Dec 1st, 2005 | Agencies, Interpretation, Reports, Translation, Web services | No Comments
By Stafford Hemmer
In September, NCTA members were invited to participate in a 25-question online survey of their experiences and opinions of translation and interpretation broker sites. Thanks to the contributions of 57 translators and interpreters, and 6 agencies or industry agents, we are now able to offer a member-based assessment of the T&I marketplace on the Web.
Responses to the multiple choice/open comment survey questions cut a broad swath of sentiment, from the favorable (“My experience is quite good. I’ve made contact with many employers through ProZ.com, and several of them have continued to contact me for other projects”) through the web-curious (“I have very little contact with them, but would be interested in finding the useful ones.”) to the quite unflattering (“It does not work. It is definitely not the real world out there.”).
Yet the T&I market continues to be an underused (which isn’t to say untapped) resource for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the most salient indicator is that three-quarters of the respondents have joined at least one T&I website through free membership (suggesting that the resource has indeed been “tapped”), whereas a whopping 68 percent express frustration at having never gotten a job, or found a contractor, from T&I websites (which may explain the “underused”status of the resource).
A few grains of salt regarding the survey: despite generous support from 63 survey participants, many respondents decided to skip one or more questions here and there. Hence, the first 13 questions were short of the full 63 responses by a range of 12-19 responses. The decision to “skip” increased exponentially for the subsequent 10 questions. It is unclear what prompted survey participants to skip questions: unclear wording, too many questions, or some other reason. The consequence is that the percentages discussed in this article reflect the responses of those who replied to a specific question, and not the sentiments of the group as a whole. All percentages have been rounded.
Additionally, the survey allowed for respondents to answer “I do not participate in the bidding process at all” to three different questions, resulting in three different percentages. While these variations are mentioned below, bear in mind they are cited within the context of the respective questions posed in the survey.
Membership
The virtual T&I market is familiar terrain to NCTA members. Respondents confessed to having signed on, for free, to at least 1-3 sites (67%) or even as many as 4-6 sites (11%). By contrast, 23% indicated they hold no free memberships. This was perhaps a common choice among those translators who, as one respondent indicated, “ … don’t use T&I websites because I have enough work from reliable sources that I know are reliable and pay what is fair without the extra hassle.” The chances are good that this latter group has opted out of T&I websites altogether: when it comes to taking that extra step and upgrading to fee-based membership, 59% of respondents decided against, while the remaining 41% limited payments to only 1-3 websites. Of those, 26% pay over $100 in combined annual dues. While 16% of respondents believe upgrading is significant to optimizing website exposure, another 18% regarded this as of minor importance, and 18% felt it made no difference at all.
If a T&I broker were to attend an NCTA meeting in the hope of increasing hermember base, she should brace herself for disappointment: exactly 0% of respondents were inspired to upload resumes to a broker’s website on the basis of a conference presentation. Using the survey results as an indicator, the most effective method for a broker to increase its client base is to trawl for prospects through a mass email that includes a start-up free membership offer (33%). Almost as many respondents (30%) were encouraged to sign up by colleague recommendations, while 15% joined websites based on Internet advertising. An equal number said they never join T&I websites.
The bidding process
If resource utilization is proportionate to login activity, then the survey results established that the web-based T&I market is largely ignored by NCTA professionals. The benefits of membership privileges are negligible to the majority of those respondents who said they used broker websites, since 40% indicated they logged in less than once a week, compared with 23% who login 2-4 times per week, and 14% who login every day. Although finding job offers/contractors was rated as one of the most important features of T&I websites, the relative inactivity among NCTA members is further reflected by the 43% of NCTA professionals who, when asked if they would lower rates to win a bid, said they did not participate in the bidding process at all.
“Membership rates should be based on how many jobs you actually get via the website,” suggested one respondent, “I’ve paid $30 but have gotten exactly zero jobs.” This perspective is likely shared by the 68% of translators and interpreters who have never gotten a contract from a website, or the agencies that have not awarded a contract through a website. While nearly 21% reported a successful bidding experience within the last 60 days, only two respondents (less than 5%) reported having any real success within the last seven days. Another respondent complained, “These sites seem to be designed for either extremely specialized, high-end work, or extreme bargain basement prices, with nothing for the rest of us.”
Income
The “bottom feeder” phenomenon to which the above respondent alludes is indeed a common complaint among those who have struggled with website job searches. “The prices are always below what I could afford to charge,” that same survey respondent continued. This disparity in pay rates may be reflected in the 60% who, when asked what percentage of income they attributed exclusively to T&I websites, indicated they do not participate in the bidding process at all. Would it make a difference if an interpreter lowered his rates in order to win a bid? Despite the fact that 24% of respondents said they would never lower their rates, 17% would consider a reduction of 1-10%, and 5 respondents (11%) said they would even consider lowering rates up to 20% in some circumstances. Not an entirely unreasonable proposition if a project is big enough or a client important enough for the service provider to offer entry-level rates.
Still, competition is no picnic for any job seeker. The online T&I marketplace can turn the battle into a feeding frenzy. It is difficult to match the lower rates offered by competitors who can snap up job offers quickly when the net is cast 10 time zones east or west of the Left Coast, where the cost of living may be a fraction of the Bay Area’s. So it should come as no surprise that 40% of NCTA members who were asked to rate the bidding process overall said they never participate, while 34% of respondents rate the bidding process as “an enormously frustrating waste of time,” and a mere 21% use it as “a backup resource when the river’s dry.” Only one respondent felt the bidding process to be an invaluable resource overall. As for results, 25% estimated that less than 10% of their efforts resulted in contracts, and only one individual felt he or she had a greater than 50% success rate in the bidding process.
Features
Show me the money: When it comes to money matters, 37% attribute less than a quarter of their income to T&I websites, while 60% do not use the websites for income-generating purposes. So is it the other website features that inspire language professionals to open up or maintain memberships to these sites?
As mentioned earlier, the top-rated feature among survey respondents was paradoxically “job assignments/hiring contractors.” This was followed by “payment practices/contractor ratings” and “forums and other translator/interpreter/agency contacts.” By contrast, the one feature considered “totally useless” was “teamwork on projects.” Promotions of T&I software, books, and other resources were considered “superfluous, but interesting,” while online glossaries were rated as “interesting and sometimes useful” by a majority of respondents.
Half the respondents said they never submitted a terminology question to a website. This was followed by 34% stating they submitted terminology questions only as a last resort. As for replies, 42% of respondents said they never post replies to terminology questions, whereas 40% post replies only on an occasional, ad hoc basis. Only one respondent said he or she responded frequently. Overall, the terminology assistance was seen as somewhat reliable, but it doesn’t always hit the mark (56%), whereas 22% felt the assistance was not very reliable.
The envelope, please: based on the votes tallied, the award for the best broker website in the virtual world goes to … ProZ.com. Interestingly, the site also bears the dubious distinction of being voted the worst website as well. Indeed, it was the single website cited most by name in both categories. Oddly enough, the same phenomenon applies to the websites which tied for second place—Aquarius.net and TranslatorsCafe, which were likewise voted both winner and loser in equal measure.
Winners and Losers
This equivocation characterizes the broker survey overall: sites were voted best and worst simultaneously, called useless by default and yet useful by chance, or esteemed as an invaluable resource and a complete waste of money. Harvesting the most from a broker membership ultimately depends on the specific needs of the individual translator, interpreter, or agency. The broker phenomenon is well known to NCTA members, and the reasons for accessing or ignoring the benefits and features of these websites are as diverse as the variety of language groups they serve.
Perspectives
On the negative side
“I am negative on T&I sites since members have no credentials (some exceptions of course exist) and jobs almost always [go] to the lowest bidder which in a global market means working peanuts per word. This is a totally out-of-date system of assigning value and so is the Euro per-page concept. Our clients get a fixed, hourly-rate quote based on deadline (and difficulty).“
On the positive side
“It is mainly important as a marketing tool and to stay on top of the new developments in the business. You can sometimes establish durable client/translator relationships. I noticed that very qualified agencies also bid on these sites.”
And some sage advice
“I bid on ProZ.com jobs only during my dry periods. I only bid on jobs that appear serious. I never alter my standard rates. The ‘serious’ jobs (i.e. rates acceptable for U.S. cost of living, reliable payers, etc.) may only account for 10% of the jobs posted, and I may only be awarded 10% of the jobs I bid on, but that has nonetheless resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in work over the past few years and often a steady, direct relationship with the outsourcer. My advice is, therefore: first sort the wheat (10%) from the chaff (90%), then bid on jobs that suit you and your specialties. Be prepared to lose most bids, but one successful bid, especially if it leads to followup work, can easily justify the annual fee and the time invested with the site.”
Dec 1st, 2005 | Interpretation, Reports, Sports Interpretation | No Comments
By Carolina Arrigoni-Shea
How do you say “Strike three!” in Portuguese? Or explain the concept of football’s (that is, American football’s) “first down,” to the Lithuanian mother of an NFL rookie watching her son play his first game? How do you help a Chinese basketball star navigate the DMV in order to get his U.S. driver’s license? This is where personal interpreters for professional athletes enter the game.
In these highly interconnected times, the need for building bridges across linguistic (and cultural) boundaries continues to expand at a rapid speed, opening new and interesting doors for translators and interpreters. One such door is that into the world of sports, where the work is a far cry from sitting in an interpreter’s booth in a courtroom, or delving deep into technical dossiers to translate an important document. In fact, one might say it’s even fun!
The Calling
What if you could call the home of the Oakland Athletics your office? Baseball fans would probably not mind that. Nor does Yohei Fukuda, 22, the interpreter for the A’s Japanese reliever Keiichi Yabu. Last July, Mr. Fukuda - a former Cal Berkeley soccer player with a bachelor’s degree in Economics - was selected by the pitcher himself, out of a small pool of candidates put together by the A’s manager. The position was offered “through internal networking, rather than a public job opening process,” explained Mr. Fukuda.
You may wonder what made Yohei Fukuda the ideal match for the job. In his view, there were two major forces in play: heritage and sports. American-born to Japanese parents, Mr. Fukuda has been in close contact with his parents’ native culture since early childhood, speaking Japanese with his parents all the time at home, as well as visiting friends and relatives in Japan about once a year. And as for formal training, he attended Japanese school every Saturday growing up, and later took advanced Japanese classes at UC Berkeley during college.
Additionally, Mr. Fukuda believes that his passion for sports was another decisive point. “One crucial factor that made me suitable for this job was the fact that I had been involved in sports all my life. I can relate the A’s team sport atmosphere to the times when I was playing college soccer at Berkeley,” said the interpreter. Granted that soccer and baseball are very different sports, nonetheless “the idea of team achievement and being involved with staff, coaches, and players is nearly identical,”he added.
Colin Pine’s job as personal interpreter for the towering 7’5” Chinese basketball star Yao Ming was launched differently, as the search to fill the position was a very formal affair. In 2002, the Houston Chronicle reported that about 390 people (including Mr. Pine) applied for the opening of fulltime fulltime interpreter for the then newly-arrived-to-the-U.S. Yao. Said Erick Zhang, the athlete’s advisor and cousin, “I was looking for personality, technical skill, and firsthand knowledge of China; someone who wouldn’t melt under public scrutiny, or go to a bar every night, and someone whose age gap with Yao wasn’t too great.” The required due diligence and a set of interviews with a select group of applicants followed, culminating in the selection of Mr. Pine, an English major in his late twenties who lived and worked in Taipei for three years, and then joined U.S. State Department as a translator. With his selection as Yao’s interpreter, Mr. Pine instantly rose from anonymity to the high-profile environment of the National Basketball Association.
Jane Yin, a Chinese-American public relations consultant in the field of sports, also served as an interpreter for Chinese athletes in the U.S. In 2003, she joined the marketing office of BDA Sports Management, an agency serving professional basketball players, including Yao. While at BDA, her bicultural upbringing allowed her to seize a very interesting opportunity: interpreting for several members of China’s national basketball team who would be traveling to the United States to undergo various medical treatments.
Ms. Yin’s first assignment was providing assistance to the men’s team forward, Gong SongLin. “He didn’t have anyone that could help interpret for him - help him get settled, and understand what the surgery meant,” said Ms. Yin. “And, what would happen after.” Being the only person in the agency who spoke Mandarin Chinese, Ms. Yin took on the challenge. Later, Ye Li, the center for the women’s national team (and Yao Ming’s girlfriend) came to the States for knee surgery, and Ms. Yin was again called to the rescue. “It was very unique,”she explained. In fact, she was sent on these assignments by the sports agency as a favor to its client Yao Ming, who was concerned for his teammates’ well-being during their stay in America.
On the Job
So, once you land an interpreting job in professional sports, what is it like? During the Oakland A’s busy season schedule, Yohei Fukuda and pitcher Keiichi Yabu spend days (and weeks) in a row together. Mr. Fukuda does the same amount of traveling as all the players. “Some trips are three days at one city, whereas others are more than 10 days - and include going to three cities,” he commented. The same is true for Yao Ming’s interpreter. Colin Pine sits behind the Houston Rockets’ bench during games, attends every practice, and follows Yao all over the map, both around the United States with the Rockets, and in China when the player returns to his homeland during the off-season.
And yet, the job description is not limited to providing language assistance during trips with the team, media appearances, or strategy sessions with the coaches. Player and interpreter become “inseparable,” in the full sense of the word. Outside of sports, professional athletes rely on their interpreters for everyday activities such as going to the bank, getting a dentist appointment, and calling the phone company to request a repair. During the two-month period of Ye Li’s surgery and rehabilitation, for example, Ye Li and her interpreter were roommates. “I taught her how to drive, ” said Ms. Yin. “Toward the end we had two objectives in mind: to rehab her knee, and then to get her driver’s license.”
With such close and constant contact, good rapport between interpreter and player is key. And in fact, a bond is created between them that goes beyond a strict business relationship. Yohei Fukuda says he enjoys talking to Yabu about what’s going on with his life and about news that the player finds interesting, so that they can build their relationship not solely as co-workers, but also as friends. “We play cards before games, go shopping together, and eat out when we’re on the road all the time,” shared Mr. Fukuda. In a way, the interpreter becomes one of the player’s biggest fans:“You grow very close to these people … and because they are athletes, you want to see them win,” admitted Ms. Yin.
Unofficial Interpreting
While interpreter assistance to the non-English speaking athlete in the United States is invaluable, not all players born outside our national borders, obviously, enjoy the privilege of being assigned a personal interpreter. Many of them - as is common in the case of Latin American players - have to brave the linguistic and cultural challenge with the help of bilingual teammates, or other bona fide bilingual participants of the corporate machine that is professional sports.
One of these “informal linguists” is Luis Alberto Torres, a veteran sports journalist and Spanish media coordinator for the San Francisco Giants since 1993. Although interpreting is not part of his duties, Mr. Torres often assists Spanish-speaking players when they are interviewed by local reporters. Keeping a very low profile, the Colombian-born media coordinator makes sure athletes fully understand the questions posed to them, and helps with their replies as needed.
“You live your life through their life.”
Working 24/7
Being the personal interpreter for a major name in sports requires being on call 24/7, in the sense that the interpreter needs to be available whenever the player needs him or her. As Ms. Yin put it, “You live your life through their life.” Although this may seem an undue sacrifice to some, for the professionals interviewed for this piece the benefits far outweighed the costs.
These interpreters are also aware that their current positions have a limited duration; as they help their athletes become stronger in their English skills, they will eventually be able to go about their lives in the United States by themselves. In the end, though, these interpreters feel most fortunate about what they experience on the job. Apart from their salaries - which our interpreters agreed tend to vary with the circumstances - they learn tremendously from their players’ culture, they visit new places, and get to know people who might otherwise be inaccessible.
And, perhaps one of the biggest perks: they watch live sports almost every day!
Did you know?
The varieties of Spanish spoken by Major League Baseball’s Latin American players call for a strong knowledge of regional “baseball lingo.” Over the years, Luis A. Torres has compiled a thorough glossary of Spanish regional terms. Examples: an “outfielder” is known as jardinero (gardener) in Venezuela, guardabosques (forest ranger) in Puerto Rico, and a patrullero (patrolman) in Mexico.
Although Yohei Fukuda (22) and Keiichi Yabu (37) are 15 years apart, age difference is not an issue in their relationship. “Yabu jokes around all the time. He’s young in his mind,”says Mr. Fukuda.
Of the 829 players on Major League Baseball’s 30 teams in 2005, 242, or about 30%, were born outside the United States. This is up from 23.6 percent in 2000.
Foreign athletes are also a growing force in the NBA, featuring players from 34 countries - hailing from such distant regions as China, Lithuania, and Argentina.
The author wishes to thank Luis Alberto Torres, Jane Yin, Yohei Fukuda, and Kristy Fick for their generous cooperation in contributing to this story
Sep 1st, 2005 | Agencies, Interpretation, Reports, Translation, Web services | No Comments
By Stafford Hemmer
Translation and interpretation broker sites: love them or hate them, you can no longer ignore them. In this first of two articles, Stafford Hemmer examines the growing phenomenon of the web-based T&I marketplace. In addition, he asks you to relate your own experiences in a survey, which he will analyze and report on in our December issue.
“Dear Translator! Company XYZ invites you to join our database of professional translators, interpreters, and agencies …”
Sound familiar? Merely being listed as an ATA member will land you at least one of these enticing emails. Who are these people?
Who indeed. They are the relatively new kid on the block in the T&I marketplace—a “new” kid that follows the model of other industries in using the Internet to the advantage of all parties in a transaction. They are the broker site. And they raise interesting questions regarding the ways in which translation buyers and sellers can come together. Where ATA and NCTA online referral services offer one set of advantages, those tend to focus on the respective association’s overall purposes, with translator and interpreter referrals an added (albeit crucial) perk. With broker sites, one must wonder about the prudence of investing in T&I services marketed online. What does the plethora of auction sites have to offer the freelancer or agency? How does a freelancer or agency navigate these websites without getting sucked into a vortex of global bidding wars? How does the user know which site is worth the expenditure of time and money, and which site leads to a dead end?
Unlike agencies, which are corporate entities subject to the governing jurisprudence and tax practices of their domiciles, T&I websites are global marketplaces for vendors and clients. Here, translators typically negotiate job terms (timing, format, payment) directly with a client found on the broker sites. As such, caveat emptor applies: eliminating the agency may have its benefit (no third-party fees), but in direct relationships, both sides dispense with the risk protection an agency offers (QA and liability insurance, among other protections).
One of the best known of these organizations is ProZ (or at least best-advertised: “Tradosis a ProZ.com Partner” boasted the back-cover ad of the April 2005 ATA Chronicle). Founded in 1999, the company defines itself as “a directory of translation services by freelance language translators and translation agencies.” The banner for another popular website, “aquarius.net - reloaded!” extols the power of its new and improved homepage for “the market leader in translation outsourcing … with an ever-expanding network of language specialists and translation customers.” GoTranslators lays claim to a more modest existence as a “world translation directory.” Admittedly, its world is limited to 30 languages. The common thread? Translation & interpretation broker sites are Internet websites that connect T&I buyers with T&I sellers.
Benefits
Beyond this shared purpose, each site distinguishes itself through a variety of distinctive bells and whistles, intended to add value and create synergy in a collaborative virtual office environment. Among its many useful services, offers a weekly report that informs participants how many times their profile was viewed, and how much that profile was “promoted” by the site. The “Content Hit Parade” on keeps translators abreast of the most popular topics and software among users. To lure its members out of their translation caves and into a real live café for an in-person with neighboring translators, established its “Powwow” service. The re-launched site allows users to create “groups” for team communications and ostensibly project communication management through its “Friends, Teams, and Ignore” lists. For freelancers who risk accepting work from an unknown client, shared information on payment practices is an indispensable resource. The sites also fill the void in client education with concise articulation of business conditions.
To some, online collaboration with fellow language professionals on terminology questions is invaluable. Some websites offer incentive bonuses to participants in such exchanges. For the asker, getting the right term is the obvious bonus, although at times it may be slow in coming—a key drawback when you’re in a time crunch. For the respondent earning “KudoZ” points, for example, the precise answer to a perplexing terminology question will boost credentials in the ProZ marketplace; ostensibly, outsourcers seek out high-scoring translators. I have accumulated exactly zero KudoZ points, because I post my own terminology questions to the GLD (German Language Division) list of ATA. That community provides me with virtually immediate and highly reliable answers, and typically provokes stimulating conversation.
It’s possible, then, that one might see more job offers from ProZ if more time is put into researching and answering other people’s terminology questions. The same holds true for other websites as well: “The more Conges points a TRADUguide member has, the more he/she will move towards the top of the TRADUguide translators’ list.” Not a day goes by without a Conges question in my email box posted by a TRADUguide user in desperation. If I know the answer and have time, I will post an answer and, if lucky (and precise), get the coveted points. But I am astonished at times when assistance is required for terms as basic as eins, zwei, drei.
Membership and bidding
Typically, “membership,” whether free or fee, is offered to any taker. Yes, this means anyone, from the person who has two years of high school French to the most pedigreed Arabic-speaking linguist … and everyone in between. Some websites do make a stated effort to “certify” the qualificationsonline. Sign up for Global Vision’s database, for instance, and each of your three references will be emailed a recommendation request as soon as you hit the “submit” button.
“Free membership” is invariably a lure to the better exposure, greater access (e.g., ProZ’s “Blue Board”) and more work promised by “professional membership upgrades.” While brokers make money from advertisers, endorsements, product sales, and sometimes client fees—occasionallytying membership upgrades to product purchases (“Hello, WordFast 5.0!”)—membership fees are a main source of funds for the websites (the broker needs to pay rent too). Different tiers of membership mean you pay for different levels of exposure. Your faith in upgrading from Economy to Business or First Class membership on Aquarius may ease the turbulence you feel when the work conditions are rough. Both TRADUguide and GoTranslators remind non-paying members that such status relegates them to the job offer notifications 12 hours after paying members. Since time is money in this global market place, such a delay likely means someone else wins the bid.
Still, this “open door policy” invites the harshest criticism of the brokering business. Case in point: take the Spanish>English translator, who, assuming she submits a timely offer, bids on a 10,000-word contract at her rate of US$0.12/word. She loses to another translator who may be a non-native speaker living in a country whose lingua franca may be English, and where the competing offer of $0.03/word supports that standard of living. While the T&I buyer might receive a poor-quality translation, if he ferrets the work for “proofreading and editing” to another professional, at $0.04/word, he nets a translation at almost half the cost offered by the native-speaking (and presumably better) translator. This phenomenon makes it extremely difficult to compete in the global market and begs the question: what’s the point of paying for greater exposure on a website, when in the end, you’d have to cut your rates in half to win a contract?
Other models
There are other portals for translators and clients having different formats than the T&I broker website. A company like Choice Translating describes itself as an agency with in-house translators (covered by its liability insurance) that also hires freelancers to meet excess demand. While a freelancer may apply to become a member of the company’s database, the added “perks” mentioned above are not part of the deal, because the freelancer is working for the agency, not directly for the client. Webtra.com is a similar type of companythat has a particular focus on localization and, although multi-lingual in scope, emphasizes its Spanish-language capabilities. Textpark.de is a small shop that’s thinking big: a website now expanding its scope beyond its German-only environment. At the complete other end of the spectrum, the focus of a language-specific website like Übersetzerportal is on industry issues in the German language, even though it also offers job search facilities.
Weigh in and be heard
What is your own experience with broker sites? In the interest of stimulating a constructive, frank, and comprehensive discussion of the subject, we’d like to hear from you, via a survey at the NCTA website. Here, we invite NCTA interpreters, agencies, and translators to give voice to whatever perspectives you may have: positive, negative, or neutral. Through the data gathered, we hope to be able to publish, in Part Two of this series, an objective assessment of the sites, and, with luck, answer difficult questions that cannot be covered in an overview. To participate in the survey, visit http://tinyurl.com/4s57p.
Resources
Aquarius: One of the pioneers, recently remodeled, claiming to be the market leader in translation outsourcing. http://www.aquarius.net/
Babelport: Informs participants weekly on how many times their profile was viewed, and how much that profile was “promoted” by the site. http://babelport.com/
Global Vision: Automatically sends a recommendation request to each of the three references you enter when registering. http://www.globalvis.com/
GoTranslators: Dubs itself as a “world translation directory,” currently limited to 30 languages. http://www.gotranslators.com
MCable: Boasts a “Content Hit Parade,” keeping translators abreast of the most popular topics and software among users. http://www.mcable.net/
ProZ: Home of the “Kudoz,” Monopoly money of sorts. The high-profile website from Virginia has also been the first to attract controversy. http://www.proz.com
TRADUguide: Here, it’s the “Conges points” that will move a member towards the top of the site’s translators’ list. http://www.traduguide.com/
Sep 1st, 2005 | Court Interpretation, Interpretation, Opinion | No Comments
Arguing for the rights of California Court Interpreters
By Marianne Pripps
On June 30th, I received a call late at night informing me of what I had been dreading for some time. As a Court Interpreter Pro Tem (CIPT), I was going on strike the next morning for four days. I knew then that something had gone wrong during the last negotiation session our union conducted, and my heart sank in dismay. The next morning, I scrambled to get ready and report to the chosen venue but was not able to make it for logistical reasons. I then spent the rest of the morning contacting colleagues in sister organizations such as NCTA and ATA to ask for their support and solidarity. Why did this have to happen?
I have been a full-time court interpreter since 1993, when I first gained my state certification. For most of those years I was classified as an independent contractor with no rights or protections at work. I worked on a day-to-day basis with no benefits of any kind and no pay increases for a decade. Although such circumstances can certainly come with the territory of being an independent contractor, the difference was that I had no control over what I did; the courts did. Without my input and expertise, this was a situation that was simply unacceptable to me. Then in 2003 California legislation made interpreters employees of the court (in effect, the state) and granted us collective bargaining rights.
Contract negotiations started in earnest over a year ago. California was divided into four negotiating regions for purposes of simplicity and leverage. Region 1 (Los Angeles) was the first and remains the region that consistently makes the most progress. The other regions, in contrast—including Northern California—have suffered from a lack of seriousness and desire on the part of the courts’ representatives as to the basic fundamentals of interpreters’ rights.
From the beginning, these representatives of the courts have sought to undermine the law, subsequently refusing to concede anything beyond the most basic of employee benefits. As a union, we were faced with the animosity of some members of the court administrations who have never liked having interpreters in their midst, for reasons that are entirely unclear to me.
But we are fighting back. We feel that team interpreting and a raise in pay, as well as seniority and other job perks, are absolutely necessary to retain, recruit, and motivate skilled professionals to perform a job that is, at best, very challenging and at worst, extremely stressful. Our expertise, after all, plays an important part in ensuring a person’s due process under the law.
During the strike, we as interpreters were able to realize several things. For the past two years, we had been somewhat demoralized by the lack of incentives we had to remain employees. This changed when we saw how hard our union and colleagues had been working, united for the common good of our profession. The strike brought us together in a kind of solidarity never before achieved, and demonstrated to the court administrations the importance of our profession.
It is also true that the strike was effective only as an informational tool; it did not bring the courts to a complete halt. We were disappointed that many of our OTS (Other Than Spanish) colleagues crossed the picket lines, and even some interpreter employees did so as well. However, our spirits were lifted by the support that the legal community gave us, where court bilingual staff members refused to interpret—imperiling their own bilingual pay—and attorneys refused to use the services of non-certified interpreters.
As I write, Region 1 has ratified a contract and we are elated for our Southern California colleagues. Our strike may have had clear resonance in that area because the agreement came within a week after the end of our action. In the Northern California and San Diego regions, the situation is quite different, as both regions will enter mediation. In our own area, we may yet have to resort to further action. We hope that this does not come to pass but we are ready and willing to do so. We will need the help and support of all of our colleagues, sister organizations, and corporate members because, in the end, fair and respectful treatment and working conditions for all interpreters benefit everyone.
In my view, people should have the right to choose to be an independent contractor, along with its attendant risks; I did it for many years. But people should also have the right to be a full or part-time employee, with all its ensuing benefits, rights, and privileges. Ultimately, how interpreters stick together and fight for what is fair and just is what will decide the advancement of a noble profession.
Sep 1st, 2005 | Interpretation, Reports, Sign language | No Comments
By Wassim Nassif
After English and Spanish, the third most-used language in the United States is one that’s not even spoken! It’s American Sign Language, a marvelously robust means of communication. In this article, we explore its history and practice.
American Sign Language (ASL) is just one of over 200 distinct members of the larger worldwide family of signed languages. Developed within local deaf communities—which include deaf or hard-of-hearing people, friends and families of deaf or hard-of-hearing people, interpreters, and linguists—such languages use manual communication instead of sound to convey meaning and express a speaker’s thoughts to others.
While hand gestures are the main component of sign languages, they are not the only ones, as hand shapes and orientation are often combined with the movement of hands, arms, or body, and facial expressions. Indeed, facial features such as eyebrow motion and lip-mouth movements are extremely significant, as they form a crucial part of the grammatical system. In addition, many of these languages use the space surrounding the signer to describe places and persons that are not present.
As with virtually all signed languages, ASL is a robust, visual-spatial means of communication. Used by the deaf community in the United States and English-speaking parts of Canada, it is a linguistically complete, natural language—the “native” language of many deaf men and women, as well as some hearing children born into deaf families.
History
Because sign languages emerge within deaf communities, it is not difficult to see that they tend to be specific to the culture (even that of a small region), and not universal. For example, iconic signs excepted, British Sign Language and American Sign Language are different and mutually unintelligible, even though the hearing people of Britain and America share the same spoken language. Nonetheless, just as there have been attempts to create a universal spoken language (Esperanto being the main variant), so too have there been attempts to create a universal sign language. None of these, however, has taken solid hold.
In spite of this, general principles of non-spoken communication have been laid out, dating back to the sixteenth century, when Geronimo Cardano, an Italian physician, proclaimed that deaf people could be taught to understand written combinations of symbols by associating them with the thing they represented. The manual alphabet was introduced in 1620 by Juan Pablo de Bonet. In 1755 Abbé Charles Michel de l’Épée of Paris created and demonstrated a language of signs whereby each sign would be a symbol that suggested the concept desired. De l’Épée founded the first free school for deaf people where deaf people could develop communication through a system of conventional gestures, hand signs, and fingerspelling.
Another instructor, Samuel Heinicke of Leipzig, Germany, did not use the manual method of communication, but taught speech and speech reading. These two methods (manual and oral) were the forerunners of today’s concept of total communication. Total communication espouses the use of all means of available communication, such as sign language, gesturing, fingerspelling, speech reading, speech, hearing aids, reading, writing, and pictures.
In the U.S., Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, a Congregational minister, became interested in helping Alice Cogswell, his neighbor’s deaf daughter. He traveled to England in 1815 to study that country’s methods of communicating with deaf people. Gallaudet met Abbe Roche Ambroise Sicard, who invited him to study at his school in Paris. After several months Gallaudet returned to the United States with Laurent Clerc, a deaf sign language instructor from the Paris school. (Interestingly, because of Clerc, ASL shares many vocabulary terms with Old French Sign Language). An important milestone in the history of education for deaf people was the founding of Gallaudet College, in Washington, D.C. in 1864, which remains the only liberal arts college for deaf people in the United States and the world.
Grammatical structure
American Sign Language has its own morphology (rules for the creation of words), phonetics (rules for handshapes), and grammar that are very unlike those found in spoken languages. Its extremely distinctive and complex grammatical structure—in which a large part of the vocabulary is composed of words with many morphemes, or small pieces of words with meanings—is more like that found in Japanese or Navajo than in English. In terms of syntax, ASL employs what is known as a topic-comment syntax, while English uses Subject-Object-Verb. As distinct from spoken languages in which there is a single, serial stream of phonemes, ASL (as with other sign languages) reflects multiple communication events at the same time.
Sign language interpreting
It is typically the case that hearing persons who master sign language are children of deaf adults (often referred to as CODAs); such persons are often employed as sign language interpreters, whose function it is to mediate language barriers between people who are deaf and use ASL and people who can hear and speak English.
It should be pointed out, however, that it is neither necessary nor sufficient to be a CODA in order to be a good sign language interpreter. CODAs have an advantage in that they are born within the deaf culture and are thus automatically accepted, whereas a hearing interpreter must create his or her own ties to the community and its culture. On the other hand, because CODAs have (possibly) been interpreting for family members for many years, old habits may be difficult to break and new, professional ethical considerations difficult to learn.
In either case, as with other, spoken languages, much training is required to be an effective interpreter. For sign languages, interpreters must relay as accurately as possible the meaning of the messages being presented, including the nuances of feelings and attitudes conveyed by the participants, whether those messages are in spoken English or ASL or other types of signed communication.
In addition, interpreters must be able to modify their language use to fit the needs of the participants involved in an interpreted situation. For example, interpreters in ASL face particular challenges when multiple participants are speaking at the same time; in heated discussions in which people interrupt or talk over each other; where side comments, puns, and plays on words are used—all of which may be important to the conversation but which may be awkward to translate; and where specialized terms, for which no signs yet exist in sign language, force the interpreter to spend time fingerspelling them and/or explaining them using a longer sequence of signs.
Education and opportunities
Numerous sign language interpreter education programs have been established throughout the country. Most programs require general liberal arts courses as well as courses specifically related to the deaf community and interpreting.
The best of these programs cover a variety of subject areas, including the role of an interpreter, a historical overview of the interpreting profession, public speaking techniques, understanding of and sensitivity to the deaf community, linguistics and language development, the interpreter’s code of ethics, physical factors involved in interpreting, the various specialized situations in which an interpreter might function, and extensive guided practice in the skills involved in interpreting.
Sign language interpreters can qualify for National Interpreter Certification after completing a rigorous testing process that assesses the candidate’s skills, knowledge, and attitudes. The standards for testing are high, and extensive practical experience is often needed before trainees are able to pass. Once certified, qualified interpreters can be employed on either a full-time or part-time basis, salaried or freelance. Income varies, depending on certification level, experience, the interpreting situation, and other factors. Interpreters are needed in educational, medical, legal, recreational, mental health, religious, personal, financial, vocational, and other settings in which hearing, deaf, hard-of-hearing, and deaf-blind communicators need to facilitate the flow of ideas and information.
For members of the general public, who wish merely to learn ASL without the goal of becoming an interpreter, they can find classes at local colleges as well as through the continuing education department of the local school board, vocational rehabilitation office, and other organizations serving deaf, hard-of-hearing, and deaf-blind people.
Resources
More information on American Sign Language, and the deaf community in general, can be found with the following resources:
Sites
ASL Browser site
http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm
Gallaudet University
http://gspp.gallaudet.edu/
The Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center
http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/
Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf
http://www.rid.org/
Cybersigns Project
http://signserver.univ-lyon2.fr/
Books
American Sign Language: a student text units 10-18. Baker-Shenk, Charlotte and Dennis Cokely. 1991 [1981]. Gallaudet University Press. Washington, DC.
The American sign language phrase book. Fant, Lou. 1994. Contemporary Books. Chicago.
An introduction to the culture of Deaf people in the United States, content notes & reference materials for teachers. Humphries, Tom. 1991.
Sign Language StudiesSign and culture: a reader for students of American Sign Language. Stokoe, William C., ed. 1980. Linstok Press. Silver Spring, Maryland.
Sep 1st, 2005 | Interpretation, Movie Review, Reviews | No Comments
By Tetu Hirai
On April 19th, NCTA members got a rare treat in the form of a special, by-invitation-only screening of Universal Pictures’ release of “The Interpreter,” starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. In conjunction with the development of an article on the making of the movie—written by NCTA member Carolina Arrigoni-Shea and appearing in the May issue of Translorial—the studio generously offered tickets to NCTA members for showings in four cities: San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, and Fresno.
In the film, Silvia Broome (played by Nicole Kidman), is an interpreter who works at the United Nations, and who overhears a plot to assassinate an African head of state. This plan is spoken in a rare dialect that very few people, including Silvia, understand. Silvia then becomes the target of the killers, and her world is changed as her own political background is slowly revealed to her FBI protectors.
For those of us in NCTA who are interpreters, we had the unique opportunity of assessing the movie from the point of view of our own profession. But both interpreter and translator colleagues had much to say, especially pertaining to the credibility of the interpretation done by Nicole Kidman’s character, and to the opportunity the movie offered in making the public more aware of the profession of interpretation.
Some attendees generally felt that Nicole Kidman did a credible job in depicting an interpreter. Sacramento attendee Michel Rousselin, a former United Nations interpreter, said, ‘’I felt that Kidman’s depiction of an interpreter was quite natural and very well done. She was speaking a bit slower at the beginning (as would be expected for a real interpreter) and then she spoke a bit faster as she heard more phrases.”
Others in attendance, including San Jose attendee Andrea Wells and San Francisco attendees Marianne Pripps and Anne Milano Appel, felt that the movie fell short in depicting the interpreter’s life—its demanding skills, fascinating subjects, and extreme stresses—in a way that truly represented the breadth and depth of the profession. Echoing the notion that the film was more of a suspense-thriller than a true examination of an interpreter’s life, San Francisco attendee Anthony Alioto noted that the movie “had little to do with the real activities of a U.N. interpreter.”
Overall, however, most attendees thought it was beneficial for the industry that interpretation was depicted on the big screen at all, and that the public became more aware of the profession. As attendee and Sacramento correspondent Tatyana Neronova said: “I believe that this movie allowed people to see how important our job is, and how careful and professional we should be so that we do a good job.”
We now hope that more opportunities lie ahead.
May 1st, 2005 | Interpretation, Interviews, NCTA Members | No Comments
By Michael Schubert
After working as an interpreter for over 25 years both in Taiwan and in California, NCTA member C.J. Phillips retired at the beginning of this year. Her résumé is a long and distinguished one. She worked as the chief translator and editor at the National Central Library and National Museum of History in Taipei, Taiwan, from 1980-1985, and as a freelance translator and editor before starting work in 1997 as a registered Mandarin interpreter for U.S. District Court in San Jose and for the Santa Clara County Superior Courts. C.J. translated statements made by Democracy Movement leaders following the Tiananmen Massacre for the San Francisco Chronicle in June 1989, and also did work for the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, among others organizations. Visit C.J.’s website, www.cjphillips.com, for more on her amazing career.
While an interpreter, C.J. was an active member of NCTA, as well as the Bay Area Court Interpreters (BACI) and the National Association of Judicial Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT), and is known among her colleagues for her mentoring of younger Chinese interpreters, her presentations at workshops and lectures on interpreter issues, and her work for interpreters’ benefits and rights. C.J. is married to Chinese scholar and author J.H. Huang. They have one daughter, Deborah.
Is your imminent retirement to be a clean break, or do you anticipate still dabbling in translation and/or interpretation?
C.J. Phillips: This should be a clean break from court interpreting, although I still have a few old cases and good clients that will keep me from going completely to pasture. I have some private translation work that will keep me busy, too. This mainly will be translation of classical Chinese works.
What has been the proportion of interpreting to translating over your career, and which activity do you prefer or find more fulfilling?
About 50-50, and I enjoy both types of work very much. From the standpoint of immediate gratification, I got a lot of pleasure out of working as a court interpreter, since I was able to work directly with people. From an intellectual standpoint, translation is wonderful because it gives me time to think about my work and hone it until I’m satisfied with the results. I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve worked in both fields from the very beginning.
I have heard Taiwanese acquaintances say that the simplified written Chinese, dominant on the mainland, is ruining the Chinese language. Do you see it in such stark terms, and do you believe traditional written Chinese can survive whatever eventual reunification there is between China and Taiwan?
I don’t know whether simplification will stand the test of time, but both forms are widely used in the Chinese-speaking world. However, even though government-mandated simplified forms remain the standard in Mainland China, they generally are not understood in the areas that still employ traditional characters. Some of this has to do with politics, but much of this has to do with how a culture evolves. One thing many people forget, though, is that not all the characters were simplified; in fact, only less than ten percent, or around 2,800, so it is only a small fraction.
The Chinese government has a new policy now of “yong jian, ren fan,” meaning that while simplified characters should remain the norm, people should begin to recognize the traditional forms, too. The problem is that while the evolution and sources for traditional script remain very clear, the synthetic creation of the simplified forms cut the language off from its cultural roots. China’s 5,000-year-old history is too closely intertwined with its written language for the traditional forms to be blithely discarded. And the Chinese people I know generally agree with this.
What I’ve found encouraging is that more and more people—particularly the intelligentsia and the young—have returned to traditional script. I’ve even seen everyday people come to the U.S. from Mainland China and start picking up traditional characters so that they can read the paper, watch Chinese television with the subtitles on, and be more a part of the local Chinese community. Of course, the media and the Internet have helped a great deal, too. But I haven’t seen this interest flow in the other direction!
As to which form will last, perhaps the two forms will evolve together into a new form. Who knows? Only time will tell.
I see on your website that you have experience in movie subtitling. Does the recent boom in Chinese martial arts/fantasy cinema represent the kind of Chinese cinema that is also popular in Asia, or are these films directed more toward a Western audience?
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a hit, as have been films in the same vein such as Hero and House of Flying Daggers. Cross-cultural action movies such as the Matrix series, Shanghai Knights, Tarantino’s films, and so forth have also proved to be big at the box office, but then again, so have all the other big movies we’ve enjoyed here in the U.S.
I imagine you have traveled widely. What are some of your favorite places on Earth?
In no particular order: San Francisco, Chinese Turkestan, Xi’an, Tainan, Beijing, Vancouver, and the Big Apple.
May 1st, 2005 | Essays, Interpretation, Movie Review | No Comments
By Carolina Arrigoni-Shea
Interpreting, as a form of mediating oral communication among diverse language groups, has been with us since ancient times. Yet, its recognition as a profession—and as a field of study per se—is relatively recent. As many of us eagerly await the release of the film The Interpreter, our hopes are that this production will help bring the significance of the profession to the forefront of public awareness.
You are a member of the U.N. Security Council’s elite core of simultaneous interpreters. One day, in the course of your duties, you overhear an assassination plot targeting an African head of state, spoken in a rare dialect few people other than you can understand. As you report the threat to the FBI, you inadvertently become the center of an international crisis, and thus put your own life at risk. The U.S. Secret Service is now charged with your protection but, as events escalate, a dark shadow of suspicion is cast over you, as well. Will a protector who does not fully trust you be able to keep you safe?
Such is the dilemma of the lead character in Universal Pictures’ new film, The Interpreter. A tale of international intrigue, political tension, romance and, yes, interpretation, at the very highest levels of the profession. How did the film come into being? What behind-the-scenes maneuvering was required to get it produced? And how will it play to the uninitiated public?
A bit of history provides some context. The United Nations General Assembly established simultaneous interpreting as a permanent service in November, 1947, following the precedent set by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg after World War II.
Since that time, the U.N. Interpretation Service has grown considerably, and today, the Chief of the Service sets the course for 120 permanent interpreters and 80 additional freelancers. These linguists are the force behind the six language sections of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish (otherwise known as the “official” U.N. languages).
Hollywood comes calling
When the U.N. linguists learned that a major film production featuring an interpreter as the protagonist would be shot at the organization’s headquarters, they were naturally very excited. “It’s always very interesting and we thought it would put the profession on the map,” commented Brigitte Andréassier-Pearl, Chief of the Interpretation Service at U. N. Headquarters in New York. If the curious and interested reactions of the film crew are any indication, the movie-going audience will certainly be awakened to the magic of the interpreting craft.
For the record: The Interpreter marks the first time a motion picture has ever been granted access to the inner corridors of the United Nations’ historic home in East Manhattan. Yet, initially, director Sydney Pollack was denied authorization to film inside the politically-charged sanctuary—just as others were before him, including Alfred Hitchcock. But Mr. Pollack argued the case before Secretary General Kofi Annan, stating that, although The Interpreter was a fictional thriller, the story was in line with the values of the United Nations. Highlighting the principle of “diplomacy over violence,” the theme of the film certainly carried a strong weight in the final decision. And as an added bonus, Mr. Pollack’s crusade received backing from key players within the U.N. Department of Public Information and the New York Film Offices (at both city and state level).
Filming began in March 2004, and had to follow strict guidelines. “They could only shoot on weekends,” recalled Ms. Andréassier-Pearl. “They would come at 6:00 PM on Fridays, and that went on for about four months … the whole neighborhood was invaded with trailers, trucks and equipment.” Somehow, despite the usual glitz and commotion which befits any true Hollywood production, filming The Interpreter did not disrupt the organization’s regular activities. It was understood that the film could pose no diversion to the Security Council whatsoever. Thus, each Monday morning when the U.N. staff returned to their posts, all was exactly back to normal.
Working with the stars
In her capacity as Chief of the Interpretation Service, Ms. Andréassier-Pearl was the ideal candidate to serve as consultant for the film, although her path up through the ranks was hardly traditional. She had first entered the organization 34 years ago, as a secretary. “I am not the typical case because I was already working in the U.N. before becoming an interpreter,” she said. “As a fringe benefit when you work for the United Nations, you can take language courses during lunch time. I was interested in Chinese and joined the Chinese class. There were a lot of interpreters trying to add languages, official languages, and I met several of them. That’s how I was introduced to the work of the interpreter at the U.N., and I got the idea of becoming one. But as you can imagine, it doesn’t happen overnight.” A few years later, Ms. Andréassier-Pearl joined the French Section staff and eventually went on to lead the unit for three years, prior to her appointment as head of the entire Service.
Given that her own language story is somewhat non-traditional, what is the more typical road to the much desired U.N. booths? Most interpreters come to the U.N. from interpreting schools. With a degree behind their names, interpreters the world over apply for jobs at the United Nations and sit for competitive exams when—or rather “if”—these are offered. “You have to understand one thing,” noted Ms. Andréassier-Pearl. “It is such a good job that nobody quits. There are openings when people retire. So that’s when we organize the examinations.”
As the film’s U.N. interpreting consultant, Ms. Andréassier-Pearl worked directly with Academy Award® winning actress Nicole Kidman. In order to help her prepare for her role, the Chief Interpreter led Ms. Kidman around the hallways of the U.N. Headquarters, showing her the imposing, and familiar, sites of the General Assembly and the Security Council, and accompanying her to the interpreters’ booths. “Everywhere we walked around in the U.N., people turned in awe—like we all do when we see celebrities,” said Ms. Andréassier-Pearl. “I felt like a million dollars when I was taking her around, that’s for sure.”
The actress observed regular U.N. meetings and sessions. She watched the interpreting process closely, and asked questions about the profession that would contribute to the depth of her character. In addition to this, Ms. Kidman worked with a dialect coach to become fluent in the fictitious African language dubbed “Ku” (her mother tongue on the screen), as well as to gain proficiency in French and Spanish.
As for director Sydney Pollack, he is known for his thorough research and desire for authenticity when making films. For this story, he probed to uncover the typically mysterious and anonymous life of an interpreter. “He’s a great professional to work with,” remarked Ms. Andréassier-Pearl.
In fact, a very unique contribution to the film originated from their collaboration. During one of their many conversations, Mr. Pollack inquired “What sort of hobbies do interpreters have? What do they do in their free time?” Ms. Andréassier-Pearl tried to explain to him that it was difficult to speak on behalf of the 100+ people that work at the Interpretation Service, but director Pollack insisted: “For instance, you—what do you do in your free time?” It turns out that the U.N. Chief Interpreter is also an accomplished musician, who belongs to an orchestra, and plays the bassoon. She talked with Mr. Pollack about her hobby and the idea stuck. In the film, he gave the character of the interpreter a musical bent. “Now, in the movie, it’s actually a flute,” explained Ms. Andréassier-Pearl. She wonders whether Nicole Kidman will appear playing music only briefly, but regardless of how long that shot lasts, she is pleased that her “hobby” made it into the film.
Into the public’s mind
Going beyond the realm of cinematography, what is the general public’s perception of U.N. interpreters, and the interpreting profession as a whole? In the words of Brigitte Andréassier-Pearl: “When we first started, everybody was in awe of the profession, wondering ‘How can this be done? Somebody is speaking a given language and the interpreters are rendering in another language at the same time—simultaneously—what is being said.’”
In all likelihood, the release of The Interpreter will contribute to a stronger, more widespread awareness of the highly demanding and specialized nature of interpreting. Already, the publicity leading to the event has generated much interest in this not-so-publicized calling. For sure, director Pollack promises to keep us on the edge of our seats because “In the right hallway, at the right time, all it takes is a whisper to tip the balance of power.”
Production Notes
The Interpreter
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener; Directed by: Sydney Pollack; Universal Pictures; nationwide release April 22, 2005
Locations for the first film ever to be shot inside the U.N. Headquarters include the General Assembly and the Security Council, as well as corridors and hallways of the complex.
Alternative options in case authorization was denied included building a replica of the U.N. General Assembly in Toronto, using miniatures and resorting to computer-generated images.
Original U.N. rooms and furnishings were used in most cases, except for the actual interpreting booths, which were too small and cramped to allow for reverse camera angles. They had to be recreated on a soundstage.
Kidman’s character, and that of the threatened head of state, hail from an entirely fictitious African country named “Matobo.” Likewise, this nation’s language, dubbed “Ku,” is an imaginary tongue developed by linguists—a cross between Swahili and Shone.
The distinction “interpreter” vs. “translator” became an inside joke between the U.N. Chief Interpreter and director Pollack. Almost automatically, his typical utterance “you translators” would be followed by an, “oops, interpreters.”
Filming at the U.N. took place only after hours, on weekends.
Each member of the production—from the stars to the grips—was required to wear ID badges and go through security screening every day. Equipment was regularly inspected by bomb-sniffing dogs.
Some of the extras in the film are actual U.N. staff members.
Special thanks to Brigitte Andréassier-Pearl for her generous time; Universal Studios Publicist Tim Black for his timely assistance; and to the many NCTA interpreters who shared their valuable insights into the profession.
Feb 1st, 2005 | ATA, Conferences, Interpretation, NCTA Info, NCTA Meetings, Reports, Translation | No Comments
By Naomi Baer
It’s been a busy fall for NCTA, and several presentations on various members’ activities were given at the General Meeting in December. Tetu Hirai, Merav Rozenblum, and Celine Detraz all reported on their experiences at the ATA Conference held in Toronto in October, passing along highlights from presentations they attended and describing how they focused their time at the conference.
Tetu found that networking with other translators and agencies was especially useful to him, as was as a talk entitled “Digital Voice Recorder-Assisted Consecutive Interpretation,” in which a new technology was introduced that uses interpreter-controlled recording and playback devices to allow interpreters to free themselves from note-taking, and thus interpret simultaneously from their recording.
Céline had also attended this talk, and told us that she found it helpful to be exposed to new technologies in the industry. As a second-time attendee at the conference, she felt that she was better able to focus on the events that would be specific to her current needs. A highlight for her was being able to connect with colleagues and re-connect with the translation community after having been less involved after the birth of her child. She was particularly happy to have increased contact with NCTA, through other members attending the conference, and found that the conference was motivational for her both in her work and in her desire to be more active in the translation community.
A couple of other sessions as well stood out for Celine: “Internet Privacy for the Small or Home Office Environment,” where resources for addressing spam and spyware were discussed (see http://www.jill-sommer.com/en/presentation2.htm for details), and the session, “Self-Assessment and Quality in Simultaneous Interpreting.”
Merav, as a third-time conference attendee, also found it easier to focus her participation on those sessions of specific interest to her, and particularly enjoyed meeting colleagues and giving her own workshop on the Hebrew language. Other highlights for her were Peter Less’s talk on his experiences as an interpreter at the Nuremberg trials after WWII (read more in the ATA Chronicle’s September issue), the Literary Translation Division Café, and a talk by the first publisher of a Spanglish dictionary.
In local news, Michael Metzger reported on NCTA’s recent participation in the Localization World Conference in San Francisco, where workshops were given by Tuomas Kostiainen and Jost Zetzsche, and a panel presentation included participation by Sabine Hathaway and Christopher Niedermair. An NCTA table was maintained throughout the conference, where potential translation clients could stop by to learn about our organization and referral database, as well as pick up material from the ATA on how to go about getting high quality translations.
One of the biggest changes for NCTA this year has been our new website, and Laura Blijleven-Bergmans showed us how to use some of the site’s main features, including online renewals, updates of translator profiles, workshop registration, translator searches, and accessing the Translorial archive.
The meeting wrapped up with a chance to network as everyone helped with the end-of-year mailing, including ballots and candidate statements for the February 2005 election, along with renewal notices.
Feb 1st, 2005 | Chinese, Interpretation, Interviews, Localization | No Comments
By Anna Schlegel
Kaimeng Huang is a Senior Program Manager at Adobe Systems Inc. in San Jose, where she manages the enterprise-level internationalization and localization program of Adobe’s Intelligent Document Business Unit - the developer of Adobe’s flagship product, Adobe Acrobat. A native of the People’s Republic of China, Kaimeng speaks Mandarin and English and is a United Nations-certified conference interpreter.
Where did you grow up? How did your background influence you to enter the field of language and translation?
KAIMENG HUANG: I grew up in Beijing, China. In this wonderfully aesthetic and symmetric city which has been the cultural and political center of China for over 500 years, I acquired all my formal education from kindergarten to university. My father is a nuclear physicist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and an editor-in-chief with the Standards Press of China; my mother is a physician with a local hospital. Both learned Russian in college.
Because of my father’s passion for foreign languages, I started to learn Japanese and English when I was about five years old. Since China was closed to the rest of the world in the early 1970s, I got my first Japanese and English lessons from listening to the radio. I began to take language more seriously when I entered Beijing University in 1988.
In 1992, I applied for the United Nations-sponsored Training Program for Translators and Interpreters at Beijing Foreign Studies University, and received my Master’s in Translation and Interpretation the following year. As one of the first dozen professional conference interpreters in China, I took on an extensive range of assignments, working as an interpreter for many world leaders visiting China, as well as for international organizations including political, economic, and educational institutions. This eye-opening experience made me believe in the need for communication and understanding among different cultures, countries, and peoples.
How did you get started in the globalization business?
By accident. In 1995, I applied for and was awarded the prestigious Stilwell Scholarship at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS). The timing couldn’t have made a bigger difference in my choice of a career and life, as when I received my Master’s from MIIS in May, 1997, Silicon Valley was just booming, and the MIIS campus was swamped with IT companies looking for new graduates to fill an explosion of openings. Within a month, I got four offers because of my business, technical, and language degrees although I knew almost nothing about working for American companies! I even declined an offer from a San Diego company called Qualcomm because I thought it was too “far away.”
I took an offer with Adaptec Inc., of Milpitas, as localization coordinator, and six months later, through the referral of a fellow alumni, I joined Adobe Systems. Little did I know then what a tremendously rich and rewarding experience working for Adobe would mean to me over the next seven years; and that I would be going through so many ups and downs as the IT industry went from boom to bust, and from depression to recovery again.
What type of translation and localization agencies do you look for and like to work with in your projects?
Because of my passion for language, technology, and culture, I like to work with agencies that share this passion and are willing to invest in tools and processes; with knowledgeable people who know how to strike a balance between these influences and deliver a high-quality localized product. Companies that neglect to capitalize on the emerging global potential will be blindsided, while those who find ways around obstacles and prepare for next stages will win out.
Can you describe what is happening in China as far as the translation business goes?
The translation business is going through a transition in China, becoming more integrated with the rest of the world as China strives to maintain its extremely strong, 8% economic growth over the past two decades. In spite of this, most locally based translation companies are either workshops that are outgrowths of the publishing business or small-scale software companies. Despite the enormous talent pool and low labor cost, they lack process maturity, professional human capital, and cross-disciplinary expertise, as well as exposure to international communication. The more promising ones are those that have been injected with foreign capital, with direct links to U.S. software clients, as well as to vertical industry domain knowledge.
Corporations have a CEO, and CFO; would you like to see a CGO (Chief Globalization Officer?)
Sure, why not? The CGO should be the one to define globalization’s full potential for his company. To realize it, organizational change is required. The bottom line is, globalization should be part of any company’s corporate strategy if it is to become a truly global company.
