Translation - Language - Culture

Some helpful online resources for translators

If you are anything like me, you will continue to use paper dictionaries until the day you die. Don't get me wrong: I am a fully-paid up member of the Internet and Web 2.0 club, but when it comes to dictionaries or newspapers, I still prefer to do my browsing or reading in print.

Like most of us, I also have some of the most common dictionaries on CD-ROM and installed to my hard drive, yet I find I use them less and less often. Why? Because, and this is no exaggeration, I am much faster finding what I need in my old and trusty printed dictionaries than I would be using a CD-ROM dictionary.

Having said that, I have to admit that I use some dictionaries or similar resources available online. The following is not an exhaustive list, as it covers only a few of the resources useful to any translator working in the same language pairs as I do.

http://dictionary.reverso.net: This one gives you free access to the best bilingual dictionaries out there, Collins. As we all know, all bilingual dictionaries are seriously flawed, but in this group, no one does it better than Collins. This one is available for most of the common language pairs.

http://www.dict.cc: This wiki-dictionary for German/English is quite useful, as it covers a lot of technical terms from various subject areas. As of this moment, this database contains 662,243 translation pairs – not bad at all. Users add terms all the time, while others vet them and make any corrections as necessary. Dict.cc plans to upgrade to include additional languages in the future, so stay tuned.

http://dictionary.reference.com: This is an extremely useful and comprehensive online monolingual dictionary for English. It comes with the dictionary, a thesaurus, a reference database and, more recently, a translation feature. Forget the machine translation, though, and instead appreciate the fact that some English terms in the dictionary now also indicate the corresponding words in other languages.

http://www.wordreference.com: Also based on Collins, but with a slightly different twist. Look up a word in, say, French to English, and at the bottom of the entry you will find a list of links to the Word Reference message boards, where users ask for help with terms and translations. Most of the proposed translations, however, are provided by non-translators and therefore tend to be transliterations, rather than actual translations.

http://www.wikipedia.org: Everyone uses this site. It makes researching a subject matter in two or more languages relatively simple (as compared to the good old days). Not every entry, of course, has a corresponding page in the foreign-language version of Wikipedia that you may require, but you will find what you need about 95% of the time. Make sure to bookmark http://www.wiktionary.org as well while you are at it. And if you want to learn another language, you might perhaps find something helpful in http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Languages_bookshelf, or consider enrolling at the http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Wikiversity:Main_Page.

http://www.granddictionnaire.com: Quite useful, as it may contain some terms you may not find anywhere else. It is an official Office québécois de la langue française site and project. It is similar to, and essentially a smaller version of, TERMIUM, the database established by the Canadian federal government, but unlike the federal database, it is free – naturally, as the Québec government grabs the tax dollars paid into the "equalization system" by Canadians from other parts of the country to provide generous services that other provinces cannot afford, because they have already sent their money to Ottawa, which then funnels it into Québec.

PayPal scam - do not be fooled!

I am putting this warning out, because a lot of translators use PayPal and may therefore be targeted by this scam.

This afternoon I received about twenty of these bogus PayPal emails, informing me that I had made a purchase via my PayPal account. The email provides a link that allows users to dispute the charge.

Of course, no charge has been made to your account, but some people might panic when they see a charge like that, and they might want to reverse it immediately by clicking on the link.

The email itself looks authentic, so don't be fooled. The link for disputing the charge is some bogus and really long URL located in the UK somewhere.

Be safe out there – it's a rotten world!

Blogging ideal for dialogue

This post by a blogging translator has made me think about how things have changed in the online community of translators over the last, say, five years.

I still remember first coming across a site called Aquarius in the late 1990s. Aquarius was the first "virtual marketplace" for translators and buyers of translation services. It also provided the initial traces of online forums or message boards where translators could exchange ideas and views.

Then along came Proz.com. It followed the same established principles, but always aimed to be more than Aquarius. Not long thereafter, we saw similar sites shoot up like mushrooms (TraduGuide, GoTranslators, TranslatorsCafé, etc.). One thing most of them had in common was a discussion forum that was moderated by some volunteers selected by the respective site owner. Sadly, as happens with all message boards, user groups, etc., flame wars would break out, moderators would step in, sometimes ban members, and thus stoke the fires even more.

Yes, I was banned from Proz after a while, because I would insist on professionalism, rather than the dilettantism that had become the norm among the site's members (and the site owner wasn't any better either). Many others after me were banned for the same reason, who then went on to vent about their experience through mass e-mails to other translators, message boards, other websites and blogs. Even some of my most vociferous opponents at the time have either resigned from Proz or been banned in the meantime, after finally realizing that I had been right all along.

The change that Web 2.0 has brought about is that far fewer translators rely on those online forums. Instead, they have taken to blogging, which they enjoy much more, because they are in control and do not depend on the whims of a forum moderator (and moderators tend to be quack translators who have too much time on their hands, because they really stink as "translators", and so they fill their empty lives with lording it over others, who are much more qualified than they are).

It is no surprise, therefore, that sites like Proz have seen a major drop in site traffic in recent years. High-calibre agencies or direct clients don't really post jobs there anymore – the ones that still do are known non-paying and fraudulent agencies, those who look for slave labour in the form of 3 or 2 cents a word, and private individuals looking to have their personal documents translated (e.g. for immigration purposes). The latter seem to make up the majority of job postings these days.

Whichever of these one should choose to work for, it does not really matter, because payment will be either extremely low or not forthcoming at all.

Discussion forums are not the "eyeball magnets" they used to be either. As I said, translators nowadays prefer blogs and similar Web 2.0 technology to communicate and discuss translation-related issues.

I find it ironic in a way that those sites weren't brought down by their lack of professionalism (both in terms of site management and site members), but by the ongoing progress of the Internet – like the proverbial revolution that eats its children.

Freelance translators: Lenders of last resort?

The world is in the grip of a serious global financial and economic crisis. Some talk of a major global recession, while others see another Great Depression headed our way.

One thing is certain, though: These are extremely tough economic times for everyone. Companies are going bankrupt or laying off thousands of workers, and with the flow of credit seizing up, there is not much economic activity to speak of.

Translators, of course, are affected by this as well. When companies either shut down or pare back their operations, there is not as much demand for business plans, contracts or marketing copy to be translated, regardless of the language pairs involved.

But there is no doubt that freelance translators are the weakest link. Unlike agencies or direct clients, they usually do not have the kind of financial cushion that their clients have. During good times, freelance translators are frequently made to wait for payment – 30, 45, 60 or more days – and effectively turned into zero-interest lenders for agencies and direct clients.

When translators are usually the last to get paid, it should not surprise anyone that by the time payment finally arrives, most of it, if not all, will go towards overdue utilities bills, credit cards and the taxman. This leaves very little room for savings, no matter how frugal the translator is. Apart from the standard expenses, translators are also faced with steep costs for investments into their own business: specialized dictionaries tend to cost an arm and a leg due to small print numbers, and software, such as CAT, which is de rigueur, can set you back a thousand dollars or more.

Getting paid on time is a big problem for all freelance translators, with many clients delaying or defaulting on payment. This is why there are several online groups and websites where translators can share information on bad or slow payers so as to warn each other.

In this current economic climate, the payment issue will, sadly, only get worse, but not better. One translator, for example, has therefore changed his practices with respect to payment:

Because of this trend, I've revised my terms of service. In addition to requiring individual clients to pay in full in advance, I'm now requiring that if a company is not a member of ATA or a similar association or is not rated on Payment Practices, it must pay 50% in advance for at least the first project. I can still see some problems with this policy, but for now I feel that it protects me against a complete non-payment situation.

Why not? When you go into a store and make a purchase, the store owner will get his money right away, either in the form of cash or a guaranteed payment via your credit card or debit card issuer. Why is it, then, that a translator asking to be paid right away is such a problem for so many clients?

Agencies for the most part will refuse to make any prepayment, even if it is as low as 50 or 25 percent. Nor will they agree to pay the translator immediately upon receipt of the finished translation. Direct clients are usually more amenable to the suggestion of a prepayment, deposit or "retainer".

But when a translator is not paid right away for his or her work, he or she automatically becomes a lender at zero interest – not exactly a fair practice. When the agency does not pay for 45 or 60 days, it effectively obtains an interest-free loan from a freelancer, who does not have the financial resources the agency enjoys, for 45 or 60 days. Payment practices lists and message boards, incidentally, are full of reports about agencies that do not pay for 120 days or longer.

When it comes to asking for a deposit or retainer fee (after all, this is what lawyers do, and therefore should be a legitimate practice for translators who are just as professional), translators must start holding firm. Too many clients regularly get away with "murder", because translators are afraid to ask for prepayment.

New clients, in particular, should never get away without making some sort of deposit first. Only once a payment history has been established should clients be granted more favourable terms, such as payment within 30 days (the absolute maximum, by the way).

Speaking of 30 days' payment terms, in the EU there is a directive that obligates companies to pay off their contractors within 30 days. However, most European companies do not comply with this law, because the authorities have done absolutely nothing to enforce it. But any European agency or client that fails to pay a translator within 30 days is technically in breach of the law and therefore a fraudulent outfit for all intents and purposes.

The conclusion is straightforward and simple: don't be afraid to ask for your payment upfront. You may lose some potential clients, but overall you will come out the winner, because you will spend less time chasing after delinquent clients.

There is no such thing as machine translation

In a recent Maclean's article, the possibility of having a "universal translator", that is, a machine or computer for translating both written and spoken language, is explored in depth.

While some sources interviewed for the article are quite optimistic, one has to keep in mind that those are computer experts who don't know the first thing about the process of "human translation" – or language as such, for that matter.

Fortunately, the article also quotes someone more knowledgeable:

Denis Bousquet, vice-president of the Canadian Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters Council, says the technology would require artificial intelligence in order to do the job, and that is still generations away. "Machines are a bunch of zeros and ones and language is way more interpretive than that," he says. "Emotion and colloquial expressions come into play and you can't translate those with a strictly mechanical process."

Exactly.

The problem with automated translation is that language is one of the most human activities imaginable and therefore cannot be captured by zeros and ones. While individual words can be translated by a machine, or even very short and standardized phrases ("How are you?"), there is no way a computer can understand context. This is why human translators have to read the whole text to be translated first, understand and internalize it, and then translate it. Since the functioning of the human brain is not understood yet as to how language is processed by the brain in terms of words, syntax and, more importantly, nuance, there is no way of programming machines to imitate the very processes that scientists do not even understand yet. It will be several hundred years, if ever, before machines can fully replace human translators and/or do away with the need to learn foreign languages.

Billions and trillions

Anyone who translates from German to English knows that the German language is no longer a "pure" language: in business, in particular, English has been seeping into the language, turning the whole thing into one ugly mongrel of a "language".

In American English, "billion" has always been used to express "one thousand million". British English, however, has a proper word for "one thousand million" – "one milliard". Nowadays, of course, "milliard" has gone out of use thanks to the globalization of the business world, and so even Brits say "billion" when they refer to what used to be "milliard".

The German language, when used correctly, follows the neat progression of "Million", "Milliarde", "Billion", etc. In a recent document I translated I came across the amount "8 Billionen Euros". However, from the context it wasn't clear whether it was meant to be "8 billion euros" or "8 trillion euros".

Since there is so much "English" in German, it wouldn't surprise me at all if the author of the text had used "Billionen" in the American sense.

The point is that the "adulteration" of one language by mixing in bits and pieces of another will lead to misunderstandings and confusion. If everyone could be relied on to use their respective mother tongue correctly, there wouldn't be any doubt as to the proper translation of "8 Billionen Euros".

But since many Germans are so determined to sound "in" or fashionable by mixing up English and German in the most inane ways, they actually prevent their language from doing what language is supposed to do: communicate messages as unambiguously as possible.

Humanity really is becoming more stupid

Wanted proof that more and more people are being struck down by the big disease called incompetence? Here it is:

Council workers in Swansea erected a road sign informing motorists in Welsh: "I am out of the office at the moment".

Swansea council staff were designing a bilingual road sign barring heavy goods vehicles from a street in the city and had consulted an in-house translation service.

As the translator was not available, an automatatic e-mail response was triggered in Welsh which read: "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated."

Staff mistakenly thought that it was the correct translation and had it printed on the sign beneath the message in English, which read: "No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only".

The council has taken down the sign at the junction of Clase Road and Pant-y-Blawd Road after Welsh speakers spotted the mistake.

Golwg, a Welsh-language magazine, printed photographs of the sign after being alerted by readers.

Dylan Iorwerth, the managing editor, said: "We have been running pictures of this kind over the past few months.

"It's good that people want to have bilingual signs but, unfortunately, they don't make sure someone with a real knowledge of Welsh checks the work through all the different stages."

France is no defender of the French language

France has clearly given up the fight to defend the French language, with more and more franglais seeping into French culture. The only last holdout is Québec, the true guardian of proper French (that is, in all areas of Québec outside of Montréal, which has become a hellhole in both linguistic and social terms very much like France):

Defending the French language from the creeping invasion of English has long been a favourite pastime of France's elite. In 2006 Jacques Chirac walked out of a Brussels summit in protest at a Frenchman speaking in English. It is a point of national pride to defend l'exception française and to protect French music, film, even advertising, from the corrupting influence of English. So why are the French giving up the struggle?

[...] The French are embracing English in less high-minded ways too. When they entered a song in English at this year's Eurovision song contest, it provoked wry amusement abroad, but indifference at home. For many young French musicians singing in English is now de rigueur. The gravelly voiced French crooners of the past have given way to bands like The Do, Hey Hey My My, or Cocoon, whose latest album is called "My Friends All Died in a Plane Crash". "The children of globalisation are giving up writing in French," declared Le Monde, the bible of the French elite—without apparent regret.

Despite rules requiring advertising slogans in English to be sub-titled, French manufacturers brazenly borrow English words to confect brands in franglais. L'Oréal, a cosmetics group, promotes "Age Re-Perfect Pro-Calcium Nuit" and "Revitalift Double Lifting Yeux". France's fashion press is another cross-dresser, writing of "Vive la fashion attitude" or "Le Hit des It Bags". In a post-modern twist, teenagers are importing American slang via the heavily north African banlieues, where hip-hop flourishes and street dress is styled on the Bronx.

C'est vraiment dégoûtant!

English language in the news

English as a second language dominates the world:

Today, English is spoken by billions of people all over the globe. Mandarin may have more native speakers, and Spanish and Hindi-Urdu have about the same number, but English claims a special distinction: It is so popular among language learners that there are more speakers of English as a second language than there are native speakers. English is now the language of urbanization and globalization.

See? I always knew that Americans don't know how to spell properly – their spelling is based on the whim of a single individual:

In the early 19th century, he says, American lexicographer Noah Webster published a dictionary of English reflecting a number of his personal quirks and preferences. For instance, he preferred spellings such as "color" and "center."

"He also felt that pronunciation of 'zed' should be regularized to 'zee' to agree with the names of other letters such as bee, cee, dee. Webster's dictionary was influential in early American schools, and many of his spellings and preferences became standard there. 'Zee' clearly won the day in the United States."

The rest of the English-speaking world, including Canada, kept the older "zed."

Let's hear it for Canada!

Finally, Australian "strine" is disappearing – sorry, mate:

Strewth, mate, it's enough to make a dinky di bloke choke on his pot of XXXX. The Aussie accent is losing its distinctive ''ocker'' twang.

"Strine" is in decline as Australians soften the broad, stereotyped accent epitomised by the likes of the comedian Paul Hogan and Steve Irwin, a reptile-baiting television presenter known as the Crocodile Hunter.

The nasal, flattened vowels familiar from the rants of Dame Edna Everage, the former prime minister, Bob Hawke, and from countless television commercials for Australian beer is making way for less extreme, more mellifluous sounds.

[...] The newly evolved accent is neither British-sounding nor, to the relief of the many Australians who fret about the cultural dominance of the United States, veering towards American English.

Bye-bye, Oxford

This is sad for anyone who still prefers actual print dictionaries:

The entire staff of the "Canadian Oxford Dictionary" has been laid off because of declining sales, which the book's publisher attributes to the proliferation of free online dictionaries.

The Canadian branch of Oxford University Press says it told two full-time and two part-time employees this week they would be let go due to "changing market conditions."

Sales of print dictionaries overall in North America have dropped 10 to 15 per cent per year in the past three years, said David Stover, president of the Canadian branch.

"We've been the market leader and our sales have held up very well," he said, declining to give specific figures.

"What we found, though, was that in the last six months with the downturn in the retail sector and the migration of people online reaching a tipping point, that we had to take a much closer look at it."