Certified translation for immigration purposes

An essential part of the immigration process is providing the required documents to the authorities. If the documents are not in English, they may need to be translated.  The requirements to attest for the translation vary from authority to authority and document to document.  They range from minimal to very specific. Whatever the case, to avoid wasted time and money and possible rejection, it is necessary to ask the authority for their specific requirements.  If you need a “certified translation”, be aware that that the term may have different meanings depending on the government body and language combination. 

The most demanding (and expensive) requirement is a transition by an embassy-approved translator with an affidavit. In most countries, the cost of the legal seal is set by the government and is rather high, unlike in the United States. Thus, the applicant must pay for both the translation and notary seal.

Another equivalent option, when there is no requirement for an embassy-approved translator, is to find a translator-attorney, who will both translate and attest to its accuracy.  Such a translation should satisfy even the most demanding authorities. However, the number of translators that are also attorneys is limited, which would be reflected in their fee.

Fortunately, this high level of certification is not always required. Authorities will often accept translation by a “certified” translator.  The meaning of that term depends on the language and place. In a few countries, like Argentina, the government approves translators.  In the United States, the American Translators Association certifies translators of many but not all language combinations through a test.  A list of ATA certified translators can be found on their site https://www.atanet.org/. For some language combinations, you need to contact the national translator’s organization for the equivalent. For example, the highest level of certification for the Hebrew-English pair is “Recognized Translator” by the Israeli Translators Association. In this case, the translator must sign a statement attesting to the accuracy of the translation and, in so required, attach an avadavat attesting to the signature.

It should be noted that translation by a non-professional or self-translation will almost never be acceptable for reasons of accuracy and objectivity and may even make the application invalid. It should go without saying Google Translate is not an option.

In summary, when translation of documents is needed, the applicant needs to clarify the requirements and identify the closest equivalent. it is always advisable to confirm the acceptability of the option with the specific authority.  While it is often possible to avoid notary fees, immigration documents must be translated by a professional translator to ensure their acceptability.

© Stephen Rifkind – Gaguzia Translations 2019

     stephen@gaguzia-translations.com

     Hebrew/French/Russian to English

Diversity and hope

I just returned from the ATA60 (American Translators Association) Conference in Palm Springs. It was a large event, with some 1400 participants and around 170 presentations (including ones by my wife and I) on various subjects spread over some four days. To say that the conference was a rich experience is an understatement.

Given the sheer quantity of conversations I had over that period, it is still difficult to recall specific points and people.   Regardless, I left feeling very hopeful not only about the future of the profession of translation but also about the ability of people to treat their differences not as barriers but instead as opportunities for enrichment and friendship.

Despite that the fact that all of the participants were involved in the language industry in one way or another, the greatest pattern was no pattern at all.  It was impossible to create a picture of a typical translator or interpreter. They came in all sizes, ages and colors, had unique styles of dressing, began their careers in countless different ways and spoke widely varying sets of languages. Many were expatriates but no less were those who still lived close to their place of birth. Since it is was a conference of the American Translators Association, the language of communication was English but English was not the mother tongue of a large percentage of the participants. A journalist visiting the conference would be at lost for words to describe the average translator or interpreter except for the ability to speak more than one language.

The amazing and exhilarating aspect of this conference, one that arises from the fog of several days of talking with people over several days, is that these differences did not create tension or lead to conflict but instead provided a basis for dialogue, understanding and even friendship. It was amazing to discover how a Russian ended up living in Colorado or an American in Germany. I met people who had specific skills way beyond mine. This recognition does not create envy but instead inspires me to learn and improve. Each of us brought a different package of experience and knowledge to the conference and shared it. Synergy, not competition, was the spirit.

In an increasingly sectarian world, I discovered an island of sanity, where diversity is a positive force for understanding and friendship. I do not know how much financial benefit I will gain from the ATA conference but I clearly experienced a gush of fresh air, filled with hope, mutual respect and even some friendships.  On that basis alone, the time and money I invested to attend this conference were more than justified. Variety is the spice of life.

Number theory

Numbers have significance well beyond their quantitative meaning.  For example, the term 24/7 is universally understood to mean around the clock without mention of the units, i.e., hours and days per week. The challenge for translators and non-natives is understanding the localized meaning, which may or may exist in the culture of the person trying to understand the term. Misinterpretation can lead to confusion at best and wrong conclusions at worst.

The most obvious number issues are quantities, dates and time.  Some languages, notably English, use the decimal point to distinguish the whole numbers from the decimal and lower numbers, e.g. 5.547 percent is 5 and 547/1000 percent.  By contrast, the comma is used to divide between each three places in whole numbers, e.g. 7,890 is seven thousand and eight hundred and ninety. By contrast, the French, among others, reverse this convention such that 5.547 is five thousand, five hundred and forty-seven while 7,890 is 7 and 890/1000 percent.  What a difference a punctuation mark can make.  The date issue can be critical.  The United States is almost the sole country that places the month before the day with most other countries starting the date of the month. Thus, translators often write out the name of the month to avoid any potential confusion. Europe traditionally has used a 24-hour clock such that each hour has a specific number. For example, 12:00 and 24:00 are clearly different times.  By contrast, in the United States, while few institutions use “military time” as the 24-hour clock is referred to, most people add am or pm or morning and evening. The problem is even Americans are confused whether 12 am is midnight or noon (it is the latter). 

In some cases, each county has its own variation of important numbers.  For instance, to call for an ambulance in the United States, you dial 911 while in France it is 112, Israel 101 and Russia 02, to name just a few.  For those who still have perfect vision, in the United States, you have 20/20 vision, meaning that you can see a certain image at 20 feet while France you have 10 vision and Israel 6/6. As they say, to each his own.

The United States has some of its specific terms.  A company filing Chapter 7 or 11 is going bankrupt. 9/11 is day of mourning that will not be forgotten for many decades. Any baseball fan knows that a 300 hitter is pretty good (for those not in the know, he gets a hit 30 percent of the time) while a 500 team has the same number of wins and losses.  In colleges, any 101 course is introductory, e.g., Economics 101 is the initial course. On the financial front, most Americans file a 1040 form of some type and know that the IRS requires it if they may not know how to fill it in. For that matter, Israeli get a 106 form from their employer every year reporting their income and deductions for the entire tax year. You got to be there to understand.

Culture also has added significance to numbers but the effect is often generational. Depending on the age, people may remember Adam 12, a patrol cop show from the 1960’s, Room 222, a TV program about a school in the early 1970’s and Beverly Hills 92010 for those a bit younger.  In terms of books, 1984 is a well-known book by George Orwell. Of course, all living generations know that 007 is a spy.

If I live until 120, as they say in Hebrew, I will probably witness the appearance of num(b)erous digital terms. Some will stick while others will be forgotten as in Bug 2000. Yet, numbers are here to stay.

Traveling post - ATA Law Division

 This week, I am posting on the ATA Law division:

https://www.ata-divisions.org/LawD/386-2/

Starting up the freelance business leanly

This week, I attended a short lecture and workshop given by Prof. Rami Gazit from the Braude College of Engineering.  The subject was the lean startup model, which was new to me.  In a few hours, he provided the background and main points of this business model.  As a freelancer translator for 15 years with a formal business background (MBA), I could not help but consider whether this knowledge would have helped me when I started and how much it is relevant now.  My conclusion is that while freelancing and startups are not identical situations, some of the basic concepts to which I was exposed would definitely apply to a startup and established freelance translator.

To begin with, I clearly see three important differences between technical startups and freelancing.  The first involves the environment in which the business begins. One of the definitions of a startup business provided us was an attempt to create a viable business model in an essentially uncertain world, i.e., to introduce a new product or service into the market.  By contrast, freelancing involves providing a known product or service in a relatively stable existing market, i.e. specific and complete business models already exist.  

Another important difference is the end goal of the activity.  Ultimately, the startup entrepreneur wants to succeed in creating a business that is sufficiently large and viable to sell for millions. By contrast, the more modest end goal of all freelancers is to make a living in the long term on their terms.  The money involved is in thousands, not millions. Granted, in the translation business, more and more successful freelance businesses are being bought in the recent of conglomeration.  Still, the vast majority of freelancers are in for the long term to make a living. Finally, new freelance translators, unlike a budding startup company, has nothing new to offer. Their service is superficially identical to that of countless others. The only changes in the service will be the product of outside technological change, such as machine translation, not any innovation they can bring.

That said, freelancers can learn from the lean startup model. First, in both, it is essential to focus on the customer, not on the product or service. This emphasis is vital both in the starting and later stages of the business. In the beginning, it is necessary to talk with companies and translation project managers to ascertain what they look for, i.e. the characteristics of a successful service provider. For example, in translation, on-time delivery and effective communication create the basis for a long-term customer.  As the business grows, these same customers can provide information regarding QA issues and other required services, i.e. areas to which the service provide can expand, such as transcreation or post-MT editing in the translation field today. Only after entrepreneurs understand their customers can they tailor their skills and knowledge to the market.

Proper scaling also applies to freelance businesses. Scaling applies to the speed of expansion of business activities.  The relevant key lesson from lean startup is that trial and error on a small scale is vital for long term success.  In other words, in the beginning, freelancers should focus on a single specialization within their repertoire of skills and knowledge. For example, translators should market one language pair in one direction in one specialization.  When translating or marketing errors occur, the lessons learned from this experience will significantly increase the efficiency in later stages. Not only that, a small controlled start will avoid burning customers for the later stages. Once the basic technical issues are clarified and resolved, it will be possible to expand to further niches (and higher income). Thus, while there is a tendency to throw out a wide net, a narrow focus in the beginning can better serve a new freelancer.

The third aspect is the need to be able to pivot, i.e. flexibility. Whether due to market changes or incorrect assumptions, some marketing ideas or potential niches do not produce results. After a certain point, it is pointless to invest more time and energy in them, at least for the meantime. A successful entrepreneur seeks another area in which the same set of skills and knowledge or an additional one will apply. For example, the knowledge of legal and financial accounting terminology is also a key in translating documents for international development marketing as I learned in a recent ATA webinar by Corinne Mckay. Since the business world is only relatively stable, the ability to pivot is relevant for the entire lifetime of a freelancing business. Change can be a curse or an opportunity. Flexibility is an important relative advantage of a successful freelancer.

I make no claim of being an expert of lean startup after a two-hour lecture/workshop.  Yet, I found many of its lessons relevant to both new and established freelancers, including but not limited to translators. The need to be customer focused by asking questions, walk before running and identify and react to changes applies to all businesses, freelancers, startups and even corporations. All entrepreneurs that start up a business can lean on these principles.

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Culinary couch potato or non-vicarious political living

In the last decade, the television screen has slowly turned into a giant kitchen. Food preparation programs are becoming more and more numerous.  They include cooking and baking and both.  They range from the sophisticated such as Professional Master Chef to the absurd, such Worst Cooks in America. Their approach can focus on the food, such as the French MasterChef, the people in the Israeli MasterChef or the culture in Les Carnets de Julie.  The competitive atmosphere can be high as in Iron Chef or bordering on cooperative as the Great British Bake Off.  They can emphasize team work as the Chef Games in Israel or single improvisational skills as in Chopped.  Regardless of the format, viewers sit on their fannies and watch other people prepare and eat food.  Admittedly, some actually learn from the shows, copying and applying the techniques and recipes.  Most people just find something to munch on and look forward to the next show or season. 

I admit that I belong to the last category. My personal reason for relishing cooking and baking shows is the current state of politics. Simply put, it stinks. I will be fair: it stinks in Israel, the United States, France, Britain, Russia, China, Turkey, Germany, Italy and the Palestinian Authority, to name just a few.  I heard that the situation in Monaco or Luxemburg and maybe Singapore may be okay but I lack sufficient knowledge to know nor do these good apples really improve the barrel. The situation is and has been so bad that I have stopped watching the news or listening to news radio.  I do care but lack the emotional strength to deal with the scope of the disaster even if I know I personally will be affected by it sooner or later. Call it cowardice or weakness but I simply cannot take politics right now.

So, instead, in the two hours or so of free time I have in the evening, I watch people prepare food and even jokingly, mostly, ask why they did not offer me a slice or taste of it.  From time to time, my wife prepares a dish based on one of the recipes, which I enjoy.  Theoretically, I myself could print the recipe and make it myself as I know how to cook.  However, there is almost no chance that I would ever do so.

They say that troubles cause people to either gain or lose weight, depending on their reaction.  Although I try to eat healthier snacks during my escapism sessions, I have to admit that I have not lost weight.  I cannot speak for the viewers of the program but the reason that I enjoy such programs is that I find it much cheerful to listen to a discussion of a beautiful profiterole than one on the profits of all Trumps and Bibi’s friends.  To paraphrase the maligned Marie Antoinette, let us eat cake, at least vicariously.

Intuit

I have been a freelancer for some 15 years now.  I began my translating career knowing next to nothing about translation and very little in practice about running my own business. To explain, my MBA did provide me with some macro understanding but very little guidance on how to run a one-person business. My tools were trial and error, analysis and, most importantly, intuition.

To be clear, I have made plenty of mistakes and still do occasionally.  After every “disaster”, I analyze what went wrong and how to avoid a repeat incident.  In this manner, I have managed to learn what my business education did not teach me: how to run a translation business. Aside from countless small technical tricks, my main conclusion of all my analysis is that the key for me on both a macro and micro level is not accounting or vision, which have their place, but but instead intution, 

Intuition is the “gut feeling” before any decision, big or small, that it feels right.  It is not necessarily rational and logical within the framework of the facts known at the time. Nor does it emotionally reflect our desires and/or fears. Intuition often leads us to take actions that have negative short term consequence or arouse fear.  In fact, our intuition both encompasses these elements and surpasses them in understanding. It is the feeling that a given plan of action is correct regardless of whether the brain or heart endorses it. Of course, it should not be confused with wishful thinking, a dangerous cousin, infamous for causing impulsive and foolish actions. The difference between them is similar to that between happy and contented, with the former describing the state of mind at any given time, subject to immediate change, while the latter describing a general state of mind regardless of immediate events. In fact, the key in known what a potential decision is intuitive or wishful is if it still feels correct after some time has passed.

I can say that I could have avoided close to 95% of my mistakes if I had noticed and heeded my intuition. On a macro level, I would have avoided several scammers since I sensed that something was wrong but did not investigate.  I would have avoided certain texts that were beyond my understanding and ability, which I immediately knew deep down. I would have pursued certain marketing media much earlier because I understood that they had good potential. On a micro level,  I would have insisted on longer deadlines since I had a strong feeling that the document was more complicated than it seemed at first glance but I did not insist. I would have rechecked and reedited phrases that lit up a red light before the client had to read it. In other words, as a translator, I “knew” what I needed to do but did not follow my intuition.

On a positive note, my intuitive decision to break out of the gilded cage of a salary and become independent has transformed my life and thinking.  I cannot imagine my life only as a teacher. Armed with intuition, I have found a long-term niche, developed practical operating procedures and pursued effective marketing strategies not only relying on my rational analysis but also my intuitive feeling. I have had almost no payment issues in a situation where most of my customers are far away. Without being an expert on any specific country, I have been able to communicate with people from a wide variety of cultures and expectations. In an uncertain future, I can rely on my intuition, with guidance from others as required, to overcome challenges.

To clarify, every business person, large and small, must be keep track and be aware of the key numbers: income, expenses, change, etc. Not only that, a vision of the business in five years is vital for long term planning. However, these two tools are not sufficient to guarantee success. At least for freelancers, intuition is an important key.

The advice is deceivingly simple. The voice of our intuition is much quieter than that of our desires, fear and cold logic.  Not only that, outside voices, both family and colleagues, can impact our decisions, many times but not always for the best. Consequently, it is important to consult people that truly understand, not primarily want to control. Ultimately, the success of freelancer is in the hands of the freelancer. You don’t need an MBA to succeed but it is vital to listen to the quiet but wise voice of intuition.