In This Issue: Relationship-Building with Direct Clients the Role of Interpreters During Disasters ATA Translation Tools Seminar

July 2009 Volume XXXVIII Number 7 The A Publication of the American Translators Association CHRONICLE

In this issue: Relationship-Building with Direct Clients The Role of Interpreters During Disasters ATA Translation Tools Seminar

With this issue:

American Translators Association

New York City | New York Marriott Marquis | October 28–31, 2009

Preliminary Program Supplement to The ATA Chronicle

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Columns and Departments

6 Our Authors 37 Certification Exam Information 7 From the President 37 New ATA-Certified Members and 19 8 From the President-Elect Active Membership Review 9 From the Executive Director 38 Upcming Events 10 Letter to the Editor 40 Success By Association 32 Business Smarts 41 Dictionary Review 33 Blog Trekker 46 The Translation Inquirer 34 GeekSpeak 49 Humor and Translation 36 Member News 50 Directory of Language Services

Cover photograph: The Chrysler Building, New York City, by Jeff Sanfacon 3 The ATA Chronicle (ISSN 1078-6457) is published monthly, except bi-monthly in November/December, by the American Translators Association, 225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 590, Alexandria, VA 22314 USA. Periodicals postage paid at Alexandria, Virginia, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The ATA Chronicle, 225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 590, Advertising Alexandria, VA 22314 USA. The American Translators Association (ATA) was established in 1959 as a not-for-profit professional Directory society to foster and support the professional development of translators and interpreters and to promote the translation and interpreting professions. The subscription rate for a member is $43 (included in the dues payment). The U.S. subscription rate for 5 Across Systems 39 MasterWord Services, Inc. a nonmember is $65. Subscribers in Canada and www.across.net www.masterword.com Mexico add $25; all other non-U.S. subscribers add $45. Single copies are available for $7 per issue. Association of Language Monterey Institute of ©2009 American Translators Association 29 Companies 43 International Studies www.alcus.org http://translate.miis.edu/ndp Reprint Permission: Requests for permission to reprint articles should be sent to the editor of The ATA Chronicle at [email protected]. Binghamton University Multilingual Group 35 http://trip.binghamton.edu 43 www.multilingualgroup.com Editor Jeff Sanfacon Inter-Contact S.A.C. 35 National Language Service Corps [email protected] 27 www.intercontact.com.pe www.nlscorps.org/ata

Proofreader InterHub Technology National Security Agency Sandra Burns Thomson 52 www.interhubtech.com 2 www.nsa.gov/careers Art Directors Ellen Banker 45 JLS Language Corporation 31 Payment Practices Amy Peloff www.jls.com www.paymentpractices.net Advertising John Benjamins Publishing Terminotix Inc. Matt Hicks 31 31 www.benjamins.com www.terminotix.com McNeill Group Inc. [email protected] Kent State University The Language Lab +1-215-321-9662 ext. 19 29 Institute for Applied Linguistics 45 www.thelanguagelab.com Fax: +1-215-321-9636 http://appling.kent.edu Executive Director 29 U.S. Department of State Walter Bacak LinguaText, Ltd. Office of Language Services [email protected] 45 www.linguatextltd.com http://languageservices.state.gov Membership and Wordfast General Information 11 www.wordfast.com Maggie Rowe [email protected] Please see these ads website: www.atanet.org in our companion Preliminary Program

New York University SDL International Moving? School of Continuing and www.translationzone.com Find an error with Professional Studies your address? www.scps.nyu.edu Wordfast www.wordfast.com Send updates to: The ATA Chronicle 225 Reinekers Lane Suite 590 Alexandria, VA 22314 USA Fax +1-703-683-6122 [email protected] 4 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 We chose Across. And so did more than 7,000 of our colleagues. Now it is your turn.

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AZ_ATA_12/08.indd 1 02.12.2008 9:37:41 Uhr Our Authors July 2009

Michael Collins is an ATA-certified German English translator, the VEGAS.com. She is vice-president of the Nevada Interpreters and president of Global Translation Systems, Inc., and the president of Translators Association. Contact: [email protected]. the Carolina Association of Translators and Interpreters. He has been active in translation for 25 years. He has a master’s degree Tuomas Kostiainen is an ATA-certified in Slavic linguistics. Contact: [email protected]. English Finnish translator specializing in technical and medical translation. Betsy Gard is a licensed psychologist in Georgia. She is an affil- In addition, he is an SDL Trados- iate clinical faculty member of Emory University. She is a past pres- approved Trados trainer, and has pro- ident of the Georgia Psychological Association and the co-founder of vided training for numerous the Disaster Response Network of Georgia. She served as one of translators, translator associations, the original American Psychological Association advisors to the and translation companies. He also southeast region for developing state disaster networks. She has writes the “Trados Tip” column in responded to many state and national disasters, and writes and Language Tech News, the newsletter of ATA’s Language Technology speaks on disaster preparedness and disaster response. Contact: Division. He is the president of the Northern California Translators [email protected]. Association. Contact: [email protected].

Judy A. Jenner is a Spanish and German translator in Las Vegas, Nevada, specializing in marketing, information technology, law, tourism, ATA’s 50th Annual Conference e-commerce, and business. She runs Twin Translations with her twin sister. For extensive information about ATA’s 50th She was born in Austria and grew up in Annual Conference on October 28-31, 2009, a trilingual household in Mexico City. please see the or visit She came to the U.S. as a teenager, Preliminary Program earning her MBA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in www.atanet.org/conf/2009. 2001. She is a veteran of Spanish-language online media and the former head of Spanish translation and content management at

5870-ATA Chronicle July 52pp.qxd:7JulyATA.qxd 7/1/09 10:40 AM Page 1

July 2009 Volume XXXVIII The Number 7 A Publication of the American Translators CHRONICLE Association Send a Complimentary Copy In this issue: Relationship-Building with Direct Clients The Role of Interpreters During Disasters If you enjoyed reading this issue of The ATA Chronicle and ATA Translation Tools Seminar think a colleague or organization would enjoy it too, we’ll send With this issue: a free copy.

American Translators Association New York City | New York Marriott Marquis | October 28–31, 2009 Simply e-mail the recipient’s name and address to Maggie Rowe at ATA Headquarters—[email protected]—and she will

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50Years 1959 – 2009

6 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 From the President Jiri Stejskal [email protected]

Client Outreach: Coming Soon to a Computer Near You

In today’s uncertain economic times, it is more important than ever to reach out to clients, both existing and ATA’s new Client Outreach Kit will provide you with potential ones. But how? Most translators are linguists, not sales people or the tools you need to reach out to clients, both marketing experts. Enter ATA’s Client Outreach Kit. This kit, developed existing and potential ones. jointly by Lillian Clementi, Chris Durban, and Dorothee Racette, will provide you with the tools you need. Addressing client outreach is the next logical step after our successful the benefits of communicating with it and adapt it to your particular audi- media outreach campaign. As you people in their own language. ence—be it a local chamber of com- know, in recent years ATA has The initial draft was presented at merce event, brown bag lunch at a law appeared regularly not only in local last year’s conference in Orlando, and firm, or any other opportunity you media, but also on national television the response was very positive. The might have to show your wares. But and in major newspapers in the U.S. current version includes the following wait, there’s more! The kit also and abroad, in an ongoing drive to four tips to help your clients get their includes tips on developing and deliv- raise awareness of the translation and translation done right: ering a so-called “elevator speech” (a interpreting professions. Our mes- quick overview of your services), sage—you have to hire a professional 1. Plan ahead. effective public speaking, and hand- to get it right—is being consistently ling questions. Not to mention how to delivered to millions of viewers and 2. Hire a professional. get invited to speak at events in the readers. Now you can build on the first place. success of these media efforts by 3. Spend wisely and be realistic Details on ATA’s Client Outreach using the new client outreach mat- about your budget. Kit will be available on ATA’s website erials to tailor ATA’s broader message by August. You can also attend a to your specific clientele, with im- 4. Listen to your translator. 90-minute client outreach session mediate and tangible results for your at ATA’s 50th Annual Conference, practice. The message is loud and clear: October 28-31, in New York City. The The centerpiece of ATA’s Client “With a professional translator, you session will cover key supporting Outreach Kit is a customizable are not just buying words. You are skills and help you develop effective PowerPoint presentation that you can harnessing expertise—the power of presentation habits, building on the use when addressing potential cust- language—to get your text right the introduction to the Client Outreach omers. Building on our media talking first time around…freeing you to PowerPoint at last year’s conference. points and backed up by ATA’s pop- focus on your business.” Stay tuned for yet another excellent ular booklet Getting It Right, the new This presentation, with notes and membership benefit. Client Outreach Kit highlights the tips for presenters, will be available risks of not working with professional free of charge to all ATA members. translators or interpreters and explains You will be able to put your name on

Click Your Way to ATA’s 50th Annual Conference! New York City, New York | October 28-31, 2009 | New York Marriott Marquis

Read the most up-to-date information on sessions and other activities: www.atanet.org/conf/2009 Register online: www.atanet.org/conf/2009/register.htm

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 7 From the President-Elect Nicholas Hartmann [email protected]

“Too much of a good thing...

...can be wonderful,” according to Mae West. If that is the case, this year’s 50th anniversary One of the many good things about every ATA conference in New York City’s Times Square will be wonderful in many conference is its educational program. ways. One of the many good things about every ATA conference is its educational program: an annual opportunity for It is also very likely that atten- too much of almost every good thing a members of the Association to learn not dance at the New York conference city can offer: art, music of every only from one another, but also from will set a new record. In this case, too, genre and category, bookstores for other important figures in the transla- quantity creates quality: everyone every subject, restaurants for every tion and interpreting professions and who attends a conference not only taste, shopping for every budget, and beyond. Each year the program is brings desires and aspirations, but the pervasive buzz of a city that for assembled from hundreds of proposals also has something distinctive and centuries has been a magnet for im- relating to dozens of subject areas and helpful to share. Combine that profes- migrants from all over the world. language combinations: no two submis- sional and personal variety with our Wherever you stand in New York—in sions are alike. In an ideal world, every characteristic love of talk and colle- Times Square, in the great hall of the proposal would be scheduled as a pre- giality, and the result is a fluid, Metropolitan Museum of Art, on the sentation from which others could informal educational experience steps of Lincoln Center, in Battery learn. The time and space available for every bit as enriching as the more Park looking out at the Statue of each conference are always limited, structured program of presentations. Liberty and Ellis Island—you are at however, so the task of creating a pro- Every person who joins this grand the center of something. This unique gram becomes one of selection. This conversation makes it more valuable place will, for a few days, serve as a year that job was made even more diffi- for the entire group, and the sheer fitting stage and vessel for our own cult than usual by the extraordinarily number of attendees this year should unique mix of languages and cultures large number of proposals and their make for an extraordinary event. and backgrounds. Be sure to come and very high quality, but the wonderful Lastly, this conference will take share the experience. result is a program of unprecedented place within a cultural and social scope and depth that offers literally matrix like no other. New York offers something for everyone.

www.atanet.org/conf/2009

8 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 From the Executive Director Walter Bacak, CAE [email protected]

New Member Benefit: Member-Provider Program

Who knows what products one vendor may offer the same ATA 50th Annual and services you need to do your job? or a similar product or service. Conference Update Your peers. This line of thinking, The ATA 50th Annual Conference along with ongoing efforts to enhance • This is a members-only program. Preliminary Program was mailed with the value of your ATA membership, this issue. The program provides an led to the creation of ATA’s Member- Remember, the program has to per- overview of the plans for what is sure Provider Program. tain to the translation and interpreting to be a memorable event as ATA ATA has long-standing relationships professions. So, dictionary and soft- marks its 50th anniversary. Register with nonmember vendors who offer ware providers would most likely be today for ATA’s 50th Annual products and services, such as credit approved while, for example, multi- Conference at the Marriott Marquis, cards, express delivery services, and level marketing programs for cos- New York, New York, October 28-31, banking services, across a spectrum of metics or household products would 2009. You can register online or by professions. While these services are not be approved. completing the registration form valuable, they are not specific to the To be considered for the Member- included in the program. translation and interpreting professions. Provider Program, you must submit a Please be sure to check ATA’s web- In response, ATA has established the completed application and provide site for the most up-to-date conference Member-Provider Program to create an information about your program or information: www.atanet.org/conf/2009. avenue for Association members to service, including the proposed dis- In addition to registering for the offer products and services to other count or preferred terms of use—free conference, please be sure to make Association members at special ATA upgrade, extended warranty, etc.—for your hotel reservation. The rooms at rates and preferred terms of use. ATA members. The participating ven- the Marriott Marquis are going fast. Some program highlights: dors and their products/services will To reserve your room, please call the be featured on the website and in The Marriott Marquis (+1-800-843-4898) • Vendor must be an ATA member. ATA Chronicle. and be sure to ask for the ATA For more information and to apply, room rate. • Products and services offered please check out www.atanet.org/ must be related to the practice of member_provider or contact ATA translation and interpreting. Member Services and Project Development Manager Mary David, • Translation, interpreting, editing, [email protected]. and other similar services cannot be offered through this program.

• Member-provided products and ATA Member-Provider Program services are not sponsored, www.atanet.org/member_provider endorsed, or guaranteed by ATA. ATA’s Member-Provider Program gives members the opportunity to offer their products and services to other ATA members. • Vendor must ensure either: ONLINE a) discounts; ATA 50th Annual Conference Preview b) favorable conditions of sale; or c) favorable conditions of use. NOW www.atanet.org/conf/2009 These must be equal to or of Plan now to help ATA celebrate its 50th anniversary in the Big Apple! greater value than those offered Visit to nonmembers. www.atanet.org ATA Job Bank www.atanet.org/jb • These agreements are non- Check out this easy-to-use online service designed to help exclusive—meaning more than connect translators, interpreters, and project managers to new employment opportunities.

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 9 Letter to the Editor

Term-Mining Patents many short words such as “leg” and by taking existing pairs of source and I enjoyed reading Bruce Popp’s “arm.” Nonetheless, I would give, if target documents or bilingual transla- article, “Using Patents to Find the not an arm and a leg, profuse thanks tion memories, analyzing them, and Terminology You Need,” in the May for such a program. presenting you with a proposed trans- 2009 issue. As Dr. Popp says, many lated terminology list. Examples in this patent office sites can be mined for Isabel A. Leonard category include SDL’s MultiTerm terminology. In the case of the United Patent Translator Extract or Terminotix’s SynchroTerm. States Patent and Trademark Office Watertown, MA Other TEnTs (translation environment website, patents issued since the start tools), such as Similis or Déjà Vu, also of the computer era can be copied into Hello, Isabel: offer text-mining as a feature rather Word or other documents and I am fairly certain one could write than a standalone product (in the processed. some kind of macro that would do this former, only for European languages, This thought made me revisit a or similar tasks (though I think you and in the latter, only as a monolingual long-cherished dream of mine—to would be better off avoiding Word concordance). write a Word macro or other proce- and choosing instead an advanced text Many of these applications allow dure that would: editor like UltraEdit). However, there you to “black-list” certain terms—sort 1. sort an entire legacy document, are already applications that do very of what you describe with your fil- such as a U.S. patent, alphabeti- similar things—and maybe even in a tering procedure, only in this case not cally, and superior way. on the basis of the length of a term, 2. delete all words shorter than, There are essentially two kinds of but on a specific term or phrase—thus say, five characters in length (to programs. The first are called concord- giving you a much more accurate way get rid of words such as “and” ancers (see http://en.wikipedia.org/ of excluding words such as “and” and and “the”). The result would be wiki/Concordancer for a list of some of “the.” something like a text-related these tools). These build monolingual Hope this helps. glossary. Has anyone attempted lists of terms that are contained in this, I wonder? your file. Jost Zetzsche If successful, such a macro might The second kind are multilingual Winchester Bay, OR be useful for biochemical patent ter- text-mining applications. These pro- minology, for example; less so for grams offer the possibility of building mechanical patents, in which we find up terminology databases or glossaries

We Want You!

The ATA Chronicle enthusiastically encourages members and nonmembers to submit articles of interest. For Submission Guidelines, log onto www.atanet.org/chronicle. The ATA Chronicle is published 11 times per year, with a combined November/December issue. Submission deadlines are two months prior to publication date.

10 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 Pushing the boundaries. Expanding productivity.

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The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 11 The Entrepreneurial Linguist: The Art of Relationship- Building with Direct Clients By Judy A. Jenner

As linguists, we excel in our What many of us have not thought about too much is understanding of the humanities and have in-depth knowledge of transla- how to build relationships with repeat customers, tion, both in theory and in practical application. However, what many of especially direct clients. us have not thought about too much is how to build relationships with repeat customers, especially direct clients. It is quite resource-intensive to build The Power of Relationships keting side of our small businesses, I and nurture these relationships, but While business school certainly does would say that the most relevant lesson they are worth the effort, both finan- not provide a road map for starting your is to know that your long-term success cially and from a professional satis- own small enterprise, I learned how to largely depends on the strength of the faction standpoint. This article will develop a marketing plan and to think relationships you form with repeat address ways to build relationships very strategically about a business’s customers. and secure repeat business with growth. Colleagues frequently ask me Repeat customers are the clients existing direct customers. about the most important lesson I every small business should strive for, learned in business school. For the mar- as they will eliminate costs for new

12 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 customer acquisition. Building those relationships should be an integral part of any translation professional’s marketing strategy. If your work is of Building relationships with repeat customers should be very high quality, it will speak for an integral part of any translation professional’s itself and you will, most likely, be recommended. However, you should marketing strategy. not rely solely on such endorsements for a marketing plan. In the long run, your marketing strategy will probably be a combination of referrals and actively acquiring new customers. easy for your customer and to build a Learn from the pros. For example, solid working relationship. If you do Target’s competitive advantage is the fact Adjusting Your Mindset not know what the customer wants, that they are hip and edgy and are good Stop thinking of yourself as “just” ask. A Post-it on my desk reminds me corporate citizens, donating significant a freelance linguist and start thinking to think of myself as a customer, and amounts to charity each month. Another of yourself as a business (whether you every time a potential client calls or example is the Swedish carmaker Volvo. are incorporated or not). This mindset e-mails me for a quote, I ask myself: Volvo’s competitive advantage has will help you manage your activities “If I were the person on the other side always been safety, and their brand has in a more strategic way. of the transaction, what would I become synonymous with high-end cars want?” Seeing any business transac- that consistently score very high on all You are selling your services; there- tion from your customers’ point of consumer safety tests. fore, you are a business. Start view is a powerful tool. behaving like one! A one-person busi- Find out how you can add value to a ness operated out of a spare room is just Competitive Edge customer’s supply chain. As a sup- as legitimate as a Fortune 100 company. It is important to find your compet- plier, you already add value to the cus- Most of your transactions will likely be itive advantage. What are you really tomer’s business processes by on the so-called B2B (business-to-busi- good at? What are you better at than providing linguistic services. However, ness) level, and you are an equal partner your colleagues? to really impress clients, think of your in these transactions. Give yourself a value beyond mere translating. pat on the back—welcome to being an Tell your potential customers what Businesses that enjoy stellar successes entrepreneur! If you need any help with you excel at or what makes your frequently do this, and you should do incorporating (which has considerable translation services unique and desir- the same. Spend some time thinking tax benefits) or anything else, try using able. This is your competitive advan- about what specific additional benefits the free services offered by the Small tage. Many translators posting their you can offer to customers. For Business Administration’s SCORE services on large translation websites example, for one of our customers, we division, where retired executives can say “fast, reliable, good.” These really know that we are the last link in a long help you with everything from creating are not selling points, but only the bare chain of employees who work on a business plan to seeking loans. (See minimum of what every purchaser of printed materials before they go to the links provided on page 15 for more translation services should expect. If press. Translation is the very last step, information.) your customer sees 20 postings with and we frequently find errors in the these three adjectives, how will they source text, which we gently but explic- Think of yourself as a customer. choose? You guessed it—probably ran- itly point out to the client. Thus, we save Now that you are thinking of yourself domly. So what points will help you sell them money and ensure the quality of as a business, put yourself in the cus- your services? Examples of competitive their source-language printed materials, tomers’ shoes. If you were them, what advantages include 24-hour service, even though it is not technically our job. would you want? This is an essential working as a translation and editing question that you must ask yourself team, and offering translation services Build Relationships with Customers frequently. Your goal is to make things on holidays. If you think of yourself as a ➡

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 13 The Entrepreneurial Linguist: The Art of Relationship-Building with Direct Clients Continued business, you might surely realize that turning in a great product is not enough. Here are some more tips on how to enhance your client’s experience. Main Points to Nurturing

Follow up with a customer within a Client Relationships few days of turning in a project to 7 see if he or she has any additional questions or if there is anything else 1. You are selling your services. Therefore, you are a business. Behave like one. you can do. It is surprising how many contractors do not follow up on their 2. Think of yourself as a customer. If you were a customer, what would you want? work. Your clients will be delighted that you checked to see if there were 3. Find your competitive advantage. any problems integrating your work into the final product, whatever it may 4. Develop good marketing materials. be. Offer your assistance if there are any issues. 5. Look at the time you invest in client acquisition as a long-term investment. Go the extra mile for your clients. How can you add value to their businesses? If you know your customer is under 6. time pressure, you could also deliver 7. Allocate your time wisely. large projects in smaller batches, thus making the end processing easier on the customer. This might not be that convenient for you, or chocolates for a major holiday. We are happy with your services, it is infi- because in latter stages of the project keep notes on our customers’ preferences nitely less expensive for them to rely and upon final revision you might in a simple Excel spreadsheet. on your services again instead of change some terminology, but think of searching for another vendor. yourself as a customer. Go the extra mile. Turn in a project early if you can. Volunteer to help Building a Brand Check in with your favorite clients at your client find services you do not You will not be able to get repeat the beginning of the month, asking provide (other languages, specializa- customers if they cannot remember them about the status of their proj- tions). Offer analysis and suggestions your name or are unable to find you. ects so you might reserve adequate upon customer request. Be generous Ideally, you want to be the first name time for them. This is not only a very with your knowledge, even if you are that comes to mind when decision- proactive way to handle your business, not getting paid for it directly. makers are ready to hire a freelance but it also potentially gives you more Sometimes you have to give first. translator. You can achieve this by control over your project flow. building a brand and by making con- Reap the rewards. Once you have tinuous contact. Here is your to-do list: Become a customer “concierge.” Keep built those relationships, your cus- information about your contact persons tomers will be less sensitive to price. Create a website and use an associ- handy (e.g., is someone getting married Customers want to receive good value ated e-mail address. With Google or having a baby?). Just like any good for their money, and hopefully you will Sites, you can build your own tem- hotel knows its customers’ preferences be such an integral part of their inter- plate-based site and host it for $10 per for breakfast, pillows, and even entertain- national strategy that someone who year. (It may not be top-of-the-line, ment, you need to learn enough about could offer services for slightly less but it will establish your online pres- your customers to show them you care will not be a feasible option for your ence.) Choose a memorable business about them on a personal level. Consider client. In addition, customers also go name and URL address that is easy to sending holiday cards, baby shower gifts, through a cost-benefit analysis: if they remember and non-generic.

14 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 who have no intention of buying your services, as their goal was simply to Stop thinking of yourself as “just” a freelance linguist get their business card into your hand. Consider changing the way you think and start thinking of yourself as a business (whether about networking. As a small business owner, you you are incorporated or not). have to integrate your networking into your everyday life. I simply talk about what I do when asked at any event I attend, and very frequently, someone Get a logo. This does not have to be • Pitch an article about your small will tell me about someone who is fancy or expensive—it could just be business to your local paper. looking for a translator. This just hap- your initials. Have a Photoshop-savvy • Ask your university alumni maga- pened at a baby shower last week— friend draw it or barter for the service zine to profile you. who knew? I did not go to the baby with a graphic design student at the • Write letters to the editor if you read shower with the intention of doing local community college. an article about our profession and business, but many times life and busi- have an insightful comment to make. ness overlap. Be ready for it! As a busi- Put the logo everywhere. Once you ness owner, you are never really off the have a logo, make sure that it appears The New Networking clock. on your business cards, letterhead, We have all been to many net- quotes, invoices, and anything else working meetings, traditionally Time is What You Make of It you send. Reinforcing it is key. hosted by chambers of commerce and As a business that is providing a other professional organizations in the service, your only resource is your Maintain continuous and meaningful community. While those are certainly time. Use it wisely. Be sure to think contact with clients. This will be good interesting events, they might not about how and where you want to for your relationship building, and it will always yield new and meaningful spend it. If you do that, you are on also remind your customers once again contacts. The problem is one of your way to thinking of yourself as a who you are (and they will see your nice supply and demand—there are too business owner and maximizing your logo on your letterhead and return many sellers and not enough buyers. time and your effort! address label). A quick thank-you note You might end up with a stack of busi- (e-mail is fine) saying that you have ness cards from fellow professionals received payment is also a good idea. For example, we routinely thank our best customers for their speedy processing of our invoices. Develop a simple public relations Useful Links campaign. Public relations is a time- consuming project, but the more you get your name out in the community, Google Sites Small Business Administration the more visible you are, thus www.google.com/apps/intl/en/group/ SCORE increasing the chances of customers index.html www.score.org/index.html either remembering who you are (Includes custom e-mail, such as [email protected].) (“Wasn’t she just in the business weekly this morning?”) or wanting to VistaPrint work with you based on the positive www.vistaprint.com coverage you have received. Here are (Buy the premium business cards) a few more ways to get your name out there:

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 15 Professional Associations: They Are Not Just for Professionals By Michael Collins

Whenever I speak to groups of translators, I often ask how many in the New energy in any organization flows mostly from the room started out planning to work in translation or interpreting. Very few bottom up, but a helping hand reaching down is hands go up. Most respond that they were guided into the field by an important as well. admired mentor, or that they stumbled upon it as part of some other training, schooling, or work. Still others say they “fell into it” on the road to something flows mostly from the bottom up, but can do for them—and what they can else, and enjoyed it so much that they a helping hand reaching down is do for it. just stayed. In short, they were influ- important as well. For students, pro- Belonging to any professional enced or inspired as students or begin- fessional associations can be that association offers benefits to student ners by more experienced individuals. helping hand. members. These benefits can be Thanks to the efforts of associa- My local ATA chapter—the broken down into tangibles and intan- tions like ATA and its divisions, chap- Carolina Association of Translators gibles. Some are quite obvious, others ters, and affiliates, more and more and Interpreters (CATI)—has been less so. Let us look at the tangible school- and college-age students are working to increase student member- benefits first. being exposed to translation and inter- ship. As part of this drive, CATI has preting as potential careers. The implemented a number of initiatives, Tangible Benefits incredible shrinking planet we live on including student membership schol- Face-to-Face Networking with has also increased awareness of our arships, an informal mentoring pro- Active Professionals: Just as it is professions. Professional associations gram, and reduced fees to CATI important for professionals to network offer an excellent platform from events. CATI also held a series of with prospective clients and fellow which to share knowledge about the panel discussions for student and new professionals, students must have an field with potential future colleagues. members to help them better under- opportunity to engage with active New energy in any organization stand what a professional association translators and interpreters so they can

16 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 Just as it is important for professionals to network with learn more about the field. While there may be some occasions for this in aca- prospective clients and fellow professionals, students demic settings (particularly in some of the university-level translation pro- must have an opportunity to engage with active grams that are springing up), students in traditional language-learning cur- translators and interpreters so they can learn more ricula may have few options for about the field. meeting people active in translation and interpreting. Professional associations, particularly local chapters, offer opportunities for this type of networking. Volunteering: Volunteering is an membership in a professional associa- Workshops and conferences are usu- excellent way for student members to tion can benefit student members. ally offered at reduced rates for stu- contribute to their association. Most dent members, and most chapters will professional associations are hungry Résumé-building: When it comes to have free social events as well. for volunteers, and extra hands and considering whether to make the dues minds are invaluable when organizing investment, it is tempting to think Current Information on Work and events and activities. In return, helping only in terms of whether it will pay Training Events: The operative word out with the association can raise a off in additional work. In other words, here is “information.” Student members student member’s profile above the if I pay dues of X, will it be returned should not be competing with profes- crowd. An association board member to me in X dollars of profit as a direct sionals for work assignments, and most is likely to find it far easier to write a result of my listing in the associa- are aware that they lack the qualifica- letter of recommendation for a student tion’s directory? While this is some- tions to accept such assignments. member who frequently volunteers thing that can be measured directly, it However, there is valuable knowledge than for someone who does not other- is important to remember that there to be gained from the broadcast infor- wise stand out. CATI offers student are related benefits that are often indi- mation that most associations send out membership discounts for student vol- rect and intangible. to their members, including job listings, unteers. Other associations may offer As an employer of translation and volunteer and shadowing opportunities, similar options. interpreting professionals, I see many and entry-level training workshops. résumés in the course of a week. One of Other Association-based Programs the things I look for is whether a job Publishing: Most associations have and Initiatives: CATI has initiated an seeker is serious enough about his or her newsletters or other publications. These informal mentoring program called profession to belong to one or more pro- publications are always seeking locally- “Learning the Ropes,” in which expe- fessional associations. Someone who is produced content, and students can pro- rienced members make themselves giving back to the profession and inter- vide a unique perspective to readers available to student and new members acting with other professionals is more who have been engaged day-to-day on who may have general questions about likely to be up to date on the latest the professional side for a long time. the profession and related topics. Other trends and tools in use. From the student Moreover, getting those first publica- associations may have their own initia- member’s perspective, membership can tion credits can be a valuable addition to tives. Such programs offer an excellent be a great icebreaker with a prospective a résumé, and can help newcomers start opportunity for students to pick the employer and a positive addition to a honing their com munication skills. brains of veterans, and for veterans to résumé during those first post-college Another possibility is for student mem- give something back in the form of job interviews. bers to propose that their association knowledge and advice. add a “student’s corner” to the Connectedness: Translation and inter- newsletter dedicated exclusively to stu- Intangible Benefits preting are skill-based professions that dent member contributions. In addition to the benefits above, are dominated by individual free- there is a host of intangible ways lancers and small businesses. Most of ➡

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 17 Professional Associations: They Are Not Just for Professionals Continued us do our work in relative isolation, previously. The range of experience in professionals up to date on what is communicating with colleagues via e- any group of language professionals happening in schools, and what mail and during the occasional work- is likely to be great, and student mem- approaches instructors are using. The shop or conference. Contact between bers can quiz veterans about how their exchange of ideas brings a refreshing students and professionals in work set- language skills may help them with a dynamism to professional interactions tings is even rarer. Association socials and other events can help students forge connections with other members. The demand for internships in the translation and interpreting field far Student members can add a unique perspective outstrips availability. The number of translation agencies that have the to discussions within an association, and the resources and time to devote to an intern is limited. Association events organization benefits from the energy and can be a good place to seek out pos- volunteerism they bring to the table. sible internship opportunities and create that face-to-face impression that can make all the difference.

Learning What You Don’t Know potential career in health care, inter- within an association. This is not to be As the famous quote goes: “A little national business, negotiation, foreign underestimated, particularly in knowledge is a dangerous thing.” service, or law, for example. I often today’s economic climate where we Many inexperienced language ask students to imagine a scenario are all being forced to confront a learners are unaware of the level of where they are competing for, say, a changing business landscape. skill required to translate or interpret nursing position. Their qualifications Most professional associations offer properly. I speak to and correspond are the same as those of their com- reduced rates to attract student mem- with many students in their first or petitors, except that they are fluent in bers. This is because they understand the second year of language study who both Spanish and English and their values and benefits of having student start out convinced that they will be competitors are monolingual. Who is members. It is up to student members to qualified to interpret at a high level most likely to be hired? take advantage of all that these associa- within a year or so. tions have to offer. At events and activities, student Students Have Much to Offer Belonging to a professional associa- members have a chance to see and While students can certainly ben- tion is a bit like the old saying that hap- hear professionals talk about what efit in many ways from membership piness is like a butterfly: chase it and it their work entails. They learn about in a professional association, the eludes you, go about your business and ethical dilemmas, client engagement, arrangement is a win for the associa- it will sit on your shoulder. The benefits work habits, professional behavior, tion as well. As mentioned above, stu- I have described here are real, but indi- specializations, skill sets, and much dent members can add a unique viduals who join an association more. All of this acts to dispel the all- perspective to discussions within an expecting good fortune to start flowing too-prevalent notion that “anyone association, and the organization ben- their way instantly are missing the with two languages can do it,” and efits from the energy and volun- point. As with any organization, you get impresses upon newcomers to the teerism they bring to the table. While back what you put in. Simply joining field that translation and interpreting there is much to be gained from and expecting the benefits to fall from are skills and an art that take time and belonging, there is also a lot to give. the sky is asking for disappointment. If effort to develop and refine. And give and take is what associa- you join, roll up your sleeves, jump in, In addition, networking with other tions are all about. and get involved. I guarantee that before members can result in valuable infor- Student members can take what long that butterfly will be there on your mation on career opportunities that they learn back to their classmates shoulder. had perhaps not occurred to a student and instructors. They can also bring

18 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 The Role of Interpreters During Disasters By Betsy Gard

Interpreters provide a vital lifeline, facilitating communication in times of need. The complexi- Recognizing how our thoughts feed directly into our ties of language and cultural differences pose serious barriers for reactions is perhaps the most fundamental of all stress emergency relief personnel in management strategies. assisting limited-English-proficient (LEP) individuals. The inability to communicate adds to the stress of disaster survivors and puts them at a higher risk for experiencing emo- uals and families during an emer- be long lines and wait times to receive tional trauma. Interpreters can help gency by providing services in the services such as federal aid or food or ease survivors’ sense of vulnerability community. This means that inter- clothing vouchers. Resources such as and enable the response team to preters will most likely be assisting electricity, cell phones, faxes, com- assess the situation and provide mental health professionals during puters, and copy machines may not be appropriate services more efficiently. crisis counseling. Disaster crisis working or in limited supply. Although rewarding, interpreters counseling is a specialized service Maneuvering around the scene might thinking of volunteering for disaster involving rapid assignment and tem- also be difficult due to the presence of relief work need to understand what is porary deployment of staff who must police or security checkpoints, as was involved. This article presents an meet multiple demands and work in the case at 9/11 sites. Due to the overview of what interpreters can marginal conditions and in unfamiliar unpredictability of the environment, expect when working in traumatic sit- settings such as shelters, recovery interpreters are likely to encounter uations, including symptoms of stress service centers, and mass care facili- individuals who are in a high state of and coping strategies. ties. These settings are often crowded, anxiety as they try to return their lives chaotic, and subject to constant to some state of normalcy. Intense Working Environment change, especially in the first few In addition to helping ensure accu- Volunteers primarily assist individ- days following the event. There may rate verbal communication ➡

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 19 The Role of Interpreters During Disasters Continued between survivors and the support treatment. They may not understand reason, it would be helpful for the staff from local and government agen- their own symptoms or that the dis- mental health professional and the cies providing aid, volunteer inter- aster may be aggravating already interpreter to take a few moments preters might be called upon to existing physical or emotional condi- before talking to the individual to translate written documents such as tions. Even if there are no signs of address the following areas: aid relief forms, brochures, and other physical injury, there is still an emo- basic documents, or to interpret infor- tional toll. Survivors may be in shock • What are the goals of the inter- mation over the phone. If the need or denial. They may put their emo- view/interaction (e.g, provide arises, they should also be prepared to tional needs secondary as they information on available services, help out in other, non-language capac- struggle to secure the basic necessities assess the extent of emotional ities, such as serving food, clearing for themselves and their families. In trauma)? rubble, and accompanying emergency many cases, survivors’ primary goal is personnel on house checks. This type to get their lives back in order, which • If the individual was recommended of work requires both emotional and includes filing the necessary paper- for counseling by another member physical stamina. work to receive the aid they need to of the response team, are there any accomplish this goal. Even if sur- specific symptoms or concerns that Working Dynamics vivors are bilingual, their English were noted? In a disaster situation, there are skills may break down due to stress many limitations that are not present and anxiety. • Are there any issues that might be in a controlled clinical environment The interpreter may be invaluable adding to the stress of the situation such as a doctor’s or psychologist’s in providing insight to help promote (e.g, political, racial, personal)? office, making things much more better rapport and to reduce stress challenging for both the mental health during the information gathering These general questions can be applied professional and the interpreter. For example, in a clinical setting, it is much easier for the interpreter and the mental health professional to take the time to discuss the objectives of the Given the demands involved in this type of session. Topics might include the client’s background, symptoms, the work, interpreters need to assess their own range of treatment options and services, and any paperwork or tricky physical and emotional state carefully prior legal issues that might need to be addressed.1 When working in a dis- to accepting an assignment. aster zone, however, such a consultation might not be possible. It is not uncommon for the interpreter and mental health professional to be process. The interpreter may be the to most cases, and they provide a thrown together with very little time only person with an understanding of simple structure for getting the most to prepare before interviewing an an individual’s or group’s cultural, reli- out of the interview (an important individual. gious, and socioeconomic background. point, considering that time is critical). It is necessary for interpreters to be Sharing cultural-specific information conversant with how sudden trauma with the mental health professional Understanding the affects people so that they can adapt may prove crucial in terms of being Stages of Recovery their approach accordingly. Unlike in able to provide the most appropriate Several factors determine the a clinical setting, where an individual treatment. Misunderstandings can lead extent to which interpreters will be usually chooses to seek treatment for to intense distrust and alienation, affected by the events unfolding a condition, disaster survivors may which can be dangerous for the indi- around them. Perhaps one of the not even realize they are in need of vidual and the community. For this biggest factors is timing. There are

20 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 or even worse, as discriminatory.2 Interpreters need to understand that the Those who work as part of a recovery team need to emotion directed toward them is not personal, but an outgrowth of sur- realize that everyone is vulnerable to the psychological vivors’ emotions related to the disaster. impact of a disaster. Tips for Recognizing and Dealing With Stress Those who work as part of a recovery team need to realize that everyone is vulnerable to the psychological impact of a emotional phases and activities asso- Honeymoon Phase: This period can disaster. Even very experienced disaster ciated with each point in a disaster last up to six months after the heroic responders can be traumatized. Inter - recovery effort. An interpreter phase. There is generally still a great preters’ expectations and experience, arriving at the scene within the first deal of chaos, but this is also when their physical and emotional health, their few days after a disaster is likely to many resources are being sent to the personal issues, and the amount of sup- encounter a different scenario than the disaster site to help those in need. This port available at the disaster site can interpreter arriving several weeks outpouring of assistance can help to mediate the degree to which they are after the event. The interpreter who create the illusion that the healing impacted by the experience. understands the emotional and phys- process will be quick. There might also There are multiple stressors that ical stress he or she is likely to be a sense of denial in the community frequently affect disaster responders. encounter at the various stages of over just how much aid is needed. For instance, if this is a mass casualty recovery will be better prepared for event, emergency personnel will have the rigors of working with individuals Disillusionment Phase: This phase to contend with especially traumatic who may be overwrought and have can begin at any time when it becomes scenes, such as relatives identifying many physical and emotional needs. clear that either the resources are not the remains of loved ones or friends. forthcoming, not sufficient, or that the Passing makeshift memorials covered Heroic Phase: This phase typically disaster’s impact was greater than ini- with pictures of the missing or dead occurs in the early days of the tially thought. In this phase, survivors might become a daily occurrence. recovery effort, when the community and responders may feel stress and Other stress factors include: is working long hours to make sure frustration over community politics everyone is safe and to overcome the and governmental policies and proce- • Working long hours with little rest grave challenges the situation pres- dures, disappointment that there may between shifts. ents. As survivors struggle to begin not be enough resources to restore lives recovery and rebuild their lives, the to their original status quickly, or be • Working in an environment that is immediate priorities at this stage are to overwhelmed by the fact that their lives constantly changing. This can take care of survivors’ basic needs, will be forever changed by the event. cause responders to feel a lack of such as gaining access to water, food, Survivors are involved in assessing closure, especially if they see the shelter, medical care, and security. damage, cleaning up their homes, individuals they are trying to help Emergency responders are also finding out what kinds of financial only once. dealing with those who may be experi- assistance they can secure, and encing shock, confusion, and anxiety, grieving the loss of their pre-disaster • Separation from family and social and with survivors who are distraught lives. At this post-disaster stage, there support networks. over missing loved ones. For example, may be more frustration and anger after Hurricane Katrina, many evac- expressed alongside of sadness and • Inability to share experiences or depth uees’ cell phones did not work, grieving. If interpreters are working of feelings with loved ones. causing anxiety over not knowing the with an agency, the agency and all of whereabouts of family and friends, or its workers may be seen as sources of • Interpersonal and culturally-based even if they were alive. bureaucratic inefficiency, as uncaring, conflict among team mem- ➡

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 21 The Role of Interpreters During Disasters Continued

bers who are forced into prolonged closeness and interdependence.

Continuous exposure to survivors’ traumatic stories and emotional dis- Online Resources tress can also lead to vicarious trauma. Vicarious trauma is a nega- tively changed sense of self that National Mental Health Information Center develops from close and prolonged http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/cmhs/EmergencyServices work with traumatized individuals. This experience may result in a set of American Psychological Association symptoms and reactions for the professional that parallel Post Traumatic Managing Traumatic Stress: Stress Syndrome. Signs of this can Tips for Recovering from Disasters and Other Traumatic Events include fatigue and other physical ail- http://apahelpcenter.org/articles/article.php?id=22 ments, distress, reliving the negative memories of interactions, and an altered world view.3 Headington Institute In some instances, responders may Continuing Education Series have lost loved ones or have signifi- www.headington-institute.org cant losses of property, which will most likely affect their attitude and put them at even greater risk for over- U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs identifying with the individuals they www.va.gov have been assigned to help. This can lead to feelings of inadequacy among Publications on Mental Health & Disaster Issues for Responders rescue personnel, particularly when there may be limited resources to deal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration with the issues. Responders may think http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/disasterrelief/first.aspx there is little they can do to help survivors, other than to listen to their suf- Red Cross fering. Vicarious trauma can eventually www.redcross.org lead to burnout. Being aligned too strongly with the survivors can Federal Emergency Management Agency alienate members of the relief team, Online Training for Volunteers which can significantly impact an individual’s ability to feel comfort- www.fema.gov/prepared/train.shtm able seeking needed support. For this reason, it is important to be mindful of of symptoms and reactions that can lead to burnout and long-term psychological issues, including exhaustion, irritability, cynicism, detachment, Resilience and Managing Stress he or she is recovering from an illness or physical complaints, minimization Interpreters need to assess their own surgery. Similarly, if the interpreter has and denial of feelings, confusion, and physical and emotional vulnerabilities gone through an emotionally chal- forgetfulness. carefully prior to accepting this type of lenging life event, this is probably not assignment. For instance, an interpreter the best time to volunteer, especially may want to reconsider volunteering if given the demands and the need to be

22 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 Notes

1. Lee, Evelyn. “Cross Cultural emotionally resilient. Communication: Therapeutic Resilience has been found to be Use of Interpreters.” In Working extremely helpful in coping with the with Asian Americans: A Guide vicissitudes of a disaster situation. for Clinicians (Guilford Press, The Headington Institute, a nonprofit 1997). public charity organization providing psychological and spiritual support 2. Faberow, N.L. and N.S. Gordon. for humanitarian aid and disaster Manual for Child Health Workers relief personnel worldwide, has found in Major Disasters (Washington, a number of attitudes and behaviors DC: U.S. Government Printing that are highly correlated with Office, 1981). resiliency. A positive outlook can help relief workers cope with the trials and 3. Pearlman, L.A. and K.W. tribulations presented by their Saakvitne. Trauma and the working environment. Here are a few Therapist: Countertransference of the behaviors interpreters should and Vicarious Traumatization in cultivate: Psychotherapy with Incest Survivors (New York: Norton, • Have a strong sense of purpose. 1995).

• Have a tolerance for ambiguity. 4. Headington Institute, www.headington-institute.org. • Set realistic goals for what can be accomplished.

• Have the ability to accept and learn normal routine. Maintaining good Helping Yourself from failure. eating and sleeping habits, exercising, While Helping Others not drinking heavily, and taking Working as a volunteer interpreter • Maintain a sense of control. breaks during the day are very impor- can have many rewards. It can create tant for good physical and emotional a sense of courage, community, and • Have confidence in one’s ability to stability. Other self-care suggestions accomplishment, and be an opportu- deal with challenges. include keeping a journal to record nity to learn through collaboration, to experiences and developing a support solve problems creatively, and • Be flexible. network to avoid isolation. Also, if develop self-esteem. However, with there is a mental health professional rewards can come some personal • Be perceptive. onsite to assist responders, inter- costs that result from living and preters are urged to take advantage of working in the midst of disastrous, • Be nonjudgmental. this opportunity. Talking to a mental violent situations and facing chal- health professional about feelings of lenges that often seem overwhelming. • Have a tolerance of differences. distress or other emotions is a way to By understanding this unique working help defuse emotions and gain new environment, the challenges it pres- • Have the ability to handle negative perspective. Recognizing how our ents, and the psychological impact it feelings.4 thoughts feed directly into our reac- may have, the interpreter will be tions is perhaps the most fundamental better prepared to become an integral Interpreters need to take control of of all stress management strategies. part of the disaster responder team. their well-being while on assignment. Any recommendations for reducing Despite a heavy workload, it is imper- stress should be followed. ative to maintain some semblance of a

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 23 ATA Translation Tools Seminar in San Francisco By Tuomas Kostiainen

Members of the Northern California Translators Association (NCTA) have frequently requested information on computer-assisted translation tools and other productivity tools for translators, so NCTA’s board of directors thought this would be a good topic combination for an ATA seminar. The board suspected that ATA would have a pool of highly qualified presenters to offer, and they were right. On March 14, 2009, nearly a hundred trans lators attended the seminar, which began with a continental breakfast and then quickly switched to even tastier tidbits, technologically-speaking.

Productivity Tools for the Professional Translator The abstract for the morning session, led by Rosalie Wells, ambi- tiously stated:

“Professional translators should have a set of resources and tools that enable them to work more efficiently and produce better quality work. These tools can be divided into several categories: communication tools, organization tools, esti- mating tools, productivity tools, research tools, maintenance tools, administrative tools, backup tools, and security tools. Attendees will learn: how to prepare, evaluate, and convert different types of documents for translation; how to be mechani- cally more efficient during translation; what to save, delete, or archive and how to organize it all; how to become a proficient researcher; and how to bill the client.”

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 You will be introduced to a plethora of tools, including project management packages, termi- There are no perfect CAT tools, but most of them will nology-related tools, word coun- ters, localization applications, make your translation work much more efficient. machine translation programs, and integrated translation environ- ments. Whether your environment requires terminology management, quality assurance, file conversion, That is a lot to discuss in only three AutoText feature in Word, although or integration with content man- hours. While some topics, such as the this is mainly because I cannot agement systems, this presentation business savvy part, got a bit less remember my AutoText entries. In my will show you how to select the emphasis, others were covered at maybe translation work for Trados, I use right tool for the job.” too basic a level, such as those relating MultiTerm pretty much for the same to e-mail. Rosalie did a good job of purpose. However, Rosalie shared a I heard from several colleagues trying to keep a balance between the simple little trick to make the before the seminar that one of the basic and more advanced information, AutoText feature much easier to use main things they wanted to learn from but this is difficult with an audience of regardless of whether you are using this presentation was which CAT tool such diverse levels of knowledge. This the Word feature or a separate auto- to buy. I assured them that is exactly is a common problem with these types text utility, such as Robotype, which what Dierk would be discussing. After of presentations, and we all just need to Rosalie called one of her favorite util- the presentation, some of these people remember this when writing and ities. If you define the AutoText were happy and told me that they got reading presentation abstracts. entries using the source language the information they were looking for, Rosalie stressed that as translators word/abbreviation, then you do not and others were less happy and said we need to be more tech savvy, not need to remember the target word. that they were even more confused. only to be able to work more effi- Just type the source word (or the What happened? ciently, but also to be able to educate Autotext abbreviation you have Dierk’s approach was to give us as our clients. We also need to take care defined for it), and you get the full- much information as possible so that of our health. (If you ruin your back, length target word automatically we could make a very educated deci- hands, and eyes with ergonomically inserted into your text. I still like my sion on the most suitable tool. He poor equipment and work habits, there MultiTerm method because it is com- even introduced the SWOT is not much that productivity tools can pletely automatic, but Rosalie’s trick (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, do for you.) Also, with all the emphasis definitely makes it easier to use threats) analysis and some other deci- on high-tech solutions, it is easy to AutoText features. sion-making models to help us in the forget some low-tech ones, such as process. In addition to all the back- typing speed, that can increase your Computer-Assisted ground information on tools, file for- productivity considerably. However, if Translation Tools mats, and the translation technology the Mavis Beacon typing tutorial is not The abstract for the afternoon ses- in general, Dierk briefly introduced us sexy enough for you, try a voice recog- sion, led by Dierk Seeburg, stated: to about 30 different CAT tools and nition software tool, such as Dragon explained some of the main differ- Naturally Speaking. If you need a non- “This presentation complements ences/similarities among some of English language version of the pro- the first part of this seminar by these programs just to give us an gram, you might be able to get it focusing on computer-assisted overview of the available options and cheaper from the country of that lan- translation (CAT) tools. You will the issues involved. During Dierk’s guage instead of buying it from the learn about the different tool cate- presentation, I realized how lucky I American distributor, as was sug- gories, their distinguishing fea- am to already have my CAT tool(s) of gested by someone in the audience. tures, and what sets them apart in choice. The idea of having to choose I have never been a big fan of the their respective functional area. among the many programs avail- ➡

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 25 ATA Translation Tools Seminar in San Francisco Continued able today reminds me of a scene types of coffee drive him to the brink to help translators enter the world of from the movie Moscow on the of a nervous breakdown, and he crum- CAT tools and make that important Hudson (1984), where Vladimir ples to the floor and yells “I just want decision. I think Dierk did the best (Robin Williams) goes to an COFFEE!” I could already see some that one person can do in three hours American supermarket for the first of my colleagues on all fours for an audience of this size. However, time and wants to buy coffee. The screaming “I just want a CAT tool!” my advice to all those who are still seemingly endless options of various This made me think of a better way confused, unsure, or starting to feel

Useful Links to Translation Tools

E-fax Online Backup Document Types Internet Faxing Online Carbonite www.file-extensions.org/search www.internetfaxingonline.com/ www.carbonite.com which_internet_fax.htm Sending Large Files IBackup YouSendIt File Renaming www.ibackup.com www.yousendit.com BrotherSoft International www.brothersoft.com Iomega Portable Hard Drive Voice Recognition www.iomega.com Dragon Naturally Speaking RenameWiz www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/ www.renamewiz.com Mozy products/default.asp www.mozy.com Revision Asset Management Systems Word Counts www.revision.com Norton Online Backup AnyCount www.backup.com www.anycount.com RN 1-4a Rename www.1-4a.com/rename Searching Your Computer Ginstrom IT Solutions Copernic Inc. http://ginstrom.com/CountAnything/ FTP Clients www.copernic.com Comparison of FTP Client Software Global Rendering www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_ Google Desktop www.globalrendering.com/download.html ftp_clients (choose your language) Mac: Surefire Software File Transfer Planet http://desktop.google.com/mac www.surefiresoftware.com/totalassistant www.ftpplanet.com/ftpresources/basics.htm Windows: http://desktop.google.com/ index.html?ignua=1

26 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 like Vladimir is to come to the next For More Information ATA conference. That is probably the best place in the world to do comparison shopping among different CAT tools. Do your homework before the Rosalie Wells conference by talking to your clients www.translationconsulting.com and colleagues, and by checking what type of CAT tool training/workshops Dierk Seeburg your local ATA chapter can offer. http://icotext.wordpress.com/events You might also want to visit the Translators Training website at Jost Zetzsche’s Translator’s Toolbox www.TranslatorsTraining.com for www.internationalwriters.com/toolbox some good comparison information. Then go to the conference and put the ATA Language Technology Division tools and tool vendors to the test. www.ata-divisions.org/LTD However, remember that there are no perfect CAT tools, but most of them will indeed make your translation Ron Tischler work much more efficient. www.translorial.com. Ron has written an excellent review of this seminar.

Don’t Miss

September 12, 2009 October 3-4, 2009 Midwest Association of Atlanta Association of Translators & Interpreters Interpreters and Translators Annual Conference 3rd Annual Conference Indianapolis, IN Atlanta, GA www.matiata.org http://aait.org/3rdAnnual Conf_oct2009.htm September 12-13, 2009 Tennessee Association of October 9-11, 2009 Professional Interpreters and California Federation of Translators Interpreters Annual Conference 7th Annual Continuing Nashville, TN Education Conference www.tapit.org San Francisco, CA www.calinterpreters.org

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 27 ATA: Looking Back Through Words

To help commemorate ATA’s 50th anniversary, we will periodically take a peek through the Association’s archives to examine the topics that have inspired our members through the years. The following is from the August 1966 inaugural issue of American Translator, predecessor to The ATA Chronicle. 50Years 1959 – 2009

The Translator’s Role in an International Society By Gerd Wallenstein

single standard of translation can satisfy In these days of international the wide range of requirements. In cer- mass transportation and communica- tain “purely technical” literature, it may tion, the need for rendering thought be acceptable to correctly translate from one language into another stated observations and events without increases rapidly. To handle the inter- concern about the author’s choice of change at the mass level, thoughts words and tone of presentation. Even in have been reduced to the simple for- science and technology, there are few mulas of the lowest common denomi- absolute facts to write about. The over- nator. The language of transportation, whelming majority of technical for example, leans heavily on signs reporting, oral or written, deals with in the language of the translation. which need no translation. opinions and fact-finding influenced by Probably no two authors in the same Without the aid of signs, some the way the data was collected. The language can be treated quite alike into multilingual problems would be nuances of supposition, approximation, another language. Ideally, the translator unmanageable indeed. “Fasten seat and interpretation are reflected in the should perhaps take on the author’s per- belts” cannot be posted in all traveler language used. In English, the addition sonality, and in this condition emerge in languages, in each airplane, but the of the single word “about” significantly the thought world of the other language. conspicuous position and distinct alters the firmness of a statement. In Some of the highest challenges to flashing of the message may make some other languages, a similar intent the translator’s empathy are found in translation superfluous. might cause the author to use several the most humble environment. [...] But this mass internationalization sentences, thus deviously qualifying an Idiomatic expressions are difficult to of travel, entertainment, products, and earlier statement given as fact. translate, but it is precisely this technology demands a higher devel- If much technical writing requires idiomatic flavor which makes them opment of the art of translation than the translator’s empathy to get the real interesting. The factual content of the would have been adequate in the past. flavor of the story, this is even more pro- message may be exceedingly trivial, The thoughts and actions of people far nounced in most other writing. For fic- but the way it is made may be very removed from each other in space and tion and poetry, the translator becomes significant for the understanding of time become important elements of the dynamic operator of a complex the people and the situation involved. our everyday lives. To communicate system, in which the two languages are If translators will rise to the occa- meaningfully across space, time, and transmission channels at the system’s sion, our shrinking world can use the custom, we rely on translators as our input and output, respectively. Not only utmost of their skill and ingenuity. By intermediaries. Let us not underesti- must the translator act as a high-fidelity advancing international understanding, mate their task! modulator between input and output. translators will have a much greater role Translation requires much more than He must also sense the peculiarities of to play than is generally recognized. proficiency in two or more languages. It the author’s background, intellectual They are the catalysts of our one-world is an illusion to postulate that translation approach, style, and intensity of expres- concept. can be perfected to an absolute sion, and he must reflect these charac- optimum by methodology alone. No teristics by making appropriate choices

28 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 It Join other language

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The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 29 American Translators Association 5 th Annual Conference New York City October 28-31, 2009 New York Marriott Marquis

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The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 31 Business Smarts Agency Owner Responds to Article on Payment Reduction

The March Business Smarts 2. Look at the uniqueness of your lan- Dear Mr. Lemke, addressed the question of what to do in guage. For example, look at how Thank you for sharing your perspec- response to a demand to reduce prices. many Cambodian interpreters are tive on this matter. There is no denying Gordon Lemke of ITW Interpreting listed in ATA’s online directories. A that adaptation to new circumstances is Services sent the following response: Cambodian interpreter can demand an ongoing process for businesses of more than a Spanish interpreter. every size, especially in the current eco- Dear Business Smarts, nomic situation. Just as you had to Regarding the March Business 3. Evaluate the relationship with your respond to your client’s demand for Smarts, “Getting What You Are Worth,” agency. Does it pay on time? Do reduced prices and were forced to make I would like to offer another perspective. you frequently have billing dis- the resulting decisions, independent I own and operate a telephone inter- putes? Our agency consistently contractors must constantly adjust to the preting agency and received a letter sim- pays interpreters on the first and realities of the market. ilar to the one mentioned in the column. 15th of each month, regardless if the When a client is no longer willing to Our largest client asked for a 15% reduc- client has paid us. Are you willing pay fees that were previously accept- tion in fees beginning in January of this to risk nonpayment by a client? able, interpreters are not suddenly worth year. Also, unbeknownst to us, in less, as you correctly state. However, January this same client began to 4. Make an effort to visit your agency they may have to devise new strategies process its Spanish-speaking calls in- and meet the manager and owner. to maintain their level of income and house. Our Spanish business, once the Our agency utilizes the skills of expand their business options. While it core of our business, has declined 57% over 120 different interpreters. is impossible for a Spanish interpreter to in the first three months of 2009. Being able to place a face with a suddenly turn herself into a Cambodian In order for me to keep seven voice on the telephone is very interpreter, she would be well advised to employees and 120 interpreters work- helpful in building a partnership specialize in less common fields, ing, I had to ask for a reduction in what with your agency. improve her qualifications, and broaden I pay our interpreters. Are our inter- her client base. preters now worth less? No, but the The biggest negative I see to inter- “Another option for Spanish inter- market has definitely shifted. preters is the Internet. It does not take preters is to perfect their skills so they I would offer the following advice for much to conduct an Internet search can take the federal court interpreters interpreters or translators who are asked and discover others who will offer exam and get certified,” advises Virginia to review their fees. your same services at a lower cost. Perez-Santalla, a Spanish translator and The challenge to an agency like mine interpreter with many years of experi- 1. Know the going rate for your serv- is to focus on quality when searching ence in the industry. “This allows them ices. As an agency, we try to track for interpreters and to balance that to quote federal rates when clients call. the market to stay competitive. We with the cost. The federal certification upholds high look at such sources as our county Gordon Lemke qualification standards, which an inter- court system and what rates they ITW Interpreting Services preter can mention in response to pay interpreters. Monrovia, CA requests for discounted prices.”

Comments? The information in this column was compiled by members of ATA’s Business Practices Education Committee for the benefit of ATA members. This column is not intended to ATA members can discuss business issues online constitute legal, financial, or other business advice. Each individual or company should at the following Yahoo! group: make its own independent business decisions and consult its own legal, financial, or http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/ other advisors as appropriate. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of group/ata_business_practices. You will ATA or its Board of Directors. Send your questions about the business of translation need to register with Yahoo! (at no charge) if and interpreting to The ATA Chronicle—BPEC Q&A, 225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 590, you have not already done so, and provide your full name and ATA member number in order to Alexandria, VA 22314 USA; Fax: +1-703-683-6122; E-mail: join the group. [email protected]. Questions must be accompanied by a complete name and address, but will be published anonymously or pseudonymously upon request.

32 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 Internet blogs are rich sources of information for translators and interpreters. They allow users to post questions, exchange ideas, network, and to read news and commen- Blog Trekker Why a Test? tary on a specific subject. The topics featured in this column are actual blog postings concerning issues pertinent to your colleagues in the field today. Readers are encouraged to explore the many links provided at the end for additional material on the subjects being discussed. For more blog listings, visit www.atanet.org/careers/blog_trekker.php.

Translation Tests Versus 3. A translation sample lets translators • The time spent designing the Translation Samples present their best work. This is fine test—choosing which parts of the (Posted March 14, 2009 on Riccardo for them, but less useful for the com- text to translate, perhaps adding Schiaffino’s About Translation, pany. A test shows how you tackle translation problems to see how http://aboutranslation.blogspot.com.) the type of work the translation com- they would be solved by the can- pany would send you. didates, writing and reviewing the Translators often complain instructions for the test, and about translation tests, and ask why, 4. The quality control process sending out the tests. instead, they could not just send out sam- adopted by the translation com- ples of their translations, perhaps one for pany may require a test. For • The time devoted to a first each language combination, or one for example, most ISO-certified com- screening of all the tests received each field in which they specialize. panies follow elaborate quality to see which can be dismissed. There may be various reasons a control procedures throughout the translation company may prefer a translation process, including the • The time spent assessing the tests. translation test to a translation sample: selection of freelancers. If this is so, they are not going to change Bear in mind that a well-designed test 1. Often the purpose of the test is not their process just because a trans- is not assessed by one person only. At the only to evaluate the quality of the lator has some sample translations. software company I mentioned before, translation, but also to see how well two translators assessed each test, but the translator follows the instructions 5. When you have to evaluate many when the two evaluations differed, a given with the test. For example, candidates, the process goes faster third evaluator also took part. when I worked in the translation when each test translates the same department of a major software com- original, rather than having to shift These are the main reasons a trans- pany, we used tests to assess candi- gears every time and look at a dif- lation test may be more useful than dates for staff translator positions. ferent translation of a different orig- sample translations. Of course, this The tests were short portions of inal. A well-designed test represents a applies only to tests that are well longer documents (about 250 words considerable investment of time for designed and well administered. Tests to translate in a 750-word document), the translation company or transla- that are not well planned are a waste with clear instructions about what to tion department, including: of time for all. translate and not translate, what to do in case of doubt, and so on. We • The time spent selecting the rejected many candidates because texts to be translated. they did not read the instructions. If I am looking for a technical translator and know that each project will come with detailed instructions, I want to Related screen out the translators who skip the instructions and plunge directly into Blogs and Links the translation. This screening pre- vents many serious problems later. Myths and Legends about Translation Tests http://aboutranslation.blogspot.com/2008/01/myths-and-legends-about-translation.html 2. A test translation lets the translation company see how each candidate Project Management Hut www.pmhut.com solved specific translation problems, and to compare the quality of two or Thoughts on Translation more different translations of the www.thoughtsontranslation.com same source text. This is not possible with translation samples. (Note: This is intended for in for mational purposes only, not as an endorsement of an individual or company.)

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 33 The GeekSpeak column has two goals: to inform the community GeekSpeak Jost Zetzsche about technological advances and at the same time encourage [email protected] the use and appreciation of technology among translation professionals. Jost also publishes a free technical newsletter for translators (www.internationalwriters.com/toolkit). Searching for Dependency

• If you would like to look only at • If you want to look only on one Google went down for a few Web pages containing the words specific site for a term or a phrase, hours last week, and I am ashamed to “Chinese translation,” type: you can type: site:www.translators say I caught myself feeling paralyzed. intitle:“chinese translation”. cafe.com “translation memory”. Rather than shrugging it off and using another search engine (believe it or • If you are interested in all Web • Or, even better, if you would like not, they do exist!), I spent the next pages that have the word “transla- to find something only on sites hour or so marking passages in the text tion” in their URL (website with a certain top domain, such as I was translating as “to be verified” so address), type: inurl:translation. .de, .jp, or .museum, you can type: I could work on the marked passages site:jp “translation memory”. once Google was up and running • If you want to look only in the again. Not until much later did I realize body text of websites (rather than • And typing -site:com “translation my tunnel vision and turn to one of the the URL or the title), for instance, memory” finds all sites that list competing search engines instead. to find where your own Web page content that do not end with .com. It is scary how thoughtlessly and is quoted, type: intext:www..com. • Oh, and then you can combine all something that is so relatively new in these search masks, so that typing our lives! (I will not even go into our • Unless you have one favorite online site:jp and filetype:pdf “translation reliance on the Internet itself!) dictionary you always go to when memory” will tell Google to look for I was not the only one who went you need a definition, you can also PDF files that mention translation into a tailspin when Google went type: define:“translation memory”. memory within the top domain .jp. down. This was demonstrated by the appearance of hundreds of news arti- If those tricks did not really impress A search engine is indeed a pow- cles later in the day (which, by the you, the next ones will: erful tool. How about agreeing on a way, I found on Google News). compromise. Let’s all decide to use For better or worse, the fact is that • If you want to look for something tools like Google for all their glory we do seem to be wedded to Google, in a certain kind of document (such and power, while at the same time so I thought you might appreciate as a PDF file) and not in any other, keeping our minds open to other— some Google-specific search tips. type: filetype:pdf “translation and at some point even better—tech- Most everyone knows how to use memory”. The result will be all niques and tools. quotation marks to find “that specific PDFs that are registered with I just wanted to add that Google has expression,” the + sign to force the Google that contain the phrase released its Google Translator Toolkit search engine to include a specific “translation memory”. (translate.google.com/toolkit). An article word or expression in the search, or about this can be found at translation the - sign to specifically exclude sites • If you would like to specifically journal.net/journal/49google.htm, and I that contain the succeeding word or exclude PDFs, you can type: -file- will be reporting on it in the next few expression. Here are some additional type:pdf “translation memory”. editions of this column as well. tricks (see www.google.com/help/ features.html):

Federal Bureau of Security Fix Scam Investigation/ Brian Krebs on National White Collar Computer Security Alert Crime Center http://blog. The Internet Crime washingtonpost. Complaint Center com/securityfix Websites www.ic3.gov

34 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 YOUR LANGUAGE SKILLS ARE VALUABLE. READY FOR THE GLOBAL AGE? Binghamton University offers a PhD in translation studies. s!NINTERDISCIPLINARYDOCTORATEFORCAREERS INTHEPROFESSORATEANDWHEREVERAN I AM BILINGUAL. I AM THE BRIDGE TO MY COMMUNITY. EARNEDDOCTORATEISDESIRABLE s%STABLISHEDINBYTHE4RANSLATION You can help your community in times of need by volunteering for the National Language Service Corps. 2ESEARCHAND)NSTRUCTION0ROGRAM founded in 1971 Are you fluent in English and at least one of the NLSC languages: Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, Hindi, Thai, Hausa, Indonesian, Marshallese, Swahili, or Somali? &ORINFORMATIONABOUTDEGREEREQUIREMENTS ANDALISTINGOFFACULTY VISITTHE42)0WEBSITE http://trip.binghamton.edu The NLSC is a national initiative to bring together bilingual people like you for the greater good of our country. This is your opportunity to help your community while supporting government efforts in times of crisis.

Find out more by visiting NLSCORPS.ORG/ATA or calling 1-888-SAY-NLSC (729-6572).

1, Presentations on all aspects of translation and Call for Proposals interpreting studies are welcome.

American Translation and 2. Submit proposals (200-300 words) for individual Interpreting Studies Association papers as an MS Word attachment. Fifth Biennial Conference 3. Include your contact information in the body of the e-mail, not in the file. Name your file with the first three letters of your paper title.

The Sociological Turn Papers will be divided into sections on translation/ interpreting theory, research, pedagogy, and technology. in Translation and Presentations will be 20 minutes in length, followed by discussion. There will be sessions on Friday morning, Friday Interpreting Studies afternoon, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon. Deadline: October 15, 2009. Send your proposals to Claudia Angelelli, chair of ATISA’s Scientific April 22-24, 2010 Committee, at [email protected]. For more information, visit www.scps.nyu.edu/ New York University translationconf2010, or e-mail your questions to New York, NY [email protected]. www.scps.nyu.edu/translationconf2010

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 35 Send your news to Jeff Sanfacon at [email protected] or American Translators Association, 225 Member News Reinekers Lane, Suite 590, Alexandria, VA 22314.

• Francesca Caviglioni, co-author of • Diane Goullard Parlante received Poetry Society. The poems and the fourth edition of the Lexique her master’s degree in French litera- respective awards presented for Risque (Editions L’Argus de ture from Arizona State University each were: Por el camino andamos L’Assurance, 2008), announced that (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. She also (Border/Lines Award); “She the book has been awarded the Mots received the Judith J. Radke Should’ve Been a Nun” (Change d'Or de la Francophonie from the Translation Award for academic Award); Sirena Cósmica/Cosmic Association pour Promouvoir le achievement from ASU’s School of Siren, translated from the Spanish by Français des Affaires, sponsored by International Letters and Cultures. Angela McEwan (Mary Oliver the French Ministry of Finance Award); and son cubano (Spoken and the Société Française des • Liliana Valenzuela received four Word Poetry Award). Traducteurs. first prizes for poetry from the Austin

Online now at www.atanet.org/jobbank!

36 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 All candidates applying for ATA certification must provide proof that they meet the certification program eligibility requirements. Please direct all ATA Certification Exam Information inquiries regarding general certification information to ATA Headquarters at +1-703-683-6100. Registration for all certification exams should be made Upcoming Exams through ATA Headquarters. All sittings have a maximum capacity and admission is based on the order in which registrations are received. California Georgia Forms are available from ATA’s website or from Headquarters. San Francisco Atlanta September 26, 2009 August 29, 2009 Registration Deadline: Registration Deadline: September 16, 2009 August 14, 2009

Florida Minnesota New York Tennessee Miami Minneapolis New York City Nashville August 22, 2009 September 12, 2009 October 31, 2009 September 13, 2009 Registration Deadline: Registration Deadline: Registration Deadline: Registration Deadline: August 7, 2009 August 28, 2009 October 16, 2009 August 28, 2009

New Certified Members Congratulations! The following people have successfully passed ATA’s certification exam:

English into French English into Spanish English into Ukrainian Russian into English

Louis Fortier Laura C. Bissio Viktor B. Payuk Shelley A. Fairweather-Vega Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada Montevideo, Uruguay River Grove, IL Portland, OR

English into Russian Gabriela M. Fernández French into English Buenos Aires, Argentina Aleksey A. Chervinskiy Isabelle M. Berquin Fort Worth, TX Winston-Salem, NC Nadia Bondarczuk Buenos Aires, Argentina Karl Marx Andrew D. Levine Thornhill, Ontario, Canada Brooklyn, NY

Almira S. Safarova-Downey Nicole J. Pennebaker Seattle, WA Seattle, WA

Active and Corresponding Membership Review Congratulations! The Active Membership Review Committee is pleased to grant active or corresponding status to:

Active Corresponding Sarah E. Anderson Issis Richter Emily S. Tell Jorge R. P. Rodrigues Eastpointe, MI Jacksonville, FL Brooklyn, NY São Paulo, Brazil

Farah Arjang-Vezvaee Elena Sheverdinova Rebecca L. Rubenstein Marina, CA Weston, FL Ventura, CA

Mariam Massarat-Foudeh Veronica I. Szabo Los Altos, CA Houston, TX

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 37 Visit the ATA Calendar Online www.atanet.org/calendar/ Upcoming Events for a more comprehensive look at upcoming events.

September 12, 2009 October 9-11, 2009 November 11-14, 2009 Midwest Association of California Federation of Interpreters American Literary Translators Association Translators & Interpreters 7th Annual Continuing Education Annual Conference Annual Conference Conference Pasadena, CA Indianapolis, IN San Francisco, CA www.utdallas.edu/alta www.matiata.org www.calinterpreters.org January 30, 2010 September 12-13, 2009 October 9-11, 2009 Miami Dade College Tennessee Association of Professional International Medical Interpreters Translation and Interpretation Program Interpreters and Translators Association 5th Immigration Terminology Conference Annual Conference Annual Conference www.mdc.edu/iac/_asp_root/forms/esl/ Nashville, TN Boston, MA register www.tapit.org www.imiaweb.org April 22-24, 2010 October 3-4, 2009 October 28-31, 2009 American Translation and Interpreting Atlanta Association of Interpreters American Translators Association Studies Association and Translators 50th Annual Conference 5th Biennial Conference 3rd Annual Conference New York, NY New York, NY Atlanta, GA www.atanet.org/conf/2009 www.scps.nyu.edu/translationconf2010 http://aait.org/3rdAnnual Conf_oct2009.htm November 9-13, 2009 Nevada Interpreters & October 8-10, 2009 Translators Association Asociación ibérica de estudios Connecting Worlds: Training for Health de traducción e interpretación Care Interpreters 4th Congress Vigo 2009 Reno, NV Borderline Translation www.nitaonline.org Vigo, Spain http://webs.uvigo.es/aietivigoinfo

38 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 Read All About It! ATA Division Newsletters

French Language Division Language Technology Division Portuguese Language Division À propos Language Tech News PLData www.ata-divisions.org/FLD www.ata-divisions.org/LTD www.ata-divisions.org/PLD German Language Division Literary Division Slavic Languages Division interaktiv Source SlavFile www.ata-divisions.org/GLD www.ata-divisions.org/LD www.ata-divisions.org/SLD

Interpreters Division Medical Division Spanish Language Division Interpreters Voice Caduceus Intercambios www.ata-divisions.org/ID www.ata-divisions.org/MD www.ata-divisions.org/SPD Korean Language Division Nordic Division Aurora Borealis Hangul Herald www.ata-divisions.org/ND www.ata-divisions.org/KLD

Division membership is included in your ATA annual dues. Visit www.atanet.org/divisions/division_admin.php to join any or all ATA divisions without additional fees.

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 39 Success by Association International Medical Interpreters Association

• Established: 1986 • Address: Medical The International • Website: International Medical Interpreters Interpreters Association (IMIA) is Quick Association www.imiaweb.org committed to the advancement of pro- • Phone: (617) 638-1798 800 Washington Street fessional medical interpreters as the Box 271 best practice to equitable language Facts • Fax: (866) 406-4742 Boston, MA 02111-1845 access to health care for linguistically • E-mail: [email protected] diverse patients. Founded in 1986, IMIA has over 1,500 members worldwide. Membership is open to all those interested in medical interpreting and language access. • Maintains membership in profes- • E-mail notifications of job and sional organizations in related training opportunities. Activities fields. • Works with universities, founda- • Discount to annual conference. tions, government agencies, and • Undertakes client education initia- other organizations in such matters tives, such as provider orientation • Participation in client education as best practices, training, and on language access and working initiatives. continuing education in medical with interpreters. interpreting. • Monthly international news bul- • Holds periodic meetings, including letin and website updates. • Offers a medical interpreter certifi- an annual conference (next confer- cation program. ence: October 9-11, 2009, • Annual job fair. Cambridge, Massachusetts). • Provides technical assistance for Additional Information the establishment of language Benefits For complete information on what access departments in medical • Advocacy at an international level IMIA has to offer, please visit institutions. for the recognition and betterment www.imiaweb.org. of the medical interpreting • Promotes and participates in profession. research regarding cross-cultural communication in health care • Complimentary copy of Medical ATA’s chapters and its affiliates, along settings. Interpreting Standards of Practice. with other groups, serve translators and interpreters, providing them with industry • Publishes monthly industry news • Profile and search function in information, networking opportunities, brief, bulletins, notices, guides, International Registry of Interpreters. and support services. This column is and other publications. designed to serve as a quick resource high- lighting the valuable contributions these organizations are making to the profession.

Translation getting it right Translation: Getting it Right “By applying even half the tips in this guide, you will improve your chances of getting a translation that works.”

anslations A guide to buying tr Translation: Getting it Right is an ATA client education booklet available in print and online. ATA members can order up to 100 copies at no cost. To download a PDF copy of this booklet, visit www.atanet.org.

american translators association

40 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 Compiled by Dictionary Review Peter A. Gergay [email protected]

Russian Standard Dictionary: The Russian Standard Dictionary job, command, doctor, dollar, laugh, Russian-English/ consists of two parts. The Russian- master, past, rascal, top, vast, etc., the English-Russian English dictionary is preceded by a list pronunciation shown is British. Revised Edition with of geographic names and followed by a “Russian Cuisine and Menu Terms” sec- How Good is the Dictionary? Business Terms tion. At the end of the English-Russian When evaluating dictionaries, I use dictionary there is an “Index of several litmus tests. For a dictionary Geographical Names” followed by two to be a trusted and reliable tool, it Authors: appendices: Russian-English and must: provide accurate translations; Oleg and Ksana Benyukh English-Russian business terms. list the most commonly used target According to the authors, the terms, and, when more than one target Publisher: Russian-English dictionary “can be term is given, explain the usage of Hippocrene Books used by those who speak fluent Russian non-synonymous terms; avoid ambi- and by those who have just acquainted guities; use up-to-date terminology; Publication date: themselves with the Russian alphabet.” and last but not least, and an obvious 2005 (seventh printing) They go on to state that it “will be of requirement, there should be no typos. interest and value to students of Here is what I found. Number of pages: Russian, tourists, visitors to confer- 230 ences, business men [more on typos Accuracy: Here are a few examples of later], and others who may simply want mistranslations (more on the use of Number of Entries: to understand Russian menus, theatre dashes later): ,hbuflbh – brigadier; Over 12,000 vocabulary entries (according to the programmes,1 street – signs,2 notices, exbkbot – college; cream-cheese – preface to the Russian-English dictionary); over etc.” The English-Russian dictionary is gkfdktysq csh; disposable – vjueobq 18,000 words and word collocations (according to “intended for those who do not have ,snm bcgjkmpjdfyysv; fatality – the preface to the English-Russian dictionary); and sufficient mastery of Russian.” ytcxfcnysq ckexfq (granted, cvthnm is over 32,000 dictionary entries (according to the also listed—as a “number two” option); back cover) Organization ghostly – ghjphfxysq (instead of Each page is arranged in two ghbphfxysq). Type and quality of binding: columns. Parts of speech are indicated Paperback, good for all headwords. The symbols use Multiple Target Terms: Table 1 on the same font as the target terms they page 42 shows examples of what is ISBN: precede; this can confuse a novice. listed and what is not. 0-7818-0280-6 For instance, the English for ctvm When several target terms are pro- appears as “num. seven.” vided, their usage is not always Price: The first and the last entry are shown explained. Table 2 on page 42 shows a $19.95 (cover price) at the top of each column. This is very few examples when an explanation $19.95 (list price); $1.89+ (new) helpful for look-up, and a feature I have might be helpful to language “new- $1.30+ (used)/amazon.com not seen in other dictionaries. comers.” Another feature that distinguishes Available from: this dictionary is that “[e]very Russian Ambiguity: There are two “sources” of www.hippocrenebooks.com word and sentence has been transliter- ambiguity in this dictionary. A number www.amazon.com ated into English,” and “the pronuncia- of compound terms that in American tion of Russian words is shown in spelling appear either as one word (e.g., Reviewed by Russian transliteration.” The back bodyguard, infrared, plenipotentiary, Boris Silversteyn cover states that “[t]he easy-to-use subsection) or two (cream cheese, door phonetic system allows Russian curtain, drinking water, price list, tennis speakers to pronounce words in player), appear with a dash in the dic- American English.” However, for quite tionary. Some compound terms have a a few words, such as ask, basket, hot, “genuine” dash in the dictionary ➡

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 41 Table 2: Helpful Explanations

rjv,byfwbz combination; slip gjk floor; sex Dictionary Review Continued hfplevsdfnm ponder; change one’s mind Table 1: Multiple Target Terms ctvz seed; semen ifqrf gang; tub Source Term Target Term zpsr tongue; language Listed Missing band jhrtcnh& ,fylf& dnekrf plug bushing; sleeve ktynf j,tlyz rkbtyn client customer vfufpby speculate hfpvsikznm& shop store cgtrekbhjdfnm jrjyxfybt termination end; graduation gfhbrvf[th hairdresser barber gjk sex gender Overall Evaluation crjhjcnm speed velocity This dictionary contains a number of other shortcomings, but I think nhe,f chimney; trumpet pipe; tube what has been said here is sufficient to [eltnm grow thin lose weight conclude that it has no place in a pro- itcnthyz cogwheel gear fessional translator’s library. How- franchise ghfdj exfcnbz d ds,jhf[ ahfyibpf ever, for someone solely intent on brushing up on their knowledge of insecure yt,tpjgfcysq ytedthtyysq d ct,t Russian cuisine and menu terms, notebook pfgbcyfz ryb;rf yjen,er $1.30-1.89 (plus shipping) may not be printer gtxfnybr ghbynth too high a price to pay. I am grateful to Lynn Visson for her valuable advice. (e.g., forward-looking), and some Erhfbyf is still the Ukraine, although are just single-word terms (e.g., the article was officially dropped years Notes aerodrome). There is also liberal use ago. There has been no Czecho - 1. The dictionaries use British of hyphenation. As a result, it might slovakia in Europe and no ACCP in spelling. not always be easy for the dictio- the FSU for more than a decade, but nary’s intended audience to tell they are still present in the dictionary. 2. For some reason, most compound whether a hyphen is solely a hyphen Interestingly, Slovakia is not listed. terms are “dashed.” breaking down a one-word term, or a Also, why keep Gosplan, GPU, dash connecting two parts of a com- ldjhzycndj> ltcznbyf, and the like in pound term. Examples: aero-drome, a revised dictionary? broad-cast, north-east, lightning-con- Boris Silversteyn is a member of ATA’s ductor, printing-house. Typos: On this count, the dictionary Board of Directors and a past chair of also fails. Proofreading, if any, was ATA’s Dictionary Review Committee. He “Up-to-dateness”: The dictionary is a nothing but sloppy. Here are a few ran- is a Russian and Ukrainian translator and 2005 “seventh printing” (the copyright domly pulled examples: affirmativel, interpreter specializing in science and is 1993) that on the title page simulta- apeal, autono mous, be fore, business technology, finance, business, law, and neously claims to be a “revised edi- men, isfast, liagt (instead of light), environment. He is an ATA-certified tion.” Regardless of the revisions that meanwhil, spinel, wcap (instead of English Russian translator, and is a may have actually been made, a wrap), pfkt;> ytepdbvsq> jhubz+> grader for ATA’s English Russian and number of things that should have [kzcnjbr> Xt[j-Ckjdfrbz, and the English Ukrainian certification exams. been revised were not. For example, funniest of all, jy> +jyf> jyj> jyb +. Contact: [email protected].

42 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 Don’t get hung out to dry Tips for cleaning up your online profile

A listing in ATA’s online Directory of Translation and Interpreting Services or the Directory of Language Services Companies can be one of your most valuable member benefits.

Six Tips to Help You Make Contact 1. Check spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

2. Update your contact information, especially your e-mail address and phone numbers.

3. Use the “Additional Information” field, noting education and career experiences, unusual specialties, and any dialects you can handle. By using a “keyword” search, clients can find your services based on a set of very specific skills and experience.

4. List your areas of specialization.

5. Review your listing monthly to experiment with different wording or add new information that may set you apart from others.

6. List non-English-to-non-English language combinations, such as Portuguese into Spanish and French into Italian. Make those updates online at www.atanet.org/onlinedirectories/update_profile.php.

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 43

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The Big Apple. Talk about overestimation! Communication in… And with all the shows, stores, museums, galleries, restaurants, and teeming humanity, any language, any subject, any part of the world there will hardly be time left for meetings and workshops. Still, a great reward for all your • Translation hard work. • Transcription On behalf of the staff at JLS (and our clients): • Cultural Consultation and Localization • Consecutive and Simultaneous Thank you, translators! Interpretation • Audio and Video Production JLS Language Corporation • Desktop Publishing 135 Willow Road Menlo Park, CA 94025 Tel. (650) 321-9832 Fax (650) 329-9864 Top-quality language services since 1972. www.jls.com

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The road to a successful translation business is often much harder than it has to be. In this guide to setting up shop, freelancer Corinne McKay offers lessons learned and shows you how to avoid the most common mistakes—from finding clients to collecting payment. This how-to is great for translators and interpreters just entering the field as well as for old hands who want to make their businesses run better.

How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator (members $20, nonmembers $30) is available from ATA’s website. Look for the online order form at www.atanet.org/publications or call 703-683-6100.

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 45 The Translation Inquirer John Decker [email protected]

Abbreviations It is a good thing that, apart from compared to the user fees for words used with this column trademarked concoctions, words in cribbed by other linguistic communi- specific languages are not copyrighted. ties. The biggest recipient of such user Think of the absolute mayhem if fees fees would be English, of course. To B-Bulgarian H-Hungarian had to be paid every time a borrowed whom would these user fees be paid? D-Dutch I-Italian word was used in a publication for gen- Dictionary publishers? The board of E-English Lv-Latvian eral consumption in a language other trustees of the oldest university where [E]-English Po-Polish than the language where the word orig- that language was predominantly acceptable as an Pt-Portuguese inated. People snicker at the preten- used? The biggest broadcasting net- answer, the R-Russian sions to maintain copyright among the work in that language? Think of these original query did Ro-Romanian descendants of Mildred Hill, who com- institutions all fighting each other not involve English Sb-Serbian posed the melody of “Happy Birthday over the rights. What a nightmare it F-French Sp-Spanish to You” in 1893. That would be nothing would be! G-German Sw-Swedish Gr-Greek New Queries what is this all about? English will be (E-B 7-09.1) Bone fractures in an accepted. English text are referred to as “open query, and the problem term is jodof¥la reamed,” “closed reamed,” and “open (E-Sw 7-09.5) In a text dealing with flora. The translator provided this unreamed.” What has been going on glue and thickening agents, the term explanation: Tulkoju laboratoriskas with these fractures, and how do you “one-part formulations” proved trou- izmeklï‰anas rezultÇtus un nevaru render them in Bulgarian? blesome to a colleague working into atrast piemïrotu tulojumu ‰im term- Swedish: “XXX are advanced, one- inam. (E-D 7-09.2) This query sounds like it part formulations that require no comes from an inventory of car parts. mixing or special application tools.” (Sb-E 7-09.9) There is not much con- The tricky term here is “foundation What are they? text for this query, as it is legal and brakes,” which comes from the fol- contractual, but there is no way the lowing list: “foundation brakes,” (I-F [E] 7-09.6) Here, from the fine Translation Inquirer is going to pass “drum brakes,” “drums,” “disk arts, is a text containing the puzzling up his first chance for a query in brakes,” “rotors,” and “calipers.” With term al rifiorire: Un vero monumento Serbian: Ugovor o kupovini I prodaji only that as context, can an accurate al rifiorire dell’officina di ispirazione bankovnih obveznica. Dutch equivalent be found? antica, in cui la sapienza intellettuale e quella manuale, il sapere e il saper (Sp-I [E] 7-09.10) Puente doble is the (E-H 7-09.3) The following appears in fare si fondono per farsi testimonianza stumper in this medical text: La inter- a marketing context, but it sounds as if concreta del celebre motto michelan- pretación que hicimos en ese grupito protecting copyrights and trademarks giolesco “la man che ubbidisce all’in- de cuatro médicos era que aunque sí is involved, so the context might be of telletto.” French and English are hubo unos resultados extraordinarios, a legal nature. The quote is “he works needed for this, please. el hecho que le hicieran un puente with enforcement authorities on doble, era una forma de ayudarlo a brand integrity matters.” What is (I-Ro [E] 7-09.7) It is contract lan- mejorar, que al realizarle ese puente being written about here, and how guage, and the last two words pose a mejoró su circulación general, aunque might it sound in Hungarian? problem: la assemblea ordinaria pro- no las arterias pequeñas, y el resul- cede alla nomina del presidente del tado fue bueno y por eso el hombre (G-F [E] 7-09.4) Stark im Zeichen collegio sindacale. Give it a try in mejoró. We will take English for this. stehen is the troublesome part of this English or Romanian if you can! marketing sentence for which French Responses to Old Queries is wanted. The entire sentence: Das (Lv-E 7-09.8) Welcome aboard Latvian, (E-Gr 3-09.2) (respite options): Baugeschehen stand stark im Zeichen which appears in this column for the Alexis Takvorian reports that a lot of des aufstrebenden Tourismus. Indeed, first time on my watch! It is a medical the caregiving terms from the English

46 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 do not have an “easy” equivalent in than kinesiology, including checking automotive exhaust systems, Eric Greek. This is because so many of the for driving under the influence. Wilson discovered that this means caregiving options available in the “individual typing.” U.S. do not exist in Greece, where the (F-R [E] 5-09.3) (Loi informatique et families are still the primary care- Libertés): Article I of this law, (I-G [E] 1-09.10) (premio di proroga): takers of people with special needs, according to Elena Contreras-Chacel, Claudio Cambon did too much work from kids to the elderly. This is states: L’informatique doit être au on this to just let pass the context para- changing rapidly, but they are still way service de chaque citoyen. Son graph he found, which sheds light on behind in specialized terminology. développement doit s’opérer dans le the matter: Non potranno essere rilas- Here are three ways to translate cadre de la coopération interna- ciate ulteriori garanzie a quelle ditte “respite options”: Επιλογε´ζ ανα´- tionale. Elle ne doit porter atteinte ni che – sebbene inviate con lettera rac- παυλαζ (more like “break options”); à l’identité humaine, ni aux droits de comandata – non abbiano pagato il Επιλογε´ζ ανακου´ϕισηζ (more like l’homme, ni à la vie privée, ni aux lib- premio di proroga relativo a prece- “relief options”); and Επιλογε´ζ ertés individuelles ou publiques. So, in denti garanzie non svincolate o che no στη´ριξηζ (more like “support English, it would be the “Computer abbiano procurato ancora la liber- options”). Alexis’s suggestion in this Science and Liberties Law,” and in azione delle gar tanzie relative ai con- case is to render the term as “options Russian, Pfrjy Byajhvfnbrb b tratti scaduti. His suggested translation for finding temporary care” using the cdj,jls. Cheryl Fain consulted the of this will appear next month. term Επιλογε´ζ εξασϕα´λισηζ προ- official website of the French Data σωρινη´ζ ´ερι ναζ. Protection Authority, and found that (Pt-E 5-09.7) (títulares): For Elena the words of the query are translated Contreras-Chacel, it is “appointed (E-Po 5-09.1) (reflux line for a con- as “Data Protection Act.” For an unof- companies.” She thinks the text refers densate): Piotr Graff likes linia zrzu- ficial translation into English of the to companies that are entitled to do the towa for this. Expanding on that, he act, she advises us to go to job, that is, professional companies. says his solution is based on the www.cnil.fr/index.php?id=4. With several available meanings to meaning of zrzucaç (to vomit, regurgi- this word, says Gabe Bokor, it is diffi- tate), which involves the physiological (G-E 5-09.5) (Dongle): This, cult to tell which one fits in this sen- concept of reflux. In addition, an auto- according to Roger Volk, Chiara di tence. It is probably “owners” (of the clave is used for medical equipment, Benedetto Brown, and John Cantrell, utility?), but more context is needed. so we have come full circle. is a small piece of hardware that con- Gabe has never seen titular used for a nects to a computer, and may be holding company. Gonzalo Ordóñez (E-Sp 5-09.2) (walk in a heel-to-toe portable like a USB flashdrive. It is sees a need for a comma rather than a fashion): Elena Contreras-Chacel says now widely used to refer to a broad- period in the original context sentence that as used in kinesiology, this is cam- band wireless adapter. Earlier, the given on page 41 of the May 2009 inar de la manera talón-punta or modo word was used evidently as a verb (to issue. He translates it here as “the de caminar talón-punta, or simply cam- authenticate a piece of software). legally assigned entities.” In Brazil, inar talón-punta, depending upon the Chiara, John, and Roger all found this these are the federal or state govern- context. A more extensive definition on Wikipedia. ments for the water services. was found by D. Vilma Vosskaemper in Dorland Diccionario Enciclopédico (G-E 5-09.6) (revisionssicher): Eric (Sp-E 11-08.12) (Omite manifestar Illustrado de Medicina: marcha Wilson used Google to find that revi- que ella realiza una actividad remu- normal, no patológica, en la que el sionssicherheit means “revision nerada y obtiene ingresos) See page primer contacto con el suelo lo hago el secure electronic archiving.” John 43 of the November/December 2008 talón y el ultimo lo hacen los dedos. The Cantrell would translate the entire issue for the full paragraph. Leonor Spanish phrase is given as marcha de phrase as “documented in a read-only Giudici says that there is no doubt that talón y dedos. Caminar con los pies [or write-protected] form.” this sentence belongs to a divorce alineados might be an approximation, agreement of some kind, and that it says Gonzalo Ordóñez, who points out (G-Sp [E] 5-09.4) (Einzeltypisi erung): means that the mother works and gets that this is a useful term in areas other Using an Austrian website referring to a salary. The sentence connected ➡

The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 47 The Translation Inquirer Continued

by means of the conjunction “y” is was too old, and he was the only assembly and an academic council. redundant, since actividad remu- person authorized to write in the Gonzalo Ordóñez says that asamblea nerada implies being paid. The idea is names, albeit in beautiful ink gothic is a plurality of members, and is a big that “X has failed to mention that Y calligraphy. It happened to her; but she governing body representing faculty, has a job, and therefore a salary.” admits there could be other reasons. administration, and students, while Sabine Michael: “The plaintiff Mercedes Guidici points out that the use consejo is a restricted body, equivalent requests that all spousal maintenance of the gerund in this clause is incorrect, to the board of trustees in the U.S. be the responsibility of the under- and there are a couple of misspellings. signed, but fails to mention that she is The problem with the translation, how- Nicely done, I say to all of you who gainfully employed and receives an ever, is that different countries have dif- responded to previous months’ queries! income.” Janis Palma: “fails to state ferent school systems, and the names Thank you. that she is gainfully employed and has attached to the different educational a source of income.” There is still stages may vary. The translation has to more to this, but I will save it for a suit the target audience’s educational future issue. Just be patient. system. Sharlee Merner Bradley agrees This column is solely intended as a means of facilitating a with Mercedes about the differing general discussion regarding terminology choices. For feed- (Sp-E 2-09.10) (estando pendiente de national school systems, but says that back regarding pressing terminology questions, please try tramitar el título correspondiente): acceptable English would be “the one of these online forums: Lantra-L (www.geocities.com/ Shel Shafer suggests “The processing diploma for the degree is in the process athens/7110/lantra.htm), ProZ.com (www.proz.com), or Translators Café (http://translatorscafe.com). of the respective diploma is pending.” of being issued.” He assumes that the document Address your queries and responses to The Translation acknowledges the student’s comple- (Sp-E 5-09.8) (asamblea, consejo): Inquirer, 112 Ardmoor Avenue, Danville, Pennsylvania tion of the academic work, and that the The former is “assembly” and the 17821, or fax them to (570) 275-1477. E-mail address: diploma is forthcoming. Milena latter “council,” says Elena Contreras- [email protected]. Please make your submissions by the Waldron explains that the reason for Chacel. To apply the contrast to an first of each month to be included in the next issue. the diploma still being “on hold” was entity closer to home, Elena notes that Generous assistance from Per Dohler, proofreader, is grate- that the calligrapher who wrote them the University of California has an fully acknowledged.

Sometimes it is a small world, Are You LinkedIn? and that is the point of LinkedIn.

The ATA group on LinkedIn provides an ideal starting point for online networking. It also offers you contacts for individuals outside ATA who are connected to your fellow ATA members. Joining the ATA group on LinkedIn is a fast track to building your e-network. Take advantage of your ATA membership. Joining LinkedIn through ATA gives you an instant community with opportunities to grow your network quickly. Don’t wait—get your online networking underway! To join, just visit www.atanet.org/linkedin.php.

48 The ATA Chronicle ■ July 2009 Herman is a librettist and translator. Submit items for future columns via e-mail to [email protected] or via snail mail to Mark Herman, 1409 E Gaylord Street, Humor and Translation Mark Herman Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858-3626. Discussions of the hermanapter@ translation of humor and examples thereof are preferred, cmsinter.net but humorous anecdotes about translators, translations, and mistranslations are also welcome. Include copyright Sesame Street information and permission if relevant.

This column is based on various and a plummeting birthrate, it would among that nation’s considerable Internet postings, including those of be difficult. Obedience, solemnity, and Muslim population. The New York Times and the BBC. duty seemed to be all that Russian chil- Charlotte Beers, Undersecretary of In July 1969, test episodes of the dren knew. Children who were asked State for Public Diplomacy, warned a children’s program Sesame Street to audition for the show largely sat Senate committee that the “people we were seen on a Philadelphia educa- back in their chairs and sang sad songs. need to talk to do not even know the tional station. The first nationally tel- And, before they could cheer up tod- basics about us. They are taught to evised episode ran in November of dlers, the producers had to cheer up the distrust our every motive. Such dis- that year. Vila Sesamo aired in Brazil writers, some of whom wanted to use tortions, married to a lack of knowl- in 1972; Sesamstrasse in Germany in the word ltghtccbz (depression) to edge, is a deadly cocktail. Engaging 1973; 1, rue Sesame in France in teach children how to use the letter and teaching common values are pre- 1978; Улuцa Ceзaм in Russia in L (D). But Улuцa Ceзaм finally went ventive medicine.” Fortunately, there 1999; Rechov Sumsum / Shara'a on the air. As in many non-American is “an army willing to be signed up to Simsim in Israel and Palestine in versions of the show, most of the engage the world on behalf of the 1998; and Takalani Sesame in South familiar characters were replaced. For United States,” an army led by Bert, Africa in 2000. Children in more than obvious reasons, Oscar the Grouch Ernie, and, Russian fear of gloomi- 120 countries now see the show. was out, but even Big Bird was ness notwithstanding, Oscar the But non-American versions of the replaced by an awkward and adorable Grouch. Beers said that in Egypt, show are not just the American ver- doglike character named Ptkb,j,f, “The children are glued to the set. sions dubbed into another language. who lives in the hollow of a gigantic They are learning English, they are Instead, special content is created to oak tree. learning about American values.” suit the needs and governmental It was not too long before One such value is sexual equality. requirements of each locality. American diplomats realized that The Egyptian version of the show, with Palestinian and Israeli muppets can be Sesame Street is great propaganda for the agreement of the Cairo government, friends on Israeli and Palestinian tele- fostering good will toward the U.S. has a muppet named Khokha (Peach) vision, but Serbian and Albanian throughout the world. Of course, such who wants to be an astronaut or doctor. muppets are not allowed the same propaganda works only if it is Some show segments promote privilege on Kosovo television. unplanned and coincidental, not if the capitalism. On American television, The Russian version took five years show is obviously brought to you by Merrill Lynch has sponsored Elmo’s and $6 million to develop. During that the letters U, S, and A. explanation of business to time, armed gunmen drove the produc- The propaganda value of the show preschoolers, and, even on Russian tion company from its Moscow work was undoubtedly diminished when television, there is a story line about a space and nationalist politicians American psychological operations lemonade stand, showing that it is demanded to know why Russia needed officers, intent on encouraging Iraqi possible to “make a profit and be a television shows from America for its prisoners to submit to questioning, nice person.” children to watch. Wasn’t American subjected the prisoners to repeated But some American values are not culture already well represented on playings, at ear-splitting volume, of welcomed everywhere. In South Russian television with popular shows the show’s theme music. The U.S. Africa, where there is a huge AIDS like Dynasty, Baywatch, and Beverly Army, by the way, is one of the finan- problem, the show introduced an Hills 90210? But, in the 1990s, Russia, cial supporters of the Children’s HIV-positive muppet named Kami. despite its tradition of animation and Television Workshop, which produces There was no problem in South Africa theater for children, had only one edu- the show. itself; Kami was a big hit on Takalani cational television show for the pre- Other U.S. agencies also support Sesame. But a group of American school set. Many educators thought it the show. The Agency for Republican politicians were moved to would be a good idea to prepare chil- International Development is spon- issue a letter demanding that such an dren for the joy of learning, but also soring the production of Sesame outrageous character never appear in knew that after seven decades of total- Street for viewers in Bangladesh to the United States. itarian rule followed by several years “promote greater understanding of of economic and political uncertainty American morality and culture”

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