CV translation (and other stuff too)

Want to study or work abroad? Need to translate official documents before you move for a job or go on holidays?

We're pretty frikkin' close to launching a website dedicated entirely to CVs, covering letters and sworn translation. We provide translations, revision and editing, localization, or we can even draft the document for you in the target language.

We also handle the sworn translation of official documents to prepare you for the mind-numbing administrative joys you'll face when you come over here or head over there.

The site has a tool for generating an automatic quote so you don't actually have to talk to us to find out how much it will cost either.
We're watching over the webmaster's shoulder, crossing Ts and dotting lower case Js.

Let us know if you have any suggestions.

Ah yes, the blog...

Apparently it's been some time since anything was last put something up here, hhhmmm. Not to make excuses, but if I were...: holidays (mine and others); interns coming and going; my stature as a marketing and business translation specialist steadily rising with my word count (that's right, I said it); and my preference for the pencil and paper variety of expression that gets sent into Canadian postal strikes rather than scanned and posted up here would all be mediocre ones. Besides, the subject matter of my letters wouldn't interest anyone and might find me answering a few questions here at work. So for now suffice to say that things have slowed and settled a bit and our office is juggling a few new contract negotiations we're excited about and I'm looking forward to finishing up our translation of a White Paper on Enterprise 2.0. Let me know if you want to talk productivity and communication strategies. More to follow; no really.

How to translate...

CV headings?

CV headings are generally pretty standard, although the order and what you include might vary, usually according to your experiences, the type of position you are applying for, specific aspects you want to highlight etc.

Here are 4 basic ones and French translations

Employment History
or
Professional Experience

FR ➔ Expérience professionnelle or Compétences professionnelle

Computer skills (or literacy)

FR ➔ Informatique

Education [and training]

FR ➔ Formation

Other Information
or
Interests

FR ➔ Centre d'intérêts or Intérêts

What's on your CV?

From my good friend Oxford

I thought I'd just throw this out there; a bit of grammar to go with Molly's faux amis sexuelles. If you want to be a language professional and don't understand some terms below, like 'restrictive relative clause', let me know and I will very happily keep posting this stuff. Very happily. And who knew doc Ox "hmph'd"?

Is there any difference between the use of that and which ?

Is this:
'Any book that gets children reading is worth having.'
the same as this?
'Any book which gets children reading is worth having.'

The general rule in British English is that, in restrictive relative clauses, where the relative clause serves to define or restrict the reference to the particular one described, which can replace that. However, in non-restrictive relative clauses, where the relative clause serves only to give additional information, that cannot be used: this book, which is set in the last century, is very popular with teenagers.
but not
this book, that is set in the last century, is very popular with teenagers.

In US English which is generally used only for non-restrictive relative clauses.
Hmph.

For adults only Part 2!

Another word that can cause issues of this nature is the word fanny. Now for an American it means your rear end so it is acceptable to say “I fell over yesterday and hurt my fanny”. However, if you said this to an English person it will be received with peals of laughter as fanny is the term for the female genitalia in England. Not only is this a problem for obvious reasons but the use of the American “fanny” is acceptable in everyday conversation whereas the English “fanny” isn’t.

To be continued . . .

For adults only . . .

These articles are not going to be obscene but they are going to look at what can happen when you get the cultural contexts of words wrong. I have already discussed this but I will be specifically looking at how an innocent term in one context can be slightly naughty in others. To avoid making a tit of yourself I suggest you read on.

Speaking of tits, in England there are birds that are referred to as tits; blue tits, great tits, etc. Now for bird watchers, or if said in the right context, this is not a problem. But what if you weren’t in this context or from say America or Canada, and someone pointed out a magnificent bird in a tree by saying “ look at those amazing tits!”, you can imagine the snorts of laughter and the giggles that would ensue. This would not be such a great opener if you were meeting someone for the first time or on a wonderfully romantic first date, the other person may take it the wrong way.

Another English, English word that can cause a problem is fag. Now in England if one wants a cigarette then you can go up to someone and ask to “bum a fag”. If you are English and reading this you may not see the issue. However if you are from the lands beyond the sea you may identify the problem with this remark. To an American you have just asked him to have anal sex with someone who is gay. Depending upon your orientation or the context of the encounter, you might not want to express this.
Pants, although not an offensive word, it can sometimes cause a slight problem: in England, pants or knickers are your underwear, whereas in America your pants are your trousers. Many a funny situation can ensue if you use the wrong one.

To be continued . . .

How to translate...

Apparently 'tomorrow' didn't mean exactly that, but glander le weekend à Paris means the last thing I wanted to do was anything work related (or think about going back to university). Anyway.... here are some French terms from 3ème cycle.

Diplôme de Master - In France a Master (mass-tear) is completed in 2 years following a Licence. These Degrees don't generally have acronyms.

EN ➔ Graduate / Master's Degree - Usually a 2-year program following an Undergraduate (Bachelor's) Degree such as an MA (Master of Arts) or an MBA (Master of Business Administration)

The following Diplômes have been replaced with the Diplôme de Master:

DEA - Diplôme d'Études Approfondies (research-based in preparation for a thesis and a Ph.D program)
EN ➔ Predoctoral Fellowship

DESS - Diplôme d'Études Supérieures Spécialisées (not research-based - preparation for a professional career)
EN ➔ Post-Graduate Diploma

DEST - Diplôme d'Études Supérieures Techniques (not research-based - preparation for a technical career)
EN ➔ Post-Graduate Technical Diploma

Doctorat (dok-tore-ah) - 3-year research-based program taken after a Master's Degree.

EN ➔ Ph.D / Doctorate / Doctoral Degree

Following some of my recent bike commutes to work, I thought about Imperative Forms of Impolite Address for the next 'how to translate', but that would just end up in a redacted document.
Any ideas more relevant to actually finding a job, getting into school or helping your business out...?

How to translate...

some French terms from 2ème cycle

Licence (lee-sawnce) - Completed in 3 years, although prior to the reorganization of the post-secondary system students would complete a Diplôme in 2 years and then add a specialization in year 3 to be awarded a Licence.

EN ➔ Undergraduate / Bachelor's Degree

AES - Administration Économique et Social
EN ➔ a Bachelor of Arts from the Faculty of Economics

LEA - Langues Étrangères Appliqués (more focused on business and economic aspect of the country/culture)
EN ➔ a Bachelor of Arts in a specific foreign language, culture or region

LLCE - Langues, Littérature et Civilisations Etrangères (more focused on culture of the country/region)
EN ➔ a Bachelor of Arts in in a specific foreign language culture or region

Tomorrow we'll try a bit of 3ème cycle, but I'm not sure everyone here at LinguaSpirit agrees with my methods... you?

How to translate...

French University accreditation? (Part 1)

Some Diplômes and Licences in France explain exactly what they are, but others are a puzzle of acronyms.
Here's the start of a brief overview of some of the most common from Universities and post-secondary institutions and their (sometimes rough) English equivalents.

Today we're just putting up the 1èr cycle , which is pretty much any accreditation before obtaining a Bachelor's / Undergraduate degree.

Certificat (sare-tee-fee-ka) - Completed in 1 year.

EN ➔ Certificate

Diplôme (dee-plome) - Completed in 2 years.

EN ➔ Diploma

DU - Diplôme d'Université

EN ➔ University Diploma; Diplomas in North America are usually specific, so indicate your field or specialty

DUT - Diplôme Universitaire de Technologie
2-year technical Diploma
Similar to a Diploma from a technical institute / polytechnic / institute of technology
(similar to a BET - see below - but in different disciplines)
EN ➔ a Technical Diploma in your specific field

DEUG - Diplôme d'Études Universitaire Générale
(This Diploma doesn't exist anymore in France)
EN ➔ basically a General Studies Diploma

BTS - Brevets de Technicien Supérieur
2-year technical Diploma
Similar to a Diploma from a technical institute / polytechnic / institute of technology.
EN ➔ a Technical Diploma in your specific field

Tomorrow we'll get to some stuff from the 2ème cycle.

And email us if you need to know how to translate...

How to translate...

business entity definitons?

Here are some common ones. This might help you know what they mean and how to get them out in English.
We're really not that interested in the legal distinctions between them (we like languages, remember?), but ask us if you just have to know and we can explain.

Sociétés de Capitaux

➔ Companies
___

Société par Actions (Canada)

is the same as

Compagnie (Québec)

➔ JSC - Joint Stock Company
___

SA - Société Anonyme

➔ P.L.C. - Public Limited Company (UK)
➔ JSC - Joint Stock Company (United States)
___

SAS - Société Anonyme Simplifiée

➔ Simplified Joint Stock Company (United States)
___

SARL - Société à Responsabilité Limitée (France)

is the same as

SPRL - Société Privée à Responsabilité Limitée (Belgium)

➔ Ltd. - Private Limited Company (UK)
➔ LLC - Limited Liability Company (United States)
___

Société en Commandite par Actions

➔ Partnership Limited by Shares

Let us know any we missed and be sure to email us if we can help you figure out how to translate something or other...

Secret languages part 1 . . . doctors

I have only just discovered that doctors had a secret language which is used to describe patients and not in a favorable way. At first I was fairly shocked having been a patient several times in my life but then I realized that this is commonplace in many fields of work.

I will now provide a list of some of the acronyms that are used to describe the patients that walk through the doors of a hospital:

If you go into a hospital in Norfolk with a bizarre ailment then the doctors may describe you as NFN which is translated as Normal for Norfolk. If you don’t know where/what Norfolk is then it is a town in England which unfortunately has been associated with incestuous behavior, this is not the opinion of the blog writer or the organisation!!

Other acronyms include FLK – funny looking kid, GROLIES – Guardian reader of low intelligence in ethnic skirt, TTFO – told to go away (only slightly ruder), LOBNH – lights on but nobody home, DBI – dirt bag index and PFO – patient falling over (when drunk). Complimentary eh? I feel I must mention that it is not every doctor in England that use this language and it is supposedly dying out as doctors are showing more respect for patients. i would suggest the best thing to do is, if you get hurt make sure you change into formal wear and/or smart clothing before going to hospital, it should only take you a couple of minutes.

I end part 1 with my favourite expression from the doctor’s dictionary and that is “pumpkin positive” which is: when a doctor shines a light into a patient’s mouth, their entire head lights up as their brain is so small. What a gem!!

Part 2 coming soon . . .

FreeSpirit 2011

FreeSpirit has been steadily busy and gotten off to a great start in 2011. Our network of international volunteer translators has been helping out several organizations so far this year.

Most recently, as described in her trial-by-fire blogposts, one of our interns, Molly, organized and participated in an interpreting session for Solidarité International. Solidarité operates in regions or countries affected by war or natural disaster and focuses on emergency relief in the form of water and sanitation, food security and eventual reconstruction. The conference here outside of Paris dealt with the logistical challenges that come with delivering Solidarité's aid programs and saw project heads from various countries meet in order to develop strategies and share success stories and ongoing challenges.

Solidarité is also developing their literature and communication strategies to get their message out to even more NGOs and government agencies so they can expand their operations and reach more people in need.

FreeSpirit has also done some extensive work for Landmine Monitor, a program providing research and monitoring for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). Landmine Monitor has published extensive data on international contributions; clearing operations; oversight of landmine use and compliance with the mine-ban treaty; casualties and victim assistance; aid donors and recipients; and government transparency.

Due to their reach and the unfortunate reality of landmine use throughout the world, Landmine Monitor needs to have their literature and their studies translated into several languages. Luckily for us, FreeSpirit's network was able to handle their request and get their information out to their international partners as soon as possible in Russian, Spanish and Arabic.

Another recent FreeSpirit partner has been FIRAH, a French-based international foundation of associations dedicated to applied research for persons with disabilities. FIRAH and one of their Italian partners are currently promoting and funding a community-based rehabilitation project in India.

Hopefully we can continue collaborating with these organizations and our other partners in the coming months. We're always interested in learning about not-for-profit groups working for social justice and humanitarian causes that are new to us, so contact us if you know of any who need to reach out in almost any language.

In the coming months we'll also be working on a website dedicated exclusively to Freespirit so people can check in on our latest work and see who our partners are. We want to increase the exposure of the project to as many people as possible.

Send us any ideas if you have them!

Revision

Here at LinguaSpirit, we revise a wide variety of documents in addition to our bread and butter (translation). Some of them are written for a readership in the same language, while others have already been translated for a variety of linguistic and cultural audiences. Our clients want to ensure that the work that's been done meets their standard and represents a high-quality product before it's submitted for publication, posted on a website, or sent in an official correspondence. English, British or American; French, European or Canadian; European Spanish; Russian; German and Wolof are the possibilities I see just today while looking around the office. Some of our daily laughs actually come from the back and forth concerning language choices and dialectical differences (concubinage elicited a smile today from an Anglophone in house).

If you're practised at revision, it can be done quickly and efficiently. Like that of editor and author, the relationship between translator and reviser can be prickly. But as long as each professional is confident in their craft and the work they do, they contribute to the same process and work to make the final product something the client will be happy with.

Revising a translated document is a bit of a juggling act though. There are some layers to work through, each with several factors.

First of all, there's the 'translation' layer (let it be noted now that any language used to identify layers, levels, stages or gauges are completely arbitrary - potentially fictional and hopefully neological in nature). This is when the source document needs to be seen and understood, then juxtaposed with the translation that has already been thought out, researched and completed. When analyzing these two documents the reviser is responsible for identifying any mistranslations, as well as any additions or omissions that detract or change what is interpreted to be the original intent of the source document's message.

How about adapting it to for the target audience/readership? Should the table of contents be at the front or the back? If the target text is in Spanish, should vocabulary or terminology be adapted for Guatemala or Andalucía?

On another level, the reviser needs to be able to pick up any errors in the grammar, syntax, punctuation, typography etc.

And when looking at all these factors, the reviser has to be sure not to retranslate (a hard skill to master); that is to say, they need to ask themselves if the existing translation meets the standard expected by the client, even if some of the choices made by the translator wouldn't have been the reviser's own. If they meet that standard, leave them alone!

So all of this comes together in what can sometimes be an afterthought for many clients. They might not see the need to revise a document they've already paid to have translated. I mean, the translator is a professional right? Yes, and so is an engineer, but a building inspector is still going to come through at some point and make sure everything is up to snuff.

After working through hundreds or thousands of words, a second pair of eyes is definitely a good idea to ensure quality is met, the message is clear, sentences aren't running on, Ts are crossed and lower case Js dotted. Your client will thank you.

Part 4; Day two and onwards!

The end of the first came and went as did the second and third. Just to make life easier a cold decided to install itself into my already exhausted body. So between the sneezing, tissues and coughing the interpretation became fairly complicated. Especially because trying to speak any language when your nose is incredibly blocked does not lead to easy communication so every so often I reverted to mime. The next few days passed in a blur of English, French and other such anomalies. On Thursday night we were invited to the soirée they were having in Belleville at the monkey bar, which was thoroughly enjoyable. The sole problem was that we possibly didn’t spend enough time mingling with everyone and spent most of the evening giggling over various drinks with Eh, who was the gentlemen from Thailand. Most people left at a reasonable hour but there were a few stragglers that stayed until the early hours of the morning, so on Friday it was big sunglasses and careful movement all round (although I have to point out that all interpreters had left by midnight!). The last day went very well and the interpreters got a round of applause, which made me go so red that someone asked if I was okay. Everyone involved in the conference was lovely and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Part three; the first day comes to a close!

After lunch we have a reshuffle of interpreters and so more introductions are made and much smiling is done. In the afternoon presentations are scheduled, they are presentations on the different projects that Solidarité are involved in. the first presentation gets underway and we are all lulled into a false sense of security as it seems very easy, we have the words projected on a wall and all we have to do is translate that and any additions they make. The stern looks of concentration leave our faces and a calm, peaceful expression took its place. As will all these things it was too good to be true, sure enough when the presentation stops the discussion starts, if we thought it was hard before it was now near impossible. People were all speaking at the same time or at different speeds and in different accents. This carries on for ten minutes, with us all trying furiously to follow the direction of the conversation and trying not to lose any of the important information whilst immediately translating it into English. This session slowly comes to an end and I look around at the other interpreters who either look like they are going to kill or as if they are going to pass out. Luckily there was not enough time for either of these to be acted upon as we had moved on to the next presentation. The next few presentations followed the same pattern but we were prepared this time and it slowly became easier to tune into the conversation a bit more. However none of us were expecting the next event, it was a presentation written and delivered in English . . . hallelujah! The next two were the same as well allowing at least a forty-five minute break for us! We knew this could not last forever and soon we were thrown back into the work. At six the end of the first day was signaled but there were still many more to come. To say this day was difficult would be an understatement. Let me put it this way, by 21:30 I was fast asleep.

To be continued . . .

Part two, the first morning

The first morning there were five of us which I imagine looked faintly ridiculous as there were only three interpretees, but seeing as we were all new at this we found comfort in the support. Most of the vocabulary was understandable and we were able to give decent translations but it was soon clear that there was something that we had not taken into account . . . the dreaded acronym. Yes you read it right, the acronyms that were spouting from various people’s mouths were coming at an alarming rate and we had no idea what any of them meant. Terms like PAD, RP, WASH, HH and many more were being used. All we could do was translate around the acronyms and just say the letters in French which was often met by completely baffled look as obviously the acronyms were not the same in English. Desperate looks passed between us all but we powered through. Soon a break was announced and we were momentarily released from our duty as half the conference went out to smoke. Luckily Basile stayed behind to ask us how it had gone. The looks of desperation in our eyes must have given him a clue that something was not right and we explained about the acronyms whilst apologizing for the fact that we had no idea what they meant. Basile laughed and calmly explained what each one was saying that it hadn’t occurred to them that we wouldn’t know their meaning as they were used all the time in the NGO world, he ended up apologizing to us. After the break, five much calmer interpreters rejoined the table and the second half of the morning got under way. The topic was the intranet, specifically the forum, which needed revising and above all needed the participation of more people within the company. They had been talking about this for roughly ten minutes and we in turn had been interpreting. Everyone seemed to understand and this was confirmed by the nodding that was happening around the table. Five more minutes pass and then Eh leans forward and asks me “what’s a forum?”.

To be continued . . .

Interpretation . . . harder than it sounds?

My job description was clear, I was to organise some interpreters to take part in a conference for Solidarité International. The specifications were that they had to be volunteers. So far so good an email around my university was all that sufficed and several people answered my call for help. In preparation glossaries, the timetable for the week, directions and instructions were handed out. Fully prepared we set out at 6.30 on Monday morning to find Basile (our contact at Solidarité) and the head quarters. We eventually found the head quarters where were greeted by a very nice individual although at this point nothing was explained to us. We were led into a waiting room where we sat calmly waiting for the infamous Basile to arrive. It did not strike us as odd that we were 5 unknown Anglophone girls sitting in the head quarters of a French NGO company but apparently it was as everyone who came in stared at us, which made us feel unbelievably comfortable ( I may have employed the use of sarcasm here)! Basile arrived and welcomed us to the head quarters, offered us several beverages and then once again we were left alone not really sure what to do. Eventually people started to migrate towards the door and Basile told us to follow as we were going to the conference room. We had no idea what to expect as we had not been given any information about the proceedings so once we arrived we waited patiently by the door so that if it was too difficult we could run away and start new lives as beggars. We were informed that there would be three Anglophones who we had to interpret for and that we would share a table with them at the front of the hall. We were asked to translate what we heard and whisper it to the three Anglophones. At this point we had not been introduced to them, hence the repetition of the three Anglophones, but Basile soon called us round and introductions were made. There was a woman from Kenya called Pennine, a woman from Zimbabwe called Dumi and man from Thailand called Eh. None of them were native English speakers so every so often we encountered comprehension problems. After croissants and beverages the conference got under way. Now I should add that all the interpreters were volunteers more importantly inexperienced volunteers who had never interpreted in their lives, including myself. We were thrown in the deep end hoping not to drown.

To be continued . . .

The anomaly of accents and dialects continued. . .

A famous English dialect has to be cockney rhyming slang, which can confuse the best of us even if we are English. There are several website that are dedicated to the translation of English into cockney rhyming slang. If you are not familiar with it then you might wonder whether it was actually that different, the answer is yes! Below are some phrases that are in cockney rhyming slang and I challenge you to translate them into understandable English.

1. 'Allo me old china - wot say we pop round the Jack. I'll stand you a pig and you can rabbit on about your teapots. We can 'ave some loop and tommy and be off before the dickory hits twelve.

2. "Got to my mickey, found me way up the apples, put on me whistle and the bloody dog went. It was me trouble telling me to fetch the teapots."

3. I Scapa Fla ter university only carpet days a Bubble And Squeak, so I 'ave ter Kathy Burke ter keep myself busy

In general people never actually apply this much cockney rhyming slang to one phrase, mostly people will say a perfectly normal sentence and then throw in apples instead of staying stairs. Most of the time one doesn’t really notice if one is English. However, if you do not have English as your native language then you will probably need someone to translate and/or mime. Failing this just nod and agree.

To be continued . . .

The anomaly of accents. . .

Although I consider Great Britain to be my home country, my safe haven, I have often found myself completely baffled by accents that occupy certain towns and cities. One of the most disconcerting experiences I had was whilst I was visiting the great city of Glasgow. I was standing peacefully at a bus stop, awaiting a bus that was to take me to the airport. I was listening to some fabulous music on my iPod when a man approaches me and seemingly asks me a question. Due to fact that I was listening to my music, I did not hear or understand what had been said. I removed the headphones from my ears and aimed a friendly smile his way. He repeated the question. I blinked and then for lack of knowing what else to do I blinked again. I had not understood what he had said to me at all due to his very strong Scottish accent. He may as well have been speaking Greek for all I knew. I apologized and excused myself asking him to repeat what he had already repeated twice. He sighed and once again offered the sentence up for my understanding and once again it failed to be recognized by my now panicking brain. Once again I blinked and considered the fact that he may think that I had some mental deficiency. Having no response to offer up I shrugged and hoped that he would go away so that I could recover from this ordeal. He however had a different plan in mind and aimed some more words at me. I knew that this new statement was not the same as the first because the sounds were different but this was about all I could make of the situation. Again I had nothing to do but stare dejectedly at the floor and hope that it would defy the laws of physics and swallow me up. No such luck, the floor remained intact and the gentleman continued staring at me expecting an answer. Thankfully the women next to me came to our aid and responded to the questions of the man and then translated what had been said to me. It turned out that he was asking me whether this was the bus to the airport and my response to this being a shrug he then asked me where I was wanting to go because he thought that this was in fact the bus to the airport. So by the end of this encounter I was feeling fairly fragile and idiotic and he believed that I was a complete incompetent, overall a very successful conversation I thought.
Molly:0 and accents:1

To be continued . . .

Translations done badly continued . . . again . . .

Now we move into the domain of badly translated signs, posters and other important information. Many British people will remember the rather amusing debacle with the Welsh road sign. For anyone that is not familiar with the story I will explain it now. Sign makers in Wales needed to make a sign that stated “No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only.” Faced with the dilemma of translating the phrase the sign maker called in the experts to help them in their time of need. They sent the phrase, to be translated, to a professional translator. I know what you’re thinking this all seems very logical and sensible and thus far it is but then things start to unravel. Unfortunately the translator was not in his office and an automated reply was sent stating that “I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated” but it was written in Welsh. The sign maker not having any working knowledge of Welsh took this to be his desired translation and promptly added it to the sign. According to the stories there were some incredibly confused Welch people walking around wondering why they should care that someone was not in their office and that translations should still be sent. Here is a photo of the sign in question:


To read more about this story follow this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7702913.stm

Other amusing stories from the world of bad translation include the fiasco that Pepsi had when translating their slogan into Chinese. It would seem to be a fairly easy translation as the slogan was “Pepsi gives you zest for life”. This was very professionally translated into Chinese and read “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave”. A truly amazing drink if it was capable of doing these things however I highly doubt that it was but you never know so keep drinking that Pepsi!! Another famous disaster comes from Pepsi’s rival, Coca Cola, who wanted their name to be put into Chinese characters. Unfortunately it rendered there name useless as it now read “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax”. All in all a success I feel. Just a couple more examples to keep you giggling for the rest of the day. Most people have heard of the “Jolly Green Giant” sweetcorn but has anyone heard of “Intimidating Green Monster” sweetcorn. No? Well this is how “Jolly Green Giant” was translated into Arabic. Personally I know which one I would choose. Finally one of the best mistakes in my opinion was made by the “Coors” beer company when they had their slogan “Turn it Loose” translated into Spanish. Unfortunately once in Spanish it then read “Get Diarrhoea”! Successful I think not, although it depends what you want from your beer.
amusement:1 and translators: 0

Translations done badly continued . . .

I once did a translation using solely a French monolingual dictionary just to experiment of course, not because the internet refused to work and the only options were French monolingual or English monolingual. I had also not spent a really long time desperately trying to get the internet working again and attempting to yell at the inanimate computer in front of me before dissolving into tears. I started well, just because I had no need for the dictionary yet, and got the first couple of sentences done. It carried on very much the same until I hit a block. There was one word that I didn’t know how to translate. I took a breath and started to look in the dictionary, turning the pages carefully so there was no chance that I would miss it. I couldn’t see the word so I carried on but I soon realised that I had moved into a new letter. The word would definitely not be here, what to do? I went back and even more carefully than before I went through the dictionary but again to no avail. I panicked; this word was not in the dictionary, what was I going to do? I decided to phone a friend, I had that or ask the audience left, and asked them whether they could look up this word. They tried but they could not find a translation either however they promised to keep trying. This is when my phone decided it would be an appropriate time to switch off and not turn back on again. It was at this point that I threw a hissy fit; really I just sat down on my bed feeling rather blue. I looked at the word again, while the world I knew was crumbling around my feet and it was only at this point that I realised that there was a typo and that I actually knew exactly how to translate it.

To be continued . . .

To translate your CV or not to translate your CV that is the question . . .

We have all at one time had to write a CV. Many people will agree that this is the most fulfilling experience ever . . . not! I don’t know if other people find that trying to make yourself sound wonderful whilst maintaining a sufficient level of dignity and trying to dredge up the smattering of experience that you have, a difficult experience but I certainly do! This experience can only be made worse by needing your CV to be in a different language? Here at LinguaSpirit we can translate your CV for an incredibly reasonable price and a plethora of different languages. Why LinguaSpirit I hear you ask. Well not only would we provide professional translators who would work tirelessly on your CV to make it culturally and linguistically perfect but we also provide free confidential help and advice to anyone who needs it. We can cater for needs whether it is your CV translating into Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, anything, then we can do it. If you have heroically tried to translate your CV yourself then we also a free read through of your work so that you can be assured that it is legible and correct. We have an entire website dedicated to our CV translation services and you can get there by following this link: http://linguaspiritcv.free.fr/ and it will take you literally to our doorstep where you will be received with open arms.

We don’t just specialise in CV translation we are available to translate many different documents. We recently translated Credit Agricole’s financial magazine as well as a song, a restaurant menu and many other weird and wonderful things. At www.linguaspirit.com we aim to help you whatever your needs. The LinguaSpirit headquarters are here to help you!

Translations done badly . . .

We all know this one! I’m sure that everyone has at one time in their lives seen a very bad translation of something that couldn’t be simpler to translate and yet it is turned into the most ridiculous of sentences. I remember being in Mauritania, buying Christmas gifts when I came across a cream that assured me that it removed horniness, all in all probably not what you want from a cream. There are thousands of examples of amusing signs, posters, notices, etc that have all been translated in absurd ways. All you need to do is go to Google images and type in bad translations. As translations they are obviously worth nothing but as fodder for a really good giggle I would suggest throwing caution to the wind and just letting rip. Translation is a tricky subject and can often go wrong, as I have already insinuated. Here are a few examples of the interesting tools available for a translator, and I use interesting in the broadest sense of the word.
People will often use instant translators that you can find on a multitude of websites. I myself have used them if I am feeling particularly lazy although every time I get much the same outcome as previous experiences. Unless you have the most basic of sentences with no idiomatic expressions, no complex sentence structures and no complicated verb forms then the computer will generate a coherent translation of your work. However, life is not usually this kind and to be perfectly honest if you have been given a translation that is that simple then you could probably just have done it yourself. When you do get the more common complex translations the temptation to cheat is always there. I will describe to you now the feeling of using the instant translator. Usually there are one or two phrases that you just can’t quite get to sound English/French enough so you take a shifty look around you to make sure no one is looking ( not that it would make any difference if anyone was) and go on the hunt for, most likely, Google translate. Once you arrive at this site and choose your languages, you boldly type the sentences into the box and hold your breath while you wait for the translation to appear. This is always a tense moment, for though you know that it will spew out the most ludicrous of sentences you can’t stop the little bubble of hope that is floating somewhere within your being. You stare at the screen willing it to be a perfect translation, you see the computer loading your, hopefully, perfect translation. The excitement builds and you know that you have gone too far and that there is now no way to turn back. Suddenly it appears and it is usually the biggest load of bollocks you have seen, so back you go to the dictionary. If you have never experienced this before I would suggest having a go, it can be fairly fun.

to be continued . . .

Culturally diverse continued . . .

The phenomenon of foreign drivers in a foreign country is just as amusing. Talking to English people about facing the roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe insights an extremely funny reaction. If you ever want to see someone go pale and possibly faint I would suggest mentioning this. Another cultural anomaly seems to be English road rage which is not so pronounced in other countries and therefore other cultures. One of the best examples of road rage I can give is my dear father who has a persistent problem with cows that crowd the common where he lives. It is a true infestation of cows and they roam free over the roads and countryside. I am pretty sure my father thinks that the cows have a vendetta against him. As they really do seem to wait for him to drive past before they amble slowly into the middle of the road and stop there to consider the meaning of life. They wait there very patiently while my father waits not so patiently behind the wheel. The threats that seep from his mouth are quite entertaining and he winds himself up into the greatest state while the cow just merely stares at him chewing cud. He then runs through a very extensive list of profanities until the cow decides that this may be a good time to leave and check out the greener grass on the other side. No cows were harmed in the making of this road rage. This is however a serious problem that affects many of the English citizens and we must do what we can to raise awareness around the world. The French have a different way of handling this rage and they tend to merely beep their horns over and over and over and over and over and over again. However if this were the way that English people dealt with their road rage then there would be some incredibly confused girls walking the streets thinking that the really angry people in the traffic jam had taken a moment to let them know that they were good looking. As I said before these cultural differences are incredibly hard to translate unless you are an English student living in Paris and then you just spend most of your time confused.
Obviously I am only qualified to mention incidents that I have actually witnessed and in places that I have actually lived in although I have it on very good authority that this is a worldwide dilemma.
I bet you are wondering what all this has to do with translation . . . well it is very simple. It is not just words that need translating as there are also cultural nuances to take into consideration. You have to know the cultural aspects of a language as well as just the vocabulary. We can all laugh at the messes that are caused by lack of cultural knowledge but would you truly want that in a CV or in another document that you want translating? This is how we deal with translations at both LinguaSpirit and FreeSpirit. Every aspect of the translation is taken into account and we endeavour to make it the best we can.