Bridging the Gap

Late Payment-Impago

2011-12-15T19:49:00.000-08:00

Late payments or even lack of payment (impago in Spanish) are an unfortunate occurrences in the interpreting and translating professions. Here you have two posts, one in Spanish (impago) and one in English (Late payments) , that deal wit the issue and give concrete advice on what to do if you find yourself in such situation.

Understandably, both posts refer to Spanish and British law. They discuss relevant legal means of reacting and protecting yourself in either country. Read them (if your LOTE is not Spanish, do a bit of research to find something similar in your language) and start thinking about the equivalent situation in Australia. What can you do if you are not paid for a translation job? What venues do we have here if an interpreter is not paid in time or not paid at all?

If you want to keep in touch with issues related to interpreting and translating during the summer holidays, follow professionals like the ones in the blogs linked in this post (Silvia Ferrero & Oliver Carreira). There are many links on the right side bar of this blog and most of the blogs have twitter buttons for you to follow their authors.

Happy reading!

Court Interpreting

2011-12-14T04:40:00.000-08:00

Last week I attended the launch of professor Sandra Hale's report “Interpreter Policies, Practices and Protocols in Australian Courts and Tribunals– A National Survey,” by the Hon. Justice Ian Harrison, NSW Supreme Court.

Today, while looking at my regular dose of translating and interpreting blogs, I came across this very relevant post by Juan Jimenez Salcedo, Intérpretes de cartón piedra. It looks as if the situation is not much better in Spain where a judge can use as an interpreter any person who can speak the language other than Spanish. No questions asked about qualifications or even knowledge of the Spanish language. It looks as even the interpreting agencies send unqualified people as interpreters for court interpreting.

Read the post, watch the TV news within it and listen to this Radio National about Courtroom interpreters.Yu can use it at consecutive practice and later on as transalting practice (the script is provided).

Translation, traduccion.

2011-12-05T06:01:00.000-08:00

I have been forwarding interesting blog posts on translation to a couple of students I'm friends with in facebook, and I thought everyone else may be interested, so here they go:

El Gascón Jurado publishes a link in Spanish to Traducciones de leyes españolas por el ministerio de Justicia
Legally yours from Spain writes in depth about the same legal translations recently published by the Spanish Ministry of Justice and he does it in English. Read his analysis of the different styles used by the translators of those documents.
La paradoja de Chomsky publishes a very interesting post,¿Dónde me apunto para ser traductor?, about what it really means to be a translator as opposed to knowing two languages and thinking that this qualifies anyone as a professional translator. Read the comments, they are all great!

What is TED Talks?

2011-11-23T01:08:00.000-08:00

If you are new to TED Talks, watch this video. Notice that they've already created captions in Spanish (from Mexico, was that you Ailin?), Portuguese, Polish and English. They've been done via the Open Translation Project. Have you joined yet?

Translators' Web Presence

2011-11-16T05:03:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow we are going to work on blogs as the last activity for the course. While I was looking at my twitter, I came across this video by Ian Emmet. It is a very simple way of advertising what his translation company does.

Via twitter, Ian Emmet has sent me a couple more videos. The one below shows some of his hospitality and tourism translations.

You can achieve something similar with one of the many open source movie making/slide sites (animoto, stupeflix, even slideshare, smile box, etc).

You could easily create a similar little video with photostory or movie maker. Then you upload it onto your blog or onto youtube or vimeo to give it more air play.
Social media marketing for transaltors is becoming more topical by the minute.There are even webminars taking place. Just explore the net to get ideas and learn form what is going on out there!

Note-taking Revisited

2011-11-10T01:18:00.000-08:00

248/365 one of those days

In a previous post, Note Taking for Consecutive Interpreting , we watched some videos on note-taking techniques. Today you can check this site, Interpreter Training Resources. Even though it is aimed at a French audience, the skills described are transferable, and often they use English examples, like;
The rule of thumb is that unless a word is short (4-5 letters) the interpreter should note it in an abbreviated form.

Check the whole file here

You can find the example above in the document, Rozan - The 7 Principles of Note-taking.
Spanish students, check this out: Los pequeños detalles que marcan la gran diferencia en interpretación consecutiva, por Judith de dos palabras.
Happy practising!

Interpreters & Translators: Same or different? Two in one?

2011-11-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

Bootheando has published a great post on being an interpreter and a translator at the same time. Spanish students will be able to read the post here.

The rest of you can watch this video by Lourdes AIB. Translating students, why don't you write a transcript in your LOTE?

For a very good description of the differences between both occupations, read the US Department of Labor entry on Interpreters and Translators. It has not only descriptions of the jobs and the skills needed to do them, but also additional points on how to get trained,etc. the pity is that it is information about the USA. For Australian information, you'll have to visit AUSIT and NAATI.

A Day in the Life of an Interpreter-Korean Subtitles

2011-10-25T16:36:00.000-07:00

Suggested exercises:

Watch the video without sound and sight translate the subtitles into English. Record yourself while doing it. Check by listening to yourself and the the video with sound.
Listen to the video (English) without looking. Pause and interpret into Korean.Check by looking at the subtitles.

TEDxTalks & Spanish

2011-10-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

I have told you about TEDXTalks Open Translation Project in previous posts.

The video above was transalted into Spanish by Lourdes Cahuich , who said:

Jill Tarter's TED Prize wish is the best talk I've translated because she inspired me to look beyond my everyday problems and made me look at my life as a human being -- "one possible outcome of billions of years of evolution of Hydrogen and Helium" -- and how the SETI research could change our history.

La charla del deseo TED Prize de Jill Tarter es la mejor charla que he traducido por que ella me inspira a mirar más allá de mis problemas cotidianos y me hace ver mi vida como ser humano como..."un posible resultado de miles de millones de años de evolución del hidrógeno y el helio", y cómo la investigación SETI cambiará nuestra historia.

You will find Translators from many other languages talking about the videos they have found most inspiring here.

Mental Health

2011-10-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

October 2011 is Mental Health Month.

Theis picture has 10 tips to stress less. It was sent to me by a multicultural health worker, who suggested we all slow down a bit this month and take time out to enjoy the things we do not pay attention to becasue we are usually too busy.

Visit the Mental Health Association website for information, facts sheets, etc. The Multicultural Mental Health Australia website has section called Resources and Translations, where you can find many translated texts that you can browse by language. Use them to practise your sight translation and transating skills.

Finally, watch the TED talk video below and practise your note taking interpreting skills. You can check the interactive transcript in English and many other languages on the right-hand side of the video screen. Remember that you can join TED Open Translation Project to volunteer to translate TED videos! Check this for their next TEDxSydney dates.The next post tells you more about TED translating, with an example which has transcripts in many languages, including Spanish, Chinese traditional & simplified, Korean, etc. None in Vietnamese or Indonesian, though, so you have the opportunity to contribute to the spreading of great ideas by joining the Open Translation Project now!

Note Taking for Consecutive Interpreting

2011-10-01T02:18:00.000-07:00

On a previous post, we had a look at some great examples of consecutive and simuoltaneous interpreting. I now some of you have to take the final exam for consecutive interpreting very shortly. Check the videos below for great advice on note taking.
The first one is the speech and note taking.

The following video is an explanation of how the notes are taken.

This one is another demonstration.

The last one is some comments on how to avoid problems and improve your note-taking skills.

You can listen to them and practise your note-taking skills.

Holiday Readings

2011-09-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

I know you are having a rest from your classes or still working on your assignments and homework, but I thought you may be interested in a few sites related to interpreting (and applicable to translating in most cases). Here they are:

Aventuras de una traductora interprete de Madrid writes about Los Gastos de cancelación.
Don de Lenguas, radio blog published by the Departamento de Traducción e Interpretación de la Universidad de Salamanca, broadcasts interviews with professional interpreters and translators.
Bootheando publishes a list of her favourite interpreting/translating blogs in A ♥ for Language Blogs

Happy reading/listening!

Preparing For Assignments

2011-09-08T01:06:00.000-07:00

Booteando brings to us another excellent post, this time on the preparation interpreters need to undertake before a specialised assignment. She gives Fisheries and Aquaculture as a hypothetical conference topic. Please visit the post even if you can't read Spanish. It will give you a very clear idea of the amount and type of research one must go through. Some of the glossaries are in English (one is Australian).
You can all read the link to a Practical Guide for Professional Conference Interpreters.

Translators Without Borders

2011-08-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks Mellie for telling the class about Translators Without Borders. Note that you can subscribe to volunteer as a translator and that they will assess your skills to see if you are suitable.

Holiday Fun

2011-06-23T19:32:00.000-07:00

Next week most of you are going to start a well deserved break form your studies. If you happen to be bored at home (hopefully that won't be the case!) there is plenty you can do to still keep improving your English skills:

This blog is a great way to learn English idioms: Rolls off the Tongue
Splendid Speaking has got idiomatic expressions and oral presentations for your listening and speaking skills
The Interpreting Links on the right have many useful ways of practising your listening and /or interpreting skills
Let's Talk ( interviews with fluent speakers) has interviews related to the topics encountered in community interpreting
DET has a page full of Education related texts in Korean, Chinese, Spanish and English
UN Radio has many interesting programs on a wide range of topics
Translators, check this fantastic post on localisation by The Cyclist Translator!

Interpreting & Subtitltles: 60-second lectures

2011-06-23T17:44:00.000-07:00

Visit the previous post on interpreting and 60-second lectures, Is It Wrong To Punish Prisoners? and do the worksheet on in:
Now you can listen to the lecture on the video below. This time:

Take notes as a consecutive note-taking excercise
Pause after each sentence for interpreting practice
Try to write subtitles (caption) in your Target Language. There is a caption option, but nobody has done it yet. Be the first!

lectos, what are they?

2011-06-05T00:45:00.000-07:00

Read this informative post @bootheando on sociolinguistic varieties in Spanish, called lectos. Both interpreters and translators must render this linguistic information when when doing their interpreting/translating job.

The video below comes from Argentina and explains lectos in a very simple way.

Los Lectos - Conectar Igualdad - Videos

Whistleblowers: Sibel Edmonds

2011-05-23T01:09:00.000-07:00

Image "warning"

Thanks to Bootheando, once again, this time for the publication of a post on Sibel Edmonds, an FBI language specialist (Persian, Turkish, English and Azerbaijan), with a BA in criminal justice and psychology, MA in public policy and international commerce and founder and director of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition (NSWBC).

Read this interview in the Armenian Weekly Online conducted in English. Translate it into Spanish and check your translation against this one by Martin: Entrevista exclusiva con Sibel Edmonds.

Mistranslations

2011-05-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

By natalia & gabriel

Reading Bootheando about the imminent closure* of Westminster University Interpreting course , one of the best in the world, I came across this great resource for Translation: Exploring Translation. The first exercises are about the differences between interpreting and translating and machine translation. They include video clips to comment

Check the Spanish examples. They are great to get you thinking about comparative grammar/structure and literal translating errors. It will help you too with translation commentary.

*Visit the facebook page set for comments and support

TED Talks: Don't Insist on English

2011-05-05T06:39:00.000-07:00

Patricia Ryan gives a thought provoking talk on the wide spread of English and how this could be affecting the spreading of ideas form other languages.

You can change the subtitles to Korean, Spanish, Chinese and many other languages. Great to test your interpreting (and translating) skills.

Health and Chinese Seniors

2011-05-03T05:50:00.000-07:00

These Ten Health Videos for Chinese Seniors can help you practise this week's topic: Health
Here is one of them (cover the bottom of the screen for real practice!)

Vocabulary Videos: Rescind

2011-04-27T06:09:00.000-07:00

We came across the Spanish verb rescindir. Here is a video that explains its English equivalent:

SAT Vocabulary Words | GRE Vocabulary words - Videos for GRE SAT Prep Vocabulary Videos Rescind

Some Points of Ethics in Translation

2011-04-06T07:12:00.000-07:00

Thinking about issues of ethics regarding translators (ethics test coming soon!), I have come across a couple of blog entries by Rose Newell (German/English translator):

Read them carefully and note all the different issues treated here: plagiarism, unethical translators claiming to work for other translators found on professional websites, negative proofreaders, etc.

Check her ten points towards ethical proofreading.

Send me/your teacher a summary of what you've learnt from reading the blog posts linked above an refer to the code of ethics relevant to the issues mentioned.

Traductor jurado: fora and blogs as searching tools

2011-03-21T01:50:00.000-07:00

Image: 'Courtroom One Gavel'

Last week we were searching for answers in different fora and several of our translation students posed a question about traductor jurado and fedatario.

Check the blog El Gascón Jurado and answer these questions (you will have to go to Acerca de mí):

What is Fernado Gascón's job?
What is his specialty and why?
What is the difference between traductor judicial and traductor jurado?
What did he achieve in 2006?
What does Adriana Cruz Santacroce ask in relation to the Spanish use of interpreters in court?
Why dont' you ask Fernando our jurado/fedatario question?
Alternatively, have a look at my Spanish Translation links and you will find the answer in one of the blogs there.
Don't forget that you can use great search/dictionary websites, like the linguee.

Law and Order

2011-03-15T19:02:00.000-07:00

Deborah Cameron has broadcast her program from Manly today. It was all dedicated to law and order.

One of the program reporters, Matthew Perkins, went to a police station and recorded a mini documetnary of what happens when someone is arrested.

Click on the picture above and it will take you to the slideshow with the recording of a police officer explaining the process of an arrest.

Take notes and check all the vocabulary in your LOTE. Great to add up to your law glossary.

La mejor traducción-The Best Translation

2011-03-03T04:47:00.000-08:00

Once again Bootheando publishes a very interesting entry on how to search for the best meaning of a difficult word of expression.
Check the entry in this post. Look for the expressions we were discussing in class today: aggregate marks, partnership (between home and school), remedial classes.
This could be our first competition for 2011. If you want to translate into English, I'll publish the best translation in this blog.

You can read our last competition's winner in the post Where are the Cockneys? Translated by Simon Wright.
.
The picture below illustrates the translation of the passive voice from English into Spanish impersonal/pasiva refleja.

Text Messages

2011-03-02T05:56:00.000-08:00

Can you fix the spelling, accents and punctuation of this test messages?

Computer Health

2011-02-19T01:15:00.000-08:00

Talking to the Diploma of Translating students about good computer habits, I remembered Melinda Gleeson's page on Computer Health.

Everyone should know that when working on the computer, the very first thing to think about is your posture . It's very important to sit properly and at a good distance from the computer. So here it is:

Read this information about Computer Health. Click on all the links (Stretches, Postures, Consequences)
Do the Quiz. When you finish answering the quiz, print it and start translating! Interpreting students can use it as a sight translation exercise.

As always, read the whole text first and then think of the purpose of the text, its audience and the genre (text type). That should inform your language choices.

Check this great video sent to me by one of the translating teachers. You can write a script for it in Spanish, Korean, English, Mandarin....Spanish students can also read the written instructions published with the video and transalate them into English: Más información sobre el portátil en casa

A Day in the Life of a Social Worker

2011-02-09T15:21:00.000-08:00

This week some of our students are dealing with social work issues.For an Australian listening introduction to this topic, go to Let's Talk and listen to my interview with Karen Heycox, senior lecturer of Social Work at the University of NSW, Sydney. There is a worksheet to help you with the listening.

For further listening and interpreting practice, watch the video below of a day in the life of Maureen,a British social worker.

You can find many more good videos in youtube: Social work training. Unfortunately most of them are form England or the USA (I'd love to be able to get you more practice with Australian voices and context).

Style Manuals: Manual de Estilo de la Corporacion RTVE

2011-01-10T17:47:00.000-08:00

"Toros en la dehesa" by: Fernando Cuenca

We have looked into Style Manuals and personal translator's style sheets during our course.Here is an interesting development that has taken place in Spain following the launch of the new Style Manual for RTVE (Spanish Radio and Television).
Point 6 focuses on language matters. It provides examples of different language uses, like ellipsis and hyperbaton.
Check point 5.9 Violence involving animals. Their decision about not broadcasting bullfights has created a great deal of responses, both for and against. Read this article and the comments generated by it: "RTVE incluye a los toros como violencia con animales..."

What do you think? It'd be great to write a piece on it in English. Any volunteers?

Amazing Tool: The Book

2010-12-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

Spanish interpreting/translating students, check out this video from leerestademoda.com. You can minimize it, take notes and interpret, cover the subtitles an dstop it to interpret, translate it, use it for pronunciation practice, etc.
Everyone else, just enjoy it and start reading!

This reminded me of a very funny video about the same topic that adid the rounds a few years ago. This time is from Norway, so if you speak Norwegian, you can practise as above. Otherwise enjoy the subtitles!

Telephone Interpreting

2010-12-14T16:28:00.000-08:00

An example of telephone interpreting.

Telephone interpreting at work from Voltaire on Vimeo.

The video below will give you an idea of the type of test candidates to European Institutions must undertake.

Finally a video on video interpreting.

Sustainability: Transcripts

2010-12-06T21:53:00.000-08:00

For those of you who keep an eye on the blog, even during the holidays, here are some videos on sustainability.

The one above is a mockumentary about the plastic bag. It is narrated by Academy Award-winner Jeremy Irons, and shows California's plastic bag pollution situation.

The next collection of clips is from the movie Tapped, an award winning documentary. You can watch/download separate short segments and try to write the script and then translate it into your Target Language. It is very good practice and you may find some courses of interpreting/translating with subjects about translating multimedia materials. So get ready and learn more about our environment at the same time.

End of course

2010-12-01T17:26:00.000-08:00

School's finished by rosao

Hi all. This week is the last week of our courses, Interpreting & Translating for international and local students. It's been a busy year but most of us feel we could do with a few more weeks, in terms of learning. Nevertheless, we all need a break!

Enjoy the holiday, celebrate it with family and friends and find time to do some reading and listening not to go rusty!

Here are some links you may find useful:

Thanks to Simon, this link tells us about the use of the apostrophe for plurals
Sustainability is a big topic. Here is a great post that links sustainability and creativity
On the topic of creativity, watch some of these videos and practise your listening, note taking and translation skills
You can start Keeping in Contact with colleagues
Go to Rolan's wiki and check his environment page. Look at the footprint calculator, dust storms' effect on health, and explore the rest of his pages
Finally, translation students may want to explore Translator's CAT Tools. Wordfast has a free version. Why don't you download it and start learning how to use it? You'll be acquiring transferable skills useful for when you decide to upgrade and get a more professional CAT program.

Thanks for your course evaluations. They really help us teachers to get feedback on our delivery and how to improve it. It's been a pleasure teaching you all. Till next year. Have a great break and come back invigorated and ready for the challenge!

TED Translations & Style Manuals

2010-11-18T22:06:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of TED? You may have had consecutive practice from one of its lectures. TED, a non-profit organisation, was originally started with people form the Technology, Education and Design world. Their aim was, and still is, to ideas worth spreading. You can read more about it here.

TED Open Translation Project is an attempt to try to have as many of its talks translated (subtitled) in as many languages as possible. To achieve this they use volunteer translators. Check their website for instructions on how they do it and the measures put in place to ensure quality. They encourage collaboration between translations, so it would be an ideal experience for those of you who are finishing the Translation Skills course or the Diploma of Interpreting and Translation.Why not try it? Give it a go!

In class we have been talking about style manuals and style sheets. Read TED's style guidelines. Notice how for each section there is a reason given to the particular style, tone and register chosen.

Sculpture by the Sea 3rd November 2010

2010-11-10T01:15:00.000-08:00

Last week we went to see the outdoor exhibition Sculpture by the Sea. While we were there some of our students did a bit of interpreting practice. We also spoke to one of the locals who gave us an insight into what happens on the weeks proceeding the exhibition.

Listen to it on this video with photos from the day.

New RAE Orthography

2010-11-09T15:09:00.000-08:00

Parramatta new cathedral: Can you spot the incongruency?

Consistency of style? Check the question above the picture and tell us what you think in comments.

We were talking about the new orthography changes to come after the 1-4 November meeting by academics of the Spanish language in its birthplace, San Millán de la Cogolla. Before we get the new Orthography by the Real Academia de la Lengua Española, you can check the forum discussions in proz and also know that you can find the old one in our wiki's sidebar.

photo © 2005 Toprural | more info (via: Wylio)

Lost in Translation

2010-10-27T04:18:00.000-07:00

'Not exactly a direct English translation" by Matt Perreault

El baqueteado intérprete de Calderón is the latest post in Bootheando. In it we are reminded of the fact that, as usual, good news is no news, but bad news spread like fire. The story is the really bad interpretation done for the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon on a press conference with the US President, Barak Obama.
Use the articles below to do some translation work:

Spanish article Torpe intérprete
English article Mexican President Calderon Visit Marred By terrible Translation

There is a link to Brian Harris's blog post about a historic case of good (consecutive) interpreting: the meeting between Franco and Hitler in Hendaya on October 23, 1940. It's worth reading. Franco resisted Hitler's pressure to join him on the Axis.

Subtitles

2010-10-27T03:42:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in learning about subtitles, listen to the following podcasts:

Peter Templeton: Subtitles
An interview with an editor of subtitles at SBS TV, Sydney

Donna Tieri: Subtitler
An interview with an subtitler of Italian/English at SBS TV, Sydney

Legal & Society: Sexual Harassment in the workplace

2010-10-22T07:02:00.000-07:00

Have you heard the case of publicist Kristy Fraser-Kirk suing her employer, David Jones, for sexual harassment by a former chief executive, Mark McInnes?

Read the smh article and watch the video. Translating students can translate the article. Interpreting students, pause and interpret.

Colocaciones en español

2010-10-16T02:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Bootheando for informing us about the links below. They are all in Spanish and deal with the topic of collocations in Spanish.
Bootheando sigue inspirándonos con la publicación de un artículo sobre colocaciones con un par de enlace interesantes:

DICE Diccionario de colocaciones del Español de la Universidad de la Coruña

Enlace al blog de Alberto Bustos, que ha publicado un libro electronico en su Blog de Lengua Española bajo la licencia Creative Commons Reconocimiento-No comercial-Sin obras derivadas 3.0. Ello quiere decir que podemos incrustarlo (embed) en nuestro blog o imprimirlo, siempre que lo usemos sin fines lucrativos.
Palabras de bits, palabras de tinta

Sports Deportes

2010-10-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

San Sebastian Triatlón 2010 by MiguelSicari

While translating a text comparing Australia & Argentina yesterday, we came across several sports we either had never heard of or we didn't know how to translate.

One of them was indoor soccer, which we thought was fulbito in Spanish. My sons play it and have told me it is also called fútbol sala, futsal o fútbol de salón. Do a small search and you'll find alternative terms in English, like five-a-side or six-a-side.
I remember that ages ago in Spain fútbol was also called balompié. One of my brothers was a great hand ball (balón mano)player, all my brothers did judo and we all played baloncesto and vóleibol, vólibol, or balonvolea in High School.

Other popular sports played in Spain are el bádminton, el tenis, el tenis de mesa, el golf. Some sports like el rugby, cricket, sófbol or el béisbol are not as popular as in English speaking countries.

What about traditional sports, like el deporte de equipo celta hurling? In Spain we have el tiro de barra aragonesa, the famous basque jai alai also called pelota vasca or cesta punta (zesta punta in Euskera), Argentina has el pato. There must be hundreds of vernacular sports particular to a region with matching names, only known by the people living in the area.

If you analise the Spanish terms for these sports (which were mostly invented in English speaking countries), there is a range of ways in which they have been translated into Spanish. Some are left in English (rugby, hurling), others are spelt in Spanish (fútbol, bádminton) while others are translated into Spanish ( balompié, cesta punta from The basque/Euskera).

I leave you with the terms above to start a glossary of sport terms for your translating/interpreting reference resources. We can also start a common glossary in our wiki. Visit it and add to it. But get up from that chair and run around the block or kick a ball in the back yard!

Don Quijote read on youtube... you can do it too!

2010-10-01T02:59:00.000-07:00

Spanish students, do you want to take part in the reading of El Quijote on youtube? Visit the RAE youtube site and read the instructions.

You can listen to the first chapters, already uploaded in Galería de videos. Here is the first one:

Interpretes: Preparacion

2010-09-30T06:46:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Bootheando for pointing out this very interesting video on how two Spanish interpreters prepare before a conference job. The conference is on emotional intelligence.

It is all in Spanish, sorry all of the Korean, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Cantonese students!

Toponyms Toponimos

2010-09-23T02:46:00.000-07:00

Is it London o Londres, Cracovia o Kraków, Viena, o Wien?

We were talking about translation of geographical names and how there is a tendency to start using the names in their original language.

Spanish students can read this post in el blog de la lengua española, Nombres de ciudades extranjeras.

How to name places presents some problems in English too. Check out Wikipedia's own rules on the topic, Wikipedia's Naming Conventions.

interpreting: 60 second lectures:

2010-09-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

There is a new trend in online education: 60 second lectures or microlectures. They contain the essential message and go straight to the point without any excess of words, details or added concepts. Of course there is no room for a lot of depth and the lectures tend to be compact and dense.

I think they are ideal for you, interpreting students, to practise your note-taking skills.
Below is one I subscribed to via iTunes U. This microlecture is delivered by a professor of criminology and psychiatry, Adrian Raine Richard Perry. If you were given an interpreting job for such a professor, you would be advised to do research in those fields of knowledge. However, once you listen to this lecture, you will realise that interpreters must have a wide range of general knowledge (cultura general in Spanish) to better interpret it. The Merchant of Venice and some of its main characters are quoted to illustrate the main thesis of the lecture.

Listen to it once to get the gist of it. Listen a second and third time taking notes. If you find it very difficult, check this worksheet.

Translator's CAT Tools

2010-09-19T23:49:00.000-07:00

CAT (Computer Aided Translation Tools) also know as TentT tools (translation environment tools) are tools that help translators create a memory of their translations.

If you are thinking of getting one, check this great site, Translation Training. There are short videos that compare 20 of the most popular tools. Watch them to find out more about the CAT tools available and what they do.

You can also check to see if any of them is free (with limitations, of course), for instance WordFast and download it at home to start learning how to use it.

A good book on it is A Translator's Toolbox by Jost Zetsche. You may be interested in subscribing to his free newsletter Tool Kit.
There are lots of translator forums, blogs and sites discussing these tools.

Other useful Software tools for translators:

Open source (free software applications):

Okapi Framework

tuxtrans:Linux for Translators
CrowdSight &GlobalSight,
Tradubi
Software libre para traductores: tables compiled by a Spanish translator

Localization tools:

Catalyst
Passolo (part of Trados Studio)

Translation office 3000

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tool :

Abbyy Fine Reader

Machine Translation:

Translate client for Google translate (free)

Searching tools:

Xbench for Microsoft glossaries (free)
Text Align

Training websites:

English Down Under

2010-09-19T05:12:00.000-07:00

On the way to Chowder's Bay by Zhao Xiao

I have just discovered a great radio program about words, A Way with Words. I think you may be be interested in listening to their program on Australian English, English Down Under. Read the post first, it will help you with the listening. Read the comments too and feel free to post your own comment there or here !

Korean Interpreting Student

2010-09-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

Today we will practise interpreting by watching this video of an interpreting student at Monterey Institute. At home, use the pause button and start interpreting!

How to Access free lectures, speeches, etc via iTunes U

2010-09-15T00:14:00.000-07:00

Subtitles

2010-09-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

Last week's sky from our classrooms

Have you ever wondered about subtitles? Who does this type of job? Is it a translator, interpreter. a linguist or just someone who speaks two languages fluently?

Listen to this interview with Peter Templeton, chief editor of Subtitling at SBS.

Health/Beauty: non-comedogenic skin products

2010-09-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

We came across this term today: non-comedogenic. Do you know what it means?

Watch this video and you'll learn everything about it!
Take the opportunity of using it to practise your interpreting skills (using the pause button) and/or translating skills.

You can also just concentrate on the medical/cosmetic terminology, like hypoallergenic, non-comedogenic, water-based, clogging, break out, acne prone skin, etc.

A Translator

2010-09-03T01:23:00.001-07:00

UN translator talks about her job and the skills required to do it.

Check this very interesting discussion about translators as business people vs freelancers.

Remember your dictionary project is due this week.
Check the assignment page in our wiki bridginggap, week 10. You will be asked to translate some birth certificates. Good practice for your future jobs as translators.

Interpreters & Translators

2010-09-02T22:39:00.000-07:00

Bootheando has published a very interesting post with the video below.

Those of you who can read Spanish* can check the post here. For the rest, a summary follows.

It's hard for many students to decide whether to become interpreters or translators. Toby Screech, a conference interpreter (AIIC accredited in English, Dutch, French and German) explains the main differences between interpreting and translating.
Watch the video and use it to practise your interpreting skills.

*Spanish speakers can also listen to this great radio program where three Spanish interpreters talk about their job. We are even taken to a school of interpreting in Spain.

Where are the Cockneys? Translated by Simon Wright

2010-08-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

The winner of our first challenge to translate one post from bootheando is Simon Wright, who translated the post Donde está el Cockney? .

Read Simon's translation, Where are the Cockneys?, and think of the techniques he has used. What problems did he face? What choices were there for him? What were his final solutions and why?

Read the CVC article on jaifacan and the other links posted in bootheando.

Finally, check this out: Bootheando in australiano!

Keep watching this space for our next winner!

Online Diccionaries & Translation Memory Software Programs

2010-08-23T18:29:00.000-07:00

What dictionary should I use? What online dictionary is better? Are there any software programs that we should invest in to help us in our translation jobs? What about glossaries?

All the questions above come from you, the students. The answers are not simple. It is up to each individual to chose the best tools for his/her job. But after consulting with some colleagues and checking the collection of links accumulated during the last few months, here is a preliminary list to give you a starting point:

Basic tools used by many of our students and teachers:

electronic dictionaries

Google: define searches.For example: define "attorney general"

Online dictionaries:

DRAE, Diccionario de la Real Academia Española

Oxford English Dictionary you have to subscribe

Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (free)

Collins

Online glossaries:

Lexicool.com

IATE

Termium
Glosario internacional para el traductor Spanish
kudoz glossaries
proz (advanced search brings up different fields)
google glossary search
AltaVista-based glossary search (replace "keyword" at the end of the line by your search term and press Enter)
Glosario internacional para el traductor (Spanish)
Xlation
Glossarist
1000 Dictionaries

Translation Memory Programs:

Wordfast (free if you're not using it professionally)

translatorstraining.com, where you'll find a list of the most popular ones
MyMemory
SDL TRADOS

Forums & language sites:

There are many other resources, check my link Web resources under dictionaries & search engines.

I have copied this page into our bridginggap wiki (dictionaries page). So feel free to add any resource to our list!

I hope this helps!

Place Names

2010-08-20T01:49:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we were talking about geographical names in our translation class and today (while searching for a good translating forum) I came across this very interesting post on how to say the name of Equador in Spanish ( El Ecuador ).

The article is in Spanish, but I'm writing this post in English in case our Korean or Mandarin students check the blog. When in doubt about how to say the name of a country in any particular language, one of the things you can do is to check dictionaries, forums and sources from the target language. As the article says, one of the indicators of correctness of a term is USE by educated people in that country.

Online Terms

2010-08-18T02:04:00.001-07:00

To follow up from our previous post, have a look at this fantastic post from Sue Waters (one of the best know educational bloggers) A Glossary to DEMYSTIFY the jargon of the online world. You will learn about some of the web2.0 platforms we are using and other ones that are very popular and practical, not only for personal use, but also for professional networking, professional development and even business management.
A new podcast has been added to Let's Talk. This time is a casual conversation at coffee break in which three teachers talk about insurance. Good for interpreting listening practice, note taking, glossary work, etc. Don't forget to check the worksheet.

Web 2.0 & IT

2010-08-06T06:54:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a first look at our interpreting/translating blog. Some of you may have never thought of the Internet as part of interpreting or translating training.

Read this post by the author of the interpreting blog bootheando (can you explain the title?):
Los términos de la Web 2.0.

Translate it into Spanish (350 words). We will publish the best translation for students of languages other than Spanish (SLOTS!).

Welcome to our blog!

2010-08-04T16:44:00.000-07:00

A warm welcome to the new Semester 2 Interpreting & Translating students!

Check the Introduction to this blog and read the first few posts (in archives on the right sidebar): January (1), February (7, etc.

To help you familiarise yourselves with navigating the blog, podcasting blogs and wikis, open this worksheet (word doc version). You can save it (to type the answers) or print it (to handwrite the answers) in order to answer the questions.

Hints to start the new semester

2010-07-22T00:16:00.001-07:00

One of the things you can start doing form your first week into the new semester is make a point of visiting the college library and study centre.

Check this fun video on libraries.

You can also learn new study strategies from unexpected sources. Have a lookat this clip from the sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, which tells you how to avoid the problem of forgetting a memory stick by using Google Docs. Enjoy it!

Spain got in!

2010-07-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

Can't help it! Spain got into the final at the World Cup for the first time ever!. I don't follow soccer, but I'm surrounded by all these guys who do, one of whom had the determination to watch the cup live in South Africa (see Spanish-flag-wrapped boy on the left).

Read all about it on the ABC article Spanish deserving of final berth.

Some say it is going to have a positive effect on the country, which is going a terrible economic crisis*. Read the BBC Mundo Spanish article by Lorena Arroyo.
*Back from Spain, where some of my relatives and friends have just received hefty cuts in their salaries as public servants.

English, the new disesase?

2010-06-24T05:57:00.000-07:00

This would be very difficult to interpret. You can try translating it, though...

Hav a look at the macmillan dictionary blog where I found the video above. There are very interesting articles on English variations, like South African English (very topical!)

Police Interpreting

2010-06-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

We have looked at an exammple of the type of dialogue we could encounter at a police station.

To get an idea of how a police interview is conducted and the language associated with it, you can visit this post about the Australian Police interview with Dr Mohammed Haneef. It has a link to the full transcript (be careful, it is a 17.10 MB file!)of the second interview . You can access smaller segments of the transcript within the post.

Practise interpreting the English into your Target Language.

Asylum Seekers and Refugees

2010-06-15T19:24:00.000-07:00

"Refugeee Camp"

While we are working on the topic of migration, we have come across asylum seekers and refugees. Read this article from the local paper that prompted our interest.

Check this very clear definitions of the different types of asylum seekers, refuges and more.
Check the Australian Immigration Fact Sheet on Refugees

There are several organisations in Sydney that help asylum seekers and refugees and have a volunteer program:
Asylum Seekers Centre

This is the video we were talking about in class of a former Afghan refugee, Riz Wakil, who got a a personal surfing lesson with Tony Abbott thanks to the bidding of the lobby group Get up:

TAFE Event Management Flash Mob Dance

2010-06-07T22:22:00.000-07:00

Those clever folk at TAFE NSW - Sydney Institute used social media to build a team of students to flash mob/dance at Central station last week, it could easily go viral.

Ultimo TAFE events management students last week held a flash mob event at Central Station.
The event was a great success, with over 100 dancers making their move to help raise money for Westmead Medical Research Foundation & 'The Move Movement".

Some of the people involved were Urban Dance Centre and choreographer Nikki Britton. The YouTube clip was filmed by Randwick TAFE screen and media students, produced and edited by Janusz Dareck.

Tweet, retweet, blog or anything else; they deserve our enthusiastic support for this brilliant effort!

Take the opportunity to listen to this podcast with some Event Management students from Loftus TAFE who helped organise last year's Green Light for Green Skills conference held by the TAFE NSW Managers Association.

Survey

2010-06-07T19:51:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

The end of the course in very close! I would appreciate students in the two classes I'm in charge of to complete the survey below. It will helop us, teachers, improve our teaching delivery and thus improve the courses.

IS Diploma of I & T K2

Translation Skills (Spanish/Korean)

Listening Practice

2010-06-02T16:59:00.001-07:00

Interpreters need to hone up their listening skills. Many of you have learnt English from American teachers, so when confronted with dialogue spoken with an Australian accent you are finding it a bit difficult to follow.
Below I'm listing the Let's Talk podcasts that are more conversational or challenging, as opposed to very clear interviews. Remember to look at the worksheets to get more out of the listening.

Coffee Break, TAFE teachers having a cuppa
Stress, TAFE teachers coffee break conversation
Sculpture by the Sea, some English accents here
Event Management, young Australian TAFE Students
Nikki, architecture student
Unity, TAFE CGVE students and teachers

From other pocasting blogs:

Archie the Sheepman
More real conversations by Mark White
s.m.h. multimedia news
abc radio Conversations with Richard Fidler
AUSIT recordings
Live from... interviews with members of the public

Interpreting Videos

2010-05-27T23:27:00.000-07:00

A simple search with "interpreting" brings up a wealth of videos that illustrate different aspects of interpreting.
Check the videos below.
The first is an amazing simultaneous interpreter doing an interpreting job in a TV program where the guest is Oscar de la Renta.

The second video is an example of consecutive interpreting done in Argentina (English<>Spanish) during an interview with Roger Waters (Pink Floyd).

The last one is a history of interpreting in Brussels for European Institutions since 1952. It shows the different types of interpreting that can be used according to different situations (whispering, simultaneous, consecutive, one way, two way) and how things have changed from having only two interpreters to the present need for interpreters for 23 different languages!

I have left a permanent link, Interpreting Training Videos, within Useful links/Interpreting links on the right side-bar.

Changes in the SOL

2010-05-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

Windy Field

Check the Department of Immigration, What's New? Recent Changes in General Skilled Migration.

If you have any further questions after the Ultimo institute broadcast about the changes, check the website above for answers, phone the 1300 numbers given on their website and/or contact your migration agent.

Library Pocasts: Interpreting Practice

2010-05-15T06:54:00.000-07:00

St George TAFE Library staff have been producing podcasts with information about the library services and instructions on how to use different technology and library facilities. Although they are specifically talking about St George college, most of what they say can be applied to any college library and many other libraries in Australia. Their instructions on how to use technology are also general.

Some of their podcasts are in Languages Other Than English (LOTE), so they are great practice for interpreting students.

These are some of the podcasts:

English: Internet searching

Cantonese: SES username and password

Cantonese: Plagiarism

Arabic: Copyright

Mandarin: SeS username and password

Spanish: How to borrow from St George Library

Spanish: Off campus services

Complete List of Multilingual Podcasts

International Students

2010-05-10T00:29:00.001-07:00

Attribution: "Exams_by_Majeed"

I distributed some istudents magazines today. If you didn't get one, you can access them online:

istudent magazine. Check their article avoiding scams. It will help you revise your consumer affairs/fair trading topic.

They provide a classified section, in case you want to advertise something you'd like to sell/buy. For that purpose, you can access the Gum Tree, which has a lot more items listed.

Check also freecycle.org for free items!

Good luck to those studnets undertaking their interpreting exams this week!

Heath Issues

2010-05-05T00:43:00.000-07:00

Attribution: "Phagocytosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis"

We had an interesting presentation on eating disorders today (thanks Arum) and I thought you may be interested in further exploring health issues.
Check the following links and worksheets:
Better Health Obesity -worksheet Obesity
Better Health Skin Cancer-worksheet Skin Cancer
BMI Calculator. You just enter your height and weight and it'll tell you your BMI and if it's healthy or not.
Health quizzes

And talking about health and fashion, did you know that Spain decided to ban models that are too thin?. Read about it in the Sydney Morning Herald and the ABC7news. After reading the articles, you can answer these questions:
What triggered the ban?
What's BMI?
What BMI should a model have to be allowed to participate in fashion parades in Spain?
What's the average height, weight and BMI of a runway model?
What are the arguments for and against?

Check the meanings of gaunt, emaciated and wan. You can find many dictionaries on the Internet (just write dictionary into Google). One of them is the Merrian-Webster.

For extra listening practice, you can listen to some ESOL student podcasts on the St George TAFE Health Expo 2006. They interview doctors and health staff about different health topics. The links to all their podcasts are here.

Insurance

2010-05-02T19:49:00.000-07:00

This weeks' topic for our intensive Interpreter's course is insurance.

Watch the BTN epidsode on this topic and try and do the activitiy worksheet .

Visit the links to the Insurance Council of Australia and read the ASIC insurance fact sheet.

Housing: Renting

2010-05-01T03:06:00.001-07:00

What architectural style of house is the one in the picture?

We have been talking about housing and many of the topics related to it, like advantages and disadvantages of buying a house, renting or renovating.

Today' s paper has an interesting article on renting, I n the fight to snare a rental property a CV is the weapon of choice. Read it and discuss it's content with your classmates and teachers.

Check this BTN episode from 11/03/08 Rental Squeeze. There are 4 separate sections. Watch all of them. You can always read/print the script to help you with vocabulary and understanding the content.

Listen to the podcast Vince: Building and do the worksheet provided. It will help you undersatnd the building process in Australia.

MyLanguage Website

2010-04-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

One of the useful websites listed in our wiki websites document is MyLanguage. It was created by seven State Libraries to provide information in more than 60 languages and on many topics.

It also has links to government bodies, dictionaries, thesaurus, news, and up to six million information links!
This is a video about it in English. You can visit this Youtube page to watch it in different languages. Good for your interpreting and translating skills.

Podcasts: Interpreting

2010-04-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

A reminder for all our interpreting students about our Podcasting blog, Let's talk.

You will find interviews that will help you with the topics studied during your interpreting courses.

If you go back and listen to older podcasts, you can listen to a variety of Sydneysiders who speak with a variety of accents about a great many topics.

Most of the recordings are supplemented by a worksheet to give you extra help and practice with the listening, vocabulary, etc.

Remember that you can subscribe to this podcast through itunes and download it onto your ipod.

Have fun!

Medicine: The Virtual Body

2010-04-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

"Saline Dreams (painting) "

I came across this very good site that will help you learn the main parts of the human body and what they do. It's called the Virtual Body. The advantage for translators and interpreters is that you can view it in different languages. This site gives you a choice between Spanish and English:

El Cuerpo Virtual & The Virtual Body

Sentence structure & Tuteo

2010-04-01T00:45:00.000-07:00

We all know that it is not possible to always translate from one language to another and keep exactly the same word order. Lat week in class we talked about different degrees of correspondence in proverbs and sayings. We could look at different degrees of correspondence in sentence structure.

Compare these sentences:

La mesa es grande The table is big

Pareces cansado

You look tired

Es muy bonita tu casa

Your house is very nice

The degree of correspondence is different for all three sentences. In Spanish we can change the order of a sentence to achieve different effects.

I came across this interesting article on "tuteo".

Ethics of the Tanslator Question 1

2010-03-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

Add a sticky to this board with a brief answer to the ethical question posed. At this stage we are just brainstorming for possible issues in the question. Please refer to the Code of ethics before answering.
Click on post a sticky (bottom of the board) and then double click and follow the instructions.

Ethics of Translators: Intervention

2010-03-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

An interesting issue in translation ethics is that of intervention. Translator sues boss over sexist translation is a poignant example of intervention (in this case ideological as well as linguistic).

For a more academic point of view, check the video series by Anthony Pym on the same topic. He gave a talk on the ethics of translators at the conference Profession, Identity and Status Translators and Interpreters as an Occupational Group (March 15-19-09, Tel Aviv University & Bar Ilan University). The focus was on Intervention.

Watch the video and answer the questions on this quiz (which is a trial for this quiz maker)

Ethics of Translators » Make A Quiz

TN Translator Notes

2010-03-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a translator needs to address the reader about his translation. It could be a technical explanation of the translating approach, explanation of acronyms, etc. We can do this by using a translator note, TN.

TNs are marked by bolding the terms, using [square brackets] and numbering when a footnote is required. Like this example from Elisa Pinto Olivera:

Which is addressed by a NT footnote, marked like this:

Writing NTs is one of the technical skills needed by translators. NTs shouldn't' be overused, neither under-used, but should always be clearly marked as translators' notes. Notice how Elisa Pinto Olivera has included an explanation of how she annotates her NTs at the beginning of her translation.

Some ethical issues may arise from the fact that we can find a document like this one online!
You can write your thoughts in this post's comments.

Not all translators follow the same style of TN, have a look at this slightly different method.

Chile Earthquake: Science Translation

2010-03-11T18:27:00.000-08:00

English>Spanish
Visit this article, Why the Chile earthquake aftershock was so big, from the Technology & Science section of msnbc. It is a good opportunity for you to translate a more scientific text.

Spanish>English
Leed y traducid el artículo Pasarán meses antes de saber por qué fallaron los edificios más afectados por el sismo, El Mercurio, Santiago de Chile, martes 9 de marzo de 2010.

A medida que traduzcáis, podéis ir compilando un glosario de términos asociados con terremotos.

Interpreting: Health-Type 1 Diabetes

2010-03-01T02:40:00.001-08:00

We are studying topics related to Health. Listen to an interview with a young Sydneysider, Miguel, talking about Type 1 diabetes.

You will find the podcast and suggested practice in our podcasting blog, Let's Talk.

For more health information and worksheets on different subtopics (obesity, skin cancer, etc) visit this post form my ESOL blogs, Health Expo 2007.

Unidades decimales

2010-02-19T04:57:00.000-08:00

We were talking about how to write different numerical expression in numbers. Check the side bar of our wiki for several links that show how it's done different countries.

The Spanish Bulletin, Boletin Oficial del Estado (BOE) has published today a royal decree regulating the writing and naming of symbols for legal measurement units.

Below is an summary in Spanish:

Este texto está en el CAPÍTULO III “Reglas de escritura de los símbolos y nombres de las unidades, de expresión de los valores de las magnitudes y para la formación de los múltiplos y submúltiplos decimales de las unidades del SI” del anexo del Real Decreto 2032/2009, de 30 de diciembre, por el que se establecen las unidades legales de medida. El annexo es la corrección de errores y erratas.

Los decimales son con coma, normalmente se usa el punto para las unidades de millar y la coma para los decimales. Ejemplo: 3.987,56

Cuando expresas porcentajes conviene dejar un espacio entre el número y el símbolo %.

Así 3,5 % expresa el 3,5 por ciento, o lo que es lo mismo el 0,035 en tanto por uno.

Pero como se ve en el texto que sigue parece que lo correcto es no usar puntos:

“ El símbolo utilizado para separar la parte entera de su parte decimal se denomina «separador decimal». El símbolo del separador decimal es la coma, en la propia línea de escritura. Si el número está comprendido entre +1 y −1, el separador decimal va siempre precedido de un cero.

Los números con muchas cifras pueden repartirse en grupos de tres cifras separadas por un espacio, a fin de facilitar la lectura. Estos grupos no se separan nunca por puntos ni por comas. En los números de una tabla, el formato no debe variar en una misma columna.”

Translation Theory Class

2010-02-17T16:18:00.000-08:00

Korean & Spanish Translation Skills students will be having joined sessions every Thursday. Some of the sessions will be run by Luciano other by Rosa, with Luciano's invaluable input!

Today we would like you to look at the NAATI website (permanent link on the right sidebar). Explore some of its links to become familiar with it, which you may have done already, and complete the activity sheet your teacher will hand out.
Have look at the NAATI Translator Test and start thinking of questions for Luciano's presentation on it at a later stage.
Go to Luciano's SCE wiki (sidebar link) and explore it. Then have a look at the first post of this blog and try to answer the question about the picture in it.
Check the T&I link in Luciano's wiki. Have a look at the resources already there.
Visit our forum and write your answer to our first topic.
Visit our new wiki, bridginggap, and ask me to invite you to join it. There is already some work for you to do.
Write any suggestions for the forum or this blog in comments below

Text Types

2010-02-16T17:40:00.000-08:00

Knowing how texts work in English is a useful skill for translators and interpreters doing sight translations. If you want to explore the differences between the most common text types (genres) in written English, visit the module Text Evaluation and genre Writing, prepared by the Department of Education NSW.

Oral Presentations

2010-02-16T17:26:00.000-08:00

Soon you have to give an oral presentation in class. You can practice at home by visiting this Department of Education NSW materials: Deliver a Formal Presentation. It has many useful hits, video clips, listening excersices and more. You can print all the worksheets, and you can download the media files.

Topics Needs Analysis 2010

Koreans in Australia

2010-02-08T20:56:00.000-08:00

"Lost In Translation" by tochis

Many of you have come from Korea to study Interpreting and Translating at Petersham College. It will be useful for you to get an idea of the history of Korean migration in Australia.

Check this text, Migrant experiences in Australia: sample reading in Korean and its English translation.

Another very interesting text, this time in English only, is Health and Medicine under Capitalism. Read it for information and practise translating some of it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43217080@N00/3081093838

Translating from Spanish

2010-02-05T02:14:00.000-08:00

Translators in Australia are often asked to translate informative brochures for government bodies and/or community institutions. The majority will be translations from English into Spanish. Nevertheless, you will also be required to translate documents from Spanish into English.

You can practise by searching the Internet, especially visiting governmental websites that have already been translated into community languages. For example:

El Inicio de una nueva vida en Australia, Department of Immigration and Citizenship
Hispanohablantes en Australia, Centro Virtual Cervantes (CVC)

Keeping in Contact with colleagues

2010-02-05T00:48:00.000-08:00

There are many ways of keeping up with your profession. One of them is by using Internet social networks. there are many and it is a very personal choice which ones to use of using any at all.

I find twitter is a great way of sharing information with colleagues. You can follow professionals who twitters and check the links they post regularly. A wide variety of issues are dealt with: questions on terminology, reviews of new CAT programs, conference announcements, cultural discussions, etc.

I have found many interesting articles from the twitterers I follow. For example, Translation_, Spanish translating in the USA, posted links on these issues:

Tips for Interpreters

Uso Correcto del español

Translation vs. transcreation

Bridging the gap

2010-01-27T05:00:00.000-08:00

Bridging the Gap will provide students of Interpreting and Translating with information, links to relevant materials, and extra practice to improve their interpreting and translating skills.

You can also find original podcasts (Let's Talk) with interviews relevant to I&T that will allow you subscribe through itunes in order to practice anywhere you are from your ipod.

Keep an eye on us and enjoy the journey!

You can start working by doing the following:

Click on the picture above
Check the words for meaning
Try to memorise as many as you can (you can do this by remembering their position on the picture, writing and grouping them by thematic subgroups, etc)
Write as many as you can without looking at the picture
Write a paragraph or two inspired by these words. What are these words about?
This one is a challenge but will help you familiarise yourselves with this blog's navigation: Where is the text these words come from? Who wrote it? Did you write a good summary of it? Revise your paragraphs and correct any errors of content, grammar, etc.
Finally, translate the paragraph into your target language (TL)

Indecipherably rude
Listen to this very informative Lingua Franca episode, Indecipherably rude, on cultural semantics. It deals with cultural mismatches produced when apparently similar words or expressions have very different meanings in different languages.

You can listen to the program online, subscribe to it through itunes, download it and also read the script.

Translating 2011

2009-11-17T00:54:00.000-08:00

Mellie Preston
Luciana Rodriguez
Florisa Ferrel

Glossaries

2009-10-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

Biotecnología
Genética
Glosario internacional para el traductor
glossaries
glossaries 2
kudoz glossaries

Instrumental médico

Microscopia

Nutrición
Salud
Termium (English/French/Spanish)

Interpreting Videos

2009-08-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

Agrupacion de Interperetes AIB
Consecutive example: Roger Waters 1, 2
Directorate General for Interpretation EU: Working with and as an Interpreter: Check this test example: Testing Times Part 1 and Part 2
Geneva Uni Interpreting videos
Interpreting Training Videos
Monterey Interpreting videos
Simultaneous examples: Conference speech. Check the other examples on the youtube sidebar
snag films, eductional videos, useful for consecutives. The story of Vinh is a full length doco.
Thought leaders: Interviews with international leaders and innovators in fields relevant to flexible educational practice. Good for consecutive practice.
21 accents (funny and inspiring)