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.