War and Remembrance – the challenge and satisfaction of translating Holocaust related documents

 

[train to Auschwitz]

Technical translators generally translate, well, technical documents, whose drama is in the subtext of the document, i.e., how the specific details are somehow extraordinary. On a few occasions, I have had the opportunity to translate documents related to the Holocaust. These documents are in most cases stories of tragedy with some rays of light, storytelling at its simplest and grimmest. Interestingly, I find these document far more challenging to translate than any legal or financial document. Yet, despite these difficulties, I take on these projects as they are important to both past and present.

I have had the privilege of translating several Holocaust-related documents. My first serious translation were the memoires of Jewish partisan from Minsk, Belarussia. I later translated the memoires of a German Jew that was sent to a camp in the Baltic, who described that particular hell. For several years, I would translate the requests of Jews submitting requests to Generali, the insurance company, to receive the benefits of insurance of their long-perished parents. Just this week, I began translating a monograph on a “Righteous among nations”, a person that helped Jews survive the Germans. Each of these documents were both historical and personal documents filled with pain and joy.

In practice, translating these tragic narratives might seem rather straightforward but they are far more complex than any technical document. First, my source language, whether Hebrew, French or Russian in my cases, was not the original language of the memoires or, in one case, the native language of the narrator. Thus, as in all translations of translations, the text lacked elements of the writer’s voice while the translators down the line added elements. As a result, it was extremely difficult to be certain of the writer’s way of expressing and, thus, almost impossible to precisely recreate it in English, the target language. Second, while literary translators are expert in identifying stylistic elements and finding their equivalent elements, technical translators tend to focus on precision with the style a matter of an accepted standard. As these are both personal and historical documents, both precision and style are important and unique. Unfortunately, translation suffers to a certain degree an inherent conflict between faithfulness and beauty. Finally, these documents are very precious to the people commissioning their translation, who often have limited budgets. This combination of high expectations and a limited ability to pay naturally creates a tension. Since the budget does not allow for the editing framework involved in commercial publication, there can be dissonance between the expectation and result. Translating holocaust material, as in all literary work, is a labor of love and challenging.

Yet, I welcome such projects because the stories enrich my understand of my family’s experience, illustrate human nature and remain so relevant to the present. To explain, my mother survived the German occupation of France as did her mother and sister but lost her father and many others in her family. Her stories and letters from that period show the strength and luck that certain people had and how they survived against all odds. Her story is mirrored in the memoirs I translate. On a mixed note, we see how the Holocaust brought out the best and worst of people. Some people risked to lives to save Jews as a matter of principle while others willingly participated in murder whether by informing the authorities or even carrying out the killing. Everybody had a personal choice just as we have today. As for the relevance of such stories to the present, evil has become even more banal in current times, to quote Hannah Arendt. Worldwide, regimes and those that cooperate with them are repressing and oppressing minorities with greater cruelty than ever, showing no compassion or empathy. In such tough times, it is important to read about the choices of a previous generation faced with such choices and educate people that there are consequences to actions or inertia. I believe that Holocaust documents are far more than historical records; they are timeless calls to conscience.

Thus, despite the challenges, I choose to take on translation of Holocaust-era documents. The material, maybe because of its disturbing nature, enriches my life, my appreciation of human strength and weakness, which actually gives me hope, and allows me to do something, however small, to fight those that do not value human life. Contributing to the remembrance of that war is a call to action in the present.

A catfish perspective – understanding bottom feeders in the translation market

 

[catfish]

“The agency offered three cents a word! How shameful! Even worse, there are translators that will agree to it!” Almost every experienced and not a few not-so-experienced translators have expressed that anger and probably quite often. The existence of the rock-bottom market creates the hostile angry thoughts that high street stores have in reaction to a Walmart branch. This low-price niche seems an insult, if not a threat, to the profession. However, putting emotion side, there are solid, if not always justifiable, reasons, why certain agencies offer so little and certain translators are willing to take those offers. In practice, the “high street” translator can and should ignore this market as it does not actually pose an actual threat.

There is an economic basis for agencies offering low rates, whether it is type and location of their customers, their business location, their marketing limitations or their business strategy. Many agencies, especially small ones outside of the expensive European/US markets, work with customers that have low demands in terms of quality and even lower budgets in terms of their ability to pay for translation. A classic example is Russia, where traditionally business used Russian native speakers to translate into English and, in many cases, t at local rates. Furthermore, for agencies working in countries with low-costs, notably in many parts of India and China, agencies earn reasonable profit even if they do not add excessive profit in the price-to-customer. A far more common cause of such rates is the inability of an agency to negotiate higher rates. For example, in Israel, some agencies succeed in attaining much higher rates than others even if they work the same market. Finally, of growing importance, worldwide LSPs (Language Service Providers), such as RSW and TransPerfect, use volume to cover their expenses and make profits, with their revenue reaching very high levels. Of course, some agencies do offer low rates to translators but charge high rates to the customers, earning disproportionally high profits, but this is not always the case. Thus, many agencies often offer low rates for legitimate business reasons.

Many translators often accept these rates for legitimate business reasons as well as ignorance First, newcomers to the professions often treat these low-paying jobs as a practical way to gain experience. If translation is a second income, the amounts they earn, however low, may provide a significant boost to their income, especially in poorer countries. As a primary income, the cost of living varies significantly between country to country, meaning that these rates may be higher than other available income options where they live. Sadly, many translators have no margin for slow months and must take on any relevant job.  Of course, many translators taking on these jobs are unaware that they can attain higher rates through active marketing in their country or abroad. They erroneously believe that these low rates are the market. Still, one person's "shocking rates" is another's way out of poverty.

If, as in all markets, the low budget niche exists and may be expanding, experience translators need to stop wasting energy on decrying it and focus on the better-paying niches. First, low-cost translating has always existed to one extent or another with Google Translate, machine translation and AI expanding customer options. There is no point in complaining about the rain. That said, many specialist niches not only involve deep-pocketed payers but also require high quality translation. Such niches include the medical, legal and financial fields. Another strategy is to leverage AI in translation and/or administrative tasks to increase productivity, thus creating more opportunity for high income. Translators that are so interested have a wide choice of webinars and methods. In the long term, it is possible that AI will not be able to provide the quality required by many translation buyers, causing disappointment and leading these customers to return to reliable human translators, this time with a better understanding of the cost/quality payoff. Finally, as there is no translation market in the sense that translation buyers and providers lack convenient and complete access to all offers, translators have to seek out those customers that are willing to pay the rates they wish to receive even if they are higher than the budget ones too often seen in forums. Many customers still value quality and reliability. It is a matter of finding them. That is a far better use of one’s time and energy.

Catfish are a very successful species of bottom feeders. They may look ugly (unless you are fond of long fish whiskers) but not only do they thrive, they serve an important purpose in the biosystem. Likewise, inexpensive rates interest a wide community of translation buyers and providers. At the same time, numerous companies in many industries worldwide need and demand high quality translators and are willing to pay for it. It takes effort and knowledge to reach them but they are a better option for many experienced translators. As Voltaire would say, cultivate your garden.

The koshering of Israeli restaurants – the challenge of finding a “bite” on Friday night

 

In the last few months, I discovered a major change in the status of restaurants in northern Israel: almost all of them are closed on Shabbat, Friday night through Saturday night. In the past, all the great fish restaurants in Tiberia on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (“the Kinneret” to Israelis) were open 7 days a week as were the many eateries in my not-very-religious hometown of Karmiel, in the Galilee. To understand this change, it is vital to understand the complexity of religious observance in Israel, the matter of Kashrut and the effects of the events of the last 5 years on the restaurant sector in northern Israel. In terms of my emotional reaction to this change, my thoughts are also far from black and white.

To state that Israel is a Jewish country is as meaningful as saying that the United States is a Christian country, i.e., “yes but”. 73% of the citizens of the country are Jewish, meaning that the remaining percentage is Muslim, Christian, Druze and other religions. Even among the Jewish population, 45% identify themselves as secular; 33% are “masorti” traditional, 10% consider themselves religious, referred to as national religious or “kippa sruga”, the knitted kippa; and 10% are ultra-religious, Haredim, of various kinds. The significance of this spectrum is that there is a wide variance in the attitude of various populations in Israel to the keeping of dietary laws, to be explained in the next paragraph, and religious rules in general. Of course, in traditionally religious cities, including Jerusalem and Tzfat, as well as Bnei Brak in Tel Aviv and Beit Shemesh, homogenous religious communities, Jewish rules of life and behavior are strictly followed, as compared to Tel Aviv, which is essentially secular and western in thought and deed. Thus, the daily reality of Jewishness in Israel is all over the spectrum.

One of the essential pillars of the traditional Jewish way of life is kashrut, whose specific details are an extremely complicated subject way beyond my knowledge. However, in simple terms, “kosher” refers to the nature of the ingredients of the food, how it is prepared and, most importantly for restaurants, when it is served. Kashrut laws specifically forbid the use of certain foods, most noticeably pork and shellfish, possibly originally due to health issues involved in storing and preparing them. It also specifies the characteristics of animals that can be eaten, whether meat or fish. Kashrut also relates to the preparation of food in terms of how animals are slaughtered and the strict separation of milk and meat. Yeah, no butter on steak in kosher restaurants. Thus, kosher homes and restaurants most have separate dishes, silverware, sinks and even dishwashers for milk and meat. Finally, as it is forbidden to light a fire on Shabbat, people keeping full kosher do not cook food on Saturday but may keep food that is prepared beforehand warm on a hot plate. Therein lies the dilemma for restaurants: if they are open from sundown on Friday night to sundown on Saturday, they are not kosher.

The events of the last five years have changed the equation in restaurants’ decision on whether to be kosher or not. Before Covid and the Gaza war, foreign tourists flooded Israel, including the northern part of the country. In 2018, 4.12 millioin foreign tourists visited in Israel and needed to find a restaurant on Shabbat. In 2024, only some 800,000 came. They certainly did not visit the north because rockets and drones were firing off alarms several times a day, not to mention the fact that most of the nature sites were closed due to the war. Yet, tourism did not completely die as Israelis, finding it ridiculously expensive to fly abroad as the foreign airlines suspended their flights to and from Israel, chose to visit relatively safe places, such as Tiberias on the Sea of the Galilee. A very high percentage of these people were religious at least in terms of keeping kosher, meaning that they would not eat a non-kosher restaurant. The few open restaurants, struggling to survive in this difficult situation, apparently had to become kosher and close on Shabbat. Thus, today, for secular people looking to “go out for dinner” on a Friday night, the best option is an Arab restaurant, which generally offers excellent food and service at a reasonable price.

I personally have very mixed reaction to this situation. On the one hand, having had to work weekends in my younger days and knowing how hard restaurant work is, it may be a blessing for all those in the industry  to spend Saturday together with their families. On the other hand, these restaurants lose an important part of their income in a traditionally difficult industry to survive. Furthermore, as a secular person, I find it disturbing that Israel is becoming more religious. By the way, far more Muslims fast during Ramadan than they did 25 years ago. For those that desire an Israel that is more faithful to the religious laws, I imagine that this change is good news. On the longer term, it will be interesting to see what happens when the pre-corona tourism levels return and more restaurants reopen.

In the meantime, it is interesting to watch what kind of new Israel will arise from the ashes of Covid and war years. It is certain the food, which is already  excellent, will improve even more. For those that don’t want to cook Saturday lunch, it make take more effort to find an open restaurant. May that be the least of our problems.

The ITA 2025 Conference – a multi-perspective view of the translator/interpreter client challenge

 

Last week, the Israel Translators Association (ITA) held its 2025 conference in Tel Aviv with the theme being the customer challenge, or more specifically how find and retain customers in a changing market. The two-day event was packed with lectures, each offering a different point of view and series of suggestion on how to create and maintain a successful language provider business. The speakers ranged from experienced translators and interpreters in Israel and abroad to professional marketers. Of course, some, but far from all, of the presenters discussed the application of AI with an emphasis on using it for administrative and creative tasks. Overall, it was an enriching and enjoyable experience.

Over the two days, many experienced linguists shared their wisdom on how to seek new customers in a market in which some niches are shrinking. One important theme was the necessity for active steps to remain relevant. Hadassah Levy noted in her presentation “Marketing Your Translation Business in 10 Minutes a Day” that creating content and then automating their publication renders digital marketing much more time-efficient in the long term and creates a vital effective online presence. Helen Baker discussed a weekly time investment in business networking groups as a means of building productive business connections. Finally, Tess Whitty discussed the attaining additional skills, in her case SEO, to add value to her services and income to her business. Other relevant lectures include Chiara Vecchi on her effective reaction to reduced business volume, Miriam Blum on the importance of the ITA “Recognized Translation” and Mikhal Heffer on working with agencies. I contributed a presentation on how to prepare a professional presentation to clients and colleagues. Overall, the lectures provided a bounty of ideas.

The conference also featured presentations by professional marketers. Dotan Grably provided a strong theoretical and practical approach to the general principle of how to attract customers. He focused on two concepts and explained how to apply them in practice. Yarden Lerer went into great detail on content creation and its effect use for marketing. Both of these presenters provided great food for thought.

Of course, as in any professional conference today, AI was on the agenda. Aliza Berger showed and compared translation of a short legal title using various AI engines as well as human translation. Uriel Shuraki discussed the characteristics of several AI applications. Beyond the use of AI as a translation tool, Alfonso González Bartolessis and Dominique Bohbot related AI to business management and its benefits in increasing efficiency.  These and other lectures helped reduce the “flight or fight” reaction to AI in many of the attendees.

To those presenters whose name I failed to mention or whose content I did not do justice, I apologize and remark that both space on this post and in my brain’s memory is limited. The two days were truly packed with information and ideas, the recipe for an ideal conference. Chapeau to the organizers, who organised the event. I strongly recommend any translator or interpreter that is feeling nervous about the market to attend such events. The meeting of minds and people opens up great opportunities because it provides a multi-perspective view of what is and what can be. I am looking forward to further events on the same subject as well as the conference next year.

On static sites and empty boroughs – the importance of updating

 

[dilapidated hallway]

Recently, I, Dmitry Betschetny and Ben Karl gave a joint webinar through the ATA on how to create a website. We also mentioned a few times the importance of updating it. One of the reasons is that a site creates expectorations, just as a tourist brochure does. Customer satisfaction to a certain degree reflects the intersection of those expectations and the actual experience. It is vital to update one’s site to actually present the current situation whether by subtracting and/or adding available services. The result will be that you can deliver what you promise, the recipe for success.

As a demonstration of the issue, to celebrate our wedding anniversary, my and wife booked several days a spa hotel in the southern Golan heights. The site was impressive, showing impressive rooms and tempting services. Unfortunately, tourism and the supporting facilities in northern Israel have yet to return what they were before the war. That will take time. When trying to book several tempting massages and other services, I discovered that they were not available. The hotel also had not fully maintained the room, albeit creating only minor issues. All together, we enjoyed our stay very much, found the service excellent and would return not only due to the attractive price but also the genuinely pleasurable experience. Yet, the difference between the site promises and the reality bothered and bothers me.

Therefore, if you have a site either for goods or services, it is extremely important to update it as circumstances change. It may be due to changes in availability or personnel. It may due to an active marketing choice. If a company cannot provide the services, it is better to remove references from the site or write “temporarily unavailable” than to disappoint the customer. For example, if a translator stops working in a given language combination or providing a certain service, such as editing, the site should no longer state the readiness to provide those services. Nobody likes having their time wasted.

On the other hand, many freelancers are actively searching for new niches and learning new skills, including AI. Once a person can provide a service, it only makes sense to make it known on the relevant website. Not only will it improve the SEO in terms of change, it will alert potential customers. A little effort updating the site can make a big difference.

Through the 19^th century, English democracy suffered from having election districts in which very few voters still lived but were the equal of constituencies with far more inhabitants. They were called dead boroughs. A search of the Internet will bring up quite a few of the Internet equivalent of them, i.e., sites where some or most of the services or goods offered are no longer relevant. It is vital to take some time to update your site.

The art of becoming an Israeli

 

[Jaffa beads: luck, love, life]

Visiting and living in a country are two different matters as so many have discovered. For example, it is next to impossible to find any visitor to Israel, regardless of home country or religion, that did not feel that this place was special. On the other hand, historically, a majority of immigrants coming from North America (Canada, US and Mexico) do not make Israel their permanent home, ultimately returning to their previous place of residence within a few years. The reasons for the difficulty in adjusting sometimes involves economics but more often involve culture. Specifically, while it is possible to learn how to find a job and housing as well as function in Hebrew within a short time, it takes far longer to come to terms with Israels or, more accurately, the many different “Israels” that make up this country. To demonstrate, North Americans struggle with the directness of Jewish Israelis, the understanding of the unspoken messages in standard phrases and the adjustment to the different communication patterns of the various communities that comprise Israel. However, as an immigrant that has lived here some 35 years, I can attest that it is both possible and beneficial to go partially native.

As wrote in a previous post, most Israelis do not significantly filter their speech or emotions at least compared to more formal countries such as the US and UK. To be fair, Arabs living in villages can be as polite and formally non-critical are Anglo-Saxons as they live in a closed society where the price of speaking the truth can be very high. This may explain the love affair that some Brits have had with Arabs. However, in the cities, people are direct and honest, sometimes brutal, and respect others that are the same. Consumers do not mince words when criticizing products or complaining about poor service. I personally have left a one cent tip for a waitress that ghosted us. In Hebrew, there is a concept called a “kit pack question”, which means that if you ask someone’s opinion, you will  receive it, uncensored. Unmarried men and women past a certain age have to put up with a never-ending series of questions from both family, friends and even strangers regarding why and openness to blind dates.  On the other hand, people are generally sincerely warm and friendly, do not hesitate to help a person in need, from an infant to a senior citizen, and are willing to lend an ear to a sad story if they cannot directly help. People are friendly to you because they like you, not because they are supposed to be. Thus, Israeli speech is direct for better or worse.

While immigrants quickly grow thicker skin, it takes longer to understand the subtext. For example, if a neighbor asks how much you paid for a given purchase, the comment is not intended to invade your privacy but to check whether s/he paid more or less, a matter of personal shame or pride as applicable. When a salesperson at a store states that a given item does not exist, it means that the store does not have the item and you should look elsewhere. When a service person makes the comment “trust me” or “don’t worry”, the person should be on alert that it will be necessary to inspect the final product extremely carefully. On a humorous note, maybe, a young’s man invitation to a female for coffee at his flat may or may not involve  a cup of joe. On the other hand, if the vendor manages to satisfies the picky customer in terms of price and/or quality, that customer will recommend that person freely. This list of actual meanings of everyday phrases is infinite (and reminds of an old Mad Magazine feature). Over time, the immigrant leans to read between the lines.

Finally, Israel is a family-oriented place, as is the whole Middle East, but is comprised of countless different subcultures, each with its own rules of behavior. Even within the same religious group, ethnic and religious background is an important factor in the Middle East as intermarriage, however defined, is sometimes frowned on, depending on the generation and sector. Thus, joining a family in marriage or friendship can be a learning experience. Many Sephardic Jews are warm but loud, with food serving a key role in social relations, i.e., the more, the merrier. Tunisian and Moroccan Jews tend to love and argue with the same style, ie., openly and in quantity. Ashkanazi groups tend to be more formal and eat less and different foods. They tend to be more moderate and “colder” (everything is relative of course). Russians have their own culture and way of doing things, including a higher intake of alcohol and "culture". Persian and Yemenite Jews are known to value being money-wise. Whereas most people do the personal accounting of the wedding gifts in private after the event, one ethnic group traditionally announces the amount of each gift and the name of the giver during the wedding. Of course, the level of religiosity of the family affects the topics and nature of conversation, not to mention the way of life. Certain subjects and words are taboo in polite conversation in religious families. Even Arabs of the same religion have varying rules of behavior. The Druze, a minority group in Israel, of Isifiya, which is located near Haifa, are far less traditional than those in Horfesh, an isolated village father north near Lebanon. Any immigrant marrying into an Israel family should regularly consult their partner or friend to try to navigate this path. In any case, this variety enriches people and helps them to communicate with everybody.

Thus, my tips for learning to love not only Israel but also Israelis is to emphasize learning and flexibility. First, when, (not if) you misunderstood or were misunderstood, try to analyze the conversation and be aware of the words, applying the lessons for the next time or the one after that. Secondly, develop a thick skin. Most of the apparent sharpness is not intended to be sharp at all or not directed at the listener. It may seem shocking that a cab driver would yell at a passenger, the issue may be that the tone of voice is not actually yelling (for that person) or that the cab driver had a fight with his wife in the morning. Third, it helps to learn to act like the natives. If something is wrong, say it directly, not “okay”, which listeners actually think means “okay”. British understatement is not effective here. Keep in mind that politeness is relative. Even if you are rude by Ango-Saxon standards, the listener may actually consider you restrained and appreciate it. That has happened to me many times. Ultimately, it is vital to remember that every place, every group of people and every social situation have their own code. It is impractical and even harmful to insist that others act as you did in your childhood. If you keep that in mind, Israel is an amazing, entertaining, amusing and wonderful place to live, not just to visit.

The words behind the speech – English terms for oration

 

[silver frame]

Speech is silver, as it is said, and is as malleable as the metal. Humans shape words to express a variety of meanings and purposes. English, as do all languages, reflects this complexity by having specific terms for a verbal compositon, each one reflecting a locale, purpose and/or organization.

Some speeches only occur at specific locations. For example, a person gives a keynote speech only at conferences and similar events, thus introducing the topic of the gathering. To give an address requires a crowd to whom the speaker wishes to make a point. The most famous address in American history is Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. Reporters, official or de facto, provide live reports from a disaster scene, telling listeners what happened and/or is happening. At a school assembly or cultural event, a person may give a recitation, a rendering of a famous speech or poem. Smaller children may do a show and tell, which is an opportunity for younger children to present their interests to their peers. Likewise, at schools of all levels, teacher give lectures, which parents also do, for the purpose of explaining some matter with a wide variance in the level of attention by the audience. In sports, coaches in the locker room often give a pep talk, either before the game or at half time, in order to motivate the players, e.g., Knute Rockne’s “win it for the Gipper”. Apparently, sometimes it helps. Finally, who needs an audience at least formally? A monologue is when a person, often an actor, speaks to himself/herself on stage in front, granted in the presence of an audience. Unfortunately, many matrimonial arguments sound like simultaneous monologues. Shakespeare’s “to be or not to be” from Hamlet is the most famous soliloquy, a stage word for a monologue. The proper choice of word may depend on where it is taking place.

The correct term must also reflect the purpose of the speech. When praising people, it may be a panegyric or a eulogy, if it at a funeral after the person died. By contrast, a diatribe is a short directed critical speech while a harangue tends to be a bit longer. More is not better in this case. A strange mixture of both praise and criticism is a roast, in which various people humorously and publicly discuss the personality aspects, both good and bad, of a famous person, which can be positive if you accept Oscar Wilde’s comment: “the only things worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” If the purpose of the speech is a call for action, it is called an exhortation, something that Communist leaders were rather fond of. On a more specific level, an appeal calls for some action from the heart, such as the giving of a donation, while a pitch tries to persuade people to buy a product. The “why” of the speech may determine the correct word.

Finally, the choice of word may express the level of organization of a speech. A discourse is an attempt to provide a complete picture while a presentation tries to show the important aspects in an understandable way. By contrast, a rant is an almost stream-of-consciousness, i.e., chaotic, release of ideas such that the listener has a hard time following the ideas. A tirade generally has a clear point but suffers the loss of its focus and that of the listeners due to its duration.

All speech involves the oral use of words and sounds. Yet, these words involve many other aspects of communication beyond their literal meaning, including the location, their intent and their structure or lack thereof. Thus, speech is as important and differentiable as silver.