What does that entail for us, as language professionals? Do we need to jump on the bandwagon or keep ‘social media-ing’ confined to the personal domain? Is it worth the investment, mainly investing time and effort, or is it a necessity and opportunity for promotion? Maintaining a blog can be very demanding, yes – I for one haven’t posted for over 150 days (grmbl why do they keep track?!). But it also helps you to increase your personal visibility (a translator is his/her own brand according to some) and let your page rank rise. That is if you have a personal website and actively promote your services on the net.

Let’s get back to our main question for today: Is social media something we should invest our time in? Those ‘we’ are the people who make sure international communication – be it written or oral – runs smoothly and perfectly localized. I’m personally in favor of social media, as long as they’re used cautiously. Sharing too much can also be harmful but it is certainly a great tool to get you noticed. Being visible on the digital landscape also means that you ‘open’ yourself to public scrutiny. As a language professional that means you’re bound to get criticism on your language use if it’s not up to par. But it also grants you the right to share your thoughts with peers and exchange information, a big bonus for most of us, loners who work from behind their desks…

And THAT has made me a huge advocate for social media. Starting our own group on LinkedIn called Dutch Translator has been the best decision I’ve made in 2010. Sure it takes some time and effort, but it also gives so much in return. Expanding your network of colleagues, sharing expertise / information / frustrations / triumphs / connections … That’s one of the main reasons I am involved in the social media. And let’s face it, they’re no hype anymore, they”re bound to stay.

Back to translating for me now, perhaps we’ll meet again on one of those social media soon?

Greetings,

Olivier

Picture courtesy of Rampage the Cat (http://rampagethecat.com/?p=77)

A warning however to those who think that this is the same as an MT-tool (Machine Translation). A true translator does not use MT-tools – such as GoogleTranslate, BabelFish, etc. – to get the job done. If you take yourself seriously and you have even the slightest notion of professional ethics (and personal pride at that), you steer away from these tools when working on translation projects. I’ve noticed that some of the LSP’s (Language Service Provider or translation agency) are however venturing into murky waters and hiring translators who don’t really mind quality and do make wanton use of MT-tools to quickly finish a translation project. Why you’d ask? Well one of the reasons could be because these ‘translators’ think they can get away with it, that quality is only a detail and volume (read the ‘quick & easy buck’) is King … Unfortunately the end-user (e.g. translation of a manual) or the client (if intended for internal use) will have to deal with this and try to decipher what the true meaning of their googled or MT’d translation is. I’ve come across many of these ‘alleged translations’ when certain agencies contact me for the proofreading of their superb translations. My answer was and always will be the same however, NO, because quality comes at a price.

Let’s not get carried away however. I was going to talk about some of the tools I personally use to ensure my translations DO deliver the QUALITY our clients pay for …:

• CAT-tools: Trados, MemoQ, Across, WordfastPro, SDLX, Passolo and POedit
• EvoTerm since it’s the most comprehensive technical dictionary EN-NL-EN on the market (and keeps on growing)
• Van Daele dictionaries EN/NL/GER/FR (electronic version)
• For terminology work I depend heavily on the great TermXPro-tool from Translex
• Sufficient RAM/ROM with the latest Pentium-7 PC (sorry no Mac-user )
• Speedy broadband connection

And last but not least, a network of colleagues to consult and to discuss language related issues with (terminology/style/etc.). It’s no exaggeration when I say that this last ‘tool’ (no disrespect to my esteemed colleagues here) is perhaps the most valuable one a translator should have.

Thanks for reading our post this week, be well and until next week

Logo International Women's Day

Today is a day like any other, yet again, it’s also a day to think about the importance, position and (inevitable) necessity of more than half the world’s population. Yes that’s right WOMEN!! We’re all brought into this world by one, nurtured and raised by many of them and there’s more than a 50 % chance that YOU are one of them

It’s the 100th celebration of IWD (International Women’s Day) and this year the official UN theme for this special day was:

Theme for International Women’s Day 2011:

Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women

Interesting theme, isn’t it? Equal access to education, training and science and technology. Especially if you ponder on the fact that women are the ones that lay the foundations for exactly those fields for most men … Yes, that’s right, where do we – the men that make up the other 45 % of the global population – learn our first words that will grant us access to all that knowledge coded in language? It’s from our mothers, grandmothers, siblings and caretakers. They don’t call it your mother tongue without good reason right?!

Hence my gratitude to all those special women in our lives.

This link was one of the first subjects that we discussed in our first year(s) at University. The relationship between language and culture, the ties with our rationale and world-views, from the ancient Greeks to the scholastics of the Middle-Ages, right to the Enlightenment and modern philosophers and linguists.

Some names:
*John Duns Scotus (13th century AD, scholastic) worked on his “scientia sermocinalis” (science of language) and brought back the ideas and notions of Aristotle (4th century BC)
*René Descartes (March 1596-February 1650) was one of the leading thinkers in advocating the rationalist ideal, “cogito ergo sum” or – I think, so I am was one of his famous phrases.
* Noam Chomsky (7.12.1928- present) worked on the concepts of I-language and E-language (internal & external language) and stressed the fact that language is an innate human trait (biological) that, according to him at least, showed far more commonalities than differences on a global scale.

What did these men (yes indeed I didn’t mention any women, though there are plenty of them, f.e. Hildegard of Bingen 11th-12th AD, Hannah Arendt 20th Century, …) share in common? Well, for one their ideas and thoughts – both philosophical, political and scientific -all depended on language, more so they touched on or discussed the very origins and modes of human language. Evolutionary linguistics anyone? If we’d be to discuss the origins of human language there are several theories such as the monogenesis (one single proto-language referred to as Proto-Human language), the multi-regional hypothesis (self-explanatory right?), the bottleneck theory (150.000 years ago, small human population, source of dispersal of human language), the out-of Africa theory that starts from the concept of monogenesis , etc.

If this is correct and as a species we all share the same linguistic origins, doesn’t that also entail we’re all related? It might be a big leap from linguistic affiliation to family ties but it’s not imo. Language connects people (or it might create distance between them) and is one of our abilities which holds the potential to unite us and share a common goal(s) as a larger, extended family. However it can also be the source of oppression and separate people from each other. Not being able to understand one another, worse even not being allowed to speak your own language, can be very damaging and detrimental to all of us. This is were the philosophers come back into the picture: language and thinking are intimately connected, it’s one of the modes of expression we have at our disposal. Remember “cogito ergo sum”? So what happens if people are disconnected from their language, if they’re even threatened with severe punishment(s) for even speaking their mother tongue …? Would it be too bold to say that this equals a social-cultural genocide? Not being able to speak your language, the “channel” so to speak of your cultural and social belief-system, warrants such a hard term (genocide) imo.

History has proven the value and consequences of the importance of language. Not so long ago we (Flemish people) took to the streets and fought for our right to speak our mother tongue (a long story, that I might talk about in a next post:). In Canada and the US, the indigenous peoples were not only physically but also culturally killed off by the millions. China and Turkey, huge countries with a vast spectrum of languages and cultures were pressed into cultural and sometimes linguistic unity.

Sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worse …

As a language-worker, I am a translator after all, I value the diversity of languages and the specific cultural perspective that goes with them. Hence I would like to share with you this video I found on YouTube, language – like us humans – is a resilient thing

The Gift of Language & Culture Project (Canada)

Hate it or love it, but it has become the reality we live in. Products & services, people & thoughts, knowledge, ideals & ‘modes de vie’, they have always travelled around in our world, it’s only that their proliferation has exponentially grown over the past few years. We now know more than ever about the scope of this diversity, for example the number of languages that are currently spoken and used throughout the world. According to the Ethnologue there are currently 6909 (spoken) languages worldwide. Of course not all of them are being used so extensively or are as widely spread across the globe as others, but it’s food for thought when you ponder on the consequences of our ‘Global Village’.

When we talk about trade & business in this globalist perspective, the need for a linguistic and culturally sound and sensitive approach is obvious. It’s a matter of respect and respecting the diversity of all these people worldwide. Translated to a more business-like lingo: global consumers and clients … If we want to respect others, the right (or wrong) tone can easily be set by offering people the choice to read and inform themselves in their proper language. An interesting Dutch perspective on the world wide usability (focussed on websites) can be found in the following on-line article: World Wide Usability. Giving people options and a CHOICE is crucial in the global market, by providing multiple language-options we can provide the solution for this human need for (correct) information. Googletranslate and the myriad of other MT (machine translation)-apps will however not respect the subtleties of the human language, a factor that could make or break the reputation of a company on-line …

That’s where we come in. As translators we have the right inclination and background (not to mention experience) to provide the environment in which people (customers/clients) will feel at home in this ‘virtual global village’. What happens after that first impression – remember that the first 10 seconds count most – is up to you.

Want to learn more or find out how we could help You realize Your goals? Feel free to contact us any time!

Dutch Translator is primarily focussed on the work and in-/output of two independent translators. Our dreams and goals for the future reach however much further than that. We will grow and develop in the near future to the next stage as a full fledged LSP (Language Service Provider). One of the guidelines we take into consideration is sustainability, how we will balance these three important factors for entrepreneurs of the future:

*Financial perspective (is it profitable?)
*Social perspective (fair business and work ethos)
*Environmental perspective (what’s the impact of our enterprise?)

The following interview with Charles Mpengula (courtesy of Anne-Stine Larsen) touches on these aspects and expresses what we are currently going through in the development of a new business goal.

Enjoy: What is sustainable business? ~Charles Mpengula~

Are you thinking about setting up a new business? Thinking “Green” or have comments on what is necessary for a sustainable business? Welcome to share here, we’re all ears (and eyes)!

Olivier

Courtesy of Nitty Griddy http://nittygriddy.com/2009/12/25/unusual-christmas-trees/

Yes indeed the dreaded, loved, feared, long-awaited, just another day or week, period of the year is near! It’s Christmas time and mailboxes are pouring over with Christmas greetings and digital wishes. It’s also the time of year when all your customers realize that they NEED to get that last text or article translated before it’s too late… And sometimes, as many freelance translators will be able to confirm, it’s also the season of new clients, those who miraculously realize that they had you stowed away somewhere in their database.

All in all it’s the season to spend more time with friends and family, slow things down a bit (despite the pressing deadlines and new-found clients). Winter time will slow things down around us, and tells us it’s time to turn inwards, take some time to sit together and talk. That’s what I will be doing – after those pressing deadlines – spend time with family and this time not with the dimmed glare of my computer screen

Speaking of turning inwards and family, it’s also the best time to think of those who are not doing so great. That’s why it’s the best season to give away and support others (no I’m not talking about your nieces and nephews, mom, dad or other relatives) to remind them, and perhaps also yourself, that we’re all related.

That’s the reason I’ll be promoting a local initiative (Belgium) to support orphaned children in Africa. Music for Life (project from Studio Brussel: ) is organizing a fund-raiser to support them and that’s exactly what we did. If you want to support this cause with a small token and also promote your business in Belgium, this might be a good Christmas idea:

It’s been very quiet here and my busy schedule as a freelancer is the culprit. Not only were the past few months mighty busy, I also started to work on a personal favourite of mine … terminology. After a most interesting meeting with two colleagues of mine (though they have years of experience on me!) the kick-off for a serious approach of working as a terminologist was given.

I’m still learning to work with a new programme that will soon be marketed to other translators and terminologists worldwide, it’s called TermX (or TermXPro for the professional version) and has some very nifty features that speed up – and more importantly – standardize the terminology-work.

I’ll certainly keep you posted on how it works for me, and if you’re interested in what the programme looks like, here’s the link to the developers’ website: http://www.translex.co.uk/

Translex is indeed also a translation provider (mostly highly specialized work like patent translation) but the owner is a friend and highly valued colleague. If you would be interested in their application, feel free to tell them you came across it via this blog

As for now, back to work and I wish you all a very productive and happy December!

Cheers,

Olivier

It can be a daunting proposition to seek out a professional translator through the impersonal arena of the internet. There are, however, certain steps which can make the process less fraught.
First, it can be helpful to locate a provider who works in your own business environment. For example, a translator who is familiar with UK-BE-EST business practices, procedures and customs. Next, it is important to proceed in a professional manner.
The first is the initial step, which is still that of the client and provider (the translator) entering into a contract. This contract can be as simple as a detailed email from an individual which is then accepted by a further email from the client. When working with an agency there is generally a more formal contract which is also then “accepted” by the client.
In all cases, there are certain details which should always be clearly specified. Some of the most essential include a firm price, delivery date and method and time of payment. Many agencies go much further, including such matters as non-disclosure agreements, reviews (for example, any procedures for the client’s request for changes to the finished product and, if so, does a financial burden entail to either party) and any penalties for late payment by the client, among many others.

It should be noted that the purpose of a contract is to protect the interests of both client and provider and it should not be entered into lightly. Both parties can, and should, negotiate the details. It is especially important to bear in mind that a “virtual” contract, that is one “signed” through the above noted methods, is considered in almost all countries to be as legally binding and enforceable as its paper equivalent.
Dutch Translators is an excellent example of a firm which provides exceptionally professional services:

http://www.dutch-translator.co.uk/nav/clients.aspx

NL Bij deze wil ik jullie uitnodigen om eigen bevindingen en perspectieven op het belang van onze moedertaal te delen. Het heet niet voor niets “moedertaal” dus ik verwacht vooral veel input van de vrouwen! Uiteraard zijn de heren meer dan welkom om hun mening over de belangrijkste gesproken taal uit hun leven hier te delen en te bespreken.

EN I’d like to invite all of you to share your thoughts and perspective(s) on the importance of our mother tongue. The name “mother tongue” is not an accident, most of the time this is the way we learn our first spoken language. So I expect a lot of input from all the women out there! Gents don’t feel intimidated, we too have our ideas and take on our mother tongue, one of the languages that makes us stir when heard abroad, or spoken so fluently after a few Belgian beers in one of our countless bars and cafés!

Hieronder vinden jullie een korte peiling om een idee te geven van hoe het met onze moedertaal is gesteld. De gegevens blijven uiteraard vertrouwelijk en jullie hoeven geen e-mailadressen of dergelijke in te voeren.
Below you’ll find a short poll to get an idea of the extent to which our mother tongue is still the most ‘active’ one of our spoken languages. The poll respects the privacy of all participants and will not require you to enter any email adresses or other confidential information.

Thanks for sharing your ideas and perspective on this! Bedankt om jouw kijk en ervaringen hierover met iedereen te delen!

Olivier