registered conference translator and interpreter. After a stint as an lished several articles on audiovisual, legal, interpreter for ISS and Japan Convention international communication specialist for the tourism, advertising, and diplomatic translation. Services. She moved to Michigan 20 years ago worldwide accounting group KPMG, she taught Contact: [email protected]. and established Suzuki Myers & Associates translation studies at her alma mater, lectured Ltd., a language, marketing, human resources, on U.S. society, and worked as a freelance Yuanxi Ma has a Ph.D. (American literature, and training firm, with her husband, Steve translator and interpreter in Denmark for six comparative literature) from the State Myers, in 1984. Her repeat interpreting clients years before moving to California. She is an University of New York at Buffalo, and is cur- include top executives with all major OEMs in ATA-accredited translator (Danish-English) and rently the director of translation of the China the U.S./Japan automotive interface (e.g., Ford, mentor, and the assistant administrator of ATA’s Practice Group of Baker & McKenzie Mazda, General Motors, Isuzu, Fuji Heavy Nordic Division. She works as a freelance International Law Firm in Chicago. With her Industry, DaimlerChrysler, Mitsubishi Motors, translator and interpreter, and has been many years of teaching and translation in both Toyota, and Honda). Major law firms and involved with such projects as Harry Potter, the U.S. and China, she has accumulated good accounting firms are also her clients. Contact: Shrek, as well as the Holocaust survivor law- experience in handling the different as well as [email protected]. suits and international tobacco lawsuits. She similar cultural and linguistic aspects of has interpreted for the Danish High Court, the Chinese and English. She has had a number of Steve Vlasta Vitek received his master’s degree U.S. Superior Courts in California and New literary and legal translations and writings pub- in Japanese and English studies from Charles York, and for members of the Danish lished in various journals and edited books. She University in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1980. Parliament visiting the U.S. government. She has been an ATA member since 1996. Contact: He worked as an in-house translator for the also teaches English at the University of [email protected]. Czech News Agency in Prague from 1980-81 California and California State University. and for Japan Import Center in Tokyo, Japan, Contact: [email protected]. Else Mogensen holds a Ph.D. in classical from 1985-86. He has been a freelance trans- philology. She is senior translator and editor at lator specializing mostly in the translation of Olgierda Furmanek is currently an assistant Eriksen Translations Inc. in Brooklyn, New York. Japanese and German patents and articles from professor of Spanish and director of the Contact: [email protected]. technical journals for patent law firms in the Certificate Program in Translation, Interpreting, U.S. since 1987. He recently moved from and Localization at Wake Forest University in Dorothee Racette is the administrator of ATA’s Northern California, where he spent almost two North Carolina. She also taught translation at German Language Division and holds an M.A. decades, to Chesapeake, Virginia. Contact: Yale University. She is a native of Poland and in German from the University of Vermont. She [email protected].

6 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 Thomas L. West III From the President [email protected] Your ATA Membership

t’s that time of year again: time to potential of gaining a new client is more (You must be an ATA member to be a renew your ATA membership. If than worth our modest dues payment. division member.) I you have already renewed, I want to thank you on behalf of the association. Keep up with the latest tools in our Develop, strengthen, and expand If you haven’t, I’d like to suggest profession. By reading The ATA your network. We learn from each some reasons why your ATA mem- Chronicle, you could learn about a other. ATA membership offers you bership is one of the most significant new software tool that could save you many opportunities to network with investments you can make as a trans- hours. How many hours would you your colleagues. What is so important lator or interpreter. have to save to cover the cost of your about networking? Where can you First of all, ATA is thriving. We membership dues? The answer is: not turn if you have a question about ter- had over 8,500 members last year and many! Perhaps a dictionary review in minology that you can’t find online or expect to surpass that number this The ATA Chronicle will make you in a dictionary? You don’t need to year. We are also hard at work on aware of a specialized reference work reinvent the wheel each time. More plans for the 43rd Annual ATA that is now available. For example, than likely someone has faced the Conference, to be held in my home- Boris Silversteyn’s review in the same terminology query or business town of Atlanta from November 6-9, January issue discusses two books problem that you are addressing. ATA 2002, where we expect to draw a that no into-English translator will provides many networking opportuni- crowd of around 1,600 translators and want to be without. On the other ties for both newcomers and experi- interpreters from across the U.S. and hand, you might learn about an enced translators and interpreters. around the world. In the meantime, administrative practice discussed at a some additional professional devel- conference session that will help you ATA membership saves you money. opment seminars are in the planning run your business more efficiently As for true dollars-and-cents savings, stages—you’ll get more details on and effectively. It won’t take long for ATA members receive discounts on them soon. In addition, some exciting these time savers to cover the cost of the ATA Annual Conference, profes- changes are underway. Our award- your ATA membership. sional liability insurance, collections winning monthly magazine The ATA services, medical and disability insur- Chronicle has a new look. Also, ATA membership offers a multitude ance, overnight and express package Lilian Van Vranken and her dedicated of professional development oppor- shipping services, and much more. team are hard at work on strengthen- tunities. You need to stay current in ing our accreditation program. your working languages and areas of Doing something for the profession. Still not convinced? Here are specialization to be successful. To As the many other volunteers and I some more reasons to renew your address this need, ATA holds an annu- involved in our thriving association membership. al conference featuring over 150 edu- have found, the more you give, the cational sessions; conducts regional more you receive. One job covers your dues payment. I seminars, such as the Financial continue to hear from many ATA mem- Translation Conference in New York When you consider all that ATA bers who have gotten jobs through the last year (with additional seminars in has to offer you, it is clear that the online Translation Services Directory the works for this year); and publishes nominal membership fee is money and the Corporate Translation Services a variety of special interest articles in well spent. I urge you to renew your Directory. Many translation companies The ATA Chronicle. Finally, our divi- membership in ATA. use the TSD on a regular basis to hire sions offer specialized training and translators and interpreters. The practical, informative newsletters. ATA’s Fax on Demand Need a membership form for a colleague? Want the latest list of exam sites? Call ATA’s Document on Request line, available 24-hours a day: 1-888-990-3282

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 7 Walter Bacak, CAE From the Executive Director [email protected] Thanks and Reminders

TA Pro Bono Project Thanks. Renew your membership online. and experience with fellow ATA mem- For the past three years, ATA, 2002 final dues renewal notices have bers by making a presentation at ATA’s A as part of its community out- been mailed. Please renew your mem- 43rd Annual Conference, November reach program, has sponsored a pro bership today. You may renew online in 6-9, 2002, in Atlanta, Georgia. Please bono translation project in conjunc- the Members Only section of the ATA complete the Proposal for Conference tion with the ATA Annual Conference. website: www.atanet.org/memberson- Presentation form and return it to Most recently, in Los Angeles, ATA ly. If you have not received your ATA Headquarters by March 15. The members translated a 3,800-word notice, please contact Maggie Rowe at form may be downloaded from the brochure for the Starlight Foundation, [email protected] or (703) 683-6100, ext. ATA website, www.atanet.org/conf2002/ an organization that is dedicated to 3001. Don’t miss a day of your mem- abstract.htm. You can also get a copy granting wishes to gravely ill chil- bership benefits, including your list- from ATA’s Document On Request fax dren and to helping their families ings in the online Translation Services service, 1-888-990-3282, document cope with the duress of their chil- Directories. Thank you for your con- #80, or by calling ATA Headquarters, dren’s illness. (In St. Louis, ATA tinued support of the American Trans- 703-683-6100. The presentations are members translated a brochure in lators Association. a great way to network with others several languages for the Scott who share your interests, and to indi- Joplin Museum. In Orlando, ATA Translation Services Directories. rectly promote you and your compa- members translated some webpages Listings in the online Translation ny’s services. for the Everglades National Park.) Services Directory and Corporate The projects have helped create Translation Services Directory are prov- Awards Reminder. In addition to goodwill for the association, and ing to be valuable benefits of ATA mem- the call for conference proposals, spread the word on the work of pro- bership. Buyers of translation and inter- the deadline is approaching for fessional translators and interpreters. preting services are using the TSDs. Last ATA’s various awards: Gode Medal, Our thanks go out to past Public year, these sites averaged just over Lewis Galantière Award, and the Relations Committee Chair Manouche 100,000 hits per month. Be sure to keep Student Translation Award. In addi- Ragsdale for all her efforts to initiate your listings up to date. As a reminder, tion, the American Foundation for and coordinate this important ATA the Directories have been further refined Translation and Interpretation is program, as well as to the translators to allow members the option of putting offering a scholarship again this year. and reviewers on this year’s project: their areas of specialization and lan- For more information, please see the Alba Jones, Hernando Carranza, guage combinations in any order. January Chronicle or the ATA web- Izumi Suzuki, Manouche Ragsdale, site, www.atanet.org/awards.htm. and Beatrice Wulfsohn. Call for Proposals for Conference Presentations. Share your knowledge Thanks to Albert Bork. Al Bork has stepped down as chair of the Dictionary Review Committee. For over eight years, he helped compile the popular dictionary reviews that appear in the Chronicle. I am happy to report that Al will continue to serve on the Committee, and that Boris Silversteyn has agreed to serve as the new chair. Besides appearing in the Chronicle, the dictionary reviews are also available online at (From left to right) Past ATA President Ann Macfarlane, Manouche Ragsdale (past Public Relations Committee chair www.atanet.org/dictionary_reviews.htm. and coordinator of ATA’s pro bono translation project), Jenny Isaacson (director of community affairs for the Starlight Foundation), and pro bono project reviewer Izumi Suzuki in Los Angeles.

8 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002

Sessions Approved

Judicial Council of California Administrative Office of the Courts Continue Education Activity for Court Interpreter Minimum Continuing Education Credit (CIMCE)

The following sessions, presented at the ATA Annual Conference in Los Angeles, California, have been approved for Court Interpreter Minimum Continuing Education Credit (CIMCE) by the Judicial Council of California Administrative Office of the Courts. For a com- plete list of approved sessions, please visit ATA’s website at www.atanet.org/conf2002/credit_ca.htm. For more information, please contact Teresa Kelly at ATA Headquarters ([email protected]).

CIMCE# Credit Hours Session Title 1152 12 I-1 “Home Alone 3”: Building a Cooperative Network of Support Among Interpreters (Friday, 10:00-11:30am)

1148 12 I-3 The ASTM Standard Guide for Language Interpretation Services: What Is It? What Does It Say? What Is It Good For? (Friday, 1:30-3:00pm)

1153 12 I-4 Processing Time for Interpreters/Interpretation of Innuendo (Friday, 1:30-3:00pm)

1154 12 I-5 Quality Assessment of Telephone Interpreters: Preview to the Process of Identifying, Training, and Certifying Telephone Interpreters (Friday, 3:30-5:00pm)

1155 22 I-7 Life Before and Inside the Booth—A Reminder (Friday, 3:30-5:00pm)

1147 12 I-8 Conference Interpretation: Is It for You? (Saturday, 8:00-9:30am)

1156 12 I-10 Court Interpreting Techniques (Saturday, 10:00-11:30am)

1144 12 I-11 Plea Bargain? You Bet Your Life! (Saturday, 1:30-3:00pm)

1145 12 Part One: I-12 Telephone Interpretation in Action: A Live Demonstration (Saturday, 3:30-4:15pm) Part Two: I-13 Interpreting for a Non-English-speaking Juror (Saturday, 4:15-5:00pm)

1146 12 I-14 Interpreters Do Have a Voice: Interpreters’ Perceptions of Their Role—A Survey of Conference, Court, and Medical Interpreters in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. (Thursday, 3:30-5:00pm)

1149 12 LAW-1 The Role of the Interpreter in Addressing Hate/Bias Incidents (Friday, 1:30-3:00pm)

1150 12 MED-1 The NCIHC Forum Series: Listening to Your Voice about Telephonic Interpreting (Friday, 10:00-11:30am)

1151 12 Part One: MED-4 Initial Assessment of Interpreter Skills: A Case Study in Screening Medical Interpreters (Saturday, 1:30-2:15pm)

Part Two: MED-4 Medical Interpretation at the Crossroads: Overview of the Los Angeles Area Hospital Project and CSULB Training Strategies (Saturday, 2:15-3:00pm)

1183 3 SEMINAR E Force Majeure Clauses in Spanish-language Contract Documents (Wednesday, 9:00am-12:00pm)

10 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 1187 3 SEMINAR Q Confidence in the Courtroom! Advance Preparation Tips and Tools for Trial Interpreting (Wednesday, 2:00-5:00pm)

1186 2 SEMINAR P The Challenge: Translating an Economic Analysis into English (Wednesday, 2:00-5:00pm)

1185 3 SEMINAR G Professional Enhancement for Practicing English-Spanish Interpreters in the Field of Hemispheric Trade (Wednesday, 9:00am-12:00noon)

1184 2 SEMINAR O Language in TV News: Effective Communication in a Fast-paced Environment (Wednesday, 2:00-5:00pm)

1194 12 Part One: SL-3 Audience-oriented Translation for the General Public (Friday, 10:00-10:45am) Part Two: SL-3 Recent Issues in Russian and English Translation: Avoiding the Pitfalls and Overcoming Business and Technical Challenges (Friday, 10:45-11:30am)

1179 12 SL-4 Russian-English Cognates that Go Their Own Way (Friday, 1:30-3:00pm)

1181 12 SL-6 Challenges in Translating Russian Financial Statements (Saturday, 10:00-11:30am)

1192 12 Part One: SP-6 How to Create, Edit, and Publish Your Own Glossary (Saturday, 8:00-8:45am) Part Two: SP-6 Multicultural Spanish Business Terminology (Saturday, 8:45-9:30am)

1180 12 SP-7 Al español de qué parte del mundo debe traducirse en Estados Unidos? (Saturday, 10:00-11:30am)

1191 12 L.A. Law (Thursday, 3:30-5:00pm)

1193 12 Part One: C-2 The Problematics of Chinese Interpretation (Thursday, 3:30-4:15pm) Part Two: C-2 My “Mission” in Guam: A Story of the Complexity of Interpretation (Thursday, 4:15-5:00pm)

1188 12 G-2 Translating German Legalese: Written Arguments in Civil Litigation (Thursday, 3:30-5:00pm)

1189 12 J-2 Legal Documents (Contracts) Made Easy: Understanding Legal Expressions (Thursday, 3:30-5:00pm)

1190 12 J-8 Interpreting Workshop (English<>Japanese) (Saturday, 1:30-3:00pm)

1182 12 SP-4 Problems with the Translation of Terminology in Legal Documents in Mexico (Friday, 1:30-3:00pm)

Translating and Interpreting in the Federal Government Translating and Interpreting in the Federal Government New ATA Publication Now Available from ATA Headquarters

Translating and Interpreting in the Federal Government, compiled by Ted Crump, is a comprehensive survey that provides the language needs, career ladders, and contact information for over 80 federal agencies and offices. 174 pages; $30 (ATA American Translators Association Compiled by Ted Crump members), $50 (non-members).

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 11 American Translators Association Announces 2001 Awards Recipients

ach year, the ATA awards three prizes: a medal for meritorious service to the translation and interpreting professions, a prize for a book-length translation, and a student prize. The following awards were presented at the ATA’s 42nd E Annual Conference in Los Angeles, California, in November 2001. The Alexander The Ungar The Student Gode Medal, German Translation ATA’s most Translation Award, prestigious Award, bestowed award, was bestowed annually to a awarded to biennially in student or group Christine odd-numbered of students for a Durban,a years for a literary transla- freelance translator specializing in distinguished literary translation tion or translation-related project, finance and capital markets. Durban from German into English, was was given to Aaron Crippen for his is also a contributing columnist to awarded to John Felstiner for his translations of the modern Chinese the ITI Bulletin (U.K.) and the translation of Selected Poems and poet Gu Cheng. Crippen is currently Translation Journal, and is the Prose of Paul Celan. Felstiner is a working toward his Ph.D. in English author of a client education pamphlet professor at Stanford University in literature at the University of entitled Getting It Right. California. This award consists of Houston. This award consists of $1,000, a certificate of recognition, $500, a certificate of recognition, and and up to $500 toward expenses for up to $500 toward expenses for attending the ATA conference. attending the ATA conference.

For more information and deadlines for ATA’s 2002 awards, please contact: Jo Anne Engelbert, Chair, ATA Honors & Awards Committee, American Translators Association, 225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 590, Alexandria, VA 22314; Phone: (703) 683-6100; Fax: (703) 683-6122; E-mail: [email protected].

Beacons 8: Call for Manuscripts

Beacons is a magazine of literary translation published annually by the ATA’s Literary Division. We are currently seeking submissions of literary translations of poetry, fiction, short drama, journal- istic writing, or essays for the 2002 publication. Translations from any language into English are acceptable. Submissions should be limited to a maximum length of 15 pages and must be accompanied by a copy of the original text and a letter of permission for serial publication from the holder of the foreign rights. All submissions must be sent as hard copy by mail, with a SASE enclosed. The deadline is April 15, 2002. Send all correspondence to: Alexis Levitin Editor Beacons Department of English SUNY-Plattsburgh Plattsburgh, NY 12901

12 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 Conferences and Events

Santa Fe, New Mexico Slavonice, Czech Republic approaches to Shakespeare and the Bible, etc.), and briefings on the International ATA’s Portuguese Language Division Call for Papers Association of Conference Interpreters, Spring Meeting Slavonice International Translators the international institutions, and the pro- April 25-28, 2002 Conference 2002 fession. The course languages are September 19-22, 2002 English, French, German, Russian, and For more information, please visit Spanish. The language of general instruc- www.ata-divisions.org/PLD/index_P.htm. Topics: Any topic of interest to translators tion is English. Early enrollment is recom- Hope to see you there! Length: 5-10 double-spaced pages mended. For information, including a (short is beautiful!) detailed course brochure and application Abstracts: Maximum of 100 words; forms, please contact: Christopher Washington, DC enclose CV. Guichot de Fortis; Tel: (+32-2) 654-2080; Translators Discussion Group Delivery: E-mail in .doc format to Fax: (+32-2) 652-5826; E-mail: Borders Books and Music [email protected]. [email protected]. 18th & L Streets, NW Deadline: Abstracts by May 31, 2002, final (Note: This course is specifically designed version of papers by July 31, 2002. for conference interpreters only.) Meets the second Wednesday of each Authors of accepted papers will be month from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at Borders. advised by June 30, 2002. For more information, please contact Lily Yokohama, Japan All presenters must be registered for 13th International Japanese/English Liu at [email protected]. the conference. Translation Conference May 11-12, 2002 For more information, please contact: Canada Zuzana Kulhankova Vancouver, British Columbia For more information, please visit Jana Zizky 2 www.ijet.org/ijet-13. XVI World Congress of the International 378 81 Slavonice Federation of Translators Czech Republic Translation: New Ideas for a New Century Tel: +420-332-493777 Auckland, New Zealand August 6-10, 2002 Fax: +420-332-493770 New Zealand Society of Translators Mobil: +420-605-726432 and Interpreters Canada is proud to welcome the XVI FIT E-mail: [email protected] Ethics, Education, Experience, and Congress to Vancouver, British Columbia. www.scholaludus.cz Earnings: Elements in the It kicks off August 6th, 2002, with the Multidimensional World of Translation welcome reception and on-site registra- and Interpreting tion, and the Congress itself runs three Cambridge, England June 1-3, 2002 and a half days, August 7-10. This is the 18th Intensive Course in Simultaneous Conference Interpretation first time in over two decades that the For more information, please contact the August 18-31, 2002 Congress has taken place in North national secretary via e-mail at America, so we’re happy to continue the [email protected]. tradition of welcoming hundreds of dele- Participants will interpret guest speakers gates from all corners of the world. on a wide range of general and technical Recent Congresses have been held in subjects under authentic conference con- Mons, Belgium (1999), Melbourne, ditions. In addition to the core curriculum, Australia (1996), Brighton, England there will be specialized discussions in a (1993), Belgrade, Yugoslavia (1990), and variety of fields (for example, consecutive, Maastricht, the Netherlands (1987). For on-sight translation, use and preparation more information, please visit of texts, booth and stress management, www.fit2002.org/enghome.htm. marketing and negotiation, interpreting

Call for Papers Canadian Association for Translation Studies 15th Annual Conference May 25-27, 2002 (Exact dates to be confirmed) • Toronto, Canada Conference Theme: Translation and (Im)migration Information: Dr. Anne Malena, Modern Language and Cultural Studies, 200 Arts Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E6 Canada. Tel: (780) 492-1187; Fax: (780) 492-9106; E-mail: [email protected]; website: www.uottawa.ca/associations/act-cats/index.htm.

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 13 International Certification Study: Finland and Sweden

By Jiri Stejskal

n the January issue we looked at or a domestic and foreign language, ¥ Reside in Sweden or any other the complex certification process in either direction. The domestic lan- state within the EEA; I of the Canadian Ordre des traduc- guages are Finnish, Swedish, and ¥ Be 18 years of age and not under teurs, terminologues et interprètes Lapp (Sami). No educational entry the legal guardianship of an agréés du Québec. We will now move qualification has been prescribed for administrator (under the provi- on to Scandinavia, with a review of the test, but the candidate must be a sions of Chap. 11, Sec. 7 of the the Finnish and Swedish certification legally competent person residing in Code on Parents and Children) or processes. The following description one of the member states of the be subject to any similar restric- is based on the information provided European Union or in some other tions in another state; by Meeri Yule, membership chair of country included in the European ¥ Be of known personal integrity the Mid-America Chapter of the ATA; Economic Area (EEA). Further and otherwise be suitable to work Ari Penttilä, vice-chairman of the as a translator; and Finnish Association of Translators ¥ Have passed the proficiency and Interpreters (Suomen kääntäjien …While currently there is examination as set down by the ja tulkkien liitto, SKTL); Sven H.E. no cooperation between Kammarkollegiet. Borei, chairman of the Swedish the ATA and the Finnish Association of Professional Translators If special grounds exist, a person (Sveriges Facköversättarförening, SFÖ); and Swedish organizations residing outside the EEA may also David Jones, chairman of the in terms of mutual qualify for authorization. Federation of Authorized Translators (Föreningen Auktoriserade Translatorer, recognition of linguistic Administration of the Test FAT); and Kerstin Björkholm, repre- credentials, Sven Borei of The examination is held in sentative of the Swedish Legal, the SFÖ has expressed September in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Financial, and Administrative Service Malmö, and Umeå. On each examina- Agency (Kammarkollegiet). interest in such an tion, you may translate from one lan- Finnish professional linguists are arrangement… guage to one other language only. One organized under the umbrella of the of these languages must be Swedish. SKTL. Until 1987, the certification process was administered by both the information on the certification proce- Once authorized, translators have Finnish Chamber of Commerce and dure and on the SKTL is available at their own individual stamp and are the Translator Examination Board. www.megabaud.fi/~sktl, or you may entitled to vouch for the accuracy of Currently, certification exams are contact Ari Penttilä directly at their translations. In some cases, administered solely by the Translator [email protected]. Swedish government agencies are Examination Board, appointed by In Sweden, the certification enjoined to entrust translation to the Ministry of Education in con- process also used to be administered authorized translators, and an author- junction with the Research Institute by the Chamber of Commerce, but the ized translation is required in a number for the Languages of Finland. The responsibility was taken over by the of official contexts. Authorization is a Translator Examination Board has state at the beginning of the 1960s— requirement for some translation been administering exams for trans- originally by the Swedish Board of posts within the Swedish civil service lators since 1967, which is when the Trade and now by the Kammarkollegiet and for inclusion in some of the first Act on “sworn translators” came (www.kammarkollegiet.se). The fol- framework procurements of transla- into effect. The current type of exam- lowing rules and procedures are tion services by state agencies. Some ination was introduced in 1988, required by the Kammarkollegiet authorized translators are authorized when the Act was amended. In order (based on the information received to work from more than one language to become certified, the candidate directly from the Kammarkollegiet): into Swedish, and some are author- must pass a translation exam con- ized to work both to and from sisting of two parts: general and spe- Conditions of Authorization Swedish into another language, but cialized. Examinations are conducted To qualify for authorization as a the vast majority are authorized in between any two domestic languages, translator, you must: one direction only.

14 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 There are two organizations for established ability and capacity. Finnish and Swedish organizations in translators in Sweden—the already- There is no requirement that an appli- terms of mutual recognition of lin- mentioned FAT and SFÖ. FAT only cant be a citizen or resident of guistic credentials, Sven Borei of the admits authorized translators while Sweden, nor that Swedish be one of SFÖ has expressed interest in such an SFÖ membership is open to anyone the languages of the pair. Translators arrangement either within FIT in gen- who meets their criteria for entry. are required to translate only into their eral or else limited to the ATA and FAT currently has about 325 mem- mother tongue, though exceptions SFÖ. Next time we will revisit the bers, working either into or from may be granted by the membership certification process in Canada, about 30 languages. FAT represents committee. Further information on the namely the Canadian Translators and the interests of these translators and SFÖ can be obtained directly from Interpreters Council certification, as organizes annual seminars for candi- Sven Borei at [email protected], or well as the current initiative of the dates for the authorization test. It at the organization’s website at Society of Translators and Interpre- also publishes a quarterly newsletter www.sfoe.se. ters of British Columbia, geared called Fataburen, and is involved in the The above-mentioned Swedish toward mutual recognition of creden- production of word lists. Further infor- Kammarkollegiet has, according to tials between the ATA and STIBC. mation is available at the Federation’s law, an advisory council for questions As the editor of this series, I website (www.eurofat.se) in Swedish relating to interpretation and translation encourage readers to submit any rele- only, or directly from the Federa- (Rådgivandenämnden för tolk- och vant information concerning non-U.S. tion’s chairman, David Jones, at översättningsfrågor) where the SFÖ certification or similar programs, as [email protected]. and FAT each have a seat. All major well as comments on the information According to the chairman of the interpretation organizations are repre- published in this series, to my e-mail SFÖ, the organization feels that the sented, as are the larger users of author- address at [email protected]. government authorization does not ized interpreters and translators. The successfully answer the question as council deals with standards, integra- to whether a translator maintains a tion of standards, problems with the high level of ability and quality over test procedures, the definition of lan- time. The test, being academic in guages, and other related questions at nature, does not address the question their semi-annual meetings. In between of end-user satisfaction or any of the sessions, there are task forces on spe- ISO- and/or DIN-related translation cific questions. This council has poten- administration issues. In an attempt tial to develop into a major player in to accomplish this, the admission raising and maintaining interpretation procedures of the SFÖ are very strict, and translation standards in Sweden. and a great emphasis is placed on Another form of certification in continuing education. To be admitted Sweden, though as yet without any to full SFÖ membership, a translator formal linkage to any of the above- must provide three recommendations named organizations, are various uni- from customers for each language versity courses leading to a diploma. pair, and submit proof of having The main representative is the worked five years as a professional Interpreter and Translator Institute at translator (applicants who do not the University of Stockholm (Tolk- meet the five-year requirement can och översättarinstitutet, TÖI), with become associate members). There which the SFÖ has first-level con- are currently approximately 650 tacts in an effort to ensure that those members in the association. Applica- who graduate have attained a quality tions are screened by members of the level that is in itself sufficient for SFÖ board. All recommendations are membership in the SFÖ. checked, with the focus being on While currently there is no coop- ascertaining the applicant’s level of eration between the ATA and the

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 15 Pursuing Failure

By Barton Goldsmith

“Success is going from failure to failure thing that can turn a challenge into a some kind of mind game, but rather a without loss of enthusiasm” failure is not learning from it. He also necessary step in growing your busi- Winston Churchill believes in continuing education for ness that has been used by some of his team, and brings in the best the most successful leaders and com- ost people dislike the idea of speakers and trainers in the country to panies in the world. failure, but think about it; the help his people reach the next level. M only way not to fail is by not Beyond Failure trying. Wouldn’t you rather your peo- Perhaps the most important job of ple pursue possible failure in order to …Most people dislike the a mentor is to help the mentees learn attempt new ideas, seek to bring in from their mistakes. This is the new clients, and try to create new idea of failure, but think learning that comes from experience, products, than not? If your people are about it; the only way not and it’s the most valuable learning we not allowed to fail, they will not to fail is by not trying… get. By supporting your team and grow. If you cannot encourage your yourself in this kind of thinking, you team to reach new heights by giving are creating a company culture that them a safety net (not firing them if will inspire your team to make your they fail), then how will you take Act As If business grow. Most successful your company to the next level? Henry Ford said, “Failure is only people will honestly tell you that they the opportunity to begin again more reached their goals by making lots of From 0 to 50…Million intelligently.” Being able to look at mistakes. The mentor’s job is to This philosophy has helped a your failures and learn from them is a encourage the mentees to reach number of companies reach the top of definition of wisdom. To be able to see beyond their failures, mistakes, and their markets. For example, take Mid- them clearly, as steps to your goals, fears, and use the lessons learned to America Direct, the largest Corvette gives you energy and inspiration. If achieve success. Work to encourage after-market parts company in the you beat yourself up and become list- your team to pursue possible failure, world. CEO Mike Yager continues to less with self-loathing, your goals and they will respond by pushing the encourage his team to try new ideas, become harder to reach. The energy envelope all the way to the top. and doesn’t punish them if their ideas you put into anger just holds you, and don’t work right away. He believes that your people, back. If you have diffi- (Note: More information can be with support, his team members will culty grasping this idea, here’s a way found at www.BartonGoldsmith.com, reach deep within themselves and to see how it actually works. or by contacting Barton Goldsmith, create new income streams for the The next time you or one of your Goldsmith Consulting, P.O. Box 4502, company. He continues to remind team members fail, don’t chastise Westlake Village, CA 91361; Toll-free: them that they are part of a team and them (or yourself). Hold back your 866-522-7866.) that they are supported by him and by anger or disappointment and “act as each other. Even if their ideas don’t if” (pretend) that it was part of the work, he is pleased that they are process. See it as a step in the right attempting to push the envelope. To direction. Talk with your team and ... further inspire his people, they also get explain that you believe that this sup- It pays personal rewards for their continued posed “failure” is taking you closer to to keep your listings updated efforts toward improving the company. your goal. Explain to them (and your- in the ATA’s online Yager started Mid-America Direct self) that without the lessons learned Translation Services Directory with a vision, a few ideas, and not from this failure, you would not have and much else. After reaching the top of the information and experience nec- his industry, he decided to take on two essary to achieve success. Then see if Corporate Translation Services new catalogues (Volkswagen and you don’t reach the next level quicker Directory Porsche) two years ago, and is and easier than if you had spent time (www.atanet.org) watching them grow with the same and energy wallowing in blame, velocity. He believes that the only anger, and disappointment. This isn’t

16 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 Thoughts on Evolutionary Aspects of Language and Translation

By Ruth Bittorf

or many years, very intelligent of some historic figure) that symbol- common linguistic ancestor for many computer scientists and linguists ized the idea the speaker was trying to of the Eurasian languages of today: F have attempted to develop com- relay. For example, if we wanted to proto-Indoeuropean (the prefix “proto” puter-supported software to replace express the concept of “honesty” in indicates that it is a reconstructed lan- the human translator. To date, the our own cultural context using the lin- guage). But attempts to reconstruct the results have been disappointing, guistic system just described, we grandparent languages (for example, because machine translation is unable would probably tell the story of of proto-Indoeuropean, proto-Altaic, to capture the structural meaning of Abraham Lincoln, because to this day proto-Nihilo-Saharan, etc.) from these multilayered human expression. “Honest Abe” is symbolic of this trait. reconstructed languages, what the An example for an optimally func- Aside from this episode, I am not Russian School calls the “Nostratic tioning machine translation device aware that the linguistic or cultural language,” is entirely theoretical. would be the “universal translator,” as differences as reflected in language Evidence of this reconstruction is seen in the Star Trek TV series and ever played much of a role in the Star speculative, which makes the veracity movies. Alas, it is fictional! The uni- Trek series or other science fiction of the end result highly suspect. versal translator device on Star Trek programs. In the newest TV version, However, language is more than allows Federation crews to communi- just a way to communicate. Language cate with the aliens they encounter is the stuff that makes us human. We while traveling through various …Language is more were reminded not too long ago, with galaxies (all of whom seemingly speak than just a way to the results of the widely publicized and understand Standard American genome project, that our genetic English). Only once did Captain communicate. Language makeup is over 98% identical to that Picard and his crew from “Star Trek: is the stuff that makes of monkeys. Could it be that our The Next Generation” come into con- us human… humanity is encoded in less that 2% of tact with a civilization that caused our total DNA? It certainly looks that their universal translator to crash. In way—and language is part of that 2%! that episode, the aliens communicated “Enterprise,” Captain Archer has a Language gives us awareness and a through metaphors, physical expres- loyal female pilot/engineer/linguist soul. Through language, we can pass sions, and images taken from their (it is still unclear what she is) who along information, learn from and culture’s history. The vocabulary was miraculously understands the lan- connect with others, form and culti- complex and allegorical. The lan- guages of the new species the vate relationships, analyze, abstract, guage was expressive in different Enterprise encounters—a universal and even evaluate facts and concepts, ways than ours, in that it did not rep- translator with a pretty face! as well as question the physical world resent concepts by way of abstract The dream and/or convenience of a and cultivate our intellect. symbols carrying assigned meanings. universal language may have been a Physiological research of the For example, when we see the reality millennia ago (in biblical brain’s functions and of injuries and word “please” spelled out or hear it times, perhaps in Babel), but we will diseases of the brain has shown that spoken, we understand the letters or probably never know, for recorded the center for language capacity is sound of the word to be a code history does not reach that far back. located in the brain’s left hemisphere. through which we associate meaning. Also, our ability to reconstruct this Linguists and cognitive scientists have Every English speaker knows this universal language from the vocabu- demonstrated through studies in lan- word means to request something. lary of present-day languages, already guage acquisition that there must be However, in the language Captain many generations removed, is highly an innate genetic predisposition for Picard encountered, concepts such as questionable. However, it is entirely learning language. This is substanti- “please” or “you are welcome” were possible to reconstruct many of the ated by the way in which children not represented by abstract symbols, parent languages of today’s lan- master the most complicated gram- but were circumscribed within analo- guages. For example, we can trace matical systems in a relatively short gies, allegories, and legends. The French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, period of time. Children even create speaker expressed a concept through Catalan, and a few others to Latin. new languages, as research on the the retelling of a parable (like the deed Moreover, we can reconstruct a genesis of the creole languages ➡

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 17 Thoughts on Evolutionary Aspects of Language and Translation Continued demonstrates. Remarkably, the ability analyze, confuse, deceive, lie, and a professional level. Professional to acquire languages seems to be inde- manipulate. The list of linguistic appli- translation is not limited to finding pendent of the amount and quality of cations is as long as the list of human target-language equivalents for com- the input we receive from our environ- endeavors. Rhetorical figures, shifts in puter commands, restaurant menus, ment. Children have a natural urge to meaning, borrowed lexicon and struc- replacement part lists, and opera- speak. Irrespective of their native lan- tures, connotations, denotations, allit- tional manuals. Since requests for guage, culture, social status, or the erations, metaphors, satire, parody, translation are usually related to a quality of the language input from irony, registers, syntax, and semantics, specific subject field, the translator their parents, children generally start among others, characterize the rich- also needs a thorough education, speaking their native tongue by the ness of language as it evolves over experience, and research skills in that age of two. Language is ultimately an time and becomes part of the culture it particular area in order to grasp the evolutionary adaptation to a hostile helps define. Centuries of literature, concept that is represented in the environment, and one that probably folklore, and science have proven the original text. Sensible decoding and improved our chances of survival mil- value of language as a companion and re-encoding is not possible without a lenniums ago. Subsequently, language integral part of human development. secure understanding of the source has also allowed us to develop religion, Technically speaking, it is the language. Being a professional trans- culture, art: everything we are today. translator’s job to take a finite lin- lator requires linguistic sensitivity Language should not be confused guistic selection from an infinite and awareness, intelligence, imagina- with thinking. We think in concepts source-language system, and to tiveness, attention to detail, conscien- and images that we subsequently transfer this to a corresponding finite tiousness, logic, common sense, and encode into language. Even babies linguistic selection from an infinite the ability to communicate. A well- who have not yet acquired language target-language system utilizing the written original text and a well-written have shown the ability to distinguish “linguistic toolbox.” The translator translation should be effortless to read, between different concepts they find in analyzes and decodes the multila- and even give pleasure to the inter- their immediate surroundings, such as yered concept and expression in the ested reader. recognizing the image of the mother source language and re-encodes the Language is organic. It is as alive and differentiating between her image concept into a corresponding output as the people who speak it. Every and that of the father. Using the in the target language. These finite time somebody opens his or her building blocks of language (the “lin- selections of language are very spe- mouth or writes down a sentence, guistic toolbox,” i.e., morphology, cific in terms of content and applica- new speech is created. The translator syntax, lexicon, etc.), we encode the tion for use in a particular technical, is a facilitator bringing different lan- mental images and concepts we want economic, social, or cultural con- guages and people together, thus to communicate or define and pass text. The translator’s tools are his or helping humanity interact. these on to others. In turn, we use lan- her innate language skill in the guage to decode the images we native language and a well-rounded receive. Some of us are more skilled knowledge of one or several lan- than others at working with linguistic guages (in addition to expertise in encoding and decoding tools. Proper the subject matter to be translated). Renew Your decoding and analysis of the informa- Despite what some people, Membership tion is more reliable if the interlocutors including many clients, believe, share a similar cultural background translation is a very complex intellec- Renew online in the and/or life experience. tual endeavor. It goes far beyond the Members Only section at Language is multifaceted and mul- linear exchange, replacement, and tilayered, just like human beings. The substitution of surface expressions. www.atanet.org/membersonly number of possible grammatical sen- Being able to speak does not neces- or by contacting Maggie Rowe at tences that can be built with any lin- sarily mean a person can write. [email protected] or 703.683.6100 guistic inventory is infinite. Language Likewise, being able to speak more helps us to analyze thoughts, inform, than one language does not neces- dream, express emotion, convince, sarily enable a person to translate on

18 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 The ATA Interpreters Division Update

By Helen D. Cole

ith the proliferation of global goal: to better serve and defend the ¥ Election of candidates and candi- communication, interpreters interests of the interpreting community date statements W are playing a vital role to within and outside of the ATA. ¥ Candidate for administrator: ensure accurate and successful com- Our division’s assistant adminis- Helen Cole munication between cultures. Since trator is Elizabeth Tu, who comes to us ¥ Candidate for assistant adminis- the inception of the ATA’s Interpreters with diverse professional experience. trator: Elizabeth Tu Division (ID) three years ago, it has Through her exporting activities, she ¥ Voting: Election was conducted grown into the second largest division has been a translator and interpreter in the ATA with 854 members.* We since 1983. Elizabeth has actively Division Reports attribute the success of the ID to our chaired the Chinese Sister City ¥ Financial report: surplus former administrator, Diane Teichman, Committee in Cincinnati since 1989. ¥ Membership total: 854 for her leadership and diligent work in Our website has a wealth of infor- bringing us to light. mation for all interpreters. You can 2000-2001 Division Activity We all know the inherent, subtle, find tips, training opportunities, the ¥ Newsletter: published quarterly and obvious difference between inter- ¥ ID website: constantly updated preting and translation. I believe that ¥ ID reception: held at Camacho’s, interpreting and translation comple- …Since the inception of was a great success ment each other, which means that we the ATA’s Interpreters fine-tune our skills through both prac- Election Results Announced tices. There are, however, extreme Division three years ago, it cases. Maybe one can be blind and has grown into the second Report from New Administrator and interpret well, but not translate. One Assistant Administrator can be deaf and translate well, but not largest division in the ATA Three motions were made, discussed, interpret. One can translate meticu- with 854 members… and voted upon (see details below). lously, but cannot interpret in front of an audience. One can interpret flaw- (Meeting adjourned) lessly, yet lack the hardware, soft- division’s newsletter, bylaws, and ware, or tools to translate. Knowing links to other sites for references, just After discussing old business, the our strengths and weaknesses is the to name a few. Do check out our site at floor was turned over to the new key to developing and improving the www.atanet.org (click on “Divisions”). administration. The results of our dis- quality of our profession. Our quarterly newsletter, The Inter- cussion were as follows: This year, we have the greatest for- preter’s Voice, is edited by Diane tune to have former ATA President Teichman. Dan MacDougal and Pat 1. The first motion for discussion was Ann Macfarlane as a liaison between Thickstun serve as proofreaders and whether interpreters are properly the ID and ATA. She is also instru- Linyh Chan Brown is the layout editor. represented within the organiza- mental to the establishment of the You may submit your articles to Diane tional title of the American Trans- division. Personally, I find her an ([email protected]) in order to be lators Association. Shall we propose inspiration. published and have your voice heard to have the name changed to the Please note that there is an Inter- by all who walk the same journey. American Translators and Inter- pretation Policy and Advisory Com- The division’s annual meeting was preters Association? After a thor- mittee (IPAC) established by the ATA held on November 1, 2001, during the ough discussion of this topic, we and headed by Christian Degueldre. ATA’s 42nd Annual Conference at the concluded that there are compli- IPAC is responsible for making recom- Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, cated issues involved with this mendations to the ATA Board con- California. The meeting agenda was idea. Unless a solid proposal is cerning any issue involving interpreting. as follows: drafted, we shall not make a The IPAC and the ID share a common motion to the ATA in haste. A con- Call to Order ciliatory solution was made as an * Based on the November figures provided by ¥ Introduction of the new ID admin- ATA Headquarters istration Continued on p.22

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 19 Message from the New Administrator of the Portuguese Language Division

By Tereza d’Ávila Braga

he Portuguese Language Division based in Florida. Our treasurer is Ines We are translators, court interpreters, (PLD) is one of the oldest and Bojlesen, also from São Paulo, a trans- subtitlers, editors, journalists, local- Tmost successful divisions of the lator and interpreter based in Oregon, ization experts, conference inter- ATA, I’m very happy to say. In addition with a degree from the Alumni preters, or any mix of the above. We to explaining who we are and what we Association in Brazil. And our secre- even have professionals who have a do, this article also serves as a way for tary is Arlene Kelly, a court inter- strong connection to the Portuguese me to introduce myself. If you are a new preter, college teacher, and Fulbright language but make a living working in ATA member with an interest in the Scholar based in Massachusetts who other languages—you name it! We Portuguese language who has maybe spent many years in Brazil. come from all over the world and have never heard of us, please visit our web- If you are considering member- all kinds of academic and professional site at www.ata-divisions.org/PLD/ ship in the PLD, we welcome you backgrounds. In many ways, and in index_P.htm and join us! and would love to meet you at the many subjects, we do not even think I took office as administrator last earliest opportunity. If you are alike. Our link, though, which has November during the ATA’s 42nd already a member, thank you for wel- proven very strong, is our love of the Annual Conference in Los Angeles. coming us to the board and for Portuguese language and our desire to The conference is our chance to meet explore new ways to strengthen our and network with almost 2,000 col- profession. The ATA gives us a great leagues working with every language …If you are considering opportunity to do just that. And we on the planet—from Arabic to Zulu. membership in the PLD, still get the perks of making new If you are a new ATA member and we welcome you and friends every year, expanding our have never attended, believe me, it is family of linguists, nursing and com- a great party! But this event is not would love to meet you at forting that saudade in our hearts, and your only opportunity to meet and the earliest opportunity… learning how to work smarter and be network with colleagues. The PLD truly successful. also holds its own mini-conference I have been a member of the ATA (the PLD Spring Meeting) every year working with us for the continued since the early 1990s, and joining in a different city just for Portuguese growth and recognition of our profes- has proven to be the single very best linguists. You can read more about it sion in the U.S. and around the world. decision I made in my professional on our website. We are planning a We also publish a newsletter four life. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, very special meeting for 2002, in times a year, the PLData, which I’m I freelance as a translator in Dallas, beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico, co-editing with Heather Murchison, Texas, specializing in Brazilian April 25-28. Please see the informa- another hard-working colleague and Portuguese in the areas of marketing, tion on page 21. friend based in Seattle whose enthu- advertising, legal, and financial I am fortunate to have three great siasm never fails to inspire me. You materials, in addition to my contract professionals and friends working can read recent issues of the PLData work as a seminar interpreter with with me on the PLD board. We are on our website and receive it elec- the U.S. Department of State and as excited to have this opportunity to tronically when you become a a translator with the Organization of learn together in a voluntary way to member. We have been featuring American States. make our division stronger and to interviews with many professional Our website contains a list of honor the accomplishments of our colleagues. In the works is an activities for present and future mem- previous administrators, especially informal conversation with the team bers, as well as many useful links and Vera Abreu, whose vision and dedica- of Portuguese terminologists at a history (past, present, and future) of tion took the PLD to new heights and Microsoft’s world headquarters. our division. Our sincere thanks to all inspired us greatly. My assistant All facets of the profession are rep- the ATA family. See you in 2002 and administrator is Kátia Iole, from São resented in our division—freelancers, an outstanding year to all. Saúde e Paulo, Brazil, a specialist in video in-house, part-timers, company owners, bom trabalho! subtitling and a technical translator project managers, and sales executives.

20 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 French Language Division Annual Meeting Summary

By Michèle Hansen

he French Language Division idea was well received (she has since a general rule, conference speakers held its annual meeting on set up this eGroup). are not paid, so the depth and breadth T November 1, 2001, during the of FLD sessions are solely the result ATA’s 42nd Annual Conference in Directory. Thierry Chambon reported of our own members’ generous efforts Los Angeles. The division has grown that the ATA has a policy of not sup- and hard work. Many thanks to the significantly since its inception five porting online directories for divi- presenters, and to Michèle Hansen years ago, and currently has nearly sions, as maintaining and updating and Marie-France Schreiber for 800* members, making it the third separate directories would become helping to identify these individuals. largest in the ATA. The following too difficult. An alternative is being issues were discussed: investigated, namely, posting a list of Translator’s Handbook. This project was proposed at last year’s confer- Newsletter. A heartfelt “merci” went ence, before members were aware out to Mylène Vialard as editor of …The French Language that the Japanese Language Division Ë Propos. She has performed nearly Division…has grown had already written a thorough hand- all of the tasks associated with pub- book of interest to translators and lishing the newsletter alone. Four significantly since its interpreters of all languages. To members graciously offered to help inception five years ago, better serve our francophone inter- her find or write one article per issue ests, the FLD has decided instead to in the coming year. Additional contri- and currently has nearly offer a mentoring program, with butions are certainly welcome! 800 members… Michèle Landis, Michel Meunier, Manouche Ragsdale, and Anne FLD website. G. David Heath has Vincent volunteering to respond to done a remarkable job creating and FLD members and their names and any telephone or e-mail queries sent maintaining the FLD website (www. contact information on the FLD web- to the administrator and/or website. americantranslators.org/divisions/FLD/ site, which visitors could then use to Danièle Heinen also offered to write fldhome.htm). He appreciates any and consult the online TSD. Gina DeMarco an article for newcomers to be posted all input (articles, comments, links, etc.). agreed to assist in this effort should it on the website. Several members indicated that they go forward. never visit the site, so a suggestion was Social Activities. Marguerite Layton made to add an automated reminder T-shirts. FLD t-shirts are available and Anne Wiles were roundly service, such as NetMind, to notify for the first time for $15, and continue applauded for their generous under- members whenever the site is updated. to be available from ATA Head- writing of the FLD reception on quarters (see ordering information on Friday evening. We tried a new Listserve. Odile Legeay described the the website or in Ë Propos). Michèle format this year: a cocktail reception system used with ATA and its disad- Hansen took the initiative to create a rather than a sit-down dinner, to vantages: many initial technical prob- very nice design featuring a small arc facilitate networking among mem- lems and slow message exchange de triomphe logo on the front and a bers. Our reception was well (twice per day). She proposed another quote from Victor Hugo on the back. attended and everyone commented option, such as a Yahoo! Group. This favorably on this new format, which Sessions. As in past years, volunteers we intend to keep next year with a * Based on the November figures provided by were recruited to write brief sum- few improvements. ATA Headquarters maries of French-specific sessions. As

Mark your calendars! ATA’s Portuguese Language Division 2002 Spring Meeting

April 25-28, 2002—in beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico Details and information can be found in the PLDATA, the newsletter of the PLD, and on our website at: www.ata-divisions.org/PLD/index_P.htm. Hope to see you there!

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 21 Kevin Hendzel Sets PBS Viewers Straight: “Babelfish is 400 Years Away”

By Alexandra Russell-Bitting

(Note: This article first appeared in the hotline between the White House on the Internet for Durst, who con- the Capital Translator, the newsletter and the Kremlin for five years. cluded that for something simple, it’s of the ATA National Capital Area Noting that “national security has “clunky but adequate.” Chapter, www.ncata.org.) always depended on real people for But when Kevin put Babelfish to the simultaneous translation,” Durst asked acid test of Durst’s own writing, Durst n a PBS special called “Planet Kevin where he could get a “headset” saw the light. Translated from English Work: Finding Solutions in the that would do the job automatically. into Italian and back to English, the I World Wide Work World,” which Such translation software, Kevin phrase “Although our American culture aired in September, host Will Durst may be the red, white, and blue explored how globalization of the bowling ball on the ping pong table of world economy is transforming the …Machine translation commerce…” became “Even if our way we work, including how we trans- programs are okay for cultivation American can be the sphere late. Taking a lighthearted approach white woman and red blue bowling on only befitting a standup comedian, simple sentences but not the table of pong of metallic noise of Durst interviewed people in a variety okay for complex the commerce….” of jobs around the U.S. and on sever- phrasing. Score one for Durst concluded the segment by al other continents. accosting some passersby on the streets Between segments on a mother who the ATA’s ongoing of Rio with his $150 “Lingo 10 Talking commutes from California to Asia sev- outreach activities… Translator.” Reactions ranged from an eral times a month and a gondolier indulging handshake to an irate slap. philosopher in Venice deploring the Clearly, Durst got the message that cur- decline in the quality of life, Durst informed an incredulous Durst, “is 400 rent machine translation programs are chatted with the ATA’s own Kevin years away.” “Not months or years?” okay for simple sentences but not okay Hendzel, who runs ASET International, asked Durst. “It’s Star Trek tech- for complex phrasing. Score one for the a Washington-area translation company. nology,” Kevin insisted. To prove his ATA’s ongoing outreach activities for He was clearly wowed by Kevin’s back- point, he did a trial run of the Babelfish client education, spearheaded by Kevin ground as an interpreter who manned machine translation program available and other ATA members.

The ATA’s Interpreters Division Update Continued from p.19 amendment to the first motion. discussion did not take long and true backbone and treasure to the This is to simply request that the gained favorable votes from the ID. Her knowledge and expertise ATA Board include the word majority of participants. enhanced not only the meeting but “interpreters” and “interpreting” also the division. on the listing of services and pub- 4. The fourth motion for discussion lications that the ATA offers. was to have the ID Spring Meeting 6. Also during the annual meeting, a at a Texas ranch. Due to the time volunteer sign-up sheet was circu- 2. The second motion for discussion constraint, this motion did not lated around. Thanks to all those was to produce a paper copy of the make it to the table. Please refer to members who have signed up to ID directory, since there are times the ID website for details and offer share their talents. when we need to reference the your input. The contact person is directory. The majority voted in Diane Teichman. The success of an organization favor of a paper copy. requires everyone’s participation. We 5. During the ID annual meeting, our can only be strong and better if we put 3. The third motion for discussion website was up on a demo mode all our hands together. I look forward was to have a button made which simultaneously, which added great to seeing all of you next next fall in states “(I’m an) Interpreter, ATA” flavor to our meeting. Our web- Atlanta, Georgia, for the ATA’s 43rd or simply “Interpreter, ATA.” This master, Margareta Ugander, is a Annual Conference.

22 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 Spanish Language Division: Up, Up, and Away!

By Rudy Heller

t was great to see so many SPD the division’s annual meeting in Los ¥ Client education/public members at the ATA’s 42nd Angeles. (Remember that brain- awareness campaign I Annual Conference in Los storming involves listing any and all ¥ Regional seminars for SPD members Angeles. Close to 1,400 people were ideas without judging them. ¥ Regional seminars for clients and there, the way I heard it. And around Reviewing the merits of each pro- potential clients 260 of them were from the SPD! A posed idea is a subsequent step.) This ¥ Publish an informative booklet to good representation and a great cross list is by no means complete, so distribute to clients section of our membership, although please let us know what you think. ¥ Return to printing and from looking at the list of attendees’ mailing Intercambios addresses, California definitely ruled. ¥ Hold two SPD conferences each The presentations for our language …The SPD’s mission is to year, one at either end of the pair were enlightening, and what a country (our first division confer- meal we had at El Floridita! assist us in our ence took place aboard the At the division’s annual meeting, professional lives… “Fascination” of Carnival Cruise Virginia Perez-Santalla, my invaluable Lines, January 25-28, 2002. More assistant administrator, and I solicited on this successful event will suggestions regarding what the mem- appear in a future issue.) bership wants from its division (see ¥ Regional training sessions for the list). Note that the SPD has now ATA accreditation exam Remember, there were 260 broken the 2,000 member barrier, and ¥ Upgrade Intercambios people present and our division has the Board would very much like to ¥ Scholarship for a promising 2,000+ members. We are very inter- hear from the rest of the membership student translator ested in hearing from everyone, so about where you want us to head. ¥ Upgrade website please do not hesitate to write Specifically, our treasury is in an ¥ Get higher profile speakers for the [email protected] enviable position, i.e., we have plenty ATA conference with any comments on the sugges- of funds to put to good use. What we ¥ More coverage of the tions that have already been made. need are more suggestions as to what division’s activities Keep in mind that the SPD’s mission you want to do with those monies. ¥ Special development of is to assist us in our professional The following list of suggestions workshop materials lives, and then send me some ideas. for how to use our funds was created ¥ SPD publications to share with during the brainstorming session at the world

ATA Chapter Seed Money Fund

Is your ATA chapter planning an event? Does that event have need for a distinguished, dynamic, industry-relevant speaker? If so, the ATA’s Professional Development Committee wants to help! The ATA’s Professional Development Committee offers a seed money fund for speakers. Be sure to call the ATA today for application guidelines and a list of fabulous speakers who could be a guest at your next meeting, workshop, or seminar. The ATA’s chapters play a key role in the continuing education of their members. Since the chapters vary greatly in number and composition of members, it can be hard for some chapters to offer educational opportunities to everyone. As a service to all ATA members and as a benefit of chapterhood, the ATA would like to support these educational efforts by sub- sidizing presentations that might otherwise prove to be a financial burden for individual chapters. The fund was designed for ATA chapters, so don’t let the opportunity pass you by. Contact [email protected] at ATA Headquarters soon for all the details!

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 23 Update from the Japanese Language Division

By Izumi Suzuki

t was fun meeting new people and JLD sessions, and they did a superb more faces, so there must have been seeing familiar faces at the ATA’s job. Gokurosama deshita! (= Thank about 60 people altogether.) I 42nd ATA Annual Conference in you for your hard work!) After the forum on Saturday, we Los Angeles. There were about 35 members in took some time to chat about next As for JLD activities, there were attendance at the JLD Annual year’s conference program. Hiro about 25 people who came to our Meeting. You can read the details of Tsuchiya was the moderator for the informal gathering. We introduced the meeting in the minutes recorded forum, and he continued on in that ourselves one by one, and Ben by our secretary/treasurer, Ben role as we discussed what sessions Tompkins announced he would be the we would like to have next year. The new editor of our newsletter, JLD new Program Committee consists of Times, thanking Manako Ihaya who …Every member of the Carl and Masae Sullivan and Manako has done a wonderful job during her JLD has something special Ihaya. We are all thankful to them for 2000-2001 tenure. Each speaker who taking up this very important task. In was present that evening was intro- that is valuable to share fact, this is where our division shines, duced, and enough people volun- with other members. By thanks to a wonderful program and to teered to introduce the speakers at the sharing such knowledge, the fine speakers that are consistently beginning of their sessions and to provided each and every year. I am summarize the sessions. Thank you all of us become a little certain that some of you will hear very much to all our volunteers. Your better… from the committee. If contacted to reports will be valuable to those who present a session, please say “Yes!” could not come to the conference, and Every member of the JLD has attendees whose busy schedule caused Tompkins. On Thursday night, we something special that is valuable to them to have to miss some sessions. had a JLD dinner at Sai Sai, the share with other members. By Let me also extend our sincere appre- Japanese restaurant in the hotel. sharing such knowledge, all of us ciation to the 2000Ð2001 Program There were 42 people engaging in become a little better, and we all win. Committee: Hiro Tsuchiya, Akiko conversation, catching up with one We look forward to seeing everyone Sasaki-Summers, and Tim Hallet. another, and enjoying kaiseki-ryori. in Atlanta in 2002! They worked hard all the way through On Friday, I counted 54 people at one the conference to assure successful popular session! (Later, I saw even

Call for Proposals for ATA Conference Presentations Atlanta 2002

Share your knowledge with colleagues by making a presentation at the ATA’s 43rd Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, November 6-9, 2002. Plese complete the Proposal for Conference Presentation form and return it by March 15. Forms are available at www.atanet.org/conf2002/abstract.htm, ATA’s Documents On Request line (1.888.990.3282, document #80), or through ATA Headquarters at 703.683.6100.

24 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 Minutes from the Annual Meeting of the ATA’s Nordic Division

By Marianne Dellinger

pproximately 15 members of one of her employees, Else Norwegian>English, and English> attended the Nordic Division’s Mogensen, contributing an article Norwegian. The accreditation A annual meeting at the ATA con- for the Danish group. Please con- exams are here to stay, and will ference in Los Angeles. Marianne tact Diane Manown at diman@ remain an option for members Dellinger, the division’s assistant rof.net if you have any sugges- who wish to become accredited in administrator, presided over the event. tions. At this time, we are still order to indicate their skills and The following topics were discussed: looking for a volunteer contributor other professional qualifications. for Norwegian. If you are inter- Marianne Dellinger volunteered 1) In the future, our newsletter, ested, please contact Diane at to work on the English>Danish Aurora Borealis, will be posted on [email protected]. accreditation process, but indicated the Nordic Division’s website that she will not be able to do so (www.atanet.org, click on “Divi- until early 2002. We are looking for sions”), where members can access …Approximately 15 qualified volunteers who might be and read it at leisure. Members will members attended the able to help out with the Norwegian receive an automatic electronic and Swedish exams. If you are inter- message when a new newsletter has Nordic Division’s annual ested in doing so, please contact been posted. In order to save costs meeting at the ATA ATA directly ([email protected]) or for the division, we decided to dis- Edith Matteson at emmatteson@ continue distribution of hard copies conference in earthlink.net. of the newsletter. We agreed that in Los Angeles… Please note that the ATA has this time and age any professional decided that the “accreditation translator would have access to the exams” will be known as “certifica- Internet and would be able to access 3) We reported a very small (approx- tion exams” at some time in the the site and read relevant informa- imately $400) surplus this past future. This is for reasons of lin- tion there. For those last few people fiscal year. guistic correctness (organizations (if any) who still have no Internet become “accredited,” private indi- access, it is possible to access the 4) Edith Matteson is contemplating viduals become “certified”). In Internet at all public libraries. arranging a conference for the addition, stricter requirements for Nordic Division in Norway in 2002 becoming certified will be imple- 2) We discussed whether it would be similar to the one that was arranged mented. For more information about possible to write a little about what in Denmark. Approximately five this, please refer to information on has been going on within each lan- people indicated an interest in the ATA website (www.atanet.org). guage group in every newsletter. attending such a conference. Anja Miller graciously offered to 6) The meeting was adjourned after write something for the Finnish 5) The need for more ATA accredita- these discussions. Some of the group, so if you have any contribu- tion exams was also discussed. members subsequently met on tions for her, please send them to We currently have accreditation Friday evening for a delightful [email protected]. exams in place for English>Finnish, informal dinner at a Mexican restau- Vigdis Eriksen, of Eriksen Transla- Finnish>English, and Danish>English. rant on old historic Olvera Street. tions Inc., mentioned the possibility We still need English>Danish,

ATA Honors and Awards

For information and deadlines for ATA’s upcoming Gode Medal, Lewis Galantière Award, and Student Translation Award, and the American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation Scholarship, visit www.atanet.org/awards.htm.

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 25 Where Do We Go from Here?

By Tim Altanero

he Localisation Institute Standards Translation quality has been dis- Gardena, which manufactures high- Association’s (LISA) conference cussed in academic circles for some quality garden tools, whose adver- T in Chicago in August 2001 time. It was only in 1978, however, tising extols the craftsmanship and brought the issue of translation quality that it was recognized that in order to technical superiority of its products. to the forefront of discussion during a measure quality, a theory of transla- An accurate translation of an adver- seminar hosted by the automotive tion must be in place. Hans J. tisement meant for the German audi- industry. The issue has resonance far Vermeer was the leading scholar who ence is unlikely to resonate with a beyond this industry alone, and calls started what became known as U.S. audience because the cultural into question the manner in which expectation of the American consumer quality is measured and how that is usually assumed to be based on the measurement is achieved. …How translation quality ease of use or convenience of a tool Europeans have had a longer his- is measured, and how it versus the quality of the craftsman- tory of dealing with multilingualism, ship. As such, even an accurate trans- translation, and interpretation than will be implemented lation is insufficient, suggesting that the U.S., so it should come as no sur- across languages with translation is part accuracy and part prise that many of the leading function, with neither holding a posi- scholars in the field have their ori- diverse internal structures, tion of superiority. gins at European universities. How- still presents broad It stands to reason, then, that a poor ever, even in Europe, scholarship in challenges for which there translation, or even a nontranslation, the area of translation theory is also should be viable in a given culture if relatively recent. are few concrete the poor quality or nontranslation is As relates to issues discussed at answers… within the boundaries of what is the LISA conference, translation expected in the target language. There quality seems to be something that are examples of this, such as everyone wants to measure. How this Skopos theory, or functionalism. Volkswagen’s Fahrvergnügen adver- quality is measured, and how it will Much of the way in which we define tising in the U.S. and, even more be implemented across languages the word localization today, and the unusual, the General Electric televi- with diverse internal structures, still ways in which the industry has sion advertisement that is broadcast presents broad challenges for which evolved, are directly rooted in his across the U.S. only in Japanese. there are few concrete answers. work and that of his students. The success of these endeavors is However, it is still worthwhile to Functionalism, in its most basic to be found, I believe, in the fact that, investigate the progress made thus form, seeks to underscore the impor- regardless of the language, the func- far, and how this progress has cre- tance, as the name implies, of the tion remains the same and, as such, is ated a technological leap that has function a given translation is sup- capable of being generalized across forever changed the translation posed to have in the source and target two cultures. The Volkswagen ad, for quality landscape. This article aims languages. By this, it is meant that example, played on the U.S. percep- to trace the modern evolution of the delivery of the translation must tion that German words are hard to translation quality assurance in order not only meet the requirements of pronounce and that Fahrvergnügen to put into perspective the current translation accuracy, but also the sounded like a disease. Viewers were state of the industry, and perhaps expectations of the end user. There, at subtly encouraged to “catch” Fahr- mark parts of the path to the future. its heart, is the raison d’être of the vergnügen as an “ailment” of extreme What follows does not attempt to be localization industry. pleasure that manifests itself in an academic treatise on the theoret- We would not speak of localization driving sporty cars. The General ical origins of translation. I will only if what is considered to be an adequate Electric ad spoke to U.S. values and describe the basics of what I believe translation consistently met the needs traditions, such as nighttime baseball, are the origins of our modern of the end user in the target language. even though the actors were Japanese. industry, including a selected bibli- Consider, for example, the subtle field The logical conclusion is that accu- ography for those interested in of advertising. A well-known example racy and function are interrelated in deeper academic investigation. is that of the German company ways that must be considered in ➡

26 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 The Chinese Language Division in Los Angeles

By Yuanxi Ma

he Chinese Language Division (including passing out the budget from the attendees. The following ideas (CLD) held its first meeting at to attendees for comments). were suggested: T the ATA’s 42nd Annual Confer- ence in Los Angeles on November 2, The attendees were then asked to 1. Setting up a CLD e-mail message 2001. Approximately 35 people partic- briefly introduce themselves and tell board to help members and to ipated. Yuanxi Ma (assistant adminis- a little bit about their past work and enhance and protect their interests. trator) reported on the work being projects they are currently involved performed by the Administrative in. We also asked each person to 2. Creating a network for the exchange Committee since the establishment of write down their name and e-mail of terminology. the CLD at the beginning of 2001. The following issues were discussed: 3. To save on postage, members felt that copies of the newsletter 1. Preparation to establish the CLD …The Chinese Language should be mailed out only to those by the Administrative Committee; Division held its first members who cannot receive it drafted the CLD by-laws; and meeting at the ATA’s 42nd electronically. Also, a number of discussed the procedures and people suggested that some arti- requirements for the establishment Annual Conference in cles be written in Chinese so that of the CLD with ATA Headquarters. Los Angeles… there will be a wider readership. 2. Recruitment of members (currently 4. Contact with Chinese translators/ at 170). interpreters organizations should address, which will, together with the be pursued. 3. Three issues of the CLD Newsletter e-mail addresses of the members who published and sent to members. were unable to attend the meeting, be Members of the CLD Administra- compiled into a list and posted in the tive Committee are in the process of 4. Setting up a website (in progress). next issue of our newsletter. exploring ways to implement some of The third item on our agenda was to these suggestions. 5. Preparation for the 2002 budget solicit comments and suggestions

Where Do We Go from Here? Continued from p.26 order to understand, and act upon, A quick glance at the localization industry began to show profit, or quality assurance in translation. industry and translation memory tech- potential thereof, there began a pro- There is far more depth and scope to nology is striking. In the realm of found change in the field of transla- functionalism than can be covered here, translation memory and associated tion which resulted in many mergers, but as a starting point we can see how technology, we find that a number of acquisitions, and IPOs, as technology this theory, taken in its most basic form, the major players are either headquar- created efficiencies previously unob- has determined the technology with tered or have their origins in or near tainable. From this, the localization which we work today. Furthermore, it Germany—Trados, founded in 1984 by industry was born, which seems to seems more than coincidence that Jochen Hummel and Iko Knyphausen represent an emerging relationship Germany has been at the forefront of in Stuttgart; Star, founded in 1984 in between translators and engineers various aspects of groundbreaking inno- Stein am Rhein, Switzerland; and that is still being defined. vations in translation technology. This IBM’s translation manager division, The LISA conference featured a industry dominance appears to have headquartered in Stuttgart. number of interesting exchanges fos- had its genesis in a pragmatic approach As the technology moved beyond tered by a panel session hosted by the to translation as a definable quantity, translation memory to include work- automotive industry that may indicate based on given functions for which dif- flow, terminology management, and ferent individuals are responsible. cross-platform standards, and as the Continued on p.30

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 27 German Language Divison Report from the Administrator

By Dorothee Racette

he 2000/2001 calendar has A new division project is to establish letter online to the majority of our marked a busy time for the ATA’s a knowledge database for members at members has led to significant budget T German Language Division. the site. Featured articles will address savings. The elimination of the over- This report provides an overview of frequently asked questions. So far, head payment of divisions to the ATA our activities during the past year, as three articles are available, and we hope has also helped. Therefore, we well as an outlook on what is to come. to increase the number of represented decided to maintain the current mem- topics over the coming year. The col- bership fees of $15 per year. This Membership lection of bilingual contributions can year, the GLD was in a position to Division membership continues to be found at www.ata-divisions.org/ invite a speaker from Germany. We grow rapidly and was last reported at hope to invest the money saved in 753 (up from 716 in October 2000), other places for future professional which makes the GLD the fourth …This report provides an development and training events, largest division within the ATA after the overview of the German including a potential GLD confer- Spanish, Interpreters, and French divi- ence to be held in 2003. sions.* This increase in membership Language Division’s was especially noticeable in the con- activities during the past Contacts with German-speaking ference attendance and the session year, as well as an outlook Translators Associations contributions in Los Angeles. We were pleased to welcome Approximately 135 GLD members on what is to come… leading BDÜ members Peter Schmitt, attended the conference and more than of Leipzig University, and Elke 80 were present at the annual business Limberger-Katsumi, of the Monterey meeting. GLD/conindexd.html. Institute of International Studies, as Newsletter Interaktiv speakers at our conference this year. GLD website The distribution of the newsletter During formal and informal talks, The division’s own website, which was switched to electronic format for division members discussed plans of is now part of the ATA website, can be most members this year. Effective in future cooperation with BDÜ in the seen at www.ata-divisions.org/GLD/ April, 90% of members began to form of communication platforms, index.html. The site contains informa- receive their newsletter by down- exchanges, and partnership projects. tion on division activities, lists admin- loading a PDF file from the GLD web- An article about the Los Angeles con- istrators, and also contains links to the site. The option to receive a printed ference is scheduled to be published online version of our newsletter, version is still available upon request, in the official BDÜ newsletter, MDÜ, Interaktiv. As the site continues to and approximately 70 members have and will be reprinted in Interaktiv grow, we welcome membership com- taken advantage of that option. when it becomes available. ments and input. Our continued thanks go to the team The GLD also maintains its own dis- producing Interaktiv. This past year Los Angeles Conference Events cussion forum under the auspices of was the last for our editor Marga The ATA’s 42nd Annual Conference Onelist.com. Any GLD member is wel- Hannon, who decided to pass the office at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in come to join the group, and messages on after four years of excellent service. Los Angeles, October 31ÐNovember 3, are available either as e-mail or in digest The new editor will be Christiane 2001, was certainly one of the busiest format. Further instructions on how to Bohnert. Manfred Winter has kindly ever. In accordance with figures join can be found on the website under agreed to continue his work with the received from ATA Headquarters, a the address www.ata-divisions.org/ newsletter, which has published four total of 135 GLD members made the GLD/list.html. Many thanks to issues since the conference in Orlando. trip. Overall, slightly more than 1,300 Michael Metzger for his dedicated The lively new layout is the work of people attended the conference. work with the website and the admin- Karen Lawliss, and Janice Becker con- The list of preconference seminars, istration of the newsgroup! tinues as our dedicated proofreader. which is growing longer from year to year, makes it obvious that many mem- * Based on the November figures provided by Budget bers are interested in taking seminars ATA Headquarters The decision to deliver the news- with small numbers of participants

28 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 within an intense learning atmosphere. Standards in English-German Tech- printed in the conference Proceedings. This year, the preconference program nical Translation: An Overview of A second presentation about financial included two offerings for German Developments and Resources.” The translation by Elke Faundez of CLS translators: Robin Bonthrone again translation of DIN standards can be a Corporate Language Services in Basel, offered a highly successful seminar difficult challenge, and we are grateful Switzerland, also had to be cancelled. entitled “Der IAS- und US-GAAP- that Karl Pfeiffer decided to post his We sincerely hope that the two Anhang,” and Peter Schmitt, our guest presentation as an online resource at speakers will be able to present their speaker from the University of www.mypresentations.homestead.com. topics to us at a future conference. Leipzig, conducted a seminar in two In the afternoon, a presentation Many thanks for their willingness to parts entitled “Advanced Topics in about translating German advertise- contribute to the German program. English>German Translation.” Both ment and marketing texts (presented seminars were well attended, and we by a representative of Siemens GLD Annual Business Meeting hope to keep the tradition of offering Language Services, as the original More than 80 people attended the such seminars alive in the future. speaker, Mary Tannert, could not GLD’s annual business meeting on The official conference program, attend) highlighted the challenges of Thursday, November 1. Reports were which formally began on Thursday, translating text that must have cul- submitted by Dorothee Racette (admin- November 1, contained a number of tural and promotional appeal. Peter istrator), Michael Magee (assistant very interesting and well-presented Schmitt, our guest speaker from administrator), Michael Metzger (web- sessions for German<>English transla- Leipzig, then gave a comprehensive master), and Marga Hannon (outgoing tors. This year, the conference organ- overview of translation studies at dif- editor of Interaktiv). Dorothee Racette izers opted to keep events for specific ferent institutions in Germany. In gave an overview of the current state of language pairs in the same room when- contrast to study options in the U.S., the division. The membership keeps ever possible. This was a welcome German universities offer a broad growing and reached an all time high of change from hurried room changes spectrum of language options and 753 in September 2001. Due to a deci- between presentations, and allowed for study specializations. sion by the ATA Board of Directors, a more continuous program. The German program was rounded divisions no longer need to pay an Lois Feuerle and Joe McClinton off by a seminar for newcomers to the overhead to ATA Headquarters, which spoke about translating written argu- profession, presented by Dorothee is why the GLD budget of approxi- ments in civil litigation, taking turns to Racette and Elke Limberger-Katsumi. mately $10,500 is balanced and con- explain the two sides of court proceed- The PowerPoint presentation for that tains funds for educational activities ings. Their emphasis on translator pit- session can be found at the GLD web- and future initiatives. Converting the falls was especially interesting, and site at www.ata-divisions.org/GLD/ distribution of the newsletter to an participants took many notes. A beitrag02.html. electronic format has been a financial PowerPoint file with the text of the Many GLD members also opted to success, even though the number of presentation is available upon request, give more general presentations for downloads seems to indicate that either by e-mailing Joe McClinton at audiences across languages pairs at the more needs to be done to advertise [email protected] or by sending $2 conference, and made a valuable con- the download site and content of the and a SASE envelope (9x12 inch, tribution to the program in that way. newsletter to members. Approxi- $1.49 postage) to Lois M. Feuerle. The tragic events of September mately 70 people have chosen to On Friday morning, Nicholas 2001 made it impossible for two of our receive a printed version by mail. Hartmann gave an expert introduction speakers to travel to Los Angeles from Assistant Administrator Michael to German patent translation. The text Europe. Thus, Ingrid Haussteiner from Magee announced plans for a GLD of his presentation can be found in the Vienna was forced to cancel her pres- conference to be held at a future date. A conference Proceedings. In fact, the entation on terminological issues sur- show of hands among the attendees of information is so valuable that it should rounding the introduction of Euro the business meeting indicated that be reprinted in the ATA Chronicle for a banknotes and coins and the transition roughly two-thirds would at least be larger audience. Karl Pfeiffer fol- to a common European currency. Even interested in such an event. A com- lowed with his excellent presentation though the presentation had to be can- mittee has been formed to further on “Industry and Terminology celled, an abstract of the article was explore the possibilities of such a ➡

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 29 GLD Report from the Administrator Continued conference, which most likely would be past year’s activities. Four issues of The ATA Board has approved a held in 2003. Discussion focused on Interaktiv were published, including simplification of the division elec- issues such as cost, location, and orga- the largest copy ever (28 pages) last tion process. Elections for the GLD nizational challenges. The committee December. Marga welcomed the new are scheduled for 2002, and has established its own listserver discus- editor of Interaktiv, Christiane Dorothee Racette asked for the for- sion group, and will start by surveying Bohnert, who, unfortunately, could not mation of a nominating committee. the membership for interest and opin- be present at the conference. She also Frieda Ruppaner-Lind and Ruth ions about such an event. Please contact thanked Manfred Winter, assistant Zimmer-Boggs have graciously agreed the administrator if you would like to be editor, as well as past and current divi- to be part of the nominating committee. involved in the work of this committee. sion administrators for their support. As soon as division election guidelines Michael Metzger, webmaster, GLD Administrator Dorothee Racette are published by the ATA, we will announced that the GLD listserver cur- thanked Marga for her dedicated serv- announce election candidates for 2002. rently has about 150 members. In a ices in the name of the division. new initiative for the website, the divi- The discussion of new business Social Events sion has started a knowledge database, included ways to improve the elec- On the social side, we were in which a collection of interesting tronic distribution of the newsletter, pleased to welcome over 90 GLD articles on the profession will be kept as reader numbers apparently are members to our own reception held at to answer frequently asked questions. quite low. It was agreed that instead the conference hotel. Due to the The articles are accessible to all at the of one announcement, there would be growing numbers of conference atten- GLD website. Michael Metzger agreed several e-mails reminding members dees, the concept of meeting in a to serve the division for another year, to access the newsletter. The news- restaurant is becoming increasingly but invited other members to become letter often contains important difficult. The well-attended reception involved with maintaining the website. announcements and helps members was certainly an indication of interest, Marga Hannon, the outgoing editor stay connected, so it is important to and we hope to develop the concept of Interaktiv, gave an overview of the bring readership numbers up. further for future conferences.

Where Do We Go from Here? Continued from p.27 Fédération internationale the direction of the industry. Speakers des traducteurs (FIT) Archives included Lisa Stobierski, customer FIT is seeking academic institutions, libraries, or foundations interested in advocacy strategy manager for Ford serving as a repository for FIT archival materials. Letters of interest should Motor Company, Dennis McCury, inte- address the nature of ownership of archival materials, physical and staff gration manager for DaimlerChrysler resources allocated to collections, access to collections for research purposes, Corporation, and Don Sirena, language copyright, financial arrangements, and the level of organizational support. translation manager for General Motors. Traditionally associated with Letters should be sent to: high-tech industry, this seminar repre- FIT Secretary General sented an unusual opportunity for the Fédération internationale des traducteurs established automotive industry to 2021, Avenue Union, Bureau 1108 present its view of the localization Montreal, Quebec, Canada industry. H3A 2S9

30 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 Educating Future Leaders

By Olgierda Furmanek

ake Forest University, located who were thinking of pursuing a students. Instead, they need to learn in the beautiful foothills of the graduate degree in translating or why they should care about translating W Southern Appalachians of interpreting. However, we also feel and interpreting and how these prac- North Carolina, offers one of the that it is of the utmost importance to tices relate to their chosen fields. Such strongest liberal arts education pro- educate even those who will never a course might be the only information grams in the United States. Many become interpreters or translators about T/I to which students with no WFU students continue their educa- themselves about the value of lan- further language plans will ever be tion at Ivy League or other profession- guage services to their chosen field. exposed. Therefore, we need to take ally recognized graduate programs. The students who take my transla- advantage of this opportunity to teach The university believes that a language tion or interpreting classes very rarely students about the importance of requirement, along with those require- want to pursue a career in the language quality language services, especially at ments in philosophy, theology, litera- profession. In most cases, they are just institutions that can afford no more ture, and art, is essential to a thorough looking for an alternative to a literature than one translation-related class per human science formation. Two years year in their curriculum. ago, WFU started a new and very much In answer to this situation, my needed certificate program in Spanish …Wake Forest University’s class structure presents a translating translation and interpreting. It is only certificate program in and interpreting process in a prac- the third program of its kind in the U.S. tical, field-oriented context. For to be offered at the undergraduate level. Spanish translation and example, in the translation class we There is a growing need for lan- interpreting is only the review the differences between guage services in our region. Over third program of its kind in Spanish and English style and the past two years, North Carolina, grammar (there is also a separate particularly the western part of the the U.S. to be offered at contrastive Spanish-English grammar state, has seen one of the fastest the undergraduate level… and style course that students can growing Hispanic populations in the take within the scope of the certifi- country. With neighboring states cate program). We discuss translation experiencing similar immigration course. However, I cannot introduce strategies, translation dimensions trends, the South is not so homoge- complicated texts in my courses (linguistical, cognitive, and prag- nous anymore. As a result, there is a because there are still many gaps in the matic), and analyze stages of trans- need to offer not only interpreter and students’ vocabulary. Even though a lating activity. We then focus on the translator training, but also to educate prerequisite for the interpreting pro- translation and localization industry, future professionals about the value gram is a semester spent in a Spanish- and also talk about a translator’s psy- of language services. The certificate speaking country along with many chological profile and qualifications. program at WFU was designed to advanced language and literature What I would like to emphasize here address this situation. classes, we still have to backtrack and is who usually attends these classes. The Romance Languages Depart- start the course at a beginning transla- The following statistical breakdown, ment is fortunate to have as its chair a tion level (although the class is not representing three semesters of inter- great modern literary scholar, called Introduction to Translation). preting and translation classes, illus- Candelas Gala, who has an excellent Furthermore, since most of my stu- trates how many students from each grasp of what is happening in the lan- dents are not there to become transla- major take advantage of these courses. guage world outside academia. The tors or interpreters, offering an university administration, headed by introductory course that is purely Pre-Med: 20% Dean Paul Escott, has also been very translation practice-oriented at the Pre-Law: 20% supportive, providing state-of-the art undergraduate level is a mistake. Communications: 20% equipment and other resources for the Students who have only a basic prepa- Political Science: 20% interpreting lab. Our certificate pro- ration in languages will rarely translate Psychology: 10% gram was designed with a two-fold outside of the classroom. In most Business/Economics: 5% intention. First, we wanted to select, cases, constantly revising and working Others (Religion, Spanish [sic!], pre-train, and guide potential students with dictionaries becomes tedious for etc.): 5% ➡

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 31 Educating Future Leaders Continued

I assume that the low enrollment quality language services. Texts can be the department seeking help for their of students studying business and drawn from different professional company, shouldn’t the departmental economics is due to the existence of fields so as to cover a much wider secretary be the first one to correct our “Spanish for Business” courses, spectrum of the practical application of their terminology, even before refer- which are offered simultaneously. T/I services than would be possible ring them to an agency or a translation/ These figures confirm my theory that during a one-day workshop. We can interpreting student (depending on we should start client education at the also fit in speakers, who usually have the client’s needs)? college level, otherwise we will miss very tight schedules, because we are A community-oriented internship in the opportunity to inform future pro- more flexible in adjusting to their a field related to the student’s major is fessionals early on about the impor- availability (classes meet once or twice also a vital requirement for the tance of translating and interpreting. a week for 15 weeks). Certificate in Interpreting. Whether at a In my courses, we discuss such Through classroom exercises, stu- North Carolina police station, law office, topics as the definitions of various dents also gain a better understanding or women’s health clinic, my students types of interpreting, how to write an of how difficult translating is by might struggle to understand the dif- informational guide for medical per- doing it themselves. They are encour- ferent Guatemalan and Nicaraguan sonnel who use interpreting services, aged to discuss situations from their dialects, but they definitely will know the reliability of online terminolog- own volunteering or certificate enough to use the first person while ical bases, and the pros and cons of internship experiences. Of course, the interpreting and to demand professional subtitling and dubbing. I also like to fact that students are learning more treatment from their supervisors. The invite professional translators in to eagerly because they care about their perception of lawyers, doctors, nurses, share their experiences, including grade (at least those who need a high school principals, and hotel managers how they prepare for a job. Since the GPA) is not to be neglected either. concerning the importance of language teaching mode is bilingual (optional I have seen amazing results from services is transformed just by being during exams), students are able to the non-language-major students’ around our interns. When I go to express themselves freely. This is exposure to different facets of the observe the students at the end of their because, as I mentioned earlier, not language business. For example, I internships, their coworkers talk knowl- all of them are highly proficient in overheard one of my students cor- edgeably of glossaries (not vocabu- Spanish. (Although, it should be said recting a colleague from another laries) and interpreters (not translators). that students generally have a very department who asked if the student The list of my students’ successful inter- good comprehension level.) was taking a translation course with ventions in the real world is endless. I believe that teaching the value of Professor X. The student explained A revolving concern at the “Critical translating and interpreting to students the difference between oral and Link 3: Community Interpreting” con- entering other fields is the most effec- written translation (because he was ference in Montreal this past May was tive way to diffuse the general public’s enrolled in the interpreting course) to how to increase public recognition of ignorance about the profession and to the professor. Another student told our activities. I hope these ideas will garner support and recognition of what me how she shared what she was contribute to the current debate on the we do. I fully acknowledge the value learning in our class during a discus- necessity for increasing the public’s of training seminars, awareness videos sion in another course. Though these awareness of the T/I professions, and (offered widely by our European and are positive signs, it is sad to see that will give us a better idea of how to Australian colleagues), informational the lack of proper terminology, achieve this goal. We have a saying in mass mailing, and special publications. understanding, and support for T/I Polish, Czym skorupka za m∏odu However, I still see T/I classes at the professionals still prevails strongly in nasiàknie, tym na staroÊç tràci. This undergraduate level as the best tool to academia (sometimes even within the could be translated into English with a educate those who will be decision- language departments). However, I less picturesque proverb, What youth is making leaders in various industries and am really glad to see great encour- used to, age remembers, or into Latin institutions. Why? Because we have agement and enthusiasm for the T/I as Quod nova testa capit, inveterata more time in the classroom to elaborate, courses among the faculty of the sapit. Let this be a motto not only to all through examples from the actual Romance Languages Department at the educators, but also to everybody working world, on the importance of WFU. After all, when a client calls who happens to have some influence

32 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 over the young adepts of any modern the USA: A Survey. Second Edition Jones, Roderick. (1997). Conference trade. They all need to know how compiled by William M. Park (ATA: Interpreting Explained. St. Jerome. translators and interpreters work. If we 1993) and did independent research are still discouraged by the disrespect, on the Internet. As expected, many Mikkelson, Holly. (2000). Introduction lack of recognition, ridiculous pay, or a programs are unable to specify their to Court Interpreting. St. Jerome. TV screen message saying “voice of focus, some of them are not sure of translator,” let us attempt to inform their future due to the lack of funding, Robinson, Doug. (1997). Becoming A those whose brains are more receptive and some places have stopped Translator. Routledge. and really eager to learn. teaching T/I courses altogether but are Another reason I wrote this article still known as the best schools for Shuttleworth M., Cowie M. (1997). was to respond to the one Harry Obst translators and interpreters. Our site Dictionary of Translation Studies. published in the February 2001 ATA catalogues the programs by the nature St. Jerome. Chronicle, entitled Interpreter Training of the education they offer. We tried to in the United States, that attempted to avoid any misunderstandings regarding Sprung, Robert. (2000). Translating describe the current situation of inter- the kind of degree you can obtain from Into Success. John Benjamins. preting programs in the United States. each school. These are the categories: I generally agree with Mr. Obst’s master’s degree, master’s degree with a Wadensjo, Cecilia. (1992). Interpreting analysis, but the high cost of hiring focus in…, graduate certificates, dis- as Interaction. Longman. instructors is only one of the many rea- tinct certificates, and undergraduate sons behind the academic vacuum in certificates/minors. We contacted every T/I training. There is also, just to men- program we heard of either by e-mail tion a few, the territorial nature of aca- or phone at least twice. If there was no demia, the fear of losing literature response within a couple of months, we students, and the lack of Ph.D.s in the assumed (rightly so, I believe) that the field. The recent rapid growth in T/I program did not exist anymore. Any should help by establishing translation comments, suggestions, or contribu- studies as a recognized academic disci- tions will be warmly welcomed and pline. I am pleased to direct Mr. Obst to appreciated. Please also visit our cer- our new website, Careers in Languages, tificate website at http://lrc.wfu.edu/ at http://lrc.wfu.edu/careersinlanguages/, certificates/. where, next to other useful information for prospective language professionals, Selected English-language there is an updated list of training references for a translation and/or opportunities in the United States. In a interpreting awareness course: way, this site came about as a reaction (Ed.) Baker, Mona. (1997). Routledge to the needs of my students. Many stu- Encyclopedia of Translation Studies. dents do not realize that there are Routledge. careers in language aside from becoming teachers and translators, and (Ed.) Deslile, J., Woodsworth, J. (1995). that knowledge of interpreting, termi- Translators Through History. John nology, and localization will also help Benjamins. them in their chosen professions. My student assistant Laura Wray Dubuc, Robert. (1988). Terminology: A and I have dedicated an entire Practical Approach. Translated by semester to the project of discovering E. Kennedy. Quebec: Linguatech. what educational courses are avail- able today (at least as of May 2001). Hervey S., Higgins I., Haywood L. M. We have followed the data from (1995). Thinking Spanish Trans- Translator and Interpreter Training in lation. Routledge.

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 33 Translating Official Documents for African Immigrants

By Adrián Fuentes Luque

ranslating official documents the translation. Most of the time, Spain over the last few years, posing from one language into another especially in the case of developed a wealth of labor, economic, ethnic, T often poses singular and diverse countries geographically located near social, health, political, and cultural peculiarities that frequently involve (or even bordering) other less devel- issues. There are a number of crim- cultural, linguistic, sociological, and oped ones, the “client” is an illegal inal organizations which profit deontological considerations. This immigrant from one of those underde- greatly by smuggling immigrants into last aspect is common to any sworn veloped countries who needs to Spain (but also into France, Italy, or translation, but is particularly preva- obtain legal residency or a work the U.K.), jeopardizing lives with lent in the translation of official for- permit in a host country. This is a par- false promises of a new and pros- eign documents. When dealing with ticularly serious situation in certain perous life in a land of milk and official documents presented by citi- European countries, such as France, honey. Many of these immigrants zens of developing or third world Italy, Germany, and, perhaps most of come from the Northern African countries for translation, to be used in countries, mainly Morocco, but an their quest to obtain legal status in a increasingly large proportion of them given country, a new element is added are of sub-Saharan origin (mainly to the above-mentioned factors. This …When dealing with from Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda, type of documentation calls for trans- official documents Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cameroon, lators to include a social component to presented by citizens of Tanzania, but also from as far away their professional linguistic and cul- as Namibia, Lesotho, Kenya, Ghana, tural mediation—to empathize with developing or third world The Gambia, or Botswana). the client’s situation. countries for translation, These people receive very little, if Empathy, of course, does not mean any, real information in their home that a professional sworn translator to be used in their quest to countries about the necessary docu- should in any way falsify or distort the obtain legal status in a ments required in the host country. As information of the original document given country, a new a matter of fact, most of them do not out of compassion for an individual. have documentation of any kind. This Instead, the sworn translator can element is added…the makes regularizing their legal situa- express his goodwill in other ways, need to empathize with the tion extremely difficult. Even prop- such as reducing or waiving his fee erly identifying them is a challenge, altogether. (Obviously, such a practice client’s situation… and it sometimes becomes an almost cannot be systematically carried out impossible task to establish the real for pure reasons of economic sur- origin or nationality of these people. vival.) Also, such goodwill frequently all, Spain. (Spain is both a target and Some sworn interpreters have been in tests the translator’s expected profes- passing country for immigrants on delicate court situations involving sionalism. Translators may often feel their way to other European destina- immigrants who claimed to be, for compelled to make an additional effort tions.) However, illegal immigration example, Rwandan or Tanzanian in to “rebuild” a flawed document, such is not a problem that is limited to a order to be considered refugees and as correcting defective writing, style single isolated geographic or lin- not immigrants. The maze of lan- errors, references, etc., in the commis- guistic context. guages, dialects, and ethnic groups in sioned translation. As a sworn translator for the these countries, together with the The term “client” might not be the English language, I have come across diverse and confusing character of most appropriate one to use when several situations of this nature in territorial borders and armed con- referring to these situations. Although Spain. The narrow 15-kilometer-wide flicts, render identification extremely fine from a purely commercial per- Strait of Gibraltar is the natural difficult to establish. spective, the word seems out of place entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, where the translation calls for the and separates the Northern African Types of Documents translator’s solidarity towards the coast of Morocco from Spain. Immigrants frequently arrive in financial possibilities and objectives Because if this, illegal immigration the host country carrying all sorts of of the individual who commissions has become a very serious problem in mixed documents. These can range

34 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 from the appropriate and true original an established tendency in Spanish to Style: In the same vein, the translator, documents to papers blatantly falsi- determine, perhaps due to phonetic as a mediator, recreates, and sometimes fied by one of the smuggling mafias. similarities, that proper names ending even specifically builds, the style and Among the documents worth men- in, for example, “-a” or “-y” (such as register that will be appropriate to the tioning are age certificates, divorce Anna, Victoria, Jenny, or Nancy) are original document. Thus, in the divorce decrees, birth certificates, and univer- feminine and that those ending in “-o” decree just mentioned, when the peti- sity degrees and diplomas. In general, are masculine. Translators often have tioner presents her arguments for the there are no unifying features that can to dig within the text in search of a divorce claim, the original document clearly identify these documents. Each clue that will enable them to deter- contains a laconic and direct argumen- one follows its own requirements in mine whether a name like Iyabo, who tative statement (“no more love”) and a terms of presenting the information presented a petition for divorce concluding argumentative statement and data, and they all follow a dif- against Kammy, is the husband or the (“he unberable [sic]”), which obviously ferent style. They often appear wife. (In this case, Iyabo turned out to need to be changed accordingly. unsigned, do not bear the signature of be the wife and Kammy the husband.) the holder or the affirmant, do not bear Cultural Elements: These elements an official stamp, or are not printed on Coherence and Correction: Many have to do largely with a country’s crested paper. In these cases, a pos- African countries, like Nigeria, Uganda, legal system. Official documents are sible appropriate translation strategy Sierra Leone, or Liberia, have English often of a legal or administrative might be to avoid translations in the as an official or co-official language nature. Most of the African English- line of, for example: “This is the trans- (for instance, Kisiwahili, Swahili, and speaking countries have legal systems lation of a Nigerian birth certificate English are all official languages in based on some form of common law from English into….” A more neutral Tanzania). However, English is the (mostly inherited from the former option, “This is the translation of a primary language of commerce, colonial power), Islamic law, or even document written in the English lan- administration, and higher education tribal or indigenous law (most of guage and presented to me for its in most countries. these being largely unfamiliar to translation into...” is perhaps both Another problem is that official Western societies). more desirable and adequate. documents written in English by the We can distinguish several sys- civil servants and nationals respon- tems of reference on which English- Translation Problems sible for issuing them (supposing that speaking African countries base their The following are some of the all presented documents are really legal systems. most frequent translation problems a “official”) often leave much to be sworn translator will come across desired in terms of linguistic, gram- ¥ Those based on English common when dealing with this type of com- matical, and syntactical coherence. law and customary law (Uganda, mission. They were drawn from the Such flaws in the original document Tanzania, and Sierra Leone). conclusions of consultations with will have to be fixed by the translator Sierra Leone also uses customary other Spanish sworn translators for in the target text. For example, let us laws indigenous to local tribes. the English language in different look at an excerpt from a Nigerian Nigeria and Kenya are part of this parts of Spain, and are presented here divorce decree: “There is too child group as well, but they also base together with the results of my own [sic] in between them xxx and yyy.” their legal systems on Islamic law personal experience. Further down in the same document it and tribal law. is not clear whether the petitioner is Gender: Unfortunately, most people requesting the custody of one or both ¥ Those based on other law systems are not sufficiently familiar with the children: “Prayed to cout to award (for instance, Rwanda’s legal reality of sub-Saharan African immi- she custody of the child [sic].” Other system is based on German and grants, especially their different social errors of this kind are related to verb Belgian civil law systems and cus- and cultural contexts. We do not know and grammar agreements (for tomary law). Liberia has a dual their rituals, their norms, and social instance, confusing shifts between the system of statutory law based on rules. We are equally unaware of the third and first person without fol- nature of their proper names. There is lowing a clearly established criterion). Continued on p.42

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 35 Two Hands Clapping: Nuances of Sound and Style in Prose Translation

By Cindy Schuster

(Note: This article is based on a presen- Spanish], and authors will marshal Moreover, the use of sound in this tation given at the American Literary the very sounds of their language in text helps to define and distinguish Translators Association Conference in order to squeeze out its ultimate the psychological values that the Raleigh, North Carolina, in October effects…. Verlaine organizes the character associates with different 2001. The author wishes to express her sounds peculiar to the French lan- physical spaces. appreciation for the generous feedback guage to imitate the wail of a In the story, “Difícil situación,” of many of her colleagues.) violin…. ‘Les sanglots longs des which I’ve translated as “Tight Spot,” violons de l’automne.’ English Puga tells a wickedly funny tale of or the would-be reader, an simply has no matching nasal alienation, paranoia, and rage against untranslated text may be as sounds in words that would convey complacency. A woman goes into a F silent as the proverbial one hand the meaning, unless we turn to photo shop in Oxford, England, clapping. Yet, when the translator’s trombones, and then we have ostensibly to get some film devel- hand joins the author’s, new sounds changed instruments, although that oped. She somehow finds herself in a begin to emerge. Indeed, an often may be more in keeping with what battle of wills with the shopkeeper, overlooked element in prose transla- translation is all about.1 whom she perceives as conde- tion is the question of how best to scending and dismissive. She begins render sound itself. Translators of to unravel, to dissociate, acting pro- poetry struggle with such elements as …For the would-be reader, gressively more bizarre as the power rhyme, meter, assonance, conso- struggle escalates and the shopkeeper nance, and alliteration as they attempt an untranslated text may attempts to get rid of her. Finally, to preserve the musicality of verse, be as silent as the exasperated with the standoff, she often finding themselves in the proverbial one hand threatens him with an imaginary quandary of choosing between sound bomb, and realizes that she has and “meaning.” While the importance clapping. Yet, when the painted herself into a corner. of sound in poetry is apparent, trans- translator’s hand joins the Here are the opening lines of the lators of literary prose must also story in the original Spanish, fol- examine the workings of sound in author’s, new sounds lowed by a literal gloss and two suc- their texts, identifying its functions begin to emerge… cessive revisions in English: and striving to approximate a parallel construct that will retain the multiple Original text: levels of meaning and effect that From barnyard to orchestra pit, the La campanilla restalla como sound can produce. challenge of translating those two látigo. La puerta ha exhalado un In his essay, “No Two Snowflakes cries (the crow and the sob) in all their sonido rebotado. Como de balín Are Alike: Translation as Metaphor,” nuances abound. en los goznes. Todas las puertas de Gregory Rabassa illustrates this In this article, I will analyze var- todos los comercios pequeños de dilemma with examples of sounds ious options I considered in the Oxford son así. Siento el mugir de derived from animals and musical process of translating the sounds los autobuses afuera, pero ya estoy instruments: involved in the opening and closing dentro de la tienda; la puerta se of a door in a short story by Mexican cierra suavemente.2 More deadly even than personal writer María Luisa Puga. In that par- and cultural nuances in hindering ticular scene, the language used to Literal translation: an ‘exact’ translation is the very describe certain sounds serves two The small bell/doorbell cracks sound of languages and the words functions: 1) to evoke the aural qual- like a whip. The door has breathed that constitute them…. The rooster ities of those sounds, and 2) to allow a bouncing/ricocheting/rebounding has shown us that onomatopoeia the reader to appreciate how a char- sound. Like a pellet/ball bearing/ varies from tongue to tongue acter’s perception of sound functions shot in its hinges. All the doors [Rabassa has previously noted that metaphorically to convey her state of of all the small shops in Oxford the English ‘cock-a-doodle-doo,’ is mind (which, in this case, involves a are like that. I hear the mooing/ rendered ‘qui-qui-ri-qui’ in rather loose grip on “reality”). bellowing of the buses outside,

36 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 but I am already inside the store; “illa” and “alla” embedded in the discovered that this kind of bell is the door closes gently. words may have something to do often mounted on a spring device with allowing the reader of the which causes it to “snap back” Revision 1: Spanish text to hear the bell.) against a metal plate after the door is The jangle of the little bell above One strategy would be to look at opened. This information led to the the door cracks like a whip. The which verbs might be used to trans- final draft: “The little bell above the wheezing of the door reverberates. late “restalla.” In (American) door snaps back like a whip,” which The squeaky ricochet of hinges. English, to say that a bell “cracks” is faithful to the sound as well as its All the doors of all the little shops brings up visual images of the metaphorical value. in Oxford make the same noise. I Liberty Bell, rather than the sound But we’re not out of the woods yet. can hear the low murmur of the we’re after. “Snaps” would also give “La puerta ha exhalado un sonido reb- buses out in the street, but by now us the sound of the whip, yet while otado. Como de balín en los goznes.” I’m inside the store; the door both “cracks” and “snaps” hint at the There is considerable awkwardness in closes with a gentle click. character’s mental state (she snaps, or a door that “has breathed a bouncing cracks up), we still haven’t resolved [etc.] sound,” and to remedy this my Final Draft: the initial problem. “Snaps like a approach was to try to find a way to The little bell above the door whip” also calls to mind the unfortu- express that sound without actually snaps back like a whip. A rever- nate “whippersnapper.” On the other saying the word “sound.” Let’s begin berating wheeze; the squeaky rico- hand, one might try translating the with the verb. “Breathe” seems too chet of hinges. All the doors of all verb into a sound more consistent neutral and quiet. “Exhale” might sug- the little shops in Oxford make the with a bell (clinks, tinkles, rings, gest a sighing sound, but “wheeze” is same noise. I can hear the mooing etc.), but none of these sound like a hoarser and more akin to the doubling of the buses out in the street, but whip. Replacing “whip” with “strap” of the sound that is described, though by now I’m inside the store; the or “switch” doesn’t help either, it is a bit of a liberty. I opted for door closes behind me with a although “switch” does give us the “reverberates,” both to capture the gentle click. idea of a sudden change, which is “bouncing” nature of the sound as consistent with the text. well as to avoid the present perfect The first problem that presents “Doorbell” presents its own set of construction “has wheezed.” “Rever- itself concerns the translation of the problems: 1) perhaps adding one too berates” works nicely, since it does sounds of the door as it opens. These many “doors” to the passage, and 2) just that while allowing us to keep the are very specific to a particular kind causing the American reader to think verb in the present tense. I then trans- of door, and the translation must of a “ding-dong” or buzzing sound posed “ricochet” into the following respect that. At the same time, the (not the actual bell referred to in this sentence where it implies the sound of words used to describe those sounds context). One might opt to amplify a shot, suggesting tension and an begin to give the reader a hint of “campanilla” to include its sound as undercurrent of violence with unpre- insight into the character’s psycho- well as its location to clarify what dictable consequences, which is logical state. Moreover, these sounds kind of bell it is, as in Revision 1: appropriate in the context of the story. present an apparent contradiction. “The jangle of the little bell above the The word “balín” further complicates How can a bell, with its multiple, door cracks like a whip.” The juxta- matters. The many native Spanish high-pitched, metallic sound, also position of these two sounds sets up a speakers with whom I consulted sound like the crack of a whip? dissonance consistent with the tone could not agree on its meaning. The Clearly the whip is being used of the story, yet it seems like some- possibility that the more obscure, but metaphorically to suggest tension and thing of a mouthful. Too many words, in this context logical (and consistent edginess; perhaps even power and the too much information, and a rushed with Mexican Spanish), usage of threat of punishment. Somehow both rhythm that suddenly slows as we “balín” to mean “ball bearing,” the bell and the cracking sounds arrive at the word “cracks,” placing caused me to shy away from using the come through in Spanish: “La cam- too much emphasis on that word (in word “shot.” The inference is that the panilla restalla como látigo.” (I sus- Spanish, the emphasis is on “látigo” bearing is in need of lubrication, pect the onomatopoetic echoes of [whip]). Upon further investigation, I giving us a squeaky hinge. ➡

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 37 Two Hands Clapping: Nuances of Sound and Style in Prose Translation Continued

Upon further revision, I explored contrast between the muted, neutral contention. Accordingly, I chose to ways in which I might omit the word “outside” sounds that still enter into amplify “closes gently” to “closes “door,” since I had added it to the pre- her consciousness, and the sharp, with a gentle click” so as to add a vious sentence. I considered saying grating “inside” sounds she associates slight onomatopoetic punctuation to simply: “A wheeze reverberates,” but with the shop. The outside world is the metaphorical value of the that seemed too choppy even for a ordinary, nonthreatening, and inno- inside/outside dichotomy. That “click” text in which choppiness is often cent. When the protagonist finally makes the distinction between the two deliberate. “A reverberating wheeze” manages to “escape” from the shop, spaces clearer and functions to lock seemed to flow more easily, but pre- she is able to breathe a sigh of relief. the character into a claustrophobic sented a certain ambiguity. Written This brings us to the “mooing” of space. The further amplification to this way, it sounds as if the wheeze the buses.” While “mooing” is a bit “closes behind me” turns the key in describes the bell, not the door. odd in this context, it can be argued that lock just another notch. Joining the two fragments with a that: 1) it preserves the onomatopoeia Sound, then, can operate on mul- semicolon (“A reverberating wheeze; of “mugir,” which specifically refers tiple levels in a literary text, subtly the squeaky ricochet of hinges”) con- to the sound made by a cow, 2) it sug- communicating an undercurrent of nects the wheeze with the door and gests the peculiarity of the character’s information not explicitly stated. We respects the rhythm and the sound, perceptions, and 3) it’s an odd, some- have seen how the squeaks and snaps even while altering the syntax. what comic, choice in Spanish as well. made by a simple door, beyond con- The next line was relatively The word “bellowing” is synonymous vincingly depicting the setting, also simple. “Todas las puertas de todos to a certain extent, and “the bellowing manage to convey, through the dis- los comercios pequeños de Oxford of the buses” does have a nice allitera- placement of metaphor and the sen- son así.” “Make the same noise” tive ring to it. Unfortunately, it sug- sory immediacy of onomatopoeia, a communicates the idea (the shops are gests, too strongly to my ear, character’s psychological state. It similar because their doors sound the collocative associations with anger falls to the translator’s hand to meet same) more concisely than the rather (bellowing with rage), whereas “moo” and match these sounds in concert. flat-sounding “are like that.” evokes a more pastoral sensation of In the final sentence of this pas- tranquility, a reassuring bovine slug- Notes sage, sound serves as a vehicle to gishness. “Roaring” has a similar 1. Gregory Rabassa. “No Two establish a metaphorical contrast effect to that of “bellowing,” and Snowflakes Are Alike: Translation between the two spaces in which the beyond that calls to mind more fero- as Metaphor,” The Craft of narrative occurs—inside and outside cious animals. Revision 1 uses “low Translation. ed. John Biguenet and the shop. The confines of the shop murmur” in an inventive, but ulti- Rainer Schulte (Chicago: The function as a kind of prison or trap mately unsuccessful, attempt to sug- University of Chicago Press, for the protagonist, and it is the gest “moo” by converting its verbal 1989) pages 2-3. space in which emotions are height- synonym “low” into an adjective. ened and the conflict plays itself out. Despite its unconventional use, 2. María Luisa Puga. “Difícil situ- In Spanish, “siento” means “I “mooing” appears to be the sound ación,” Cuentistas hispanoameri- feel/perceive” as well as “I hear,” we’re after, and the final draft returns canas. ed. Gloria da Cunha-Giabbi which is more commonly expressed to the original, literal translation. and Anabella Acevedo-Leal as “oigo.” By translating it as “I can Finally, once inside the store, the (Washington: Literal Books, 1996) hear,” we underline the subtlety of the protagonist has definitively crossed page 277. character’s perception, as well as the the threshold into the realm of

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38 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 Some Thoughts on the Modern Scientific Principle of Systematic Oversimplification

By Steve Vlasta Vitek

No matter how many times you may Teams of language- and tirelessly on a translation until a per- try to wash a black dog, it will not subject-qualified experts carefully fect match is achieved between the turn him into a white dog. check and recheck our translations! meaning of the original and the trans- (An Indian proverb discovered on Every agency and individual usu- lated product, which will “read as if it a website of a translator in Japan) ally claims that their translations are has been written in English in the carefully proofread and checked for first place.” I think that this whole t was a dark and stormy night in accuracy, style, cultural compatibility, concept is mostly an advertising gim- eastern Virginia on the Chesapeake etc., so as to guarantee a superior mick aimed at gullible, monolingual I Bay. I was watching a rerun of product (although all other agencies translation consumers. “Buffy, The Vampire Slayer” with my and individuals claim the same thing). preteen children, fancying myself as Translation agencies usually claim So why have I never had a single Giles (definitely not Spike or Angel). that their product is superior because call from a language- and subject- After all, I am often as lugubriously they have teams of experts who care- qualified expert since 1987? absentminded as Giles, I presume to fully check and recheck the transla- Although most of my income is be an expert in a dark and secret lore tion until they are able to shape the derived from my direct clients, (technical translation), I also have a mostly patent law firms, I still work funny accent, and, unlike Giles, I for translation agencies. Based on my speak fluent Slovakian! …The best protection interactions with U.S. agencies since Sometimes I get bored while against a mistranslation is 1987, I am sorry to say that I don’t watching TV and turn on my laptop matching the right kind of know a single one that has on its staff during one of the commercials. If “teams of subject-qualified experts” there is nothing of interest in my translation with the right who would be able to add much, if e-mail, I fire up a search engine like kind of translator… any, value to my translations of Google or AskJeeves to check up on Japanese patents by pointing out, for my competition by typing “Japanese example, mistranslated terms or patent translators” or something like final product into a perfect form. incorrectly interpreted Japanese parts that into the search field, often Individual translators sometimes pay of speech. For some reason, not even never to come back to Buffy’s latest for a proofreader, or else have their one such expert has called me in the count of slain bloodsucking mon- wives or husbands proofread the last 14 years or so. sters (my kids will gladly fill me in translation. (Of course, some wives Most of the time, I only get a call later). Hundreds or thousands of hits don’t mind this chore since they get to from an agency if I skip a line of usually come back after such a criticize what their husbands are Japanese text or if a recognizable search. Some of the resulting web- doing wrong. This in turn requires the (Arabic, not Chinese) number is pages are from translation compa- husbands to thank their wives pro- missing in the otherwise Japanese, nies and agencies in the U.S. and fusely, sometimes with money, and thus completely incomprehen- around the world, and some are flowers, or by at least taking them to a sible, document. This is because their from individual translators. It seems sushi bar every now and then—which proofreaders can almost never read that translators are finally waking can cost about as much as having a any Japanese. Frequently, these are up to the opportunities of a world- full-time employee! In fact, even if kids (I think I can say that now wide market on the Internet that is the original translation is good or because I will hit the big five-0 pretty now as open to an individual player excellent, it is a very good idea to soon) who may know some French or as it is to a multinational corpora- have a fresh pair of eyes look at it Russian and work part-time as a tion. For example, if you search for again to find errors, omissions, typos, translation coordinator/proofreader. “Korean translator,” some inter- etc., because we can’t usually see our Though these kids seem pretty esting website is bound to come up own mistakes until somebody else bright (although not all of them are as in California, England, or some- points them out to us. However, I am deferential to me as I think they where else. This is also a good way very skeptical when it comes to should be), most are completely to find out how much other people claims of “teams of language- and monolingual. Needless to say, none are charging for what you do. subject-qualified experts” who labor of them are equally fluent in ➡

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 39 Some Thoughts on the Modern Scientific Principle of Systematic Oversimplification Continued

Japanese and English, and at the same Japanese patent is not supposed to eventually lose his customer, although time also experienced in the transla- read like a novel, so if it does, chances it may take some time before the cus- tion of highly technical Japanese are that the translation is not being tomer discovers problems with a patents into English. This is probably faithful to the original text. translation. And the company who because if they were language- and When one strives to achieve a bal- commissioned the translation will subject-qualified experts, they could ance between the principles of fidelity probably not be sure why they lost make much more money translating to the original and elegance of expres- that customer. the same patents than by working for sion in the target language (a mighty Many clients are realizing that an agency. Even a monolingual struggle we all go through every day), they may be better off working with a checker can catch omissions and it probably makes sense to emphasize specialized translation agency or an typos and thus add some value to a elegance of expression in some types individual translator rather than with translation, because even the best of commercial translations. Patents an agency that translates “all fields translators make mistakes sometime, are translated to provide technical evi- and all languages.” When patent especially when under the constant dence that is often used in courts of lawyers and paralegals run an pressure of one deadline after another. law. Every minor mistranslation or a Internet search, they will be more If the original translation is good, slight change of meaning, which is likely to send us an e-mail instead of there is not much that can or should usually not terribly clear in the orig- calling the biggest advertisement in be done with it, other than catching inal, can basically destroy the purpose their local Yellow Pages (a common the occasional typo or omission. If of the whole translation. The best pro- practice a few years ago) if we seem the original translation is mediocre tection against a mistranslation is to have exactly what they are looking but still makes sense, you can per- matching the right kind of translation for on our website. The same prin- haps fix a few technical terms or with the right kind of translator. The ciple is probably applicable to other clumsy expressions, but that is about problem is that unless an agency spe- specialized fields of translation. the only thing that can be done. And cializes in a certain field or lan- But our potential clients who look you can only do it if you happen to be guage(s), the coordinator often has no for the right kind of specialists (who a more experienced translator than idea what is in the text that is being happen to be us) can only find us if the first translator. sent to a freelance translator. Once a we make it easy or at least possible mistake is made and the wrong person for them to do so. We can do this by, Typical monolinguals are likely to accepts the wrong kind of work, the among other things, having our own do more harm than good with their only remedy is usually a retranslation website, being listed on the ATA editing of translations when an angry client refuses to pay website, or with a listing on the site That is why typical monolinguals, for an unusable product. of our local translators organization. even very smart monolinguals, are It is a lot of work to create a website likely to do more harm than good to a If you are not sure about the that will serve this purpose, and it highly technical translation if they try translations you are selling, takes some time and costs money. to change the meaning of something shouldn’t you be selling used cars But in the end, it is time and money that may “sound strange” to them or refrigerators instead? well spent. As some of our clients are without understanding the meaning of How many times have you becoming more sophisticated about the original and/or the technical con- received a call from a person asking the nature of translation, they are text. The smarter ones try to stick to whether you can translate “a docu- beginning to realize that, short of fixing up typos and carefully checking ment” in your language, and when hiring the perfect translator full-time for omissions by matching the lines you asked what kind of document, for their company, which usually and paragraphs. They know that they told you that they were not sure? does not make sense for budgetary patents in strange languages are likely In my case, it is most of the time. A reasons, the only way to make sure to be “strange” by definition. If a used car salesman who “is not sure” that they get what they need is to translation of a Japanese patent sounds about the kind of car he is selling is enter into a long-term relationship like a beautiful excerpt from another probably going to lose his customer. with a professional translator or an great American novel, it is most likely A translation coordinator who is not agency that specializes in a fairly not a very good translation. A sure about his product is also likely to narrow field.

40 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 Excellence in the field of transla- each other, and one of them might end is usually the best. What could be tion does not just suddenly fall from up missing an ear or some other body simpler than having one experienced the sky. It is the result of a close rela- part as a result of their cooperation. I and qualified translator translate a tionship between translators and believe that three different translators text and having a fresh pair of eyes clients who supply the same mate- collaborating on the same text would (preferably ones that are qualified) rials to translators who work in the probably end up killing each other as proofread the translation afterwards? same field year after year. Instead of well, because each of them is likely This is definitely easier than trying trying to wash a black dog that to be a supreme individualist using a to do the same thing with the “teams should have been white, or to paint a different approach. of subject- and language-qualified white dog black because we really As I said in the beginning, it may experts” that some companies claim wanted a black one, it makes much not be such a good idea to try to wash to have (which would most likely be more sense to start with the dog who a black dog and expect to get a white prohibitively expensive). After all, already has the desired color (i.e., the dog after the washing, or to paint a more than seven centuries after right translator) from the very begin- white dog black. I would get the color Occam, science was called a system- ning. For best results, you should still of the dog right the first time. And it atic oversimplification by Karl wash the dog (i.e., have the transla- makes no sense to try to repaint Van Popper (1902Ð94), perhaps the most tion proofread carefully), just as long Gogh or Schiele into Kinkaideian influential philosopher of science of as you know that doing so won’t glitz just because you want “to see the the last century. change its color! whole picture.” Each of the artists will The performance of some profes- paint a completely different picture of But the simplest and best sions is suitable for teamwork, but the same scene. solution...may not always be the teamwork may be less suitable for easiest one! other professions. For example, a team “It is vain to do with more what can When scientists take complicated of professional burger flippers working be done with fewer.” processes and strip them down to at Burger King will achieve the best From what we know about transla- their essentials, they can sometimes results if the guy who chops onions tion, it seems to be more art than sci- discover fundamental truths that and cole slaw can also make fries and ence and far from an easily learned apply to other processes. Amazingly, defrost frozen ground meat, as well as skill such as flipping burgers. But what scientists are trying to achieve run the cash register. Members of this even if we were to consider transla- in their laboratories is very similar to professional team can be paid the tion more science than art in order to what poets, painters, and philoso- equivalent of minimum wage because try to apply scientific principles to it, phers are trying to express with the skills required here can be learned I would vote for the well known, words, colors, shapes, and ideas. The easily, thus making each person time-tested scientific principle called problem is that the simplest and best easily replaceable. Occam’s Razor. This principle is solution may not always be as easy as However, some professions, like named after William of Occam it sounds. The simplest solution for vampire slaying, picture painting, or (1285Ð1349), an English Franciscan the translation of a certain type of translation in highly specialized fields, friar who taught philosophy in text in a specific language would be is less suitable for teamwork. When Oxford and Munich and, among other to have the person who knows the you have Buffy, Giles, and Willow things, wrote antipapal pamphlets language and field in question answer going after the same monster with that influenced Luther and later the phone when a customer calls with three different wooden sticks, the mon- paved the way for the Reformation. a prospective translation. The same ster slayers could easily kill each other According to his maxim: “it is vain to person could then either translate the in the confusion of the fight, because do with more what can be done with text or send it to a translator they vampire slaying is a highly individual- fewer.” (Translation into modern know who is qualified in that lan- istic art and not very suitable for team- English, almost seven centuries later: guage and subject. In reality, how- work. Imagine Vincent Van Gogh, Keep it simple, stupid!) This means ever, this does not always happen. In Egon Schiele, and Thomas Kinkaide that the fewest possible assumptions fact, based on my interactions with cooperating on the same picture. They should be made when explaining a agencies (“we have a document for would probably start fighting with thing, and that the simplest hypothesis you to translate, but we have no ➡

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 41 Some Thoughts on the Modern Scientific Principle of Systematic Oversimplification Continued idea what’s in it because it is in ours, chances are that ingrained atti- The work in question is Marai’s Japanese, Slovak, etc.”), I know this tudes will never change anyway. It is short novel ‘Embers’ (review, Oct. does not happen too often. easier to spend more money on eaves- 14). Since only the copyright page Translation agencies who translate dropping technology that nobody will indicates that the German is the “everything” are hardly the only com- actually listen to. source edition, many readers will mercial or noncommercial providers have the impression that the trans- of services in this country who do Even a well-known publishing house lation is from the language Marai not seem to be paying much atten- such as Alfred A. Knopf is “Two wrote it in. It is not. That a major tion to actual and real knowledge of Steps Removed.” publisher should condone such a foreign languages. It would have On November 5, 2001, The New long-outmoded practice is regret- been nice had there been personnel York Times Book Review published in table. Will readers of this twice- in key positions fluent in Arabic and the “Letters” section an excerpt from filtered English text hear Marai’s other languages within the CIA, a letter by Paul Olchvary. I would like voice nearly as much as they FBI, Immigration, and other tax- to end the article with an excerpt would in a fine translation by payer-funded organizations prior to from this letter, which the editors of someone in tune with the non- September 11. Had we been able to the Book Review entitled “Two Steps Indo-European nuances of the actually understand communication Removed”: Hungarian? Established transla- between terrorists in foreign lan- tors of Hungarian to English do guages that we were no doubt moni- “On behalf of more than 10 trans- exist in a sufficient number for a toring with our superior technology, lators, editors or scholars of publisher to secure a first-rate it might have saved a few thousand Hungarian literature, I wish to translation from the original…. lives. I am hoping that we are doing express our pleasure that Alfred A. What, after all, would American more of it now, but I am not exactly Knopf has undertaken the American readers say about the works of an holding my breath. It takes a long publication of one of Hungary’s eminent German author reaching time before a country can change its most famous 20th-century authors, them not directly from German, monolingual view of the (known) Sandor Marai. We are dismayed, but Hungarian?” universe. According to newspaper however, that an author known for reports, there was a total of nine (!) his distinctive Central European I have to wonder, unless you tell college graduates who majored in the vision and his elegant Hungarian them, would they notice? Arabic language in the U.S. in the prose was translated not from the year 2000. In a country as big as original work, but from a translation.

Translating Official Documents for African Immigrants Continued from p.35

Anglo-American common law for legal and cultural contexts include ref- affirmant (which, in principle, should the modern sector, and customary erences to “dowry” and to certain render the document invalid for offi- law based on unwritten tribal prac- forms of unmarried unions which are cial purposes). This certificate also tices for the indigenous sector. settled simply through family or tribal contains references to customary or Cameroon poses a unique situation agreements, but still require a court tribal systems of registering births both from a cultural and linguistic decree to be officially dissolved. and deaths, where individuals are not point of view, since it has French Another curious but very inter- registered in the official register of and English as official languages. esting example is the translation of births, marriages, and deaths. Instead, Its legal system is based on the age certificates. This type of docu- a record is made in the “book” of the French civil law system, with a ment is common to many English- family, tribe, or ethnic group. This is common law influence. speaking African countries. The shown in the official document using certificate states the age or date of formulae like: “…I declare that at the Examples of some of the situations birth of the holder, and frequently to be encountered within these complex does not bear the signature of the Continued on p.46

42 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 Fifth International Conference on Translation

By Eva Jover and Else Mogensen

iscussions at the Fifth Inter- than some of the 11 official lan- Finnish, Persian, Malay, Danish, national Conference on Trans- guages of the EU. It can boast of Creole, Kartuli, and Portuguese lan- Dlation, held October 29-31, 2001, being the tenth most translated source guages. Albert Branchadell focused at the Universitat Autònoma de language in the world, and is an on the basic question of which criteria Barcelona, ranged from Arabic techni- important part of Europe’s linguistic to use when determining whether a cal terminology and Finnish websites to and cultural heritage. language can be categorized as one a Polish version of Alice in Wonderland. The “role of translation in intercul- that is less-translated, explaining that The year 2001 was declared the tural relations” was the general topic the concept of a less-translated lan- European Year of Languages in order to of this conference. Some of the areas guage is based on the United Nations promote awareness of the great cultural covered included the role of transla- Educational, Scientific, and Cultural and linguistic diversity in the European tion in the promotion of linguistic Organization’s statistics of literary Union, and to encourage the learning of translations. He argued that there are languages for personal and professional …The year 2001 was many other languages whose litera- development. This has drawn some ture is not widely translated, but attention to languages of lesser disper- declared the European Year which are widely translated in many sion in the EU. As a reflection of this, of Languages in order to other fields (for example, Catalan). the conference was aptly entitled As a result, we may gain another per- “Interculturality and Translation: Less- promote awareness of spective of whether a language is one Translated Languages.” cultural and linguistic that is less-translated by changing the The conference was organized by diversity...As a reflection of criteria to include other subject areas. members of the Department of Trans- Gemma Capellas commented on lation and Interpretation at the this, the conference was the fact that international institutions Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, aptly entitled such as the United Nations and headed by Albert Branchadell. There International Labour Organization use was an emphasis on the wide array of “Interculturality and English and French as working lan- languages taught within the depart- Translation: Less-Translated guages, and that 90% of the working ment, which include Arabic, Chinese, Languages”… papers are written first in English and Czech, Greek, Italian, Japanese, then translated into the other five offi- Polish, Portuguese, and Russian. cial languages. She added that many of Papers were presented in four or five diversity in Europe, the state of trans- the translation rosters of these institu- concurrent sessions throughout the lation and translation theory in coun- tions are quite small in some languages three days of the conference. It was tries with less-translated languages, and that translation work is often sub- encouraging to see students from the translation and cultural mediation, and contracted to external agencies due to university flock to get seats at the cultural imperialism. The conference lack of volume, lack of professional various sessions. organizers wanted to make the world translators in particular languages, and The well-known Catalan author, aware of the fact that English works the need to reduce costs. translator, and professor of anthro- are translated into other languages in Anthony Pym explained that two pology and sociology, Joan Francesc much greater amounts than, for general principles apply to translation Mira, who recently was awarded a example, works in languages such as to and from English. He observed that “Premio Nacional” in Spain for his Arabic, Chinese, and Portuguese. In a language that has a lot of published translation into Catalan of Dante’s short, access to the translation market material also tends to have a high Divina Commedia, was the keynote is not equal for all languages and cul- volume of these works translated into speaker. Professor Mira spoke in tures, although contact between cul- other languages. At the same time, the Catalan with simultaneous interpreta- tures is increasing along with the more books there are published in a tion into Spanish and English. demand for translation. language, the lower the rate of trans- Although Catalan is not an official Papers at the conference included lation tends to be into that language. language of the EU, it is not correct issues related to the Arabic, Chinese, Another practice that works against to say that it is a less-dispersed lan- Hindi, Russian, Japanese, Catalan, less-translated languages, as discussed guage since it is more widely spoken Galician, Polish, Albanian, Italian, in a paper by Hildegard Resinger, ➡

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 43 Fifth International Conference on Translation Continued is the habit of writing in English in spe- pragmatic explicitations caused by dif- for the sale of fish to a buyer in cialized and scientific publications, and ferences between cultures. Eva Jover Cairo, for which the translation of even keeping citations and acronyms analyzed different approaches to the common names of fish was in English. Juan José Martínez claimed translation into Spanish of Danish extremely difficult because the ter- that the root of many of the problems fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen. minology is not uniform across the of less-translated languages are social. Karen Smith discussed the translation Arab world. María Isabel Barroso For example, the mere writing of lan- of advertising campaigns from English commented on the difficulties of guages such as the Creole of the into Russian, focusing on the strategies translating haiku verse, Héctor Reunion Islands is considered a polit- employed in modes of address to direct Gonzálvez discussed the translation ical claim for the status of the lan- a message at certain groups in order to of sports-related terms into Catalan, guage. Anna Meskhi argued for the create the desired relationship. She and Else Mogensen examined some importance of translating the Kartuli also discussed the possible transfer issues concerning the translation of language, spoken by approximately from English to Russian advertising. controlled English into Danish. five million people in Georgia, in Anastasia Stratu discussed techniques Also included were papers on the order to make this culture, with its useful for interpreting negotiations, general field of translation. Chunshen links to both ancient and modern civ- based on concepts of semiotics. Zhu surveyed the academic status of ilization, accessible to the world. Lourdes Montoro presented a selec- translation studies in China, reviewing Vilelmini Sosoni examined multilin- tion of Caribbean proverbs and say- research methodology and theory. gualism in Europe and the status of ings, commenting on problems such Liu Yang presented a study of trans- languages of lesser diffusion, such as as syntax, vocabulary, and cultural lation and censorship in China, ana- Greek and Finnish, and the so-called differences between the source and lyzing the relationship between minority languages, such as Catalan the target language when rendering censorship and the selection of texts, and Gaelic. She questioned whether them into other languages. Seán translators, and translation strategies, multilingualism and multiculturalism Golden analyzed the methodologies as well as the response of readers. have an effect on all languages or if of the Jesuits Matteo Ricci and Other topics presented at the confer- this is limited to the languages of Nicolas Longobardi in dealing with ence included: the role of some trans- lesser diffusion. Dora Sales Salvador Chinese culture as a case study of the lators of less-translated languages in considered the concept of transcre- role of cultural imperatives in the promoting these languages; transla- ation in relation to Indian fiction process of cross-cultural transfer and tion in the theater and the cinema; the written in English, looking at this type intercultural understanding. visibility of works in the Malay lan- of literature in terms of politics and as Other topics presented at the con- guage in Britain; the translation of a fictional echo of multilingualism ference related to less-translated lan- Egyptian classics into Catalan; and interculturality. guages included a paper by Rachid dealing with numbers in consecutive Translation techniques and strategies Aarab which discussed the lack of interpretation from English to used in less-translated languages were necessary tools, the lack of financial Chinese; Persian poetry and folk presented by Dorota Pacek, who dis- support to carry out translation work, tales; the translation into Italian of cussed the importance of form in imag- and the lack of translation education the limericks of Edward Lear; the inative literature as a means of creating in some countries. Problems of ter- translation into Russian of Spanish special and unusual meaning. She ana- minology were the subject of a paper poetry; and the translation of web- lyzed different translations into Polish by Khaled Abdel Aziz, who spoke pages. Papers on the translation of lit- of puns, often said to be impossible to about the lack of standardized termi- erary works included a wide array of translate, from Alice’s Adventures in nology for special fields, such as classic authors, such as Fyodor Wonderland and Through the Looking law, in the Arabic language. David Dostoyevski, Mikhail Bulgakov, Glass. Inkeri Vehmas-Lehto’s paper Wilmsen focused on problems of Nagib Mahfuz, Fernando Pessoa, dealt with explicitation as a translato- translating modern technical termi- Mircea Eliade, Eugène Ionesco, rial strategy in literary translations nology into Arabic with its wide Witold Gombrowicz, Jorge Amado, from Russian into Finnish, focusing on regional variations. To illustrate, he and Rabelais. optional explicitations that may come discussed a document comprising a about by stylistic preferences and bid by a Spanish fisheries company Continued on p.53

44 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 Accreditation Forum: Accreditation Activities in Los Angeles

By Lilian Novas Van Vranken, ATA Accreditation Committee chair

he ATA Annual Conference is examples that we all find hard to sort standards. We feel it will help stream- usually a very hectic time for through, that challenge our skills as line grading practices and ensure T graders and language chairs. It graders, and that become a significant consistency in each language combi- is a unique opportunity for graders to learning experience. nation and throughout the language interact, exchange ideas, streamline Regardless of how long graders groups as well. We also consider this standards, fine-tune grading skills, and language chairs have been to be more beneficial to the candi- and forge a strong sense of cama- grading, they will always learn some- date, since this process is almost like raderie. It is also the venue where the thing new at the workshops. This year having each exam reviewed by a Accreditation Committee meets to is particularly challenging as the panel of experts. discuss policy, submits a report to the accreditation program prepares to The second grader workshop cen- Board, and presents a short summary introduce dramatic changes. tered on the new form for practice test of the committee’s activities to the The focus of the first grader work- feedback. The intent is to make our membership during the association’s shop was to practice the new proce- evaluation of practice tests more con- business meeting. dure that becomes effective with the sistent, less personal, and more effi- As we prepared for Los Angeles, 2001Ð2002 exam year: the two- cient. We find that, no matter how many of us struggled to overcome our grader consultation. This means that carefully we word our comments to fears after the inconceivable 9/11 if the two original graders disagree candidates (which has also been the attacks. Suddenly, our lives and subject of a previous grader work- dreams shifted focus and nothing shop), it is too easy to hurt feelings and seemed relevant enough other than …The ATA Annual seem unprofessional in our feedback. being close to our loved ones. Conference is a unique Also, the purpose of the practice The initial jitters soon faded when test is to provide an introduction to we started seeing all the familiar opportunity for graders to the nature of the exam. It is not its faces of friends and colleagues in interact, exchange ideas, function to attempt to teach the can- Los Angeles. The excitement started didate how to understand the source to build up and, before long, we were streamline standards, language, how to translate, or how to involved fully in the accreditation fine-tune grading skills, write in the target language. business. and forge a strong sense The new form contains an upgraded During the conference, graders and Framework for Standardized Error language chairs attend two grading of camaraderie… Marking (page 1) with more detailed sessions that help them reinforce a categories of errors. Instead of simply particular skill. These workshops are marking an error as SP (spelling), we repeated several times to give about the pass/fail outcome of an can now provide more feedback by everyone a chance to attend without exam, they must consult each other to marking D (accents and other diacritical conflicting with other sessions. seek agreement. Only if they cannot marks) or C (case, upper/lower). Thus, Deputy Chair Celia Bohannon has reach agreement will the exam be it is not necessary to advise the candi- the daunting and time-consuming sent to a third grader, who in turn date to review the use of upper or lower task of deciding the subject of the may consult with the initial graders case rules in a particular language. workshop, preparing the exercises, or other graders in the workgroup. The framework also includes a box and teaching every single one of the Graders were encouraged to attend for E+ (major plus), E- (major workshops (this year we had six!). this workshop with others in their minus), e+ (minor plus), and e- This is a very difficult job because grading workgroup. If this was not (minor minus). The Accreditation the exercises must be neutral, mean- possible, then graders worked with Committee intends to develop a point ingful, and relevant enough to bridge their counterparts grading in the other system for grading exams, to be the gap between language combina- direction, with graders of into- implemented in November 2002. The tions. As most of us can attest, she English exams, or individually. It was revised Framework, with plus and does a superb job. Celia has an an invaluable opportunity to further minus signs in the headings for major extraordinary ability to think in an compare grading styles, and to con- and minor errors (which still carry the abstract way and to come up with tinue the discussion about grading same weight as before), provide ➡

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 45 Accreditation Forum: Accreditation Activities in Los Angeles Continued a useful transition to grading with a target-language style and flow. Language chairs meet at ATA point system. These marks will be Grammar, punctuation, spelling, syntax, Headquarters in March or April of used on practice tests and optionally and usage are appropriate. each year for the Spring Meeting, used on exams during the 2001Ð2002 where further training and policy dis- exam year. For example, numerous errors in cussions are held. Page 2 has a schematic description group G (grammar), P (punctuation), Last April, Celia conducted the of the language skills of a professional SP (spelling), C (case), WF (word first regional grader workshop in translator tested by the accreditation form), U (usage), SY (syntax), and Boston. A cluster of graders in that exam and whether the candidate meets ST (style) suggest that the candidate area traveled a short distance for a the criteria, as follows: does not meet the standard for one-day training session on the two- writing in the target language. grader consultation process. The par- Comprehension of the In addition to the grader workshops, ticipating graders hailed it as a big source-language text. some language groups got together success, lots of fun, and a wonderful Criterion: Translated text reflects a during their “extra” time to discuss pas- opportunity to share insights with sound conceptual understanding of sage guidelines for the 2001Ð2002 fellow graders. the material presented. exam year. This is a careful and time- The ATA Annual Conference in consuming process, whereby graders Los Angeles proved to be an exciting Translation techniques. discuss what constitutes a major or a venue for graders and language Criteria: Translated text conveys the minor error and develop grading criteria chairs, and everyone involved in the full meaning of the original. Common for their specific language. It represents accreditation program shares the translation pitfalls are avoided. a large amount of work, but it is also a enthusiasm for the new changes that Dictionaries are used effectively. great chance to have a good time with will definitely streamline our pro- fellow graders and to strengthen the gram and improve the level of our Writing in the target language. bonds of camaraderie and friendship. credential. Criteria: Translated text is coherent. The conference is not the only Sentences are recast appropriately for grader training opportunity we offer.

Translating Official Documents for African Immigrants Continued from p.42 time of this birth was not oficialy reg- Conclusion the different stages of the immigra- istered but was recorded in the family Translating official documentation tion regularization process, including record book [sic].” for immigrants and foreign nationals the procedures, requirements, types Apparently, this is a common presents special challenges to transla- of documents, and legal systems, in practice in a number of English- tors, since in many cases (such as those countries from which they speaking African countries. On the when applying for a work permit or receive translation assignments. This other hand, many societies do not residency) these papers will often would certainly greatly simplify their follow the Western calendar when play a decisive role in the legal status task, and would also help avoid mis- making entries to their official birth of the individual commissioning the interpretations. In this sense, the registries. Instead, they resort to the translation. Unfortunately, I have work of social workers proves to be curious system of establishing found that many translators do not of key importance, since they act as a January 1 as the official date of birth have a thorough understanding of the link between the immigrants and the for everyone born during the current structural, linguistic, social, and cul- institutions involved (including the year. Obviously, this leads to situa- tural nuances involved in the proper translator) and are, like the translator, tions in which it is impossible to translation of these documents. intercultural mediators. determine the exact age of the indi- It would be both very useful and vidual. I have encountered this situa- desirable for translators and inter- tion at least a dozen times. preters to familiarize themselves with

46 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 Dictionary Reviews Compiled by Boris Silversteyn

Silversteyn is chair of the ATA Dictionary Review Committee.

Diccionario Collazo inglés-español I’d rather deal with one huge, thou- Please be aware that this is a unidi- de informática, computación y otras sands-of-pages monster that I place rectional dictionary (only English materias (DIC) on an easel (our town librarian has into Spanish, with the encyclopedic Author: given me the name of her supplier) explanations written in Spanish). Javier L. Collazo and consult without ever closing it. The dictionary’s alphabetization is Publisher: Now every time I want to use it, I totally logical and intuitive. This may McGraw-Hill Interamericana Editores, have to think about whether the seem trivial, but use a dictionary such S.A. de C.V., Mexico break between volumes is before the as Beigbeder’s Politécnico, where this Publication Date: “m” or after the “j” or whatever. logic is missing, and you’ll realize that 2001 There is probably a valid book- alphabetizing is key. Plus, in Collazo’s ISBN: binding reason for going the two- DIC, every term is fully written out— 970-10-3428-7 for both volumes volume route, but that does not no abbreviations or symbolic represen- negate the inconvenience to the user. tations of repeated words. There are no Reviewed by: lines or squiggles in this dictionary. Rudy Heller ¥ More than one look-up location. I do And alphabetizing is endemic, even not understand the Appendix within entries, lists of synonyms, General Information: “Suplemento léxico A” that is found fields, and specializations. All of these Hardcover, heavy weight paper, in the back of Volume II of Collazo’s are also carefully alphabetized. with two-column pages. Standard DIC. Why are these terms not in the The dictionary is encyclopedic. presentation of English entries in bold, basic corpus? Now I am forced to That is, for most terms there is not followed by the entry field in italics, look up every term in two locations. just a translation, but an explanation. then the Spanish translation, followed Collazo even exhorts me to do this This makes the DIC the translator’s by numbered encyclopedic descrip- with the warning “conviene consul- ultimate tool. By way of example, tions in separate paragraphs. Uses very tar este suplemento, ante la posibili- let’s take a look at a standard entry: readable font, comfortable leading. dad de encontrar en él alguna infor- Contains 1,699 pages in two volumes. mación adicional de interés.” If the six-phase rectifier (Elec) rectificador author and publishers are going to hexafásico. While overall this review is very take the “supplementary/appendix” Rectificador en el que se utilizan positive, let me get some basic com- route, then I’d much rather pay some- transformadores para obtener seis plaints out of the way first: thing extra up front to get updated fuerzas electromotrices alternas versions every so often, similar to que difieren en fase en 60¡ (un ¥ A paper-only dictionary in the year what one does with software. I’d sub- sexto de un ciclo) y que alimentan 2001—Why? I’d much rather have scribe to the Collazo Dictionary seis diodos o elementos de conduc- a CD-ROM that I can load onto Update Plan in a heartbeat. And that ción unidireccional o asimétrica. my hard drive than have to deal is another reason to go with an elec- with a bulky paper dictionary in tronic format from the start. So the translation is there along with which searching takes time. Allow a description in Collazo’s impeccable me to load the data onto my hard Having issued these three basic syntax, chock full of terms you may drive and I’m a happy camper. So, complaints, let me move on to the need in other parts of your transla- Javier Collazo and McGraw-Hill good stuff. I’ve been hearing about tion. Returning our attention to the Interamericana, consider this review this dictionary for at least five years, above example, I often see the mas- to be a plea to come out with an and it was well worth the wait. culine adjectives “automotor”or electronic version of the book soon! Collazo’s thoroughness is legendary “electromotor” used with a feminine (to wit, the popularity of his noun. The careful translator will ¥ A two (or more) volume dictionary. Diccionario enciclopédico de térmi- catch this error by reading the above If having the dictionary in an elec- nos técnicos), and he did not let up at description, where the correct “elec- tronic format is out of the question, all in creating this masterpiece. tromotriz” is used. ➡

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 47 Dictionary Reviews Continued

If you are questioning a term Table 1 you’ve heard or seen, you will find secondary terms in the DIC, preceded Collazo: Microsoft: with the words A VECES, MENOS FRE- “ratón,” telecursor, teleíndice, Ratón CUENTE, TAMBIÉN, VARIANTES, ANGLI- puntero tipo ratón, telemando CISMO, LOCALISMO, etc. Secondary (rodante) de cursor. terms may not be the most appropri- ate, but Collazo recognizes that they Collazo: Microsoft: are commonly used. Shades of entrar, ingresar, dar entrada, dar Entrar Manuel Seco’s dictum in his latest ingreso, hacer ingresar (infor- dictionary: “Si se usa, lo incluyo.” A mática, datos)./introducir, meter; good dictionary is not necessarily the insertar; penetrar./inscribir, regis- one with the most terms and defini- trar, anotar, asentar; dar(le) tions, but the one with the most clarity asiento, dar(le) entrada (a una and precision. información en un libro de reg- istro)./afiliarse, ingresar (en); Collazo’s care and approach puts hacerse socio (de), hacerse his book way above the rest. For miembro (de)./(Adm/Com) cargar example, let’s look at the term “jpeg.” en cuenta; asentar, contabilizar This term comes across my screen all the time, yet I’ve never taken the trou- ble to find out that it stands for Joint both in the main lexicon and in the And in the appendix, I noticed that Photographic Experts Group and that appendix. By the way, did you know Collazo has chosen to give Internet this group is an ISO committee. The that this term is actually an acronym: the feminine article (la—as opposed brand new Microsoft Computer and BRowsing Online With SElective to el—Internet). Running this choice Internet Dictionary doesn’t tell me Retrieval? Collazo’s preferred choices through several search engines con- that, but says, erroneously, that the for this term are examinador, firms Collazo’s selection. The dictio- extension I see on my screen is not hojeador. I missed seeing explorador nary’s supplementary appendix does .jpg but .jpeg. and the even more common nave- have a column and a half of terms For another example of the qualita- gador. As a matter of fact, I ran that use the word Internet, starting tive difference between these two dic- Collazo’s choices on several search out with one eight paragraphs long. tionaries (both published in 2001 and engines, and the hits are significantly These detailed descriptions are found both by McGraw Hill), let’s look at the lower for examinador and hojeador throughout the dictionary. It is unfor- term “buffer.” Collazo says: memoria than for the two terms that are missing. tunate, though, that they are not all intermedia, almacenador (almace- I did read an interview in which together in one place. I only found namiento) intermedio, compensador Collazo states that back in the days the listing Internet in the main corpus (de velocidad), memoria de tránsito. when Citizen Band Radio (CB) was by chance. I don’t want to harp on it, This is followed by a half-column, catching on, “se publicaron muchas but, oh, do I miss the CD-ROM ver- four-part explanation. Microsoft says: cosas tontas de las que ahora nadie se sion with look-up functions that find buffer, búfer, followed by a wimpy acuerda.” But personally, I think that all instances of a word instantly! paragraph. Búfer? Give me a break! explorador and navegador are here to It is my hope that widespread use Let’s compare a couple of more stay, not so examinador and hojeador. of this dictionary will go a long way common terms given in Table 1. As is “Internet.” There is no Internet in towards standardizing the terminology obvious from these examples, the dif- the main corpus (except for the all- of computer science and related ference is a matter of thoroughness and lowercase “internet,” entre redes, and fields, which are plagued by calques offering the translator choices. a lengthy [one entire column] expla- and extranjerismos. For example, I was not pleased with seeing sev- nation of the Internet, which I found with the term “word processing,” eral terms (for example, “browser”) under the entry World Wide Web). Collazo does list the often-heard

48 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 procesamiento de palabras, however, starting with tax, taxable, and taxing. rights). My favorite bookseller, Freek he clearly expresses his preference Given the overall nature of the DIC, Lankhof, at ibdltd.com, tells me that a for the more correct procesamiento this is the last place I would look for second edition is out and that he is de textos. And under “word processing terms in those fields. going through all kinds of hoops to get functions,” he translates and explains The more I use Collazo’s diction- some copies to sell to U.S. translators. (with just the right brevity) 27 differ- ary, the more (pleasant) surprises I A quick perusal of my shelves con- ent WP functions that one so often run into. For example, the dictionary firms the void that Collazo’s diction- runs into when translating from includes decimal to hexadecimal con- ary fills (bilingual computer dictionar- English into Spanish (regardless of version tables (right in the corpus, not ies are still few and far between). Most one’s specialization). A word that has in some never-looked-at appendix), are ancient: IBM (1975), Olivetti always made me cringe, “deletear” (a as well as clear and succinct explana- (1982), CAC’s Informática (1986), Spanglish bastardization of “to tions of the “reciprocal method” and Aguilar’s Ordenadores (1969), Handel’s delete”), is not found here. In its “cross ratio.” I don’t need or want to Electrónica (1962), Chandor’s Compu- place we find (take your pick) anular, become an expert in these subjects, tadores (1970), and Maynard’s Pro- cancelar, suprimir, borrar, tachar, and Collazo gives me exactly what I, cesamiento de datos (1978). How- suprimir, and eliminar (datos o pro- as a translator, need to know to do my ever, in a field that has moved as fast gramas de la memoria). job well. Never too much and never as this one, these works are definitely The dictionary definitely has a too little. pre-dinosaur. slant towards Latin American Spanish Do you want to confirm that you Perusing ibd’s website, I also find (computadora instead of ordenador, have your Roman numerals right? newer informatics dictionaries like archivos instead of ficheros), although What are the rules for scientific nota- Rincón’s Diccionario conceptual de I have seen a sprinkled use of ficheros tion? What is Shanon’s theory of informática y comunicaciones (98, in some definitions. As in Collazo’s information? What is Unix? What is Paraninfo), the already slammed previous Diccionario Enciclopédico the Greek alphabet (in caps and lower Microsoft dictionary (2000), Cebrián’s de Términos Técnicos, there is no case; the name and phonetic equiva- Diccionario de Internet (2000, Airtel), mention of countries where this or lent in Spanish)? How do you calcu- Alarcón’s monolingual Diccionario de that term is used. Everything seems late standard deviation? What are the informática e Internet (2000), and written to promote a standardized, standard postal abbreviations of the Wollnhals’ Diccionario de tecnología universal Spanish. USPS? What is RPN (reverse Polish de la información (97, Brandstetter). The DIC also has a huge collection notation)? Collazo answers these and I’ve gone through all of these quickly of acronyms and abbreviations, all list- many more questions in extensive and, as Freek pointed out, none of these ed individually along with their com- entries. have come close to Collazo’s opus. plete spellings. For example, between To justify my existence, I looked “d’Alembert’s wave equation” and up “translator” and found the equiva- Última palabra: The Diccionario “damage,” I find DAMA (demand lent of two pages under this and Collazo de informática, computación y assignment multiple access), which I related terms (translating, translation, otras materias should be on every also find between “demand-assigned transliterate), specified under the translator’s shelf. The list of central single-channel-per-carrier system” and fields Computecnia, Lingüística, subjects covered is 22 items long and “demand-assigned signaling and Técnica especial, Telecom. I found it ranges (alphabetically from álgebra switching.” In the second listing, the interesting that the DIC includes booleana through infotecnica, mate- term is spelled out, translated, “translation software” but not “trans- máticas, procesamiento de datos, and and defined. lation memory.” from televisión to videotecnia). Related No errata or filler words were I know that the Diccionario fields that Collazo does not consider found, although I question why there Collazo de informática, computación central to the DIC, but that are covered are a couple of columns of terms y otras materias is not yet available on extensively, include: acústica, artes starting with bank, banker, and banking, U.S. bookshelves (the first printing gráficas, cine, contabilidad mecaniza- and a couple more columns of terms did not include U.S. distribution da, fisica, geofísica, luminotecnia, ➡

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 49 Dictionary Reviews Continued método del camino crítico, registro Reviewed by: classified by individual taxons in magnético, and tecnología especial. If Marie-France Schreiber Latin) that forms the basis for the main you own the Diccionario Enciclopédico section of the dictionary. English, de Términos Técnicos (DETT, ISBN The dictionary contains the nation- French, German, and Spanish terms 0-07-079162-7), this is both a comple- al names of species and subspecies of can be conveniently looked up in their mentary work and an update of that invertebrates (excluding insects) respective indices, located at the back classic. If you don’t have the DETT yet, found worldwide, including an abbre- of the dictionary. go for broke and buy them both! viated form of the phylum, class, Let me point out that I would have order, and family of the zoological never called this a dictionary. It is Elsevier’s Dictionary of system for each name. It not only more a glossary; namely, a long list Invertebrates (Excluding Insects) focuses on geographical areas, but of terms in a numerical sequence, Authors: also local names. Phyla covered classified alphabetically according Dr. Ilja Okáli, Dr. Miroslava Dulová, and include: Plasmodroma (plasmodromic to families based in Latin. Each Ing. Pavel MokráÀ animals), Ciliophora (ciliophores), entry is usually translated into one Publisher: Moruloidea (moruloid animals), Pori- or more languages, but not every Elsevier Science B.V. fera (sponges), Cnidaria (enidarids), term is necessarily available in all (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) Platyheiminthes (flatworms), Nema- languages. No phonetic pronuncia- Publication Date: theiminthes (roundworms), Acantho- tion is provided for any of the lan- 2000 (first edition) cephala (spiny-headed worms), Geph- guages, nor is there any contextual ISBN: yrea (gephyrids), Nemertoidea (ribbon or encyclopedic references outlined. 0-444-50535-0 worms), Ascheiminthes (ascheiminths), There are also no illustrations of the Price: Mollusca (mollusks), Annelida (ring- invertebrates. This would have been $170/NLG 325/Euro 147.48 worms), Tentaculata (tentaculates), a very nice touch for the avid learn- Where Available: Archipodiata (archipodiates), and er or research aficionado. This book can be ordered directly from Arthropoda (joint-legged animals, I will attempt to illustrate what I Elsevier’s Amsterdam or New York excluding insects). mean by giving you a few examples. offices, or by visiting their website The preface and index sections of When I wanted to look up hermit (www.elsevier.com). this book are in four languages. There crab in English to find out what its Amsterdam Office: is also a zoological system (a list scientific name in Latin was and then Elsevier Science Inc. Sara Burgerhartstraat 25 Table 1 P.O. Box 211 1000 AE Amsterdam English Latin French The Netherlands U.S./Canada Office: Hermit crab 745 Crabe pagure; tourteau; Elsevier Science Inc. Cancer pagurus crabe P.O. Box 945 XIV-CRU-dec-28 rouge; crabe de Madison Square Station lune; crabe velours; New York, N.Y. 10160-0757 crave tourteau; crabe dormeur; General Information: dormeur; crabe poupart; houvet Multilingual dictionary in Latin, English, French, German, and Spanish. 1731 Bernhard-l’hermite; Hardbound with heavy stock quality Eupagurus pagure; soldat; paper and semi glossy, with very bernhardus Bernard; consilieux legible typeface. Contains 496 pages XVI-CRU-dec-16 and 4,613 terms.

50 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 Table 2

English Latin French Spanish

Coquilles St. Jacques 3178 large scallop; great scallop; scal- concha de Santiago; => coquilles de St. Pecten maximus; lop; great clam; pilgrim clam; pil- peregrino mayo Jacques Pecten vulgaris; grim scallop; scallops; queens; Chlamys maxima frills; escallop; St. James’ shell; XIV-LAM-ani-5 harp shell; harp

find an equivalent translation into Elsevier’s Dictionary of Entomology Contains 386 pages and 4,947 terms. French, the information in Table 1 Author: was the result (note there are two Murray Wrobel Reviewed by: Latin references). Publisher: Marie-France Schreiber What term would you pick in Elsevier Science B.V. French? Well, I settled for Bernhard- (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) This dictionary was compiled as a l’hermite. What is the most appropri- Publication Date: companion volume to Elsevier’s ate scientific name, then? I leave that 2001 (First Edition) Dictionary of Butterflies and Moths. response to a scientist. Next, see Table ISBN: Its purpose is to give an overview of 2 for what I found when looking up 0-444-50392-7 the common names of insects other the mollusk coquilles St. Jacques in Price: than butterflies and moths. It con- French for an equivalent in English $148/NLG 300/Euro 136.13 tains, in alphabetical order, the scien- and Spanish. Where Available: tific names of orders, families, gen- In every one of these cases, it This book can be ordered directly from era, and species of insects, spiders, seems rather difficult, in my opinion, Elsevier’s Amsterdam or New York snails, and other invertebrates found to choose an appropriate translation offices, or by visiting their website in Europe, North America, South without prior scientific knowledge or (www.elsevier.com). Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. an understanding of Latin etymology. Amsterdam Office: French-speaking Canadian terms are In terms of the accuracy of con- Elsevier Science Inc. also included. tent, I am not a connoisseur of such Sara Burgerhartstraat 25 There is a brief preface section in creatures, but I believe any scientist P.O. Box 211 English as well as an English, fascinated by this field of study 1000 AE Amsterdam German, French, and Italian index would find this dictionary quite The Netherlands located at the back of the book, where useful if he needed to translate scien- U.S./Canada Office: terms can be looked up. The contents tific terms into lay or common terms Elsevier Science Inc. is a numerical listing of Latin scien- in any of the given target languages P.O. Box 945 tific names with their respective provided. However, the average trans- Madison Square Station English, German, French, and Italian lator looking for an English>French New York, N.Y. 10160-0757 translation, whenever applicable. translation of a term or even a scien- Overall, this dictionary/glossary is tific name equivalent would find this General Information: set up the same way as Elsevier’s process quite awkward and time-con- Multilingual dictionary in Latin, English, Dictionary of Invertebrates (Excluding suming. I truly think you need to be French, German, and Italian. Hardbound Insects), except there appears to be scientifically inclined to use this dic- with heavy stock quality paper and tionary creatively. semi-glossy, with very legible typeface. Continued on p.53

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 51 The Translation Inquirer By John Decker Address your queries and responses to The Translation Inquirer, 112 Ardmoor Avenue, Danville, Pennsylvania 17821, or fax them to (570) 275-1477. E-mail address: [email protected]. Please make your submissions by the 25th of each month to be included in the next issue. Generous assistance from Per Dohler, proofreader, is gratefully acknowledged.

[Abbreviations used with this column: (E-F 2-02/3) This query should detent. The context: 3-spool, open cen- E-English; Fi-Finnish; F-French; G- provoke a good deal of creative fun, as ter type with float detent on lift and German; I-Italian; R-Russian; Sp- it was doing when last seen in a not- electrically controlled auxiliary spool. Spanish; Sw-Swedish.] yet-solved condition on Lantra-L. The Swedish equivalent needed, please. colloquialism in English is If it looks (G-E 2-02/8) A ProZ correspondent ome ATA members may in fact like a duck, and quacks like a duck… working on a patent ran into the con- have worked as language coaches [implied:] chances are, it’s a duck! trast between “entgegen” and “abge- S for the motion picture industry, The last five words may or may not be wandt” in the following statement but the Translation Inquirer has heard included if something appropriate and regarding a screw fastening system: of a, probably, unique instance in the parallel can be found in French. “Vorzugsweise schlie§st sich an das New Zealand Lord of the Rings project. (E-I 2-02/4) Among a dreary list of setzrichtungsseitig abgewandte Ende Apparently, individuals were hired to all the negative things that can happen des Gewindes ein Nachgewinde an, coach actors and actresses in the cor- to a person as a result of being in a das eine entgegen der Setzrichtung rect [!] pronunciation of a nonexistent family, a ProZ member found the abnehmende Flankenbreite aufweist.” language, one based loosely on a com- neologism parentification. At first The question is whether the former is bination of Welsh and Finnish, glance, an amateur is tempted to think best rendered as facing away, and the invented by J.R.R. Tolkien. Sure maybe this is the role-playing done by latter as facing (“zur Setzrichtung hin”). enough, the first installment, the a sibling to lord it over another sib- (G-E 2-02/9) A German company Fellowship of the Rings, has English ling. However, this is a well-defined listed the types of scaffolding it subtitles for Tolkien’s Elvish. How buzzword in psychology. Exactly offered. The list, as presented by a fanatical can you get? what does it refer to, and how would ProZ participant, included (9.a) one render it into good Italian? “Dachauffanggerüste” and (9.b) New Queries (E-R 2-02/5) Can this be? Surely “Auslegergerüste.” Does the former (E-D 2-02/1) Possibly related to the term fast-forward can scarcely be have anything to do with the some- the English-Italian query below, the applicable to compact disk players, times seemingly rickety and scary military slang verb phrase to pull rank and yet a description of how one structures used by window cleaners? came up in a context where Dutch was works says exactly that: After 3 sec- needed. Presumably, the best possible onds, the CD begins to fast-forward Old Queries, No Replies Yet translation would be one that would until the rocker button is released. The As far as I can see, there was never a come from the Dutch military, but elapsed time is displayed while the CD peep from anyone regarding the two maybe in a perfect military service fast-forwards. The context sentences queries below, which appeared on page such behavior never occurs…. repeat the idea twice, giving one the 58 of the May 2000 Chronicle. No one is (E-F 2-02/2) This financial query notion that somehow compact disk ter- ever likely to accuse this column of hav- leaves open an apparent range of minology has preserved at least some ing too much Finnish, so back in they go: choices for the French rendering, of the traditional audio tape recorder (Fi-E 5-2000/12) Yngve Roennike because tax default, the term causing jargon. If so, ecrjhtyyjt ghjrhexbd- wonders whether “suuntautuneisuus” the problem, may be viewed as either fybt or ecrjhtyyfz gthtvjnrf could is best rendered as direct approach in intentional or unintentional. Perhaps be the Russian renderings of choice. Or English. the context from the original docu- is something else more appropriate? (Fi-E 5-2000/13) In connection with ment may help: …these agreements (E-R 2-02/6) A Lantra-L member pulp-related machinery, Yngve needs include one agreement for encour- wished to know how to render to know the meaning of “käppyrä.” aging and protecting investments, and Mandarin Chinese (the name for the another for avoiding dual taxation language, that is) into Russian. Replies to Old Queries and preventing tax default. Clearly (E-Sw 2-02/7) In the context of (E-I 9-01/4) (stipulated default): it’s a no-no, but as we all know, you materials written about the quality of a Berto Berti would translate this as can run into tax problems without controlling valve in a loading machine, “inadempienza concordata” or “deb- meaning to! a ProZ member had trouble with float ito concordato.”

52 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 (G-Sw 8-01/11) (“….Schein- but they use these dodges in order to (Sp-E 11-01/8) (“asociación en selbstständigkeit mit einhergehenden work longer, not shorter, hours. participación”): Gabriela Meilij- Unterlaufen der Beschränkungen der (R-E 11-01/7) (ik/p): For this, Romero believes this ought to be Arbeitszeit….”): Sigrid Junkermann is Jim Shipp refers us to a fine, compre- translated as joint venture,even kind enough to provide some concrete hensive work by Druker and Avrutin, though in Argentina the Spanish ver- examples of this sort of legal dodge the Comprehensive Russian Computer sion would be “sociedad en partici- that creates pseudo-independent con- Dictionary, published in 1999 by the pación.” “Asociación,” she says, is tractors: waiters who “rent” parts of a Institute of Electrical and Electronics used for nonprofit institutions. restaurant, and slaughterhouse workers Engineers Computer Society. It goes who come to work every day under a in both directions. When he read the Just four responses in a month, special contract to use a position on the query, gateway popped into his head, from an organization that numbers “dis-assembly line” (which, I suppose, and the above dictionary confirmed it: over eight thousand? Some of the chat is the only way one could describe the ik/p = gateway, Internet gateway. rooms of translation-related cyber- workplace at a slaughterhouse). The Additionally listed was ik/pjdjq sites have that many responses, and people described really are employees, cthdth, gateway server. more, in an hour!

Dictionary Reviews Continued from p.51 Fifth International Conference on Translation fewer terms available in all languages. on the list of bibliographic references. Continued from p.44 English seems to be the predominant However, they fall short of my expecta- language represented. tions as a reference tool for translators. The Universitat Autònoma de I would also like to make an obser- I do not consider myself a scientist, but Barcelona, with its international pro- vation regarding the layout of the mul- a researcher. Challenged with trans- file and status as an innovator, was tilingual indices. Listing the names in lating material on invertebrates and the perfect venue for such a confer- alphabetical order does not assist the entomology, I believe these two dic- ence. It is located 12-13 miles from researcher in trying to locate an insect. tionaries would be helpful, but by no Barcelona in Bellaterra, in the heart For instance, if you were looking for a means the only tools for my research. of Catalonia’s technological district, particular beetle, the only term you find There are usually too many entries to in the so-called green corridor in the English Index is Beetles. You pick from for each species! My conclu- between Barcelona and the industrial would need to know the full name of sion is that these reference tools should belt. This provided an attractive envi- the beetle to look it up, such as Chinese be targeted to scientists, experts in their ronment for the conference partici- rose beetle. I think it would be useful fields, who recognize species by their pants. Even the train ride from to cross-reference names under the Latin, scientific names. They provide Barcelona to the university campus main heading Beetles as follows: less assistance to the average translator was a pleasant experience, as it looking up terms in his native language passed through semirural as well as Beetles to render into another. industrial and residential areas. Chinese rose beetle Christmas beetles Goliathus beetle

Otherwise, it becomes a thumb- Log on to ATA’s website at www.atanet.org/membersonly paging process to find all the beetles for special features for members! in this particular dictionary. Overall, both Elsevier dictionaries reviewed here are well compiled based

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 53 Humor and Translation By Mark Herman Herman is a librettist and translator. Submit items for future columns via e-mail to [email protected] or via snail mail to Mark Herman, 5748 W Brooks Rd., Shepherd, MI 48883-9202. Discussions of the translation of humor and examples thereof are preferred, but humorous anecdotes about translators, translations, and mistranslations are also welcome. Include copyright information and permission if relevant.

On Untranslatability

ost people would agree that a Pour mieux savoir le ciel, changed so much over centuries of translation, no matter how Les plages, le rochers, suspicious Protestant use that its M changed it is from the original, speakers will always be tempted must still retain the essence of the Pour mieux les recevoir. towards over-reading and bathetic original. Therefore, if something connotation when articulating the essential to the original is not available Here is John Montague’s English bare elements, the over-reading in the target culture, then that original translation: designed to explode pretentions is untranslatable into the target lan- towards flighty sentiment about guage. Even if the translator translates Sea on the edge of nothingness, nature and the primitive sublime. the words into some “literal” equiva- Mingling with the nothingness, lent, the result is unsuccessful because Better to perceive the sky, But is Piette correct as to the the target audience reaction is so dif- The beaches, the rocks, untranslatability of the poem? He ferent from the original audience reac- implies that the English reader is tion. Paradoxically, repeated “transla- Better to receive them. stuck with Montague’s translation tions” of untranslatable material may because “the poetry of the elementary eventually instill in the target culture According to Piette, Montague’s is relatively easy to translate. There what was not previously present, and English “teeters on the edge of a dif- are not a trillion options.” But there is so make such material translatable, or ferent abyss” than the French néant; it one obvious option not chosen by even turn what was once not a transla- is “self-mocking”…“sentiment on the Montague—and not mentioned by tion into one. rocks!” because over the past two cen- Piette: to make the English truly “ele- But how much of what is called turies there has been “a comic disman- mentary,” not only in ideas but in lan- untranslatable due to cultural tling” in English “of the Romantic guage. In English, a tri-syllabic word incompatibly is actually only badly elementary sublime.” “It is so very dif- like “nothingness” is not elementary. translated? A piece in the current ficult to register the seemingly unadul- Here is Ronnie Apter’s translation, issue of Translation & Literature terated joy the French can still which, by coming closer to the incan- (Volume 10, Part 2, 2001) by Adam articulate in just saying elementary tatory quality of the French, belies the Piette (pp. 282-89), which reviews “mer,” elementary “ciel,” “plages,” poem’s untranslatability: translations of contemporary French “rochers.” In English, the list: poetry, shows that critics often do Sea verging on void, not make the distinction. Here is a ‘the sky, / The beaches, the rocks’ merging with void, poem by the Breton poet Guillevic, invites the conjuring of concrete which Piette claims the poet can contexts: girls and boys at play on better to scan sky, “just about get away with”: those beaches, gulls scattering sand, rocks, guano over those rocks, the sky suf- Mer au bord du néant, fering the projections of a tourist’s better to take in them. Qui se mêle au néant, drunken fantasies. English may have

For Long-Term Planners Future Annual Conference Sites and Dates

Atlanta, Georgia Phoenix, Arizona Toronto, Canada November 6-9, 2002 November 5-8, 2003 October 13-16, 2004

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We want you to know. By its very nature, what we do as a key member of the Intelligence Community requires a high degree of confidentiality. We gather intelligence from foreign electronic signals for U.S. Government decisionmakers at the highest levels; at the same time, we try to prevent our adversaries from gaining access to our own vital U.S. communications. As a part of accomplishing these two objectives—and to meet our increasingly complex role in today’s changing world—we regularly invite select individuals to peer into our world…to capture a glimpse of the dedication, the environments, the challenges, and the special people that define the NSA as a unique career destination. What you’ll see will raise your eyebrows. Imagine working with over-the-horizon technologies, including those that won’t come into commercial mainstream use for many years. Couple this with the importance of the work we do at the NSA (work that enhances the nation’s security and the safety of every citizen) and you have a career that is both challenging and compelling… and ultimately, so much more rewarding. Language Paths Few careers put language skills to a more steady and compelling Display Advertising Index use than a position with us. As an NSA linguist, you will be involved in activities that focus on the expert translation, transcription, reporting, and analysis of materials of national concern. You may even be involved in projects that have global ramifications. We are 59 Alchemy Software Development particularly interested in those individuals who are proficient in Asian, www.alchemysoftware.ie Middle Eastern, or Slavic languages. 15 Cybertec USA, Inc. A linguistic career with the NSA also develops your ability to evaluate communications and to decide what is important and what is not, taking www.cybertecusa.biz into account cultural and political factors of current and historical value. 55 Monterey Institute You may also be called upon to further your understanding of a culture [email protected] in which a certain language is spoken, expanding your horizons more than a comparable career in business, commerce, or academia normally 55 National Security Agency would. In short, your language skills will make a world of difference here. www.nsa.gov You may qualify if you are a U.S. citizen. You must also successfully 33 University of Arizona complete a background investigation and security clearance. (We suggest applying at least six months before you would like to begin your www.arizona.edu NSA career.) Send your resume to: National Security Agency, Suite 6779, (CJG), 9800 Savage Road, Ft. George G. Meade, MD 20755-6779. 2 Star-GMBH Translation Technology Equal Opportunity Employer. NSA is committed to cultural diversity www.star-group.net in its workplace. Positions open to U.S. citizens only. 64 TRADOS Corporation ...AND YOUR www.trados.com IMAGINATION, YOUR CREATIVITY, YOUR AMBITIONS, YOUR FUTURE. For ATA BROWSE: www.nsa.gov Retirement Programs Washington Pension Center National Security Agency. The Science of Intelligence. Explore it. (888) 817-7877 • (301) 941-9179 ATA Chapters, Affiliated Groups, and Other Groups

ATA Chapters Upper Midwest Translators and Atlanta Association of Interpreters New York Circle of Translators (NYCT) Interpreters Association (UMTIA) and Translators (AAIT) P.O. Box 4051, Grand Central Station Coordinator, P.O. Box 12172 New York, NY 10163-4051 Minnesota Translation Laboratory Atlanta, GA 30355 Tel: (212) 334-3060 218 Nolte Center Tel: (770) 587-4884 [email protected] • www.nyctranslators.org 315 Pillsbury Drive SE [email protected] • www.aait.org Minneapolis, MN 55455 Northeast Ohio Translators Tel: (612) 625-3096 • Fax: (612) 624-4579 Carolina Association of Translators Association (NOTA) [email protected] and Interpreters (CATI) 1963 E Sprague Road 604 W Academy Street Seven Hills, OH 44131 Utah Translators and Interpreters Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526 Tel: (440) 526-2365 • Fax: (440) 717-3333 Association (UTIA) Tel: (919) 577-0840 • Fax: (775) 244-2746 [email protected] 3617 S 1400 West [email protected] • www.catiweb.org www.ohiotranslators.org Salt Lake City, UT 84119 • Local group meetings held in Asheville, Tel: (801) 973-0912 • Fax: (208) 441-5390 Charlotte, and Research Triangle Park, Northern California Translators [email protected] • www.utia.org NC; Columbia and Greenville/ Association (NCTA) P.O. Box 14015 Spartanburg, SC. Other Groups • Membership directory, $12; CATI Berkeley, CA 94712-5015 This list gives contact information for Quarterly subscription, $12. Tel: (510) 845-8712 • Fax: (510) 883-1355 [email protected] • www.ncta.org translation and interpretation groups as a service to ATA members. Inclusion does Florida Chapter of ATA (FLATA) • Telephone/online referral service. See not imply affiliation with or endorsement P.O. Box 14-1057 searchable translator database on website. by ATA. Coral Gables, FL 33114-1057 • NCTA Directory of Translators and Tel/Voice: (305) 274-3434 Interpreters available on CD-ROM or American Literary Translators Fax: (305) 387-6712 diskette for $15. Association (ALTA) [email protected] • www.atafl.com Accept MasterCard/Visa. The University of Texas at Dallas MC35, P.O. Box 830688 Mid-America Chapter of ATA (MICATA) Northwest Translators Richardson, TX 75083-0688 6600 NW Sweetbriar Lane and Interpreters Society (NOTIS) Tel: (972) 883-2093 • Fax: (972) 883-6303 Kansas City, MO 64151 P.O. Box 25301 [email protected] Attn.: Meeri Yule Seattle, WA 98125-2201 www.literarytranslators.org Tel: (816) 741-9441 • Fax: (816) 741-9482 Tel: (206) 382-5642 • [email protected] • www.ata-micata.org [email protected] www.notisnet.org Austin Area Translators and Interpreters Association (AATIA) National Capital Area Chapter Southern California Area Translators and P.O. Box 13331 of ATA (NCATA) Interpreters Association (SCATIA) Austin, TX 78701-3331 P.O. Box 65200 P.O. Box 34310 Tel: (512) 707-3900 Washington, DC 20035-5200 Los Angeles, CA 90034 • [email protected] • www.aatia.org Tel: (202) 255-9290 • Fax (202) 234-5656 Tel: (818) 725-3899 Fax: (818) 340-9177 • [email protected] • www.ncata.org [email protected] www.scatia.org The California Court Interpreters • The Professional Services Directory of Association (CCIA) the National Capital Area Chapter of the 345 S Hwy 101, Suite D American Translators Association Affiliated Groups Michigan Translators/Interpreters Network Encinitas, CA 92024 (NCATA) has gone online. It lists NCATA (MiTiN) Tel: (760) 635-0273 • Fax: (760) 635-0276 members and the services they offer, P.O. Box 852 [email protected] • www.ccia.org together with additional information Novi, MI 48376 that enables translation and interpreta- Tel: (248) 344-0909 • Fax: (248) 344-0092 Chicago Area Translators and Interpreters tion users to find just the right lan- [email protected] Association (CHICATA) guage specialist for their projects. www.mitinweb.org P.O. Box 804595 Bookmark www.ncata.org and check Chicago, IL 60680-4107 out the NCATA directory. If you maintain Tel: (312) 836-0961 language-related webpages, you may [email protected] • www.chicata.org want to include a link to the directory. NCATA is always interested in comments and suggestions.

56 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 Colorado Translators Association (CTA) New Mexico Translators and Interpreters CANADA 3054 S Xanthia Street Association (NMTIA) Association of Translators and Denver, CO 80025 P.O. Box 36263 Interpreters of Alberta (ATIA) Tel: (303) 743-7719 Albuquerque, NM 87176 P.O. Box 2635 [email protected] Tel: (505) 352-9258 • Fax: (505) 352-9372 Station M • For more information about the online [email protected] Calgary, Alberta, T2P 3C1 Canada directory, newsletter, accreditation www.cybermesa.com/~nmtia Tel: (403) 243-3477(Alberta office) or exams, and professional seminars, • Membership Directory available for $5. (780) 434-8384 (Edmonton office) please visit www.cta-web.org. Please make check payable to NMTIA www.atia.ab.ca and mail your request to the address Delaware Valley Translators listed here, or contact us by e-mail. Association of Translators and Association (DVTA) Interpreters of Ontario (ATIO) 606 John Anthony Drive The Translators and Interpreters 1 Nicholas Street, Suite 1202 West Chester, PA 19382-7191 Guild (TTIG) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 7B7 Tel: (215) 222-0955 2007 N 15th Street, Suite 4 Tel: (613) 241-2846, [email protected] Arlington, VA 22201-2621 Toll-free: 1-800-234-5030 Tel: (703) 522-0881 • (800) 992-0367 Fax: (613) 241-4098 El Paso Interpreters and Translators Fax: (703) 522-0882 [email protected] • www.atio.on.ca Association (EPITA) [email protected] • www.ttig.org 1003 Alethea Place Ordre des Traducteurs, Terminologues et El Paso, TX 79902 Washington State Court Interpreters and Interprètes Agréés du Québec (OTTIAQ) Tel: (915) 532-8566 • Fax: (915) 544-8354 Translators Society (WITS) 2021 Union, Suite 1108 [email protected] P.O. Box 1012 Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2S9 Seattle, WA 98111-1012 Tel: (514) 845-4411 Houston Interpreters and Translators Tel: (206) 382-5690 Toll-free: (800) 265-4815 Association (HITA) www.witsnet.org Fax: (514) 845-9903 P.O. Box 61285 [email protected] • www.ottiaq.org Houston, TX 77208-1285 International Groups Tel: (713) 935-2123 Society of Translators and Interpreters of FIT British Columbia (STIBC) Fédération Internationale des Metroplex Interpreters and Translators Suite 514, 850 W Hastings Street, Box 34 Traducteurs/International Federation of Association (MITA) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Translators (FIT) 712 Cornfield Drive V6C 1E1 2021 Avenue Union, Bureau 1108 Arlington, TX 76017 Tel: (604) 684-2940 • Fax: (604) 684-2947 Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2S9 Tel: (817) 417-4747 [email protected] • www.stibc.org Tel: (514) 845-0413 • Fax: (514) 845-9903 www.dfw-mita.com [email protected] ENGLAND National Association of Judiciary Institute of Translation & Interpreting (ITI) AUSTRALIA Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT) Exchange House Australian Institute of Interpreters and 551 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3025 494 Midsummer Boulevard Translators, Inc. (AUSIT) New York, NY 10176 Central Milton Keynes P.O. Box A202 Tel: (212) 692-9581 • Fax: (212) 687-4016 MK9 2EA England Sydney South, NSW 1235 Australia [email protected] • www.najit.org Tel: +44 (0) 1908 255905 Tel/Fax: +61 (02) 9626 7046 Fax: +44 (0) 1908 255700 [email protected] • www.ausit.org New England Translators [email protected] • www.iti.org.uk Association (NETA) 27 Wachusett Avenue Arlington, MA 02476 Tel: (781) 648-1731 • Fax: (617) 232-6865 Note: All announcements must be received by the first of the month prior [email protected] • www.netaweb.org to the month of publication (For example, September 1 for October issue). For more information on chapters or to start a chapter, please contact ATA Headquarters. Send updates to Mary David, ATA Chronicle, 225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 590, Alexandria, VA 22314; Tel: (703) 683-6100; Fax: (703) 683-6122; [email protected].

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 57 ATA Accreditation Exam Information

Upcoming Exams California Georgia Minnesota Pennsylvania Canada April 27, 2002 April 6, 2002 March 9, 2002 May 11, 2002 May 11, 2002 San Francisco Atlanta Minneapolis Pittsburgh Toronto Registration Deadline: Registration Deadline: Registration Deadline: Registration Deadline: Registration Deadline: April 12, 2002 March 22, 2002 February 22, 2002 April 26, 2002 April 27, 2002

April 27, 2002 Massachusetts Missouri Texas England San Diego April 28, 2002 April 7, 2002 April 21, 2002 May 11, 2002 Registration Deadline: Waltham Columbia Austin West Sussex April 12, 2002 Registration Deadline: Registration Deadline: (2 sittings A.M. & P.M.) Registration Deadline: April 12, 2002 March 22, 2002 Registration Deadline: April 26, 2002 Colorado April 5, 2002 March 16, 2002 Michigan New Mexico Mexico Denver May 11, 2002 June 1, 2002 Washington September 14, 2002 Registration Deadline: Kalamazoo Albuquerque April 27, 2002 Tijuana March 1, 2002 Registration Deadline: Registration Deadline: Seattle Registration Deadline: April 26, 2002 May 17, 2002 Registration Deadline: August 30, 2002 September 14, 2002 April 12, 2002 Boulder August 31, 2002 New York Puerto Rico Registration Deadline: Novi September 14, 2002 Wisconsin April 6, 2002 August 30, 2002 Registration Deadline: New York City April 27, 2002 San Juan August 16, 2002 Registration Deadline: Milwaukee Registration Deadline: August 30, 2002 Registration Deadline: March 22, 2002 April 12, 2002

Please direct all inquiries regarding general accreditation information to ATA Headquarters at (703) 683-6100. Registration for all accredita- tion exams should be made through ATA Headquarters. All sittings have a maximum capacity and admission is based on the order in which registrations are received. Forms are available from the ATA website or from Headquarters.

Congratulations Congratulations to the Hungarian into English English into Spanish Maria G. Ortiz The Active Member following people who Ildikó E. Palló Elena C. Achaval Buenos Aires, Argentina Review Committee is have successfully Columbus, OH Minneapolis, MN Maria Yolanda Rivera pleased to grant active completed accreditation Vicky E. Bernacki Dallas, TX member status to exams: Portuguese into English Kendall Park, NJ Maria C. Saiz Mary Jane Teague Alexei Mosalsky Mission Viejo, CA Gabriela Bocanete Bogota, Colombia Dutch into English Mercer Island, WA Bogota, Colombia Aura R. Triana-Pacheco Robert A. Croese Spanish into English Marcela A. Caressa Brookeville, MD Simpsonville, SC Joy E. López Catherine M. Muir Buenos Aires, Argentina Marta R. Vigués Parker, CO Maroochydore DC, German into English Buenos Aires, Argentina Carlos J. Fernández Australia Shannon L. Murray English into Chinese Berlin, Germany Eva Weingort Vicksburg, MS Sunshine Wang Sandra M. Friese Sherman Oaks, CA Irvine, CA Jack C. Nowicki Rosario, Argentina Gabriela L. Marietta, GA Virginia Ordaz Kuban Wolochwianski Colorado Springs, CO Rosario, Argentina George T. Pelka Prague, Czech Republic

Kazuko O. Sherman McLean, VA

58 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 41st Annual ATA Conference Selected Spanish-Related Presentation Publication Available for Purchase

If you were unable to attend the ATA Conference in Orlando, or you attended, but couldn’t fit everything into your schedule, you still have the opportunity to enjoy selected sessions related to Spanish that were presented during the con- ference. The SPD has compiled and published some of the sessions related to Spanish as originally presented by their authors. Order your 211-page copy of Selected Spanish-Related Presentations from the ATA 41st Annual Conference in Orlando now. SPD members can enjoy this fabulous publication for $15! It is also offered at a reasonable $20 for non- SPD members. Contact ATA Headquarters today for ordering information!

Looking for a freelance job or a full-time position? Need help finding a translator or interpreter for a freelance job or a full-time position?

Check out ATA’s online Job Bank in the Members Only section of the ATA website at www.atanet.org/membersonly

ATA’s Fax on Demand Need a membership form for a colleague? Want the latest list of exam sites? Call ATA’s Document on Request line, available 24-hours a day: 1-888-990-3282

The call is toll-free and user-friendly...simply follow the voice prompts and have the ATA documents you need faxed to you.

Here’s the current list of documents that are available and their document numbers:

1 Menu 33 Request for Accreditation 57 1999 Chronicle Index 20 Membership Brochure Review 58 2000 Chronicle Index 21 Membership Application 40 List of Publications & Order 59 ATA Code of Professional 22 Alternative Routes to Active or Form Conduct Corresponding Membership 50 Editorial Guidelines 60 ATAware Order Form 30 A Guide to ATA Accreditation 51 Chronicle Advertising Rates 70 Chapters, Affiliated Groups & 31 ATA Accreditation Practice Test 52 1994 Chronicle Index Other Groups Request Form 53 1995 Chronicle Index 80 Proposal for Conference 32 ATA Accreditation Examination 54 1996 Chronicle Index Presentation Registration Form 55 1997 Chronicle Index 90 Model Contract for Translators 56 1998 Chronicle Index

The ATA Chronicle | February 2002 59 MARKETPLACE

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60 The ATA Chronicle | February 2002

American Translators Association Officers

President President-elect Secretary Treasurer Mr. Thomas L. West III Mr. Scott Brennan Ms. Courtney Searls-Ridge Dr. Jiri Stejskal Intermark Language Services Corp. 10005 Cairn Mountain Way German Language Services 7312 Oak Avenue 2555 Cumberland Pkwy, Ste. 295 Bristow, VA 20136-3009 2658 48th Avenue SW Melrose Park, PA 19027 Atlanta, GA 30339 Tel: (703) 393-0365 Seattle, WA 98116 Tel: (215) 635-7090 Tel: (770) 444-3055 Fax: (703) 393-0387 Tel: (206) 938-3600 Fax: (215) 635-9239 Fax: (770) 444-3002 [email protected] Fax: (206) 938-8308 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Directors Committee Chairs Division Administrators

Mr. Kirk Anderson Accreditation Interpretation Policy Chinese Language Literary 2455 Flamingo Drive, #401 Lilian Novas Van Vranken Advisory Frank Mou Clifford E. Landers Miami Beach, FL 33140 Spring, TX Christian Degueldre Pittsburgh, PA Naples, FL Tel: (305) 532-7252 Tel: (281) 374-6813 San Diego, CA Tel: (412) 767-4788 Tel: (941) 513-6972 Fax: (305) 532-0885 [email protected] Tel: (619) 462-6739 Fax: (412) 767-9744 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Active Membership Review Nordic Ms. Beatriz Bonnet Leland D. Wright Mentoring Task Force French Language Edith M. Matteson 7465 E Peakview Avenue Kent, OH Courtney Searls-Ridge Monique-Paule Tubb Ballwin, MO Englewood, CO 80111 Tel: (330) 673-0043 Seattle, WA Chevy Chase, MD Tel/Fax: (636) 207-7256 Tel: (303) 779-1288 Fax: (330) 673-0738 Tel: (206) 938-3600 Tel: (301) 654-2890 [email protected] Fax: (303) 779-1232 [email protected] Fax: (206) 938-8308 Fax: (301) 654-2891 [email protected] courtney@ [email protected] Portuguese Language Budget germanlanguageservices.com Tereza d’Ávila Braga Mr. Robert A. Croese Jiri Stejskal German Language Dallas, TX 204 Neely Crossing Lane Melrose Park, PA Professional Development Dorothee Racette Tel: (972) 690-7730 Simpsonville, SC 29680 Tel: (215) 635-7090 (ATA Programs) Saranac, NY Fax: (972) 690-5088 Tel: (864) 967-3955 Fax: (215) 635-9239 Marian S. Greenfield Tel: (518) 293-7494 [email protected] Fax: (864) 967-4808 [email protected] South Plainfield, NJ Fax: (518) 293-7659 [email protected] Tel: (908) 561-7590 [email protected] Slavic Languages Chapters Fax: (908) 561-3671 Nora Seligman Favorov Ms. Marian S. Greenfield Robert A. Croese msgreenfield@ Interpreters Orlando, FL 2619 Holly Avenue Simpsonville, SC msgreenfieldtranslations.com Helen D. Cole Tel: (407) 679-8151 South Plainfield, NJ 07080 Tel: (864) 967-3955 Silver Spring, MD Fax: (646) 356-1521 Tel: (908) 561-7590 Fax: (864) 967-4808 Public Relations Tel: (301) 572-2855 [email protected] Fax: (908) 561-3671 [email protected] Chris Durban Fax: (301) 572-5708 msgreenfield@ Paris, France [email protected] Spanish Language msgreenfieldtranslations.com Dictionary Review Tel: 33(1)42935802 Rudolf Heller Boris M. Silversteyn Fax: 33(1)43877045 Italian Language Brookfield, MA Prof. Alan K. Melby Venice, FL [email protected] Marcello J. Napolitano Tel: (508) 867-8494 1223 Aspen Avenue Tel/Fax: (941) 408-9643 Milpitas, CA Fax: (508) 867-8064 Provo, UT 84604 [email protected] Kevin S. Hendzel Tel: (408) 422-7008 [email protected] Tel: (801) 378-2144 Arlington, VA Fax: (425) 977-8511 Fax: (801) 377-3704 Divisions Tel: (703) 516-9266 [email protected] Translation Company [email protected] Dorothee Racette Fax: (703) 516-9269 Steven P. Iverson Saranac, NY [email protected] Japanese Language Milwaukee, WI Mr. Robert E. Sette Tel: (518) 293-7494 Izumi Suzuki Tel: (414) 271-1144 109 Biddle Avenue Fax: (518) 293-7659 Novi, MI Fax: (414) 271-0144 Pittsburgh, PA 15221 [email protected] Special Projects Tel: (248) 344-0909 [email protected] Tel: (412) 731-8198 Ann Macfarlane Fax: (248) 344-0092 Fax: (412) 242-1241 Education and Training Seattle, WA [email protected] [email protected] (Non-ATA Programs) Tel: (206) 542-8422 Gertrud Graubart Champe Fax: (206) 546-5065 Ms. Ines Swaney Surry, ME [email protected] 6161 Harwood Avenue Tel: (319) 335-2002 ATA Representatives Oakland, CA 94618 Fax: (319) 335-3417 Terminology Tel: (510) 658-7744 [email protected] Sue Ellen Wright To International Federation of To Joint National Fax: (510) 658-7743 Kent, OH Translators (FIT) Committee for [email protected] Ethics Tel: (330) 673-0043 Peter W. Krawutschke Languages (JNCL) Vacant Fax: (330) 673-0738 Kalamazoo, MI Christopher Réthoré Prof. Madeleine C. Velguth [email protected] Tel: (616) 387-3212 Harrisonburg, VA 2608 E Newport Avenue Honors and Awards Fax: (616) 387-3103 Tel: (540) 568-3512 Milwaukee, WI 53211 Jo Anne Engelbert Translation and Computers [email protected] Fax: (540) 568-6904 Tel: (414) 229-5968 St. Augustine, FL Alan K. Melby FIT: www.fit-ift.org [email protected] Fax: (414) 229-2939 Tel: (904) 460-1190 Provo, UT [email protected] Fax: (904) 460-0913 Tel: (801) 378-2144 To ASTM Translation User [email protected] Fax: (801) 377-3704 Standards Project Mr. Timothy Yuan [email protected] Beatriz A. Bonnet 89-33 Pontiac Street Englewood, CO Queens Village, NY 11427 Tel: (303) 779-1288 Tel: (718) 776-8139 Fax: (303) 779-1232 Fax: (718) 776-3589 [email protected] [email protected]