Defending English Against “Passive” Translation1… How has it become acceptable for English to be treated as if it had no country or history? BY WENDELL RICKETTS
Let me begin with a simple statement, one guaranteed to have any group of translators howling at each other within minutes: translators can be defined as professional (by which I mean, among other things, that they are entitled to charge money for what they do) solely and exclusively if they work from their second (or other) language into their native one.
In case that doesn’t ignite a row, I’ll add a corollary: translating into one’s dominant language is not a sufficient condition for holding oneself out as a professional, but it is a necessary one. It is, to break into a language that is not my native tongue, the sine qua non of professional translation. Without it, there is nothing. → continue reading
A consequence of the nativist bias is its perpetuation of the very same stereotypes that translators have so assiduously sought to overcome. BY SEAN MICHAEL DODD
HELP WANTED: Chef, French Restaurant. Must be native of France, less than two years out of country, specialized in haute cuisine. Parisians preferred. Creoles, Africans, and Polynesians need not apply.
In this post-racial era of equal opportunity, most Americans would blanch at an ad like this one, and yet such job postings are all too familiar to translators, conditioned as we are by our profession’s taboo against working in non-native target languages.
Flouting the national-origin protections of state and federal antidiscrimination laws, translation clients routinely use nationality as a qualification in their job announcements. One recent example, re-edited here for brevity:
WRITER / TRANSLATOR (contract)
This attractive position requires the following skills:
Native fluency in X language.
Undergraduate degree from X country.
Less than 3 years away from native country
It is hard to see how native fluency, foreign diplomas, and limited time abroad amount to “skills.” → continue reading
A mantra for translators: work comfortably with your current physical body. BY LUCY G. KRYUCHKOVA
The first General Meeting of 2010 took place on Saturday, February 6, 2010, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the NCTA’s New Venue: the San Francisco State University Downtown Campus located in the Westfield San Francisco Centre, 835 Market Street at 4th Street, room 667, 6th floor.
The meeting enjoyed an excellent turnout, with over 50 members and non-members in attendance. There were even some special guests: Cristina Navia and Leo van Zanten drove all the way up from Ventura County just to attend our meeting! They do not have a local chapter there. All present welcomed them to the meeting and were very happy that they could attend. → continue reading
If you thought there wasn’t much activity in the Translation Environment Tool (TEnT) market, believe me, there is.
Here is a “rundown” of some of the smaller tools. Let’s start with the best-known and most commonly used tool. OmegaT is the flag-bearer and by far the most actively developed open-source TEnT for translators at this point. → continue reading
Appreciation of translation and its importance were common themes of some recent events. BY NORMA KAMINSKY, SARAH LLEWELLYN AND SHARLEE MERNER BRADLEY
There was a surfeit of events to choose from these last few months, whatever one’s interests or focus—from teaching to literature to how-to workshops. → continue reading
Educate the next generation of language professionals as well as the next generation of clients by participating in school outreach. BY SONIA WICHMANN
Would you like to help educate young people about the translation/interpretation profession and the importance of foreign languages? A great way to do this is to participate in the ATA’s School Outreach Program by giving a presentation at a school, college, or university. Now you can also enter the School Outreach Contest for a chance to win free registration to ATA’s Annual Conference in Denver in October. → continue reading
In China, the word “Mandarin” is rarely used and may have originally been derived from a word in the Sanskrit language. BY SONG WHITE
Years ago when I was asked if I speak Mandarin, I was puzzled. What’s Mandarin? I later learned that “Mandarin” means the official spoken Chinese language. I am not alone—many of my Chinese friends have the same confusion. That’s because we don’t call it “Mandarin” in China. Instead, it’s “Putonghua,” meaning “common spoken language.” → continue reading
Possibly the only important news for Mac-using translators coming from the last Macworld Expo in February was the announcement of a release time for the next Office for Mac: holiday season 2010. It’s big news for Wordfast fans who cannot use Wordfast Classic on the latest version of the suite due to its reliance on Word’s macro. This was removed from the 2008 edition, and users must run Word 2004 or forfeit Wordfast Classic altogether. → continue reading
The debate about translation crowdsourcing encompasses a number of concerns, not the least of which are quality, professional standards, and ethics. BY NAOMI BAER
In June’s issue of the ATA Chronicle, Jiri Stejskal announced in the President’s column that the ATA Board had declared crowdsourcing one of the two top threats to the profession and to the association, at the same level as the other top threat they identified, the economic downturn.
This new trend—and the perception that this is just one more modern variation on the age-old theme of using unskilled, low-cost labor to produce translations—has engendered a strong reaction in the translation community. The most notable example is the controversy that arose after LinkedIn surveyed members, asking if they would be willing to contribute translations to the website for compensation such as account upgrades, recognition, or just for fun. The ATA quickly responded with a press release and open letter to LinkedIn, and the New York Times covered the resulting outcry, describing translators variously as “irked,” “surprised,” “upset,” “annoyed,” and in one case, “excited” about the opportunity for public credit. → continue reading
No, I’m not referring to the postman’s work ethic, but to the perseverance of those who attended the NCTA’s annual New Year’s Brunch. Despite inclement weather, about 50 NCTA members, some accompanied by their significant others, made the trek to Berkeley for the annual New Year’s Brunch at Skates by the Bay on January 17. This post-holiday event is a great way to start the New Year. → continue reading
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Let me begin with a simple statement, one guaranteed to have any group of translators howling at each other within minutes: translators can be defined as professional (by which I mean, among other things, that they are entitled to charge money for what they do) solely and exclusively if they work from their second (or other) language into their native one.
