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In many African countries, patients must pay for almost all medical diagnoses and therapies. For this reason, some immigrants in Spain are quite skeptical when you suddenly free investigations are offered. You may ask, whether the doctor takes the blood to sell it on the black market. The doctor and the Patient do not speak the same language, such misunderstandings are difficult to dissolve and also all of the important medical issues can hardly be resolved.
The project “Salud Entre Culturas” makes interpreters an important help. In 2006 was established in the Department of tropical diseases of the Ramón y Cajal hospital in Madrid. “Salud Entre Culturas” to enable people with access to health care, have no knowledge of Spanish and only limited English and knowledge of French. The are in Spain, especially men, who come from African countries South of the Sahara. The program is accessible to all.
language barriers and cultural differences to overcome
It is a question of language barriers and cultural differences to overcome. “Many do not know, what is Hepatitis. Some think that Malaria is transmitted through water, or that Aids does not exist,” says Rogelio López-Vélez, head of the program.
In a Team of five professional staff and several assistants. Interpreters take part in studies with migrants who only speak African languages. Up to 30 different African languages, as well as Romanian, Russian, and Arabic were spoken in the facility.
most of The immigrants are from Cameroon, the ivory coast, Guinea, the Ukraine and, more recently, Syria.
The 25-year-old Suleiman from Guinea went together with two friends to his first doctor’s appointment in Spain. “We were Worried whether we would understand and a diagnosis could be made,” he recalls. “In retrospect, we are very grateful for the interpreters. Without you it would have been extremely difficult.” Soon they want to get along without an interpreter: Spanish is her top priority is to learn.
This Text is part of the project “Rethink Health”. Five editorial staff to publish in the world over a period of three weeks in October of texts on the topic of health. For example, to the question of how we can remain in the face of a rapidly changing world is healthy, how this new world but also offers new possibilities for health care. The participating media are “The mirror”, “El País”, “The Sunday Times”, “The Nation” and “The Hindu”.
“Salud Entre Culturas” was created during the Cayuco migration crisis in 2006, when the 39.180 people in the small fishing Ferry boats attempted in the direction of the Canary Islands. Since then, more than 5700 migrants were treated, and nearly 10,000 took part in the Workshops, which aim to raise awareness of issues such as tuberculosis, HIV, and sex education. In the year 2017, the health Council of Madrid made the program officially recognized the importance of culture and language mediators.
education works
the attitude of the people changes through the Workshops, has been analyzed already. Accordingly, only 47 percent of the participants recognized at the beginning of the existence of Aids, at the end of the workshop, the share was 95 percent.
Rethink Health interpreters for migrants “Doctors should have to paint any pictures” of health care were Finally trained someone to
hear the problem is quarter-time In the framework of the project, several Africans, in order to convey health-related topics. One of them is Serge Hoys from Cameroon. “In Cameroon there are more than 187 official dialects,” he explains. “Imagine to communicate with people who only speak these languages.”
The conditions under which people from sub-Saharan arrive Africa here, be hard. “Some of them have never been in a doctor’s office, a hospital, were vaccinated against the flu. We must never forget,” he says. “We are committed to ensuring that interpreters are part of the public health system. Doctors should have to paint for your patients, no pictures.”
"Obtaining accurate data is fundamental to correctly assessing the needs of internally displaced people (IDPs). Effective communication with the people you are serving is fundamental to that process. Yet too often aid organisations and other service providers lack information on IDPs’ primary languages and literacy rates to know which languages and formats to use to communicate with them. As highlighted in the Methodological Annex to IDMC’s 2018 Global Report on Internal Displacement, north-east Nigeria, where more than 70 languages are spoken, provides a striking example. I visited Borno State in May 2018 for Translators without Borders, and personally witnessed this problem. There are three major issues with data on IDPs’ languages in north-east Nigeria, and broadly in humanitarian emergencies around the world. - We lack an authoritative, verifiable and regularly updated data-set for languages globally. Census data is often years old and requires correlation with information on IDPs’ places of origin. The only data-sets that exist are proprietary, expensive, static and outdated.
- Aid organisations do not routinely collect data on the languages of IDPs or other people affected by emergencies – and when they do, they rarely share it.
- We don’t routinely address language issues when collecting data.
I saw this last problem first-hand in Maiduguri when I conducted a workshop with a group of 24 people who regularly conduct surveys for aid organisations. Over 90 per cent felt that language was a serious barrier in their work. These data collectors are expected to sight-translate English-language surveys into their mother tongue (Hausa or Kanuri), and translate the responses back into English to complete the form. When the respondent speaks one of the other 30 - 40 languages regularly reported as IDPs’ mother tongues, a third party is asked to interpret. This will typically be another IDP or a member of the host community – not a language professional, not trained in interpreting, and probably not an expert in the subject matter. Sometimes nobody has the right language skills and the interview relies on ‘a combination of very basic Hausa and body language’ or the respondent is skipped. So either the minority language speaker is not heard, or what they have to say is filtered through multiple translations: English to Hausa to, say, Marghi and back again - the potential for information to be lost in translation is huge. Written comprehension by gender, education level and mother tongue at five IDP sites in north-east NigeriaIf data collectors don’t properly understand the English terms used, or know how to translate them into other languages, the information loss is even greater. We tested the 24 data collectors’ comprehension of ten of the English terms commonly used in their surveys. On average, they understood only 35 per cent of the words tested. The scores improved with experience, but even those who had been running surveys for over six months still understood less than half of the selected terms. Commonly used acronyms were particularly problematic. We know this has an impact. Surveys inform our collective assessment of need. We spend time labouring over the exact wording of questions to reduce bias and ensure accuracy. Yet we rarely analyse the language dynamics of our data collection process, or systematically check that data collectors communicate questions accurately. If we are hearing from some groups and not others, or if information is garbled through mistranslation, then organisations serving IDPs do not have a good basis for decision-making. Individuals who are unable to communicate their needs directly in English or Hausa may not get the support they need. These are not insoluble problems. All three challenges above can be readily addressed to improve humanitarian data on the needs of IDPs and host communities, in north-east Nigeria and globally. Solution one: Build an open-access language data map – Translators without Borders is working on this with colleagues from the research sector. Please get in touch if you’d like to be part of it or just to know more. Solution two: Routinely assess the languages and communication needs of affected people – A handful of standard questions added to every household needs assessment survey would map the affected population of each humanitarian emergency in a matter of weeks. Solution three: Support data collectors with language and terminology – Ideally a survey should be translated into the language in which it will be conducted. This allows survey data and responses to be gathered more reliably. When that is not feasible, language-specific training and terminology support can prepare survey leads to relay questions accurately. Avoiding technical jargon and acronyms can improve the reliability of survey data and ensure interviewees’ voices are heard. Finally, data collectors should speak the language of the respondent, or at least be able to call on trained interpreting support. Be part of the solution -- This is how we understand and respond more effectively to the needs of IDPs."
Paratextual Framing: Theory and Methodology Jiao Tong Baker Centre for Translation & Intercultural Studies, Shanghai, China29-30 June 2018
https://www.jiaotongbakercentre.org/international-research-training-event-i/ Registration: https://www.jiaotongbakercentre.org/registration/ Note: Registration closes 30 May 2018; in case of oversubscription it may close earlier. Workshop Leaders A growing number of studies are now acknowledging the role that paratexts play in mediating the interpretation and reception of translations. These studies draw primarily on Gerard Genette’s seminal publication Seuils (1987, translated into English in 1997 as Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation), which remains highly influential. Genette’s study, however, is limited by its exclusive focus on books, as opposed to other types of publication, as well as its neglect of paratextual framing in non-print media. Even within the narrow confines of the printed word in book format, vital elements (such as the choice of script) that have been shown to frame the interpretation of translated text in certain contexts receive no attention in Genette’s work. Traditional paratext theory is also unable to address the diversity and complexity of settings within which translations are increasingly mediated and framed. New environments in which diverse types of translation are undertaken now offer scholars richer material and a wider range of paratexts to study – including blogs, hyper links, film trailers and DVD covers. This two-day workshop will offer a robust, critical introduction to the theory of paratext and its application in translation studies to date. It will examine methodological principles and challenges involved in studying various types of paratext that frame translations in a wide range of contexts, from the traditional world of book publishing to the world of audiovisual translation and digital culture. In addition, the workshop will feature sessions on how early career researchers may best position themselves in the academy, including sessions on publishing in international journals, applying for research grants, and negotiating the tension between an increased emphasis on interdisciplinarity and the restrictive reality of being based within a specific discipline in the academy. Programme – Paratexts Friday 29 June 2018 08.30-09.30 Registration 09.00-12.00 Analyzing Paratexts: Theory and Methodology I Sameh Hanna This introductory session will provide a detailed overview of the traditional model of paratexts as outlined in Gerard Genette’s Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation. It will introduce and critique the two types of paratextual devices he discussed: peritexts, which accompany the main text (introductions, title, cover image, footnotes, etc.), and epitexts, which are situated outside the text (reviews, interviews, correspondence, etc.). These concepts and their implications will be illustrated with examples drawn from studies of translation that have drawn on Genette’s work. Room 111 12.00-13.30 Lunch Break University Canteen 13.30-15.00 Case Study 1 Paratexts and the Reconstruction of a Translation Field: A Case Study of Shakespeare in Arabic Sameh Hanna This session has a two-fold objective: first, to test the applicability of Genette’s theorization of paratexts to the study of a specific translation case; second, to explore the potential implications of paratextual analysis for the sociological study of translation. Focusing on the Arabic translations of Shakespeare’s dramatic work, the session will examine the different paratexts used with these translations and demonstrate how they can be used to reconstruct a translation field in the Bourdieusian sense. Room 111 15.00-15.30 Coffee break Foyer 15.30-17.00 Publishing in International Journals Mona Baker Publishing in peer-reviewed international journals is now key to progressing in an academic career anywhere in the world. This workshop will draw on the workshop leader’s extensive experience in editing the international journal The Translator, as well as refereeing submissions for a large number of high ranking periodicals. Illustrative, anonymized examples from various types of submission and referee feedback will be used to outline recurrent patterns of writing and structuring research articles that result in negative assessment and rejection. Guidance on avoiding such patterns and producing research articles that meet international standards of excellence will be provided. Room 111 Saturday 30 June 2018 09.00-12.00 Analyzing Paratexts: Theory and Methodology II Mona Baker This session will move the discussion of paratexts beyond Genette’s traditional model in two main ways. First, it will exemplify and critique types of paratextual device that are not covered or anticipated by Genette, including translation itself as both the object of paratextual framing and a paratextual frame in its own right. Second, it will examine types of paratextual framing in different types of media and domains of translation, such as the Internet, audiovisual translation, comics, and drama translation. Room 111 12.00-13.30 Lunch Break University Canteen 13.30-15.00 Case Study 2 Paratexts and the Study of Hetero-doxic Translation Practices: A Case Study of the Bible in Arabic Sameh Hanna Building on the previous case study session on paratextual framing of Shakespeare’s translations, this workshop will investigate the implications of paratextual analysis for understanding translation practices that challenge established norms. The history of the Arabic translations of the Bible demonstrates the crucial role played by paratexts in questioning ortho-dox practices and institutionalizing hetero-dox ones. The links that can be established between paratextual analysis and such Bourdieusian concepts as capital, doxa and habitus will also be explored. Room 111 15.00-15.30 Coffee break Foyer 15.30-17.00 Competing for Research Grants & Negotiating Interdisciplinarity Mona Baker Translation Studies is now a vast and growing area of scholarship and is recognized as such by major funding bodies in different parts of the world. At the same time, the success of translation scholars in competing for large grants has largely depended in recent years on their ability to address key priorities such as interdisciplinarity and collaborative research. This presentation will focus on a number of new and emerging themes that have successfully crossed the boundaries of translation studies proper to engage with scholars in other disciplines, highlighting in particular issues of methodology and impact. These include themes such as the role of translation in shaping intellectual history and mediating our understanding of key concepts in society; translation and digital culture; and translation in the context of global activism. The presentation will also offer some ideas for future directions, including further engagement with non-professional translation and the impact of new media cultures and technologies on our ability to formulate research questions in translation studies. It will further offer guidance on writing and structuring research proposals. Room 111 17.00-17.30 Concluding Discussion Room 111
Our ELCat Team Leader, Anna Belew, attended a workshop and conference in Cameroon during the summer of 2012. This article was taken from our archives. Ever since I started studying documentary linguistics, my passion has been working with African languages. Something about the Niger-Congo family just charms me. All those noun classes! The verbal infixes! The incredible multilingualism found in so many African speech communities! It’s dreamy. It was thus with no little delight that I learned I’d been accepted as a participant in the first Workshop on Sociolinguistic Documentation in Sub-Saharan Africa, held in conjunction with the 7th World Congress of African Linguistics (WOCAL), at the University of Buea, Cameroon in August 2012. The documentation workshop took place over the three days prior to WOCAL and was one of the most enriching academic experiences I’ve ever had. Organized by Dr. Jeff Good (University at Buffalo) and Dr. Tucker Childs (Portland State University), it brought together linguists from all over Africa, Europe, and North America to address some really interesting questions. The workshop’s primary aim was, as stated on the workshop website, “understanding how we can adequately document the sociolinguistic contexts of Sub-Saharan African languages.” While “traditional” documentation usually focuses on describing a language’s phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon, there hasn’t been as much work (yet!) on how to document the sociolinguistic setting of a language. This includes some Big Questions: What’s the best way to document patterns of multilingualism? How can we document language attitudes and prestige? Which methodologies give the most accurate data? What special ethical concerns might arise in sociolinguistic documentation? How can this type of research help inform effective language policy in Africa? My working group tackled an intriguing question: What factors determine the “market value” of an African language? That is, why do people choose to use particular languages in particular situations, and how do we study that? Answers to questions like these can help us understand why some languages (Swahili, Hausa) thrive and grow, while others (Twendi, N|uu) are seriously endangered. The workshop produced plenty of lively discussion and a lot of excellent ideas, and I can’t wait to see the projects that will come out of it. Working Group 3 of the Sociolinguistic Documentation Workshop The next five days, WOCAL proper, were no less thrilling. I don’t care if I sound like a dork calling an academic conference “thrilling” —it was thrilling. Linguists from over 60 countries, from every populated continent, coming together to share their work on African languages. The great minds of African linguistics, in the flesh, giving amazing presentations and making small talk over the refreshment tables. Seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and learning about what it’s like to be a linguist in Senegal, Botswana, the Netherlands, or Brazil. What could be better? I gave a talk at WOCAL. Full disclosure: it was my very first talk at a professional conference. I was asked to give a presentation and a poster on the Catalogue of Endangered Languages, specifically the Africa section of the catalogue, which I’m the team leader for here at LINGUIST List. It was an honor to be invited to speak a bit about our research process, the goals of the Catalogue, and the broader Endangered Languages Project. It’s a project that tends to inspire strong opinions, and I’m glad I got the chance to engage with a range of questions and concerns from scholars; their feedback will help us make the Catalogue even more accurate and useful to linguists. It’s tough to pick favorites out of all the amazing talks I attended, but I’ll give summaries of a few that were of particular interest to me. The late Dr. Maurice Tadadjeu, a pioneering advocate for mother-tongue education in Cameroon, presented a plenary address on the Écoles Rurales Électroniques en Langues Africaines (ERELA) project. ERELA works to make computers available in rural schools and provides resources for teachers to integrate computer and internet technology into their curricula. Here’s the cool part: students are taught in their native language, and the software they use is localized into their language. This means that kids can, for example, learn to use MS Word with an Ewondo interface, writing Ewondo documents—much more effective than trying to teach them to use software in a language they don’t speak (like English). A related project, Going Kompyuta, works with ERELA to translate software into less-resourced languages. Another excellent talk by Drs. Goedele de Clerck and Sam Lutalo-Kiingi, both Deaf linguists, presented the state of sign language research and development in Africa. A pointed illustration of the lack of resources for the African Deaf community: the talk was given entirely in International Sign Language, but as no sign language interpreters had been available to work the conference, the non-signing audience had to follow as best they could by reading the slides. Rarely have I been more aware of the privilege I generally enjoy as an English speaker, whose native language is an academic lingua franca. Experiencing lack of access to information due to a language barrier (in this case, not being a signer) reminded me not to take that privilege for granted. Other favorites: SIL Tanzania’s Suzanne Kruger gave a thought-provoking talk on the ethics of obtaining informed consent in cultures whose notions of individual consent differ from Western ones; the University of Buea’s own Charles Tiayon discussed the intersection of professional translation and language endangerment; the DoBeS Bakola documentation project team spoke about the difficulties of pinning down what language you’re supposed to be documenting when varieties diverge and mixing is rampant; Mark Dingemanse (MPI) presented some recent research on ideophones (one of the most interesting topics in linguistics—look it up right now if you haven’t studied ideophony yet); and Moad Hajjam of the Université Mohammed 5 Rabat presented a sociolinguistic study of attitudes towards Moroccan Arabic (Darija) in Moroccan hip hop. And, of course, there were dozens of other incredibly interesting and impressive presentations of which I couldn’t hope to scratch the surface in a short newsletter article. Suffice it to say that I learned a ton and enjoyed myself thoroughly. It wasn’t entirely academic fun, though. I’ll let you in on a secret: WOCAL had the best dance parties. And the best ndole (stewed leafy greens and fish). And the most interesting, welcoming, and brilliant people. And the best views of Mount Cameroon breaking through the clouds in all its stunning enormity, as one stands in the foggy gardens of UB’s campus, surrounded by strange noisy birds. I think I’ve left a tiny chunk of my heart in Buea. I exchange it gladly for the wealth of ideas and experiences I took with me.
‘Developing and Translating Rights’ event Tweet http://genealogiesofknowledge.net/events/developing-translating-rights/ A half-day event co-hosted by the Genealogies of Knowledge Project and the Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies, University of Manchester, UK 19 June 2018 | Ellen Wilkinson Building, University of Manchester About the event The concept of human rights, as enshrined in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, itself translated into more than 501 languages (www.un.org/en), has been gradually expanded to encompass a broad range of specific rights, including civil, cultural, economic, environmental and social rights. The growing focus on language rights, at the centre of multilingualism initiatives and situated language policies (Richter et al 2012), gives increased urgency to the provision of translation and interpreting in contexts where human rights are challenged and contested through actual practices and restrictions (Inghilleri and Harding 2010). In addition to the shifting interpretation of the principles of human rights, it is also increasingly argued that the notion of rights should be expanded further to apply to non-human animals. The animal rights debate is underpinned by centuries of philosophical thought, but scientific and measurable criteria are brought forward by activists and researchers who advocate that greater attention should be given to animal rights and welfare and that the exclusion of animals from theories of justice should be revisited (Garner 2013). This event will explore how the concept of ‘rights’, as framed by the complexity of human rights law, is enacted and enabled beyond cultural and linguistic boundaries, through translation and interpreting, and can be articulated from different perspectives. It will also prompt new questions on the way the concept of rights can be extended to non-human animals when animal welfare gains in national and global contexts are seen by some as incremental steps towards animal rights. The workshop will feature presentations from scholars as well as representatives of activist organisations. Please click on the links above to view programme details and speaker abstracts. References Garner, Robert (2013) A Theory of Justice of Animals: Animal Rights in a nonideal world. Oxford University Press. Inghilleri, Moira and Sue-Ann Harding (eds) (2010) Translation and Violent Conflict. The Translator 16(2). Richter, Dagmar et al. (eds) (2012) Language Rights Revisited – The Challenges of Global Migration and Communication. Berlin: Wolf legal Publishers. Contact This event is being organised by Myriam Salama-Carr. If you have any queries about this event, please contact her at myriam.salama-carr@manchester.ac.uk
The University of Iowa’s undergraduate minor in translation builds on the UI’s long history in the field, including the founding of the first translation workshop in the US, in 1962. Find out how the new minor is helping undergraduates succeed.
In the interest of cultivating new talent in Chinese-French translation and reinforcing cultural ties between China and France, the Chinese Culture Translation and Studies Support Network (CCTSS), Association for the Promotion of Literary Translation (ATLAS) and the French Embassy have organized a training initiative - the CCTSS-ATLAS Chinese-French Literary Translation Workshop.
The 2017 Sino-Foreign Literature Translation and Publishing Workshop opened in Beijing on Aug. 21, 2017. A total of 46 foreign writers, translators, publishers and critics in related fields will discuss with their Chinese peers ways to improve Chinese literature translation and publishing during the workshop.
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By BosNewsLife News Center
ORLANDO/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- One of the world’s leading Bible translation groups says it is introducing technology to "keep Bible translators safe" in areas "where the church and Christians are in hiding due to intense persecution."
U.S.-based Wycliffe Associates told BosNewsLife that it provides compact, high-speed, digital printing systems that can be easily hidden by persecuted "mother-tongue Bible translators" who have been "secretly asking" for what is known as Print On Demand (POD).
The technology enables them to publish small portions of the Scriptures or an entire Bible "discreetly and securely", the group explained. A few, or many, copies of the Scriptures can then be distributed to churches.
“The moment they finish their work—even just a portion of Scripture—it goes on the printer,” said Bruce Smith, president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. “Those translators will head home with the Scriptures in hand, ready to share with their people.”
Smith told BosNewsLife in a statement that “Churches worldwide are clamoring for Bibles, New Testaments, even individual books of the Bible, whatever they can get their hands on, to share with their people.” He added that the POD systems "can answer the call and meet the need.”
DOZENS OF GROUPS
Currently 30 translation groups worldwide need a POD system, which cost $15,000 each, according to Wycliffe Associates. In addition to helping Bible translators in regions "where the church is in hiding", POD equipments are helping Bible translators in language groups from remote, desolate areas of the world with no printing facilities for hundreds of miles," the group said.
Wycliffe Associates explained that POD also makes the printed Scriptures accessible to those living in areas of deep poverty where it would be impossible for local Christians to cover the cost of printing Bibles through traditional methods.
“Churches worldwide are clamoring for Bibles, New Testaments, even individual books of the Bible, whatever they can get their hands on, to
Bruce Smith, Bruce Smith, president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates.
share with their people,” Smith said. “Our Print On Demand systems can answer the call and meet the need.”
He said that 30 translation groups worldwide need a POD system, which cost $15,000 each. Besides helping Bible translators in regions where "the church is in hiding", POD systems are helping Bible translators in language groups from remote, desolate areas of the world with no printing facilities for hundreds of miles, Smith explained.
Smith also explained that the group's Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation (MAST) workshops increased demand for the printed Scriptures.
REDUCING TRANSLATION TIME
MAST, a collaborative, rapid-translation method first piloted by Wycliffe Associates in 2014, drastically reduces translation time, according to organizers. Bible translations that once took 25 to 30 years to complete are now reportedly reduced to several weeks or months. At the first MAST workshop piloted in late 2014, a team of 13 mother-tongue translators drafted half of the New Testament over a two-week period, Wycliffe Associates said.
“The wonderful truth is, Bible translation is now being launched in more new languages than at any moment in human history,” Smith added. “These translations will move at amazing speed. With MAST, the work will be done in short order. We’ve seen it happen.”
Wycliffe Associates says it plans to launch 400 new Bible translations in 2017. Last year, the organization launched 315 new translation
projects and assisted in 58 New Testament completions using MAST.
The group was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. It says it empowers national Bible translators "to provide God’s Word in their own language", partners with local churches to direct and guard translation work, "harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word," and engages people from around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation.
"Because millions of people around the world still wait to have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart," it said.
Wycliffe Associates says it is directly involved in supporting national Bible translators in the areas of technology, training, resources, ogistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Last year, 7,097 Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers reportedly worked to speed Bible translations in 76 nations. (With reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos).
Dozens of students gathered to understand more about inclusive language and its impact in a school setting in the “Inclusive Language in the Classroom” workshop.
Amber Galloway Gallego, the pink-haired YouTube sensation who brought American Sign Language music interpretation into the mainstream, will present a free workshop at 6 p.m. April 19 at Niagara University's Clet Hall Dining Commons.
Black PR Wire is a 24-hour multimedia news and information center that provides Black publication portals from across the country, black television and radio programming, online training, and up-to-the-minute news of interest to the Black community.
Mini Krishnan’s workshop sheds light on the five faces of translation
Finland’s University of Turku seeks to offer adequate training to transform the translator from artisan into business professional
The ViceVersa program of the German Translation Fund and the Robert Bosch Foundation are sponsoring a translation workshop at Ledig House (part of the OMI International Arts Center) this coming April 23-30 in upstate New York. The ten selected participants (five each G>E and E>G) will spend the week going over their translations-in-progress in a …
RT @gneubig: Happy to announce the first workshop on neural machine translation https://t.co/rNNiITshUd at ACL2017! Join to think about the…
Santa sends toys to children all over the world, or so the story goes. But what is his native tongue? Where does Santa live, and what language does Santa speak? Since we can’t ask the big guy himself, let’s take a look at the evidence. Here, we examine some of the possibilities.
The North Pole: English or Inuit
Every American kid knows that Santa lives at the North Pole. But where is that, really? In real life, the geographic North Pole is a barren wasteland of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. It would be quite difficult to set up a workshop, and feeding all of those reindeer would take significant expense and trouble.
And in a couple of generations, there might not be any sea ice at all. Santa would need an underwater workshop!
The nearest inhabited area to the geographic North Pole is the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada.
Here, people mainly speak Inuit languages like Inuktitut or English.
But the geographic North Pole isn’t the only “North Pole.” For example, there’s also North Pole, Alaska, where you’ll find Santa Claus House. Santa Claus House is an old trading post turned into a Christmas gift shop that also issues “letters from Santa” to children around the world.
Obviously, if North Pole, Alaska were Santa’s headquarters, he would speak English. Or possibly a native Inuit language- if he’s immortal, that would mean he was there before the Canadians and the Americans showed up, right?
Does Santa Speak Greek?
Of course, the Santa Claus we know and love today is loosely based on a real historical figure, Saint Nicholas of Myra. But the original St. Nicholas lived nowhere near any of the places that we now refer to as “The North Pole.”
The real St. Nicholas was born in Lycia, in what is now part of Turkey. At that time, Lycia was a Greek-speaking, and he would have spoken Greek.
What Language Does Santa Speak? Maybe It’s Finnish or Possibly Sami
The North Pole is only one rumored location for Santa’s super-secret base of operations. Lapland, the Finnish homeland 0f the Sami people, also claims to be the “real’ home of Santa Claus. (Lapland is a region that encompasses Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia, but he’s usually assumed to live in the Finnish part.)
Here’s the backstory: In 1927, Finnish radio broadcaster Markus Rautio told his listeners that Santa’s Workshop had been discovered in Lapland. The idea stuck, at least among the Finnish. In the 1980s, “Santa tourism” came to the area, a golden opportunity for the Finnish town of Rovaniemi.
Fun fact: When Rovaniemi was rebuilt after World War II, it was built in the shape of a reindeer’s head. Now, it home to the Santa Claus Village post office and amusement park. If you’re lucky, you might meet the big man himself there!
There are also some who say Santa is actually a Christianised version of a Sami shaman, with his red and white suit echoing the colors of the psychedelic amanita muscaria mushroom. Didn’t you know that’s what makes the reindeer fly? Far out, man. Here’s an article that explains this theory in detail. There are some interesting coincidences. On the other hand, maybe the anthropologists involved were on mushrooms themselves.
If Santa actually lives in Lapland, he probably speaks Finnish or Sami. If he’s really a shaman, he would definitely speak Sami.
How Santa Got His Reindeer
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If nothing else, Lapland is definitely where Santa got his reindeer from. Originally, he traveled on horseback. But in 1822, Clement Clarke Moore’s poem “The Night Before Christmas” introduced the public to “8 tiny reindeer.”
At that point, a group of Sami herders had recently moved into Alaska, reindeer in tow, in a bid to introduce Alaskan Inuit to reindeer herding. (Traditionally, the Inuit hunted whales. Reckless commercial whaling had left them starving).
And in 1926, an Alaskan businessman named Carl Lomen began placing Santa and his reindeer in Christmas parades and Christmas displays across the country. His motivation? To encourage a market for reindeer meat and reindeer fur.
Obviously, it didn’t work. The cattle lobby didn’t want competition, and anyway . . . it’s hard to picture Americans lining up to eat Rudolph.
Does Santa Speak Norwegian?
But maybe Santa doesn’t live in Lapland at all. In Norway, they believe he lives in the small town of Drøbak. As the town website explains:
Santa Claus was born beneath a rock in Vindfangerbukta north of Drøbak several hundred years ago. That’s a well known fact in Drøbak, and the reason why Drøbak is the Christmas Town above all others.
There is some evidence that bits of the Santa Claus legend were inspired by the Norse god Odin. Like Santa, Odin has a long white beard and was associated with pre-Christian Yuletide celebrations, sometimes entering homes through the chimney and leaving gifts behind. Odin’s horse, Sleipnir, has 8 legs. Santa has 8 reindeer.
So, if Santa is Odin in disguise, he probably speaks Norwegian, or even Old Norse (which means Icelandic would be the closest living language).
Does Santa Live in Greenland?
In Denmark, they say that Santa Claus lives in Greenland. And in 2003, the 40th annual Father Christmas World Congress agreed.
If he lives in Greenland, he would probably speak Greenlandic, a native language spoken by 57,000 and related to other Inuit languages in Canada.
So what language does Santa speak? He’s magic, so probably all of the above and then some. Or maybe he just has an excellent translation team!
Want to learn more about Santa Claus around the world? Read Who is Santa Claus? and learn how yo say Santa Claus in Different Languages.
What language do YOU think Santa speaks? And where do you think he lives? Let us know in the comments!
Photo credits: By Bjoertvedt – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link; By Nasjonalbiblioteket from Norway – 7122. Lapper og ReinsdyrUploaded by Anne-Sophie Ofrim, CC BY 2.0, Link; By John at the English language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
The 2nd China Academy of Translation (CAT) International Translation Workshop opened today in the Chinese capital Beijing, attracting 12 international reputed translators and a number of veteran Chinese translators.
The 12 international translators, hailing from the United States, Britain, France, Belgium and other countries engage in translating Chinese-language works into foreign languages. Together with their Chinese counterparts, they will discuss the translation of Chinese political vocabulary, especially the vocabulary in the “China Keywords” program, which is a multi-language, multimedia platform that compiles and translates contemporary Chinese expressions.
The workshop, hosted by the CAT, is the second time it is held in Beijing. The workshop is intended to provide a platform for Chinese and foreign translators to discuss translation theories and practices.
The workshop will last for six days, and a forum on the translation of Chinese political discourse will be held during the period.
DEC 13, 2016
The irregularities of regular expressions in #memoQ
Sometime back in the time-distant swamps where memoQ evolved, regex mysteriously became part of the software's virtual genes. It was unclear, exactly, which third-party engine or bacterial life form had been its source, and solution developers were often at a loss to know which advanced syntax would work or not unless they tried (and very often failed).
Many of us begged and pleaded for some kind of definitive documentation of allowed syntax for memoQ's regular expressions, which are an important feature for filtering (in recent versions), segmentation rules, special text import filters, autotranslatables rules and probably a few other things I've forgotten. But begging, threats - even bribery - led to no useful reference information, just some useless suggestions to read beginner's tutorials for other dialects somewhere on the Web.
Then, quite by accident, I learned yesterday that Kilgray uses the engine in Microsoft's .NET framework. Doh. Who'da thunk? Now, at last, I can get some definitive syntax information to help me solve more sophisticated problems for legal reference formats and other challenges in my translations with memoQ.
Even with accurate syntax guidance (at last!!!), regex development with memoQ is often not a simple matter. The integrated editors are often useless, especially for things like complex autotranslatables, where the bad feature of changing the order of rules after an edit can kill a ruleset. (It was long claimed by Kilgray Support that rule order does not matter, which is patently untrue. They simply did not look at the right test cases.)
Good code of any kind should usually be documented to facilitate maintenance. This is simply not possible with the editors for regex integrated in memoQ. So instead, I do all my rule-writing work in an external editor (such as Notepad++), where I can add extensive and import the rulesets for testing into a memoQ project with appropriate test data included as "translation" documents. The hardest part of this workflow is remembering to enable the imported ruleset I want to test under Project home>Settings>Auto-translation rules; often I forget and think I really screwed up until I go back to the settings and mark the checkbox by the rules to test. Keep a lot of carb sources at your desk when you do regex work. Your brain will need them.
A lot of memoQ users think that regex is irrelevant to their working lives, but for hardcore financial and legal translators at least, this is an entirely mistaken idea. Correctly constructed rules can save much time and a lot of frayed nerves dealing with citations, dates, currency expressions and more, and the rules also decrease QA time while increasing accuracy.
I have quite a number of custom rulesets I have put together for my work and for some colleagues and clients. Regex is hard shit, no matter what anyone tells you. I have programmed computers in a host of languages since 1970 more or less and used to be known for a good memory for syntax rules, but I find regex so non-intuitive at anything more than a very basic level that if I use it only a few times a year, I have to re-learn it nearly every time. That's no fun. So the key to mastering regex is not to learn it. The massahs usually don't know sheet about workin' the fields, but if they are going to survive in this competitive world, they'll know which specialist to put on the job and reward him or her appropriately. Get to know a competent consulting specialist for memoQ regex, like colleague Marek Pawelec, and let that person's expertise save you many hours of typing and QA, not to mention undetected errors.
Kilgray also established a Professional Services department at last not long ago, and that team can also help you with these and other problems for optimizing the use of translation technologies. This is very often a better option than using consultants primarily focused on SDL solutions who do a bit of memoQ on the side, because even the best of these are often not really aware of the best approaches to use, and the consequences of this are sometimes dire. Are they at the memoQ wordface nearly every day, dealing with a wide range of challenges that push the technical envelope of the software to its limits? Or would they really rather do a beginner's workshop for SDL Trados Studio 2017 and show you all the cool features that memoQ has had for years and they probably never learned very well anyway? If it's not the first case, caveat emptor no matter the source.
The workshop will elaborate basic to complex principles of voice modulation and communication skills. Participants will be trained in voice-overs, communication skills, voice modulation skills, throat exercises to improve control, and also dubbing techniques. This is going to be a great event for professionals who believe their careers can benefit from voice modulation, students who are exploring these or in fact any other streamline career options, key personnel that asserts influence over other individuals, and people who just think they need to learn how to manipulate voice.What can you expect to gain?• Training and certification in voice modulation & voice-over techniques. It reflects that you will be eligible to be a part of voice-over & other voicing production projects.• You will be more likely to end up with job opportunities if you already are or are planning to be a show artist (Voicing is an industry of its own).• Command of your voice.• You will be more in control of how the message of communication is received by a listener.• You will be more fluent in speech and hence you will be able to communicate confidently.• You will be able to clearly convey what you mean with the character of your voice, reducing frustration.• You will be able to give better presentations.• You could speak fluently in more than one accent.• An enhanced speech will mean more respect from your peers, family & superiors.These are just a few fundamental implications of the workshop; the real life practical benefits are exponentially great. You will also be recording your own demo voice-over CD in a professional studio and studio microphone. This will increase the chances of you breaking into voicing industry by ten folds. You will also be registered in our pool of voicing talent that gets suiting job offers as they become available, as they always do. We have been working in the industry for a while and we are always looking for budding talent.We urge you to register your spot as there are limited places.Fees : ₹10,000/-Duration: 2 days (Saturday and Sunday)Timings : 11AM to 4PMVenue: Gray Spark Audio Baner PuneContact Shashank Joshi on +919423578682Whats app on 9423578682visit www.professionalvoiceovers.inEmail : ino@professionalvoiceovers.in
The Brave New Workshop Theatre (BNW) welcomes deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons to enjoy an ASL-interpreted performance of their hit holiday sketch comedy revue "What the Elf?!"
This show, interpreted by professional ASL interpreters Carlos Grant and Tarra Grammenos, will be on Friday, January 13, 2016 at 8:00pm at the Brave New Workshop Theatre at 824 Hennepin Ave in downtown Minneapolis. Tickets are on sale now online and via the BNW box office, with special sight line seating reserved for ASL patrons.
About the show: This year, bring the family you've been violently disagreeing with on Facebook down to Minneapolis and laugh together at "The Brave New Workshop's 2016 Holiday Revue: What the Elf?!"
"The 2016 Holiday Show" will feature BNW cast members Lauren Anderson, Denzel Belin, Ryan Nelson, Taj Ruler and Tom Reed. The show will be directed by Caleb McEwen. Josie Just will be the music director, and Matthew Vichlach will provide technical direction.
www.bravenewworkshop.com/theatre
Jodi Upton is a sign language interpreter for Heritage High School in Catoosa County, and has accomplished many other things in her career, and she can now add NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” to her resume’. She was featured in a musical video on the December 3rd episode, and has quite a story to tell.
Here’s what happened, in Jodi’s own words:
“A friend of mine moved to New York City a few years ago and she does stand up comedy. She got an email last Wednesday from SNL Casting asking if anyone knew of a sign language interpreter who might want to appear in a skit. She told them about me, and they sent me an email with some lyrics, asking me to interpret them and send them a video.
A few hours later, I heard back that they wanted me, and could I be in New York the next day to film a music video for Saturday’s show. Before I accepted, I asked to be sure that I wouldn’t be taking a job that could go to a deaf actor. They assured me that they just wanted an interpreter to go along with their Christmas singers.
I flew to New York City on Thursday, leaving Chattanooga at 7 a.m. and arriving four hours later. At SNL, they were SO nice. Everyone was incredibly helpful. They had food there, and invited me to sit and eat while I waited. I was later taken to wardrobe where they changed my outfit several times. I was told to bring some 80s/90s Christmas type clothing and they originally put me in one of my really tacky Christmas sweatshirts, but the head wardrobe woman didn’t like it so I ended up changing into their white sweater. They also gave me those hideous glasses and the earrings. I sat and watched them film that caroling scene a million times. They had me get up and do four takes of the entire chorus of that song. It was surreal, I was standing on the risers and the makeup people came flying up to me. I had two women working on my face and hair, they fixed my face and put gel in my hair and then they clicked the clapboard and started filming. They played the prerecorded music and I interpreted the song four times.
I was finished after that, and I was very paranoid about missing my flight home so I was dismissed to check my clothing back into wardrobe and leave. Had I not been worried about my flight back, I would have stayed and met more people. When I went back to turn in my clothes, I opened a door and they were shooting some behind the scenes stuff, so to get out of the way, I ducked into the makeup room. Aidy Bryant (my FAVORITE) was getting her makeup and hair done. I wanted to say something to her so badly but I didn’t want to be a “fan girl” and get kicked out.
I got back home after midnight in Chattanooga and had to be up at 7 to present a workshop. It was such a fun experience – the crew was AMAZING and so professional. I had an absolute blast. Even though they showed only a few seconds of all that filming, I was happy with that because I had been so afraid of how they would portray me. A great thing for my resume!”
Listen and Translate: A Proof of Concept for End-to-End Speech-to-Text Translation (Submitted on 6 Dec 2016) This paper proposes a first attempt to build an end-to-end speech-to-text translation system, which does not use source language transcription during learning or decoding. We propose a model for direct speech-to-text translation, which gives promising results on a small French-English synthetic corpus. Relaxing the need for source language transcription would drastically change the data collection methodology in speech translation, especially in under-resourced scenarios. For instance, in the former project DARPA TRANSTAC (speech translation from spoken Arabic dialects), a large effort was devoted to the collection of speech transcripts (and a prerequisite to obtain transcripts was often a detailed transcription guide for languages with little standardized spelling). Now, if end-to-end approaches for speech-to-text translation are successful, one might consider collecting data by asking bilingual speakers to directly utter speech in the source language from target language text utterances. Such an approach has the advantage to be applicable to any unwritten (source) language. Comments:accepted to NIPS workshop on End-to-end Learning for Speech and Audio ProcessingSubjects: Computation and Language (cs.CL)Cite as: arXiv:1612.01744 [cs.CL] (or arXiv:1612.01744v1 [cs.CL] for this version)
A leading international organization helping Bible to be translated in mother tongues around the world is urging Christians in the United States to pray for the translators, saying it is receiving new reports of oppression "literally every week."
Florida-based Wycliffe Associates says it has seen a rise in the oppression of Bible translators.
RANSOMED: THE RACE TO FREE 226 CHRISTIAN HOSTAGES IN SYRIA
"We are getting new reports of oppression literally every week," Bruce Smith, the group's President and CEO, said in a statement. "Spiritual warfare has become the 'new normal' for many national Bible translators. When national translators gather in a workshop to launch a new language, it's actually unusual for everything to go 'as expected.'"
Wycliffe, which started a project last year to help mother tongue Bible translators to start translation in 314 languages in 76 countries, explained that the most severe and brutal persecution occurs in areas where Christianity is fiercely opposed. The group didn't disclose the locations of the persecuted translators due to their safety concerns.
Last month, Dr. Vernon Brewer, president and founder of the Christian humanitarian organization World Help, said in a statement, "At no other time in history have Christians been as persecuted as they are now. Some estimate more Christians have been martyred for their faith in the past century than in the previous 19 combined, and persecution in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia seems to be on the rise."
While oppression and persecution of the translators have increased, there has also been a "dramatic increase" in requests for help from indigenous churches and language groups for the translation, the group said.
It's a spiritual warfare, Smith believes, as his group has received reports of translators falling ill, often without explanation, translators being arrested and thrown in jail, some cruelly tortured, translators being assaulted and murdered, and translators' family members experiencing sudden problems that kept the translators from their work.
Click Here to Read the Full Story at ChristianPost.com
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