On seizing opportunity -the sometimes long and windy road to success

 

[path through mouintains*]

Warren Buffett is famous for emphasizing the importance of seeking and seizing opportunities. For service, providers, the best opportunities occur when the potential buyer has already decided to seek the services or products a business has to offer. Under those circumstances, the customer will properly consider any reasonable offer. However, despite the increased probability, there is no guarantee of an immediate deal. Curiously, the lack of immediate success does not necessarily mean failure as the act of making an offer often creates its momentum, which leads to later, sometimes unforeseen opportunities as I recently experienced.

The best opportunities for service providers is when potential customers publicize their needs for a specific service whether in a forum or service hub or other source. At this point, if the matter is relevant in terms of material and rate,  the provider merely needs to send an initial contact either with a full proposal or a request for more details. The customer has an interest to examine each proposal but generally has several options if the notice was public. For example, when an individual or business posts a request for translation on proz.com or a Facebook forum, unless the subject matter or deadline is extreme, a large number of freelancers may respond. These responses vary in relevance and skill, with the certain providers having an advantage in attaining the job due to their professional background, price and/or communication skills. Clearly, better proposals have a higher chance of winning but there is no guarantee of success as the provider knows neither the level of competition nor the mindset of the customer. These service requests are easiest way to market as the customers themselves opened the door.

Yet, even if the potential customer does not accept the proposal, the freelancer, including translators, editors and writers, may eventually gain a client. Occasionally, the initial provider fails to provide a suitable product or any prodcut at all. Sometimes, the customer is highly impressed with the skills of the service provider but already had awarded that job. However, when another opportunity arises, the customer, often agencies in the case of translation, contact that service provider. The additional opportunity may in the same week or even in the next year. The key point is that the freelancer made a positive impression without even being aware of that fact. The initial proposal eventually bears fruit.

To demonstrate, in the last few weeks, I have gained a new customer and also conducted a paid webinar. Neither was expected but both were results of taking the initiative. In the first case, I had submitted a proposal for a translation in response to a notice in a forum but never received any response, an extremely common pattern in the translation industry. Out of the blue, that same agency contacted last week and requested a quote for another translation, which was immediately accepted. My first bid, unknown to me, had created the opportunity to begin collaboration with that agency. On a more surprising note, I submitted a proposal for a lecture on plain English for legal writing at the American Translators Association conference a year ago. The organizers did not accept the proposal as it receives far more proposals than it has lecture hours. However, to my joy, I just gave that lecture in teh form of a paid webinar. The administrators chose it among the unaccepted proposals. In other words, if I had not submitted that proposal, they would not have contacted me.

To succeed in the long term, freelancers must seek opportunities. Therefore, it is advisable to apply for every relevant project on condition the service provider has the skills to properly complete it.  That technique involves consistent and significant effort. Even under the best circumstances, it does not guarantee immediate success. Still, the fruit of that effort often only arises long after the initial proposal in ways that are unforeseen. The way to success is often rather long and windy.

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People gathering – similar but different

 

[herd of zebras*]

One of the most interesting aspects of visiting a zoo is the observation of how apparently similar species behave so differently. For example, the closest genetic relatives of homo sapiens are chimpanzees and bonobo apes. Regardless of their common heritage, their means of social communication are opposite with chimpanzees often using pseudo and real violence to resolve conflicts while bonobo apes generally having sex to defuse tensions. Likewise, when visiting and especially living in a different culture, it is fascinating to see how others handle social situations. Some examples are the use of alcohol as a social lubricant, family get-togethers and weddings.

[grapes on the vine]

Alcohol is the starter fluid for conversation in many cultures. In the United States, the host greeting guests at the door sometimes even asks “do you want a beer” before saying hello. In many northern Europe countries, no party is complete without beer, vodka or the local liver poison. In France, the wine is the local version of English weather in terms of conversation. Picking a bad wine is almost as serious a faux pas as wearing mismatched colors. Curiously, in Israel, at least until recently, alcohol was not only marginal for social contact but even unnecessary. The younger generation clearly drinks more but still does not require alcohol to have fun, at least if the revelers were born in the country. In Muslim countries, alcohol is even forbidden. So, fermentation and distillation are clearly linked with sociability in some but not all societies.

[family of elephants]

The concept of family encapsules many forms. In some places, notably much of the United States, the family is the nuclear group, with the children leaving home and often even the same city forever once they become adults. Thus, many families only see each other on holidays. In other places, families including multiple generations live with or near each other and share each other’s tables on a regular basis. In Israel, a small country, in many Jewish homes, the extended family dines together every Friday or Saturday. In Arab houses, the children may actually live in the same house on a different floor with household expenses shared by all residents. I suppose this closeness is a blessing for older people but can be a curse for the daughters-in-law, who have to tolerate the domination of the mother-in-law. Clearly, the importance of family togetherness varies from culture to culture.

[wedding table]

Weddings are the ultimate social gathering, combining multiple and occasionally contradictory purposes. Weddings are to celebrate a marriage, balance accounts and make social statements. As such, the size of a wedding and choice of guests is a complex matter. In England or the United States, a wedding with 200 guests is a large affair, appropriate for major public and financial families. By contrast, 200 guests in Israel is sign of a low budget or corona as it would require limiting the list to absolutely closest family and a few friends, not a diplomatic act. In at least one culture, the hosts actually open the envelopes in front of the guests and announce the amount of the gift, a sort of financial transparency.  On a personal note, as it was the 2^nd round for my wife and I, we had no social debts and chose to celebrate with an “intimate” dinner with 20 people at a restaurant. Each culture has its own “correct” way to celebrate a marriage, with small changes are fashions come and go.

[stars in the sky]

We are all human beings but somehow there are so many different ways of social expression. From a distance, they may appear similar, like the stars in the sky, but each culture is unique. Vive la difference.

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Le pur and l’impur – the issue of linguistic borrowing

 

[crispy biscuit*]

On a conceptual basis, purity and heterogeneity seem on the opposite poles. On the one hand, we have the words pure, clean, unadulterated, unpolluted and genuine. Pure-bred animals are worth more while many countries and societies have sought or are seeking racial purity as a goal. On the other hand, mixing is linked with diluted, cheap, compromised or hybrid. Mutts and immigrant societies are somehow considered less attractive and more problematic. However, the reality is that purity is an ideal that may not even be that beneficial. Pure-bread animals tend have shorter lives and suffer from more genetic diseases than mixed breeds while xenophobic societies tend to be less dynamic and flexible in the long term as compared to immigrant societies. Insistence on purity for its own sake has a high price.

Regarding this matter, the national language is an essential part of a country’s patrimoine, national treasure. Yet, like all developing entities, it has a tendency to naturally borrow from other sources as its speakers adopt foreign words and phrases. It is interesting to observe how various countries react and cope with this osmosis of alien terms. Of course, the current great colonizer is English. Whether through commercial ties or cultural emissions, people hear and adopt English terms to their own language and create a manner of expression that often disturbs significant elements of a population However, in some cases, due to either the extreme need to add terminology or a tolerant attitude, speakers welcome the newcomers to the existing lexicon. As I see it, variety, however distasteful it is at first, is the spice of life.

English, the great invader, is itself a product of sometimes violent amalgamation. It began as a gradual hybrid of Gaelic and Germanic languages but had to accept a forced marriage with French due to the Norman invasion. The steady entry of foreign terms has never stopped, especially for foreign items, including ketchup from Chinese, kangaroo from Australian aborigines and jubilee from Hebrew, to name just a few examples. Being a true mutt, English not only accepts words from completely different languages in the same dictionary but people proudly use them in the same sentence, bragging what a rich vocabulary they have. The muttier, the better, it appears.

Alas, the French, especially its national government and its intellectuals, view the matter completely differently. One of the most important natural treasures of France is the French language. It is irrelevant that French began as a local poor man’s version of Latin or that for a long time, one third of the country spoke another language, langue d’oc. The country is fully mobilized to protect its language from the anglicisme virus. The Académie Française actively scours the language for any invaders, rejecting any English word threatening the existence of a French species. The government passed the Toubon Law in 1994 to ensure that governments and consumer notices use proper French in communicating their messages. Of course, leading intellectuals cringe at the growing use of English words, often with changed meanings. Yet, they, like most French, go away for le weekend and find it un challenge de faire face à la revolution digitale, même le email. In practice, the French use foreign words when they are useful or create a “cool” effect. Pardon my French but merde alors!

By contrast, Hebrew offers little resistance. It is a language with few roots, frozen for a couple of thousand years and in dire need of modern terminology. For much of its modern existence, Hebrew was not even the mother tongue of its speakers. By the time the official Hebrew language academy finishes its deliberation on the matter, the usage is a fait accompli.  As the song goes, let it snow. It has already absorbed countless foreign words in the past, including Arabic, (al’an, hello), Persian (kiosk), Turkish (tabu, land registration) and Russian (chupchik, figamajig). English is just the latest influence. The words are sometimes distorted in pronunciation e.g., the English bowling is pronounced boweling, or meaning, e.g., American ice cream and American questions are actually soft ice cream and multiple choice, respectively, but these are minor details. Most Israelis greet them as they receive guests in Hebrew, bruchim ha baim, welcome to our house.

Of course, each culture chooses its level of formal acceptance of foreign words, especially from English with its colonialist reputation. Yet, regardless of the official attitude, the true decision makers regarding the matters are the people actually using the language. I admit that I do cringe when I hear an Israeli chef say crispy instead of the Hebrew parich. Yet, fundamentally there is nothing sacrilege in having more than one word for the same idea, each with its own evolving connotations. Colette wrote “Le pur and l’impur” showing the complexity of morals. Language is also far from a black-and-white issue. In fact, sometimes a foreign adopted child has a certain je ne sais quoi, as they say in English.

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Watch your tongue – critical safety guidelines for translators and editors

 

[leopard sleeping in a tree*]

Translators and editors are often called upon not only to correct texts but to make judgments about their writers. They even sometimes do so on their own volition. These assessments can potentially expose these linguists to a charge of defamation in certain circumstances. As I learned at an excellent webinar presented by Galit Golan , advocate, of the law firm of Firon and Associates, in Israel professional critiques enjoy significant projection from the charges of defamation but involve some care when choosing the actual words. This issue is relevant when performing professional services  and also when “entertaining” colleagues with awful examples and warning them of potential dangers from perspective customers. The key is careful consideration of any such comments.

In Israel, defamation involves several elements, primarily the sharing of information with another party that could objectively humiliate or harm the third party. Israeli law does protect certain circumstances, most notably when the receiving party has the authority or obligation to receive that information. Most interestingly, once defamation is established, the court can award up to 79,000 NIS, almost 22,000 USD, (as of this year) to the damaged party without the latter having to prove damages. Clearly, given the complexity of the matter, in the case of doubt, it is advisable to consult an attorney.

As relevant to translators and editors, the issue can arise when completing QA and translation test assessment forms. To demonstrate, in a case involving a chef sending the management a picture of a member of the kitchen staff taking a nice nap under a tree, the court found the hotel and chef guilty of defamation not because of the picture since the chef had an obligation to inform the employer. Instead, the court found cause in the sarcastic caption under the picture, which mentioned the need to purchase a mattress for the employee. Likewise, it is the clear duty and obligation of the linguists to note all linguistic errors, whether objective or style, as well as answer any specific question regarding the overall level. Thus, it would be appropriate to write “The translators lacks sufficient knowledge in the subject matter to properly translate such texts” if the facts back up this conclusion. However, it may be dangerous to write “the translator has no understanding of the source language” as the provided sample does not justify that conclusion and may harm the career of the translator. When so requested by relevant parties, only relevant criticism advisable.

Considering the same case, linguists should be careful when sharing “funny” examples of poor translations or awful writing. Many translators share photos of amusing menu items and tourist site signs. In their basic form, these posts are merely publicizing public information, objective truths. However, if the posting party adds a comment such as “I hope the restaurant pays its chefs more than it paid its translators”, defamation may become an issue as the post goes beyond the linguistic disaster in the restaurant menu to question the quality of its food. Again, think before you post.

Of critical importance to freelancers, including translators and editors, is the sharing of information on problematic customers. The legimitate purpose here is prevent others from having the same unpleasant experience. In this regard, one of the cases brought up in the webinar is illuminating. A teacher received compensation after the letter to the parents specified conviction as the reason for dismissal instead of police investigation, which was the actual case. When colleagues request feedback on a specific agency or translator, whether privately or publicly, it would be advisable to stick the facts and avoid making general conclusions. For example, it would be apparently be acceptable to state the agency only paid after four months but riskier to write” the agency is a poor payer”, as the writer cannot justify the comment without checking with most if not all the translators working with it. Without the ability to prove a statement that may harm the third party, the warning party may be exposed to a defamation complain in Israel.

Clearly, every country has its own rules for defamation. Moreover, only legal experts can properly analyze any specific set of facts. However, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care. Translators and editors should be very careful in how they write their critiques, however justified they may be, and avoid overreaching. As linguists have sharp pens, we need to watch our tongues.

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Hitting the light switch – the 12th Annual Braude College Academia-Industry Conference

 

[two birds using satellite to find food*]

In 1880, Thomas Edison took out his patent for his lightbulb, which engineers (probably) found exciting. In 1882, he brought electricity to New York city, which impacted everybody (at least in New York). The first event would only have been a curiosity without the second but the second event was only relevant because of the first. When working together, science and industry change people’s lives then and now. Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Academy-Industry Conference at the Braude School of Engineering in Karmiel in northern Israel. This conference brought out the advantages of close cooperation between the two sectors and showed its benefits not only in industry but in processes directly impacting the general public. The relation between ivory tower and company headquarters is clearly symbiotic.

The number of parties interested in cooperation between the two worlds was striking. On the one hand, the Braude College of Engineering, through its student placement, sponsorship of the Institute for Advanced Manufacturing and student projects, places great importance on linking student activity to actual situations in the field. The Israel government Innovation Authority and Chief Scientist Office provide financial support for relevant activities, including implementation of new technology. On the other hand, a significant percentage of the attendees were from industry, indicating practical interest in collaboration. The Zoom presentations from the United States and Singapore show that this model is widespread and successful. Objectively, the number of projects involving implementation of Industry 4.0 technology in established factories and the presentations documenting their success demonstrated that is the academy-industry connection is alive and well.

Many of the developments were specific to the industrial setting. For example, Prof. Dr. ir. Joost R. Deflou from KU Leuven, Belgium, provided a detailed description of the current process of waste metal recycling and ideas to improve it so as to significantly reduce both processing and energy costs as well as increase actual reuse. Eric Wespi from Boston Science noted the progress and challenges involved in using automated visual means to conduct the final quality check. Several beneficiaries of the implementation of smart production technology emphasized the importance of unified start-to-finish data access to management to minimize resource waste and rejected products. All of the improvements help factories of all sizes not only to survive but thrive in an increasingly competitive and dynamic market.

The conference also highlighted developments that will directly change people’s life. Prof. Paulo Bartolo discussed 3D bioprinting and mentioned the amazing possibility of directly “printing” skin on a person during surgery. Ms. Hagit Snir-Salinger discussed ongoing efforts to collect, sort, recycle and reuse the plastic agricultural waste, including sheets and pipes, collecting on the edge of fields in Israel and elsewhere. Mr. Motty Arnon discussed progress in creating AI based diagnoses systems, including for cancer, that would service populations located far from advanced medical facilities. These applications may soon directly improve the lives of millions.

Technology changes lives as the cartoon above demonstrate. By integrating the intellectual resources of academic institutions and the practical needs of industry, “miracles” no less amazing than electricity can occur. The conference was eye-opening and raised hope for a better future.

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Picture credit: Cartoon shared in Facebook

Word confusion – much ado about something

 

[viaduct*]

The structure of languages invites confusion. Spelling systems can be inconsistent, complicated, redundant or any combination of these. Word pronunciation is affected by local patterns, silent letters and inconsistent sounds, to name just a few factors. The resulting confusion is a rich source of material for comedians and song writers but can be a source of problems for professionals whose work is based on these words. It is my pleasure to give some examples of word blending in English, French and Hebrew entertainment as well as its potentially less charming impact on linguists.

The best routines involving simple word confusion were Gilda Radner’s editorial replies to the wrong issues using the name of Emily Latella. In her classic discussion of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment of 1974 punishing countries that discriminating against Jews, notably the Soviet Union, she goes a wild rant about why the United States should not save Soviet jewelry until Chevy Chase explains that the law is about Soviet Jewry, leading to her iconic "never mind". She also discussed school busting and violins on television, to name a few other topics. The comic premise, two completely different words that sound similar because the distinguishing syllable is generally swallowed, is so simple. Yet, with its perfect delivery, the clips are still funny 50 years later.

In French, not only is word play a part of comedy but also of song. In his classic Une valse á mille temps, Jacques Brel plays with the fact that identical sounds can be written numerous ways with different meanings. Note that the phrases in each of the columns are pronounced the same:

Words	Translation	Words	Translation
Une valse à cent temps	100 times	Une valse à mille temps	100 times
Une valse à cent ans	100 years	Une valse a mis le temps	Took the time
Une valse ça s'entend	Is heard

 

As the text is heard, not read, the listener must interpret the words by context. For years, I “heard” a son temps, meaning has its time. This ambiguity adds to the depth of this wonderful classic.

Hebrew is marked not only by the absence of vowel signs in standard written language, e.g., newspapers and signs, but also sometimes affected by similar sounds having different letters and different pronunciation of the same consonant depending on syllable accent, formally called spriantization. In practice, it is possible to confuse words, with amusing results. This last week, the comedy group Ze u’ze played on this confusion. The word for a dubber in Hebrew is מדבב [me-da-bev] while the word for a person introduced into a jail cell in order to get the person to admit his guilt is a מדובב [me-do-vev]. In a wonderful scene involving dubbing of a children’s cartoon with three artists invited, two dubbers imitate animal voices while the third one looks and talks like a criminal and doesn’t understand why the director is upset. The truth is that many native speakers would not distinguish the two words, which makes the scene even more amusing.

Unfortunately, real people, especially non-native speakers, can confuse similar-sounding words. For example, there is a wonderful song, written by Haim Israel and sung by Avihu Medina, called נעלה [na’ale] often heard in Israeli folk dancing. For many years, I thought, apparently not deeply, that it was about shoes as in נעלי ספסרט [na’ale sport]. Alas, I was quite wrong. It is about going up to Jerusalem not only topographically but also spiritually as the meaning of the title is “Let us go up”. I am still  a bit embarrassed by that.

Even Hebrew native speakers can fall into a trap. My ex-wife, a retired teacher, once went for a job interview at a rather small school. After 10 minutes, the interviewer mentioned that she had no qualifications. The source of the problem was that the notice in the paper was for a teacher of  ספרות, which can be pronounced [sifrut], literature, or [saparut], hairdressing. The school was not looking for a literature teacher, much to her embarrassment.

As a translator, I have days where I read thousands of words of text. Alas, occasionally I skip over or reverse a letter and insert a perfectly logical translation, one that makes sense to me. Unfortunately, the writer intended a different message, also logical. Usually, proper QA identifies such errors before they reach the customer. However, from time to time, translators and editors do not catch them in time, creating a bit of confusion and unpleasantness.

To err is human. With languages, it is also easy, amusing and sometimes embarrassing. Whether to create humor or rhyme or due to lack of knowledge or attention, word confusion makes an impression for better or worse. All in all, a little linguistic chaos enriches the world as Groucho Marx demonstrated with his classic question about a Roman viaduct in the movie Cocoanuts: why a duck?

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Staring at the technological future and present in the eyes – lessons from the 2023 conference of the Israel Translators Association

 

[owl*]

Nothing is more frightening than change and the unknown. This past week, the Israel Translators Association hosted several industry and technological leaders, who addressed the future of translation in the face of fast-developing technology. The participants in the conference gained an understanding of the impact of new developments in the field and practical approaches to future growth. The level of the presentations, both in terms of content and delivery, was extremely high without any significant overlapping, thus providing a perspicuous and broad view of the situation. The lecturers included Keith Brooks (To Grow, or Not to Grow, That is No longer the Question, But the Imperative), Zvi Gordon (Technology in the translation industry: current picture and a look at the future),  Katia Jimenez (Understanding the progress of artificial intelligence in language), Kirti Vashee (The changing translation technology landscape), Nora Díaz (Translation and Interpretation Technology: The Basics and Beyond) and Rafa Lombardino (Language Professionals: Technology is On Our Side), to name just a few. My conclusion from these lectures was that not only was technology already here and a part of the industry, it does not actually threaten translation or translators, nor does the new wonderchild, ChatGPT. Just as importantly, translators can and should study the emerging technology and harness it to their specific needs.

The dominant message was that the various forms of machine translation had already established a strong presence in the industry but not necessarily at the expense of human translators. Specifically, certain domains have fully adopted every-improving version of machine translation and use them almost exclusively. Interestingly, these domains are places where human translation could not tread, i.e., where the sheer volume, potential cost and limited context made machine translation the ideal tool. For example, companies such as Airbnb, Ali Express and Amazon need to localize thousands of words on a daily basis. By contrast, in areas where context, accuracy and style count, such as in law, medicine and marketing, the worldwide volume of human translation keeps on expanding. Referring to the human element, Ellen Elias-Bursać said in her lecture on interpreting and translating during the Hague War Crimes trials that the translators had to stand in court and justify their translation. Where ever there is that potential, whether in court or in front of any person, human translation and interpretation is the best option.

As for the latest craze, reaching 1 million users in only four months, ChatGPT is very interesting but not actually a threat to translation. Specifically, the speakers noted that the machine compiled text from existing corpus without discrimination of accuracy, bias or style of content. In other words, it was a random generator of text, somewhat regulated by the limitations imposed by the party entering the request. It can be valuable for identifying grammar mistakes or improving style or vocabulary, especially for non-native writers. However, as its output is not specific or accurate enough for most translating assignments, its value as a translator is quite limited.

In practice, the speakers consistently spoke of the need for translator to investigate any technology that may improve their work content or process. Clearly, it is possible to be successful without applying most if not all of the technological tools, but future success will probably depend on selective use of modern methods as well as understanding their advantages and limitations. The message for translators was that the future involved not only selectively adopting new technology but also changing the attitude towards it from complete fear to measured understanding.

As a demonstration of that approach, one of the speakers mentioned fully automated cars, noting that some major companies have stopped investing money on their development but are actively using them for moving goods from one building to another on a clearly defined route. The moral here is that not that the technology is not valuable but its effective use is limited by its lack of ability to make complex judgments. Likewise, where judgment is vital, human translators will have work. Yet, those that better leverage existing and emerging technology will have an efficiency advantage. To identify the appropriate tools, more than ever, translators need to keep an open mind in regards to technology. It is far less frightening than it would seem and may be quite benevolent. The future is in our hands as we learned at the ITA 2023 conference.

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