Exotic or alien – when does a foreign word remain a stranger

 

All speakers and writers choose their words. Linguists, including authors, editors and translators, may invest more time and energy in this choice but even the most basic user seeks the best term in terms of register, connotation and impact. Essentially, the chosen word must sound right, which is a matter of accustomed sound. Words with unusual phonetic signatures sound strange. However, in terms of word choice, as there are no “pure” nations in terms of racial background, there are no pure languages in terms of roots. An exchange of words occurs anytime one culture meets another. In some cases, the words become an integral part of the language and lose their foreignness. In other cases, people use these words despite their non-local origin because there is no substitute in the original language. However. in many cases, speakers of different generations and points of view may disagree whether a given verbal immigrant has any raison d’être as there exists a highly adequate term. The processs never ends.

Some foreign words have been a part of a language for so long that they have become native. For example, in Russian, the word for beach, пляж [plajh], comes from the French plage while the term for a train station вокзал [vokzal] is derived from the English Vauxhall, the name on the first locomotive in Russia (from St. Petersburg to the Tsar’s village). This use of Western terminology does not bother the most nationalistic Russian. Likewise, an insulated American has no problem calling a nice sidewalk eatery a café, as distinguished by its poorer cousin, the coffee shop. New York brokers, Jewish or not, often consult a maven, a word derived from Yiddish and Hebrew, if they need an expert opinion. In Israel, Jews whose family came from Tunisia or Ethiopia use the words קיוסק, kiosk, and צ'ופצ'יק [chupchik], a whatchamacallit, whose origins are in distant Russia, without batting an eyelash. These words have become a basic part of the language.

Other foreign words still sound like immigrants but the language needs them. For example, a party can be fancy or posh but the French chic adds another dimension to the description. For describing a corrupt military dictatorship, there is no better word in English than junta, Spanish in sound and origin, and so succinct. In France, the left-wing parties are now considering holding les primaires, a gem taken from the Anglo-Saxon tradition of primaries and a relatively recent development in French politics. Hebrew is an active borrower of English terms to describe concepts that its limited root system struggles to cope with. For example, business people use the word אֵפֶקְטִיבִי [effectivi] [effective] to emphasize one aspect of the Hebrew word יָעִיל [yail], which encompasses both effectiveness and efficiency. Many Israelis have become quite skilled in terms of their ability לנרמל [lenormel], to normalize, the current situation. Languages must keep up with the times. Sometimes, it is easier to copy than to invent a word.

Nevertheless, foreign adoption can go too far, at least in some people’s eyes. The average American or Brit, depending on socio-economic background, may find it pretentious if a person said a pied-á-terre for a vacation home or “what do you think of my new coif” instead “How’s the haircut?”. The average French may have seemed to accept “le weekend”” and “le shopping” but French intellectuals and writers are far from happy with such terms, especially when the French terms are perfectly sufficient. As for Hebrew, many Israelis cringe when chefs say “crispy” instead of פריך [parich}. Even worse, in the ears of many lovers of the Holy language is the adoption of לקחת חלק [lakahat helek], the literal translation of the English take part, instead of the solid Hebrew word להשתתף [lehishtatef]. Many people believe that speakers should be proud of their language (regardless if so many of its words are derived from foreign roots).

The use of foreign words is a matter of both ideology and usefulness. Clearly, no language academy can determine which foreign word will go native and which will always be a stranger. However, the introduction of foreign words is one of the basic tools for intrinsic language development and occurs quite naturally. The answer to the question whether using a foreign word is chic or a faux pas is subjective by definition, as all language users, including translators, know.

A challenging conversion – the difficulties and rewards of demanding customers

 

Every provider of a service has experienced them – the customers that demand absolute perfection whether it is relevant or not. They see and find every perceived error or inconsistency and will insist on fixing the issue, however unimportant it is and how much work it would take to do it “right”. Suddenly, a simple job becomes a never-ending series of conversations and revisions. The craftsperson wants to scream and tell the client to take a flying leap but cannot. Instead, grinning and bearing it becomes the only option. A more positive method of dealing with such perfectionists is to meet their demands with the knowledge that the willingness to go the extra mile will financially pay off in the future. These customers are the best clients to have in a certain sense.

To clarify what a demanding customer is, it is important to distinguish between price and quality issues. Customers that negotiate money constantly and irrationally are not long-term assets. The energy invested in setting the cost combined with the resulting low rates do not justify the work. Moreover, they will switch to another provider in the blink of an eye as all they care about is price. By contrast, some customers are perfectionists and are only satisfied with the highest quality from themselves and others. It is not personal. The relative importance of a deviance is not relevant as only 100% is acceptable. They have no compunction about demanding correction after correction until the result meets their expectations. In the meantime, the actual time spent on the project has doubled or even tripled. Such people often get under one’s nerves.

However, in the long term, demanding customers are the best long-term asset in terms of direct work and references. Once a provider has passed the test, such a customer is not likely to switch to a less expensive provider as long as there is no change in the work level because they are not always willing to spend the effort to train a replacement. For example, every time my wife buys glasses, it involves numerous adjustments until they are perfect. She has gone to the same patient optometrist for over a decade. She is happy with her glasses but he has clearly profited from her loyalty as he patiently makes the adjustments for each pair. On a marketing level, perfectionists tend to be extreme in their opinion of service providers, i.e., someone is excellent or incompetent, with little in between. When demanding but satisfied clients recommend you, their words have authority and bring results.

Thus, when dealing with the seemingly unsatisfiable customer, it is best to take a deep breath, be patient and think long term. Getting angry does not improve your work, mood or health. Such clients demand a professional approach. When they receive it, they appreciate it. Ultimately, they become loyal customers in all the meanings of that term as well as the anchor of any business.

Pearl Buck wrote (I think) that, regarding the conversion of Asians to Christianity in the 19^th century and early 20^th century, one Japanese convert was worth three Chinese converts as the former would never revert. Likewise, winning over one demanding customer is worth three one-time clients in the long term. Hopefullly, that thought will help some freelancers gather up the patience and strength to go the extra mile.

Housing culture – home imaging

 

“Hidaka’s house wasn’t one of the mansions, but it was definitely large for a couple with no children. Though the peaked gables on the roof gave it a Japanese look, it had bay windows, an arch over the front door and window boxes hanging from the second storey that were clearly Western in design.”*

The task of a translator extends far beyond linguistic matters and necessarily involves creating images. The challenge lies in both visualizing the picture in the original text, obvious to the author, and gracefully reproducing it for the reader unfamiliar with the culture in question. An example of this task is the simple word “house”. While almost all dwellings have at least four walls, they vary in material, dimension, outside façade, inside layout and access to light and air, to name just a few factors. It is clear that the sentence “I loved my parents’ home” may elicit a universal feeling but fails to create a single picture, with each person envisioning the building differently. Often, housing styles may be fairly typical in a given country or region, creating a stereotype for those familiar with them. The actual variances may be quite significant or more subtle as I show in a few examples of “typical” homes.

Spanish houses and apartments, at least in cities, seem to emphasize social space at the expense of the more private spaces. The holiday homes on the Spanish coast have relatively large sitting areas, both outside and inside. By contrast, the kitchen is often quite small, “galley” style in polite terms, often cut off from the social space. Depending on the area, red tiles and arches are quite popular.

·    English dwellings, particularly urban ones, enjoy multiple but small sitting areas, referred to as “cozy”, often leaving me to think that the English like to keep their children’s mess and noise from strangers’ eyes and ears. Curiously enough, the entrance ways are often extremely narrow, barely wide enough for one person to pass through at a time. Based on TV programs, the English appreciate solariums and wooden beams, the symbols of luxury and character.

·    The French are a rather solid people traditionally. The houses are often made of brick or stone, especially in the countryside,  possibly with painted window shutters. Whether urban or rural, the furniture tends to be heavy in line with the style of the walls, with lots of bric-a-brac cluttering the living space. Traditional French dwellings often lack air and light, apparently to reduce the cost of heating the space. French houses are homey but a bit claustrophobic in my eyes.

American West Coast homes are as large as the land allows. The houses are constructed from wood and generally rather standard in construction, but include large rooms, meaningful garden areas, healthy air flow, natural light, central air conditioning and a garage. Ranch house style houses are designed to give the residents space and impress the neighbors. The character and age of the building are not relevant factors. The East Coast has a different tradition but I am not sufficiently familiar to comment.

·    Israeli houses are typical of the Eastern Mediterranean. People are social while the weather is hot. The kitchen and living room, often joined, take proportionally a large part of the livable space, often at the expense of the bedrooms. People seek patio space whenever possible as garden space can significantly raise the purchase price. Upper floors tend to become quite hot and are only practical with air conditioning. The Israeli unique feature is the requirement, both legal and emotional, for some kind of “safe” room, a reinforced area when (not in case) the country is bombed. Many older houses and apartments lack this feature, reducing their desirability. As for color scheme, Israel is a multicultural society, creating a wide variety of furnishing styles.

The translator of the novel cited in the first paragraph was fortunate in that the author himself provided details of the house. Likewise, Honoré de Balzac generally wrote pages about the physical description of the building and each of its rooms. However, most literary translators not only need to be familiar with the architecture but somehow transmit that image. I am quite happy to be a technical translator and not be required to achieve that goal. Yet, the thought does give another meaning to the term “in-house translator”.

* Higashino, K., 2014. Malice translated by A. Smith. London: Abascus.

Memoir translation – lessons learned

 

I am a technical translator – legal, official and other dry material – as Alice would say. However, I have had the opportunity to translate Holocaust period memoirs at various times in my career and have seen how much I have learned not only about the subject of the texts but about the art of translating such narratives, whether in terms of language, editing or expectations. I also enjoy the added benefit of such projects.

To provide some background, I have translated three Holocaust memoirs in my 22-year translation career. My first paid job was the translation of the memoirs of a Belarusian partisan in Minsk from Russian to English. As it was my first professional project, I prefer not to look at what I did and consider it a “paid apprenticeship”. The story was quite interesting, even shocking. I hope that I somehow managed to transmit that aspect. Several years later, I translated the memoirs of a German Jew that was sent to a labor camp in the Baltic area and survived. Curiously enough, he wrote in French. Again, it was an amazing story but I later learned that the commissioning party was not completely satisfied with my translation. I did not receive any specific feedback, meaning that I cannot judge whether that reaction reflected an objective judgment. Recently, I translated the monograph of a Polish Jew from Hebrew to English. I am happy to report that the translation pleased both the editor and the commissioning party and is about to be published. Live and learn.

My first take from my experience with memoirs is to treat them as a story. The writers were not professional writers. In some cases, they did not write in their native language. Thus, the purpose of the translation is to tell a story, one that the reader wants to read to the end. To do so may involve changing the word or even sentence order. My initial instinct, reinforced by my experience, was to rewrite the story in English and not to cling to the original phrasing, all while expressing the tone of the writer, whether it is ironic, sarcastic, or matter-of-fact. A memoir, unlike legal translation, allows much freedom of expression.

However, this combination of freedom and the need to be seamless, i.e., not sound like a translation, makes having an outside editor an absolute requirement. After hours of processing a text and multiple drafts, a translator loses the objective eye. To produce the polished text, even by the slightly lower standards of a memoir as compared to a novel, at least one other pair of eyes is necessary. Furthermore, the use of digital tools, e.g., Grammarly or AI, is vital in identifying language issues in the text that escape the tired eye of the translator. In the literary world, no translator is an island.

Finally, unlike legal translation, literary translation of any kind is ultimately a labor of love. It involves far more hours and effort than technical translation. There are countless technical questions to research, particularly spellings of names of towns, streets and people, which involves a surprising amount of time. For example, I discovered that, at the time, Belarus had no official English map to guide me in spelling the names of the various villages mentioned in the memoir. Furthermore, as there is no limit to the range of acceptable styles of writing as in many types of technical translation, the translator has to question every sentence several times to be sure that it is the best that it can be, a very time-consuming and exhausting experience. Consequently, just as memoir writers put all their heart into their writing, so the translators of their stories must invest all they have and not count hours. It is clear why literary translators generally do not become rich but are very satisfied with the work.

Last week, the editor informed me that the family of the Polish writer was publishing the book and sent me a picture of the cover (until I receive an actual copy). I was quite pleased and even surprised to see that not only did I receive credit for the translation but my name is on the cover page. There is something to be said for actual public credit for your work. True, translating rental contracts is far more profitable and less intensive. However, the joy of sharing an important story and seeing one’s name on the cover is quite extraordinary. It also shows how much I have learned over my career. I am looking forward to my next memoir translation project.

Pride and prejudice – national identity and presence abroad

 

Being a foreign visitor exposes one’s sense of nationality, eliciting varying reactions depending on country, circumstances and personality. When people become the ambassadors of their country, locals receive them in a manner ranging from “the savior of our nation” to a persona non grata, generally somewhere in between. In response, foreign visitors exhibit a certain pride or lack thereof in their homeland as expressed in their willingness to identify themselves as citizens of that country, speak their national language and talk with pride about their home. Of course, a country is made of individuals, each with his/her manner of speaking. However, certain national tendencies do dominate as I will show in regards to Americans, French and Israelis.

Americans have for many centuries believed that America is the best country in the world and English is the only language one needs. Thus, many Americans speak as loud abroad as they do at home, which is often in extreme contrast with the local low tones, such as in Hungary or Germany. Despite having formally learned a foreign language in high school and, in many cases, being in frequent contact with Spanish speakers, most Americans assume that everybody speaks English. Moreover, they also think that most people think America is a great country. Thus, they speak with pride of their country, albeit a bit diminished for some with the advent of Trump. Americans stick out in terms of language. Moreover, not only do they not hide their origin but they are proud of it.

The French relationship with France is a bit more complicated. Most French deeply believe that the French language and culture are superior even if they recognize that the world doesn’t quite see it that way. As a result of that pride and a generally awful system of teaching foreign languages, the average French citizen cannot get by in English or chooses not to do, with exceptions, of course. When asked, they are proud of being French and extol Gaulic values, mainly food, art and sophistication. On the other hand, when asked about their appreciation of its government and policies, alas, according to many studies, the French are not very patriotic and even sometimes rather embarrassed by the current situation. The self-identification “L'État, c'est moi” attributed to Louis XIV is not a sentiment shared by most current French people. It is wonderful to be French but not a French citizen, apparently.

The relationship between Israel and the world is quite complex. To begin with, many Israelis carry a hidden or not-so-hidden concern about anti-Semitism based on events during a long diaspora and in recent years. This suspicion affects Israelis abroad. True, after 1967, Israel gained such status that Israelis traveled abroad with great pride with locals admiring them. Alas, those Halcyon days are long gone, having been replaced by pro-Palestinian demonstrations and violence and open antisemitism in some places. In terms of language, most Israelis, especially younger ones, are quite proficient in English by international standards and can function quite well in English. Thus, Israelis have a choice to speak English or Hebrew. In regards to national pride, while the level may have dropped due to political differences of opinion in Israel, Israelis are among the most patriotic peoples in the world.

To illustrate the dilemma of being an Israeli abroad, I will recount two anecdotes. In 2010, due to a hurricane on the East Coast of the United States, my wife and I had to take a return flight to Israel which involved a 7-hour wait at the connecting airport in Istanbul. On the day before, the Israelis had intercepted the Mavi Marmara, which had been on its way to bring aid to Gaza, resulting in ten deaths. The Turkish government was not pleased, to put it mildly. As we waited in that airport, we suspected that the government would react by hassling Israelis, which they later actually did. As a result, we sat in a quiet part of the airport, avoided attention and spoke in English. We decided that discretion was the better part of valor. By contrast, we have just returned from Germany and the Czech Republic. We made the conscious decision to speak Hebrew openly. For me, I refused to take on the role of the cowed Jew. By the way, nothing happened. The worst reaction was the failure, intentional or not, of a Turkish restaurant manager to understand our country of origin. I consciously chose, as do many Israelis, not to let fear control my life and did not regret that choice. That choice is not always easy.

Thus, in the face of a foreign culture, every traveler chooses an attitude. Whether it is hide or flaunt their identity depends on the person and country. To a certain degree, this decision reflects the travelers’ relations with their country, language and history. Visitors abroad must deal with pride and prejudice as Jane Austin would say.

Upcoming webinar on writing content posts

 

If you are a translator or interpreter in search of a no-cost (aside from time) method of increasing exposure and building a brand, consider writing content posts. I will present a webinar under the aegis of the ATA (American Translators Association) on the why and how of writing content posts, including the use of AI. You can register through the link: https://www.atanet.org/event/writing-translation-content-posts-the-why-and-how/

English impressions - real or TV reality?

 

I have no first-hand knowledge of England. My short jaunt to London during my tour of Europe some 45 years ago is irrelevant. On the other hand, I have watched BBC television for many years now, mainly programs featuring food, travel and house searches. To explain, watching the news in Israel can be quite stressful and generally produces an urgent need for escapism. From all these programs, I have created a certain picture of English life in terms of food, houses and language. However, I am uncertain to what degree this TV picture of life actually reflects reality.

The English attitude towards meals as shown on BBC programs seems a bit extreme. First, it seems that the UK hosts a cult of worship towards ham and bacon, with each person having a strong opinion on the best combination of ingredients, shape and cooking. The English, including Scots, seem to be rather particular about the breakfast meat and view it as a required element of any proper breakfast. The closest equivalent that I have ever observed is the Iraqi obsession with perfect rice and how to properly prepare it, with each grain having to be separate. By contrast, UK diners view vegetables as guests that are only present because of noblesse oblige. The only plant-based materials, aside from potatoes, that grace an English plate are a few green peas, some lonely lettuce leaves or a few controversial Brussels sprouts. A tomato and cucumber salad is exotic in the UK, apparently, not to mention any side dish made from eggplant or zucchini. The final idiosyncrasy, at least as compared to the Middle East, is the reluctance and discomfort of UK diners to eat with their hands and actually touch their food. Whether in the Middle East or  Ethiopia, grabbing a piece of bread and scooping some dip is an act of community bonding. Apparently, such sharing is considered barbaric farther north. It seems that English dining is a bit rigid in content and manner.

UK houses also seem to have certain characteristics. First of all, most residences in the UK shown on the BBC have narrow entranceways, barely wide enough for one person to stand, let alone allow two people to pass each other. They remind me of the Spanish kitchens typical of the vacation flats that the UK holidaygoers seem to fancy. Another desired feature of UK housing is this space called a “solarium”. First of all, it seems a bit absurd given how few days a year the English sun deigns to appear. In sunnier climates, such a room becomes a gigantic oven in short time and is useless. However, maybe I am missing something. Moreover, according to the programs I view, open wood beams in the ceiling are considered “character” and a positive feature. At a glance, I would consider them an ideal place for dust and spider webs. Most interestingly, on the real estate programs, many British house seekers insist on having a pub nearby.  It seems hard to believe the Brits and Scots actually seek these features.

Of course, UK language is different from that of the United States in terms of both words and style. I simply am unsure how much people actually speak like the characters on the BBC do. Americans would never say the words posh, high street and mate, using fancy, main street or name brand and friend or man, respectively. Even more striking is the English avoidance of direct speech. Regardless of the situation, it is apparently acceptable to begin a conversation with “nice weather”. Even more peculiar in my eyes is how far a BBC character will go in order to avoid saying that something is derogative. Such discretion is so unreal and actually may be unreal.

I have no idea how much any of these random impressions of life in the British Isles are true or representative. It is quite possible they do reflect the habits of some of the population just as the content of The Housewives of Atlanta or any similar program does carry a grain or two of truth. I imagine that I would need to spend some time there to better ascertain whether BBC programs reflect reality or pseudo-reality. In the meantime, I can only speculate and be amazed.

War and freelancing

 

At the moment I am writing this post, the inhabitants of several countries face intensive and random bombing. Those attacked include Ukrainians, Israelis, Gazans and Iranians. Many of these civilians are freelancers, working from home. The challenge they face in trying to make a living while keeping their lives and those of their family together is extraordinary, even greater than salaried employees. While it may be easier or even unavoidable to stop working until the bombing ends, freelancers should continue to seek work, if possible, because it is possible and beneficial with a few modifications. Let us hope that this “new normal” situation soon becomes ancient history.

The number of freelancers struggling to work today is quite significant. Ukraine has more than 500,000 self-employed people. 17.69% of Israel, with a population of 5.7 million adults, is self-employed, many of whom are freelancers. Gaza is estimated to have some 12,000 entrepreneurs. Iran, with a population of 63 million adults, reports a self-employed rate of 42.5%, some of whom are freelancers working at home. Clearly, the businesses of many of these entrepreneurs depend on import/export or the local economy, which may be severely limited at this point. However, many of these self-employed individuals provide services through the Internet that are not directly limited by the war.

The challenge all of them face is to run a business between dashes to the bomb shelter or its equivalent, maintaining work discipline when they and their families cope with extreme stress and remain professional. The current conflicts feature bombing at random times, day and night. Civilians have little time, if they are lucky, to seek relative shelter. The sirens prevent a full night’s sleep either through the necessity to wake up and go to a shelter or the anxiety that this event may occur. Everybody has jet lag symptoms while not even going abroad. The enforced breaks and fatigue make it difficult to schedule work in any predictable manner. Unlike salaried employees, freelancers work at home and must also cope with the stress of their families, especially children, who need comfort and diversion. Amid this chaos, the freelancer must somehow produce proper results on time. That goal requires great effort.

For some, it is a bridge too far. Despite the need to earn money, many entrepreneurs can barely drag themselves through the day. Every person reacts to stress differently. Nearby explosions and even those reported in the mediaa create massive anxiety, both conscious and subconscious. Some people can distance themselves from the first and continue to function but others feel it directly and struggle to maintain some balance. Parents have the extra load of trying to protect the mental health of their children. It is no less difficult for people living alone. With no possibility of social activity in person, they often become isolated, which only adds stress. It is more than enough to keep one’s head straight during the day without pretending to do work.

However, I have found that continuing to work has improved my ability to cope by occupying my mind, earning money and enforcing a routine. When uncontrollable events, which include rockets and bombs, are the source of the anxiety, there is, in effect, no action that a person can take to ease the anxiety. Under these conditions, considering the dangers and the time of the next attack only increases the fear. Consequently, focusing the mind on work keeps the devil away. Furthermore, for freelancers whose income is always uncertain, the knowledge that they are earning money at this time is always positive. Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that the respective governments will compensate them for lost income in any meaningful way after the war. Finally, work is a routine, the best medicine in times of trouble. Life seems ordinary when you work.

That said, bombings and normal productivity do not go together. Consequently, it is necessary to make a few adjustments in terms of deadlines, project types, and processes. First, since the daily routine is subject to sudden change, freelancers must add time to their deadlines to compensate for any potential delay. Secondly, projects involving extreme concentration or complicated thought become much more difficult. Entrepreneurs should carefully consider whether now is the appropriate time to take such projects on. Finally, if focus and concentration are less than normal, it may be worthwhile to share brains by asking for help from a spouse or colleague at least in terms of QA. Two brains, even if not fully functioning, are better than one struggling one. These steps help ensure the customers receive a proper quality of work even if the sky is falling.

For many of us, work has become a challenging diversion. Freelancers in countries under attack find it difficult to make a living. They fear for their lives and those of their families. Explosives overhead create high anxiety. If you have an opportunity to help them, send them work or even a “how are you doing?” note. Let’s hope for peace quite soon. In the meantime, I would say to my fellow freelancers, “Let’s try to do a little work”.

P.S. If there are a mistake or two, please forgive me. War wreaks hell on writing also.

Text-book perfection – in search of a QA panacea for revising long texts

 

Long translations pose special problems for translators. The intensive process involved in translating a long legal document or multipage text leaves little time and freshness for the no-less-crucial process of QA. Simply put, by the time the hard-pressed translator gets to the editing stage, the text is already embedded in the mind as basically acceptable, limiting the translator’s ability to identify syntactic errors. This problem is not new, with translators having long used a set of tools, some old and some new, to overcome it to varying effectiveness. I will discuss some traditional QA methods, some recently developed ones and my experience with Grammarly. Whatever the individual choice of tools, professional translators and writers must employ them to properly check their work.

To illuminate the problem, the act of translating a long text, whether a legal document, a set of technical instructions or personal journal, involves multiple hours and multiple readings. Working from first draft to non-QAed finalized version may require the linguist to read through the original and source four or more times. Aside from the time invested, the creation process creates a sound and vision in the mind, which become de facto acceptable. Professionals are aware that many areas for correction and improvement lurk in the text and strive to find them in the jungle of text. However, the longer the text, the more difficult it is to locate them. The moment of truth is when the customer or translation agency editor sends back a document riddled with red marks, a truly unpleasant and often embarrassing experience. The question that most translators and editors ask is “How did I miss that?”. It often was not from lack of effort but  due to the tools they used.

The tools of translators and other linguists at minimum include
Word “spellcheck” (F7), printing and reading and use of outside editors. The Spellcheck function in Word identifies the most basic of errors with the failure to use it bordering on professional incompetence. A more comprehensive manner of editing is to print and read a text. For some reason, a text appears differently on paper than on a screen and, thus, fresher to the eyes. I personally read the text backward, i.e., from the last paragraph to the first paragraph, in order to render the document even more different and prevent me from going into “read a story” mode. Ideally, all linguists would employ outside editors, a fresh pair of eyes, to review any resulting text. In practice, the time and cost factors limit this practice from becoming standard except in literary translation. Translation agencies employ editors, especially those applying the various ISO standards. As I wrote, it is unpleasant to receive red-dotted corrections even if such a result does not affect future work. As for direct customers, the linguist is solely responsible but most technical translators do not use outside editors as a standard practice.

Two more modern and comprehensive methods are text-to-speech and AI. The text-to-speech function in Word is a simple manner of reviewing a document using a completely different method. Instead of having the eyes read a given sentence for the umpteenth time, the ears filter the sentence. Thus, poor-sounding phrases and structure immediately hit the linguistic warning bells and cause the translator or editor to reconsider the wording. It is a tool that I may try in the future. Another trendier tool is AI editing. Using one of many applications, it is possible to have AI analyze a document, identify possible errors and suggest solutions within seconds. On the surface level, it sounds quite magical, even ideal. My serious issues with this method are the lack of confidentiality, the actual process and results. First, as of today, in most cases, once a text, even without any identifying names, is posted to AI, it enters the public realm, which may be a breach of the confidentiality conditions. Some writers may be risking their copyright privilege if they use AI. Furthermore, I personally find the process of writing prompts to define and limit the range of errors as well as desired style I seek to be overcomplicated. Even when a person overcomes that difficulty, the suggested changes represent some collective image of the ideal such text, much of which is not relevant objectively and/or subjectively. In other words, the benefits, i.e., AI’s comprehensive and standardized approach, do not justify the risks, i.e., the loss of confidentiality and hassle of writing prompts. Thus, I do not use text-to-speech or AI.

However, recently faced with specific challenges, I applied Grammarly to two especially long and complicated texts and found the results positive on the balance. One text was a 20,000-word personal journal while the other was a 5000-word contract. As time and energy were short, I sought a tool that would identify phrasing errors and improve my translation in my text without risking confidentiality. I used Grammarly, an application that does involve a user fee. The process was simple, merely uploading or dragging the text into the editing box. I then selected the type of text, e.g. informal or formal. The result was a long list of possible errors and suggestions for improvement. To give a perspective, the program created 500 comments for a 5,000-word text. The vast majority, around 80%, were false positive either because of context or personal choice. For example, the program was not familiar with legal language and questioned many acceptable terms. In terms of subjective choices, I personally do not apply the Oxford comma, the comma before the word and, nor place a comma before the word but. Thus, I ignored those comments. On the positive side, it did identify many passive sentences that I could render in the active voice. This comment was of great value in the personal document but less so in the legal document even if I  try to limit use of passive structure in legal documents. Grammarly also identified sentences that could be joined or split, suggestions that I adopted several times. Overall, review of these long texts using the program involved several hours but produced better results in less time as compared to rereading.

It is clear that linguists, especially translators, must provide high quality products, meaning documents as clean of errors as possible, especially in the light of AI-created documents. The longer the document, the more difficulty that task is. Thus, translators and writers must use a wide variety of tools to achieve the required quality. I intend to use Grammarly on longer texts where a lack of time and freshness may harm the quality of revisions. While linguists can choose their preferred tools, it is clear that no specific method is a complete panacea.

Conferences and marketing

 

For whatever personal growth and pleasure attending a professional conference may bring, it is not entirely clear to what degree they justify investing time and money in them. In terms of professional education, conferences provide the most efficient way to learn and renew. On the other hand, it is often quite difficult to ascertain how much actual business, either in terms of volume or client numbers, they create. My experience of more than 10 years of conference hopping is that it is possible to maximize the economic benefit of participation and justify the expense.

To begin, the term conference refers to any industry event bringing together professionals whether it is for those in your field or those of your target customer. It is also necessary to define participation in today’s hybrid environment. At minimum, it means paying a small fee and watching the lectures through Teams, Zoom or any other Internet streaming tool. Physically attending involves a larger investment of time and effort in traveling to a city and possibly staying there for several days. Once there, participating in a panel raises a person’s status with relatively little preparation time while making a presentation generally involves a significant time investment, far greater than the discount or fee that conferences compensate their speakers. The cost of attending a conference can vary from minimal to highly significant, especially to freelancers with low income.

In compensation, conferences provide a fast track to knowledge and an opportunity to frame a business vision. Especially for newcomers but also for experienced practitioners, the speakers and workshops provide practical advice for solving common as well as not-so-common issues in the profession. In translator conferences, these matters generally include marketing, pricing, software and, especially in the last few years, AI. There is no need to find time to watch videos as the lectures occur in real time. Moreover, experts make these presentations and are available for questions. Beyond immediate needs, conferences provide a wider perspective of industry trends and trigger contemplation on how any given freelancer can leverage them in the future. Daily life leaves little time for longer term planning while conferences encourage it by providing a wide-angle view of the industry and its practitioners. Thus, the educational value of conferences is without question, even for the most experienced.

Yet, many freelancers question its direct business justification. To understand this issue, it is vital to understand the difference between advertising and marketing. The former involves providing an immediate incentive to buy, generally some level of discount. Its results are measured by comparing short terms sales as compared to the previous month or the same month last year as is relevant. By contrast, the purpose of marketing is to create a brand, a name that customers will remember when they need that product. To give an example, Huggies advertises to all customers, even those that do not have any children yet, knowing that a day may come when the person has to buy diapers for the first time and has to decide which is the “best” product. For service businesses, a business may not need to outsource it on a weekly or even monthly basis. However, decision makers or colleagues may remember someone that they had met at a conference and impressed them. In marketing, the economic return is not generally immediate and difficult to identify among other factors. Therefore, it is far from simple to calculate whether attending a conference was worth the cost in terms of new customers.

I have attended many conferences and directly benefited from the contacts I made. In one case, a fellow participant on a panel asked for my services as she remembered that I specialized in financial translation. On many occasions, colleagues I met at conferences recommended me to translation buyers, having heard that I translate from Hebrew to English. Just recently, a translator with whom I had spoken in the hallway at some conference several years ago gave my name to a potential customer. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, the only worse than being remembered is not being remembered. Without being able to quantify the number of new customers or resulting business volume, conferences have increased my visibility especially in places where I have no direct presence.

Five ways to increase this exposure and, consequently, the economic benefit of attending a conference, are to attend physically, mingle with others, focus on one niche, raise your status by speaking and follow up. First, while virtual events are far less expensive and more convenient, they do not allow proper face-to-face communication, severely limiting the ability to create a memory. In simple terms, on-line conversations do not create the same level of human impact as actually sitting with someone. To attain this benefit to the maximum, spend as much time as possible, aside from quiet breaks and possibly a short nap to charge the battery midday, reaching out to people, whether in before and after lectures or in the halls when none of the lecture offerings are attractive. Conventions are work and hard work at that. Marketing requires effort but the rewards come to those that make that effort. Since most conversations are short and conference participants may engage in hundreds of conversations over the conference, it is vital to focus on your best and most unique niche, some area that the person will remember after the conference. Since conference chats tend to be short, use words efficiently and effectively. Furthermore, investing time in proposing, preparing and making presentations creates value by raising your status and getting people to approach you either directly after your lecture or years afterwards. The speaker stands out above the others, making it the best marketing position. Finally, upon return to reality, i.e., going home, professional follow-up by contacting serious contacts in writing reinforces the connection. By going, mingling, concentrating, speaking and following up, conference participants maximize their marketing efforts.

In my opinion, the choice to attend conferences, whether those focusing on the service provider's profession or in the potential customer’s field, is sound both in terms of the opportunity to learn and update knowledge as well as create strategic vision. Furthermore, when participants maximize their personal investment and effort, they also can receive their money back with interest. When I return from a conference. I am exhausted but invigorated, a seeming contradiction in terms. I am tired from the effort but more focused on bettering my business bolstered with additional knowledge on how to. I know that I will harvest the fruits of my labor sometime in the future if not immediately. Thus, attending conferences is a solid investment in the future.

Devised device names – a tri-lingual look at appliances

Innovative products require descriptive names. In practice, languages use completely different roots to describe the same technology. As an example, French and Hebrew apply different approaches to describe a vacuum cleaner, iron and car as compared to English.

In the case of the vacuum cleaner, each language emphasizes a different aspect. The English term for the vacuum cleaner, developed in the first decade of the 20^th century, focuses on the physics of the device, i.e., by creating a vacuum, pressure differences cause the air to rise up into the bag, taking with any trapped dust with it. The French aspirateur is derived from the root to breathe upon, which is strange because the appliance actually inhales, not exhales. The Hebrew שואב אבק [shoev avak] literally means “sucks dust”, which is exactly what a hoover does. Different strokes for different folks.

An iron is a far more ancient device, used by the Greeks in 400 BCE and developed gradually until the invention of the electric iron in the 1880’s. The English term identifies it by its standard material, iron. The Hebrew term מַגְהֵץ [maghetz] notes its function, smoothing out clothes. The French equivalent takes no chances, specifying both – un fer à repasser, literally an iron for ironing. Ironically, the French term is the clearest.

Cars have been part of modern life since the end of the 19^th century. The modern English term for a motorized vehicle is an automobile, having long laid to rest its predecessor the horseless carriage. The meaning of the English term is a vehicle that moves itself, i.e., without the need for horses. The French voiture refers to a carriage, something that carries objects, which a car does resemble to an outside viewer. The Hebrew term מְכוֹנִית [mechonit] merely states that it is a machine with a possible implication of being small or feminine. This lack of precision apparently has not prevented people from easily attaching the Hebrew word to the object. Humans are clearly quite adept at abstract thinking.

These examples demonstrate the multiplicity of approaches to devising words for new devices. The powers that make these decisions can focus on the shape, material, process or purpose, among other elements. Regardless of the case, through repetition, language users learn to equate a word and object and even stop thinking about the reasons for the name. Yet, understanding the logic provides a peak into human thinking. 

Eighty (well – ten) ways to leave your class behind – proven methods of losing your class’s attention

 

I do know something about teaching. With more than 30 years of experience teaching mainly in college but also at junior and senior high school, I can sense when the lesson was successful and when it was not. I would like to say that all my lessons were diamonds but the truth is that quite a few, admittedly less in recent years, had a closer resemblance to mud. I would like to share with you ten proven, personally tested, ways of how to lose the attention of your students.

1.   Put hard text in front of the students and proceed to read it out loud. Why should they listen to you?

2.   Talk too long (45 minutes or more) without giving the students a chance to practice the skill. You try keeping alert for that long without doing anything.

3.   For that matter, try to teach too much in a given lesson. Beyond the saturation point, students retain absolutely nothing regarding anything you said during the entire lecture.

4.   Talk to the front row or two and avoid eye contact with the back rows. For those distant students, it is now time to dream, text or pass messages.

5.   Lecture from behind a podium. it is as about engaging as listening to a radio lecture on an irrelevant subject. Get up and engage!

6.   Sit down –A proven Soviet torture technique, teachers that sit and lecture are far less effective than those that move around. No dynamics is somnabulent.

7.   Read your notes. Parents put their children to sleep by reading them a story. It has the same effect in class.

8.  Maintain a monotone speech – no ups or downs in tone. Anything is boring without some variation. For inspiration on voice modulation, listen to Christian preachers.

9.  Fail to relate to current student knowledge. Understanding the abstract demands close attention, a capacity most students lack. Practical, relevant, especially amusing, stories can make the irrational rational.

10. Fail to confirm understanding by not actually checking it in real-time. The fact that the teacher explained something has no correlation with the result of a student understanding it at any level. A teacher physically going around the room while the students do a short class exercise will identify which percentage of the material, if any, actually made it to their brains.

If any teachers take this personally and believe that I am mocking them in any manner, rest assured that I still fall into a few of these traps from time to time. As I wrote, I have personally committed each of these pedagogical sins. Live and learn.

Question anyone? – What translators should ask and translation buyers should provide

 

It can be said that wisdom is a certain lack of certainty. One of the characteristics of truly professional translators is that they ask questions before they start a project. Depending on the situation, these queries can relate to audience, purpose, names and legacy translations. The failure to ask these questions can lead to frustration and disappointment.

One essential element of every successful translation is the match of the style to the intended audience. For example, in medical translation, the target population is the patients, who may have no knowledge of medical terms, as compared to the medical staff, who are quite familiar with them. Even more common, linguists must carefully choose the vocabulary in books and material intended for children. In the entertainment business, subtitlists need to keep in mind that the consumers of their translation come from all ages and adjust the vocabulary level accordingly. Thus, translators need to find out for whom the text is intended.

Likewise, the purpose of the document will affect the translation. Linguists working on marketing or sales texts have wide freedom to render their message into the target language, especially as compared to technical specifications documents. Subtitlists face serious challenges as they must avoid exceeding a specific number of characters due to screen space limitations. In legal translation, incorrect language is a serious error when translating briefs and court documents while they may need to be reflected when translating depositions for court if they appear in the original. One translation trash is another translation treasure.

It is impossible to assume how names are spelled, meaning that translators should confirm the spelling if possible. Sometimes, the name spelling reflects another language. Just recently, I discovered (in time), that the common English name Felix was spelled Feliks in Polish. In other cases, immigration officials or immigrants adjusted the spelling, especially of the last name. An example in my family is Bronstein as compared to Bronstejn. Most often, a country simply has several spelling variations, e.g., Steven vs Stephen. As there are no rules, translators must exercise diligence.

An interesting issue, which many translators often ignore, is legacy, i.e., previous completed translations that include terminology decisions of previous translators. For example, in the Hebrew translation of the Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, there have been four translators. Curiously, they have not always translated a concept or spelled a name or concept in the same way, which can be confusing to the reader. In product information material, especially over a series of similar products, it is vital to maintain consistency when referring to specific parts or processes. In general, in marketing, unless the company has decided to change the style, translators need to be aware of the material previously released to the public to render the introduction of new text seamless. The customer may insist that the translator follow previous translations, mistakes and all. Thus, it is important to know that such material exists and ascertain the level of consistency demanded by the customer.

Therefore, as in most services, professionals not only listen but ask questions. To provide a proper translation and meet expectations, translators must attain all the information they require to produce the required document. The failure to do so leads to wasted time, frustration and lost customers. The answer to the query in the title is “yes”.

I’ve got that (May 1) feeling

 

May 1 was a fine day for barbequing. This year, while some workers of the world celebrated International Workers’ Day, Israeli marked its 77^th Independence Day. With the long weekend, Thursday to Sunday, one would think that joy dominated both occasions but many felt the exact opposite. As in most impressions, each person viewed the event through personal lenses, pessimistic, fatalistic or even optimistic.

The negative thinkers among us noted that beyond the Potemkin village celebrations and fronts of joy , the situation is rather depressing. At this moment, Trump is doing his best imitation of Atilla the Hun and ruining the US economy and wiping the savings, not to mention the financial and  job security, of workers in the United States. Of course, when the United States sneezes, the whole world economy, including its workers, gets a cold and starts to worry. Israeli’s celebration was physically darkened by a serious fire in the Jerusalem area as well as other areas, which required a callup of all firefighters, meaning that all local events were cancelled due to lack of fire protection. Symbolically, many Israelis  feel that that the national situation is just as dark with the continued war with Hamas and never-ending captivity of the hostages. For many anti-Bibi voters, the political situation does not provide much hope. Thus for many, neither event was “an ode to joy”, as Beethoven would say.

Those fatalists that view local events as mere parts of larger systems shrugged off the holidays and the circumstances. A holiday is an arbitrary date determined by pollical organizations. Thus, there is no correlation with the date and any events that occur before, during or after it. The world seems in a mood for certain extreme solutions, back to the future if you will. Trump is merely an oversized example of this type of populism. Employment levels ebb and flow to one degree or another over time. Wars usually end long after they have lose any reason to continue just because of personal and national pride but they do eventually run out of gas. Unfortunately, this superfluous period merely creates more tragedy. As is written in Book of Ecclesiastes, there is nothing new under the sun and, therefore, no reason to get overly emotional.

However, it must be noted that many people, possibly the silent near majority, do count their blessings on these holidays. Marx would have been shocked if not entirely overjoyed that so many workers in the West actually own shares of those capitalist companies. In the West, the vast majority of the populations enjoys some kind of safety net when facing unemployment and even profits from two days off a week. Quite a few can even send their children to college so they can have better jobs. In Israel, despite the challenges of the last two years, and more importantly the last 77 years, Israel stands strong in terms of having an army, a democracy and a strong identity. Admittedly, the war and the period before it have challenged those elements but they have stood up to the test. The world may not be pink but it is not black either and will improve, hopefully soon. Optimists follow Kate’s (of Kiss Me Kate) advice and “accentuate the positive”.

So, as I was cooking my steak on the barbecue in the garden of my house talking to my friend and drinking a beer, I thought to myself, or at least choose to, “life isn’t bad at all”. In Hebrew, the expression is  יהיה בסדר [yehiye besder], everything will work out. May 1 can be a happy day.