When working with translators, it is essential to understand the four main categories of translation services providers.
1. Language Schools
Language schools often provide translation services alongside their language teaching and profit from the general misconception that anyone who can speak a foreign language can translate it. Usually, the schools act as brokers; the actual work is done by native speakers of the target language, hired by the schools to teach their courses and translate, if the need arises.

Avoid translation services that make statements such as “translations by native speakers”. Is every native English speaker a qualified writer? Is every non-native English speaker a qualified translator?

One can usually spot these schools by their boasts of “teachers and translators with native fluency”. In this type of arrangement, the average fees charged by schools with nationally recognized names are from 20 to as much as 30 cents per word, depending on the language, size of the project, and level of difficulty. Those who translate for these brokers are sometimes paid as little as 4 cents a word, and rarely more than 10.
2. Universities
Most universities keep lists of faculty members, and sometimes students, who “do translations on the side”. College professors can be fairly adequate and, sometimes, low-cost translators on minor projects, but they can be a very risky gamble on major projects.

In the first place, their technical knowledge is normally very low, and their language is often out of touch with current technical and business usage. Secondly, they lack the professional knowledge to manage a major translation project, so that the client ends up holding their hands through scheduling, production coordination, deadlines, etc. Thirdly, they simply lack the practical knowledge of world corporate issues, international business trends, and total quality management that are essential for an effective translator.

On the plus side, some charge as little as 10 cents a word, although the average is around 14 cents a word.
3. Freelancers
Some freelancers are top-notch professionals; while some, who call themselves translators, are unemployable incompetents in search of odd jobs. How can you tell who’s who? As in contracting for any outside professional services, of course, get references, work samples, credentials, etc. Even more important, talk to the translator. Make sure he or she understands your corporate culture, your technology, and your clients. Although the good translator is elusive, the bad translator is often quite easy to spot. Please click on the link to read the 6 Main Rules for Spotting Bad Translators.
4. Translation Companies
Translation companies are only as good as their owner. I suggest using the same criteria to judge them as for freelancers. In addition, a translation company must be able to provide total project management. This means that the translation company owner must be a seasoned translation manager, who will help you define the project requirements, monitor the translation process, and deliver the final product on time, within budget and in conformance to requirements.

These advantages become more obvious, and indispensable, on large or complex projects. On small jobs, the advantages may be negligible, and you may be able to do just as well with a competent freelancer.

However, if your translation involves multiple languages, it is large or complex, if you have a tight schedule or require typesetting, printing, etc. A competent translation company may, in the end, save you money by handling all facets of the project.

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

To exemplify the first situation, we use the words compilacao (Portuguese) and compilation (English).

To exemplify the second situation, we use the words bowel (English) and intestino (Portuguese).

To exemplify the third situation, we use the word honours in the sense found in the expression honours course.

Compilacao, as we read from http://www.infopedia.pt/lingua-portuguesa/compilacao (accessed by us on the 27th of June of 2012), may refer to a computer operation.

Supposing then that our origin-language text is about a programming language, say Clipper, talks about how to create an executable file from scratch, and the sentence we consider is ‘Na compilacao, voce deve se preocupar com as mensagens de erro’, we will be able to translate ‘Na compilacao’ into ‘In the compilation’, that is, we notice that we have a close-to-perfect match in the couple (compilacao; compilation). The elements of the couple present similarity in sound and sense that is impressive for the languages under consideration.

Intestino, as we read from http://www.infopedia.pt/lingua-portuguesa/intestino (accessed by us on the 27th of June of 2012), means any of the parts of the digestive ‘tube’. Its perfect match would then be intestine, as we see in http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/intestine (accessed by us on the 27th of June of 2012). Our context is a general practitioner in Australia asking his patient ‘how is your bowel doing?’. In this context, (bowel; intestino) form a semantic match.

Honours course is supposed to be a course that differs from the usual undergraduate course by one component, which is the non-original research work, usually produced throughout a year by the student who then enjoys the privilege of dealing with their professor directly, frequently, and with no competition. Honours students enjoy the privilege of working one-on-one with their ‘chosen’ professor. The most complex part of such a work is writing a minor thesis about it.

Let’s assume, to facilitate conversation, that we speak about Brazilian Portuguese from now onwards.

Well, in Brazil, students are seen performing non-original research work at Primary School and, as surprising as this may sound, they are also seen writing minor theses about their research work since then.

We notice that life in first world nations is less competitive and less demanding in terms of work and study than life in the last world nations also from going deep into issues of this sort: It is frequently the case that academics in Brazil have to assess and mark individual non-original research work of dozens of students each semester. They also have to be available for doubts and informal assessments of their work if the students request that they do that, as incredible as it may seem, in a one-on-one basis, especially if we talk about ‘good establishments of teaching and learning’, such as the catholic schools.

What is then seen as special in the first-world cultures is actually very trivial in countries like Brazil.

Because of that, Brazil has no special name for an undergraduate course that includes a non-original research component (like rare, perhaps impossible, is the case of the undergraduate course that does not have it).

We then have to solve, once more, ‘the gap problem’: How do we point to the world reference for the word honours in the Portuguese language?

There are at least two possible solutions to the gap problem: Repeating the expression as it is, without translating, and creating a note (the so famous N.T.s) in the text to explain all, or writing the word curso in place of the expression honours course and creating a note in the text to explain all.

It then seems that having an N.T. in this situation is the only professional, therefore ethical, choice available.

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

A Romney campaign advertisement titled ” Día Uno” is aimed at a Spanish-speaking audience, but one Latino media consultant says its translation is off.

Both political parties agree that the country’s 21.3 million registered Latino voters could make a crucial difference in this year’s presidential election.

Yet in a race defined by massive spending on television ads, fast-response Internet videos and sophisticated social media efforts, both President Obama and challenger Mitt Romneyhave fallen short thus far when it comes to targeting Latino voters electronically, according to some Spanish-language media experts.

Republican candidate Romney trails Obama badly among Latinos, according to polls released last week, and isn’t counting on them to propel him to victory. Even so, his Spanish-language advertising has been minimal and clumsy, the experts said. Some of his ads are simply translated versions of his English-language commercials — a particular no-no when trying to reach Latino consumers.

Obama has spent more heavily, and created more effective ads than his rival, but some experts said that so far he has failed to craft a campaign that keeps pace with the rapidly increasing size and sophistication of the Latino population, which climbed to 50.5 million in the 2010 census, from 35.3 million a decade earlier.

Neither campaign has adopted the approach honed over the years by businesses targeting Spanish speakers — one that not only depicts Latinos in positive settings, but also reflects attention to cultural nuance. A truck ad in the Midwest, for example, will show American flags and beer-drinking men, while an ad for the same truck in Arizona will depict Latino men hauling construction equipment and managing their farms.

“In the TV world, there’s incredible sensitivity to trying to get Latinos excited; there’s tons of money spent on ‘how do we get this demographic to like our product?’” said Matt Barreto, a prominent Latino pollster at the University of Washington. “The political world has been very slow to change.”

Some marketing experts say Romney’s Spanish-language efforts suggest he’s abandoned hope altogether of reaching the Latino community. Polls indicate the same — an NBC/Wall Street Journal/Telemundo poll showed Obama led Romney 66% to 26% among Latino voters.

Romney’s campaign has released two Spanish-language video ads so far — “Día Uno” and “Van Bien?” — but both are directly translated from identical ads in English, a blunder in Spanish-language marketing, said Glenn Llopis, founder of the Center for Hispanic Leadership.

“You can’t just translate these things,” Llopis said. “That’s where a lot of these marketing things go wrong. They need to be customized, form-fitted. If the Hispanic community thinks you’re just translating and not creating a campaign that speaks to them, they’ll just shut off.”

The ads also don’t talk about issues such as healthcare and education that are important to Latino voters, many of whom are uninsured and benefit from policies such as Obama’s healthcare law.

“Día Uno” talks about what the first day of a Romney presidency would look like, outlining objectives such as opening the Keystone oil pipeline and ending the healthcare law. “Van Bien?” picks up on an Obama comment that the private sector is “doing fine,” and asks how the president can fix the economy if he doesn’t understand it.

What’s more, some of the phrases in those ads are awkwardly translated, said Melisa Diaz, a Latino media consultant based inWashington, D.C., who has worked for the Democratic National Committee.

“Doing Fine?” would be more accurately translated as “Las cosas están bien?” Diaz said, while the proper phrase to convey “the right direction” would be “la dirección correcta,” not “la buena dirección,” as used in the ads. And the English idiom “Day One” would be better if phrased “El Primer Día,” not “Día Uno,” Diaz said.

“These kind of mistakes would not happen in an English-language ad,” she said. “You can tell that the ads were not proofed by a native speaker.”

The Romney campaign did not have an official comment on the matter.

Shaky Spanish translation has tripped up politicians before. A Twitter feed, @ElBloombito, mocks the Spanish-speaking attempts of New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. Will Ferrell poked fun at President George W. Bush’s Spanish in a“Saturday Night Live” skit. And the Republican National Committee had a misstep on its Spanish-language website last month when it was revealed that stock photos of children on the website portrayed Asian children rather than Latinos.

But Bush and Bloomberg both had effective ads targeting the Latino community. Romney doesn’t yet.

“In every way, he’s not really courting the Latino vote,” Barreto said. “He’s doing as little as possible.”

That includes spending — Romney spent just $33,000 on Spanish-language ads between mid-April and mid-June in the battleground states of North Carolina and Ohio, while Obama spent $1.7 million over the same period, according to SMG-Delta. Romney trails Obama among Latino voters in battleground states by 36 points, according to a poll released last week by Latino Decisions and the left-leaning immigration reform group America’s Voice.

Perhaps the Romney campaign is paying close attention to studies that show advertising in Spanish can turn off white and black voters. When white and black audiences saw ads with a Latino endorsement or in Spanish, their support for a candidate dropped, said Ricardo Ramirez, a professor of political science at Notre Dame.

“We know that appearing more inclusive by outreaching toward Latinos seems to work well for immigrants, but it seems to have a negative impact on blacks and whites,” he said.

The Obama campaign has a Spanish-language website, a Twitter feed for Latinos, an English-language website targeted at Latinos and a Spanish-language website on the benefits of theAffordable Care Act. After Obama’s order that would allow young undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S., the campaign put out an ad in Spanish featuring Miami-based television personalityCristina Saralegui, who also endorsed the president.

That ad supplements two rounds of Spanish-language television commercials that had been running in the battleground states of Colorado, Nevada and Florida. They feature campaign volunteers talking about Obama policies that have affected them, including funding for Pell Grants and Head Start centers, and the Affordable Care Act.

“Under Obama’s healthcare reform, you can’t be denied insurance for preexisting conditions,” one volunteer, Elena McCullough of Tampa, Fla., says as she visits with a concerned elderly couple.

While these ads are effective because they feature Latinos and are tailored to issues such as health and education, even they fall short when considering the nation’s changing demographics, Ramirez said. The Latino population climbed by 43% between 2000 and 2010, and in swing states such as Florida, Latinos make up 13% of all registered voters.

“They’re doing more in English-language media than they are in Spanish,” he said. “They need to step it up.”

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

Introduction

The main reason that I decided to learn ASL is so that I could communicate with participants at the National Ability Center that have hearing impairments.  The National Ability Center (NAC) is a non-profit organization that provides recreational opportunities for people with disabilities. In talking with the manager of the NAC ski program, I learned that very few of the ski instructors know any type of sign language. This puts participants with hearing impairments at a disadvantage.

I decided to learn ASL so that I could act as a volunteer in the NAC ski program.   Volunteers that know ASL would be useful during ski lessons that involve students who sign as their main form of communication.  With volunteering in mind, I enrolled in the ASL class at the Utah Electronic High School.

At a recent family gathering, I told an adult cousin about my goal to learn ASL. He expressed an opinion that surprised me.  He asked why I would learn ASL when Cued Speech is quickly replacing ASL as the dominant form of communication in the deaf community.  Not having an in depth knowledge of the deaf community, I could not respond to my cousin’s opinion.

After a bit of thought, I decided that understanding the two forms of communication would be a good topic for my research paper.

 Research Goal

The goal of this research paper is to prove or disprove a recently stated opinion that Cued Speech is on the verge of overtaking ASL as the most commonly used form of communication of the deaf community.  This will involve developing an understanding of the difference between ASL and Cued Speech.

Research Methods

Research will be conducted as follows:

• A definition of ASL and Cued Speech will be provided
• A search for growth trends will be conducted
• A review of the use of each will be performed

Definitions

As found in Webster’s Dictionary, American Sign Language is “a sign language for the deaf in which meaning is conveyed by a system of articulated hand gestures and their placement relative to the upper body”(Webster, 1983).  As stated on the ASL University website, “American Sign Language is a complete, natural language” (Vicars, 2003).   That is to say, ASL is a complete stand-alone language just like French, English, or Spanish.

A definition for Cued Speech was found on the website of the National Cued Speech Association.  “Cued Speech is a sound-based visual communication system. In English, it requires eight handshapes in four different locations in combination with the natural mouth movements of speech, to visually differentiate the sounds of spoken language” (Fleetwood, 1995).

Cued Speech, it turns out, is not a language at all.  It is a visual representation of other languages.  Cued Speech was developed for the English Language first.  It was developed by R. Orin Cornett, Ph.D. at Gallaudet University, in 1965 (Caldwell, 1997).   Cued Speech was designed to improve the early English language development of children who are deaf and provide them with a foundation for English reading and writing (Caldwell).  Through the years, Cued Speech has been adapted for use in about 60 different languages (Caldwell).

Growth

A recent article in The Salt Lake Tribune, a local paper to this researcher, provided an example of ASL’s popularity and use.  ASL is currently the third most commonly used language in the United States behind English and Spanish (Ravitz, 2005).  In 1994, the Utah State legislature officially recognized ASL as a language.  In 1998, they encouraged it to be taught in Utah public schools and allowed foreign language credits for students that take ASL classes (Ravitz).  In fact, the Granite School District, in Salt Lake City, is having a hard time keeping up with demand for qualified ASL teachers (Ravitz).  The Utah issues alone speak volumes of the popularity of ASL.

Growth information for Cued Speech is much more difficult to come by.   According to the National Cued Speech Association, Cued Speech has grown slowly during the past three decades (Roffe, 2000).  Today Cued Speech is used in most of the U.S. States and in about 20 countries.   Its use is constant and solid (Roffe).

The words constant and solid indicate growth in use, but do not provide any reference to growth compared to ASL. One source does provide such information. The Gallaudet Research Institute conducts an annual survey of deaf and hard of hearing youth and children. They publish the information in an annual report, the Regional and National Summary Report of Data from the Annual Survey of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and Youth. Results of the annual survey data are broken into several different categories.

One category, The Primary Method of Teaching, is used to record the language used in the teaching environment of the students in the Gallaudet survey. The category is broken into five sub-groups: Speech Only, Sign and Speech, Sign Only, Cued Speech, and Other (Gallaudet, 2001).  For this research, data from the 1999 and 2003 surveys were compared.

If Cued Speech is growing significantly, one would expect to see the percentage of students being taught using Cued Speech growing between the 1999 and 2003 survey.  This is not the case. In fact, the percentage of students being taught in a Cued Speech environment stayed steady at .4 % (Gallaudet 2001 & 2003).  During the same period, the percentage of students in the Sign Only teaching environment grew from 5.8% in 1999, to 9.5% in 2003 (Gallaudet, 2003).

The survey does not name ASL specifically as the sign language used in the sign only category, but it can be assumed that ASL makes up a majority of the category since it is the most popular sign language in the country.   Based on a comparison of survey information, it does not appear that Cued Speech is about to replace ASL.

Usage issues

A significant difference between the two communication systems is that ASL is a complete language, where Cued Speech is not a language at all.  Cued Speech is a visual representation of the English Language.  Because of that, Cued Speech may have an advantage over ASL in an environment where a translation is being made.

Cueing involves transliterating, not translating (LaSasso, 2003).  Transliterating involves converting exact words into exact visual cues.  A perfect conversion of meaning is possible if the message is cued properly (LaSasso).  ASL, on the other hand, involves translating.  Translating involves converting English to ASL.  An exact translation is much more difficult to achieve using ALS vs. Cued Speech (LaSasso).

A second advantage that Cued Speech has over ASL is the energy required for learning.  ASL is a unique language that can take years for an individual to become fluent, as is true for learning any new language (Caldwell).   Cued Speech takes only about 20 hours to learn, and only several months to become fluent for an individual that already knows the base language (Caldwell).

The big advantage that ASL has over Cued Speech is its popularity in use.   Cued Speech has not been around for a long time.   Young adults that grew up using Cued Speech can use it to communicate with other cuers and their hearing friends that have learned it (Caldwell).  However, Cued Speech is not used as extensively by adults. Unless they learn ASL, individuals who grow up using Cued Speech cannot communicate with the larger community of Deaf adults who use sign language (Caldwell).

Summary

There are significant differences between ASL and Cued Speech.  ASL is a language, where Cued Speech is a visual representation of another language.  Cued Speech is a valuable tool that can be used in addition to ASL to help people with hearing impairments with communication.  It appears that Cued Speech is very useful in an educational environment, but has not yet become dominant in social settings.

After conducting research, it is obvious that Cued Speech is not on the verge of overtaking ASL.  My cousin’s opinion appears to have been made either with bias, or without knowledge of the differences and use of each.

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

Have you ever sat down in an interpreter’s booth, put on the headphones and tried to interpret the incoming speech? I did when I was a young and rather naive student who thought that being bilingual meant one could interpret simultaneously. No sooner had I started that problems arrived. As I was outputting the first sentence, the second one was already coming in but I hadn’t paid enough attention to it. I remembered its beginning but not its ending. Very quickly I fell behind and I just couldn’t say anything more after a few minutes!

Many years later I still remember the scene vividly and because of it, but also because of my own research on the perception and production of speech, I have the utmost respect for interpreters and the training they have to go through to do their job well.

Interpreters come in various types (community, conference, sign language) and interpreting itself is diverse in that it can be consecutive or simultaneous. I will take two extreme cases of interpreting that differ on many aspects including age: bilingual children who act as interpreters and adult simultaneous interpreters.

Recruiting of non-English speakers for U.S.-based and global clinical trialsis on the rise. As a result of this, foreign language translation becomes a critical component of clinical trials management. If done right, translations can play an important role in meeting global product demands. Otherwise, mistakes from poorly done translations can result in product delays, cost overruns, or, even worse, contribute to malpractice or product liability lawsuits.

Are you planning to enroll non-English speaking subjects in a U.S.-based or global clinical trial? If so, you will need to translate informed consent forms (ICF) into the native languages of those individuals to satisfy the requirements of the FDA and/or various directives governing clinical trials in foreign countries.

Based on the practices of leading clinical research companies and its own experience, Global Language Solutions (GLS), a full-service translation company delivering solutions in over 100 languages, offers the following tips for a successful ICF translation:

1. Know the regulations. Among different documents given to a research subject, the informed consent form is, arguably, the most important document. Its wording is carefully monitored by the federal government and IRB institutions. According to the Office for Human Research Protection (OHRP), obtaining consent from subjects who do not speak English must be in the language understandable to the subject, and in most cases, be documented in writing.

2. Readability ensures informed consent. The consent obtained from subjects who do not understand the information in the ICF means that it was not truly “informed”. The Journal of the American Medical Association demonstrated in studies in 1995 and 1999 that the number of Spanish speakers who had difficulty understanding written instructions was almost double of the English speakers presented with the same instructions. Readability helps to ensure informed consent. Aim for the recommended 4-8th grade reading level of the ICF by using “plain English” and, whenever possible, replacing legalese and scientific terms with simpler terms or by explaining them in the text.

3. Remain consistent between the original ICF and its translation. In order to protect the subject’s rights, the translated version of the consent must preserve the original document’s content and style. This includes everything from font size and footer information to descriptive non-medical terms, if that’s what was used in the source document. For example: “high blood pressure” should not be translated as “hypertension”.

4. All words are not created equal. Use precise translation equivalents for key ICF terminology to avoid critical and costly mistakes. For example: “replacement dose” is not the same as “additional dose” and “study” or “research” does not equal “treatment”.

5. Translators are not lawyers. Make sure translators don’t “play lawyer” and modify key sections of the translated ICF (i.e. Risks, Compensation or other sections). Stick to the wording of the original ICF. Since you may not be familiar with the language the ICF is being translated to, make sure you communicate this to your translation provider upfront. If you receive pushback from your language service provider, see tip #8.

6. Me, myself and I. Make sure that Statement of Consent section is translated in first person (“I”, “me”, “my”), not second person (“you”, “your’), as in the rest of the ICF. We have seen some translations where that very important section of the ICF was incorrectly translated in second person.

7. Use translation memory (TM) tools. Translation memory (TM) software analyzes repetitive text in the source documents and then queries a translation memory database to identify previously translated segments. TM tools ensure consistency of terminology, expedite future ICF revisions, and reduce translation costs. These tools should not be confused with Machine Translation (MT) software, which is unusable for ICF translation.

8. Turn to professionals. You’ve heard the saying: “Do what you do best and outsource the rest.” Since translation is most likely not your core competency, you’re probably in the market for a professional translation provider. Ensure your vendor has experience in this vertical, understands the regulations and nuances of ICF translation, and can supply a reputable client list with references.

 To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

ASL’s European Origins

What we call American Sign Language actually has roots in Europe. It is also known that in the 18th century, the teacher of the deaf Abbe de l’Epee of France developed an early form of sign language that contributed to American Sign Language. The Abbe de l’Epee developed a system of manual French similar in concept to Signed Exact English.

France’s Signing Community

However, there was already a signing French community before the Abbe de l’Epee. This was documented by the deaf author Pierre Desloges. Desloges wrote in his 1779 book Observations of a Deaf-Mute that de l’Eppee had learned French sign language from deaf people in France. It appears that for years, the manual system and the “true” system of signing co-existed, with the manual probably being used in the classroom and the “true” system outside of the classroom.

Martha’s Vineyard’s Signing

Nora Ellen Groce’s book, “Everyone Here Spoke Sign Language,” traces the origin of Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL), an early sign language used on the island of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts, where hereditary deafness was common beginning in the 17th century. She traced MVSL back to County Kent in southern England. Groce found in “Samual Pepy’s Diary” that sign language was used in the Kentish “weald” (woodland area). Vineyard residents called their sign “Chilmark Sign Language” after the village of Chilmark where there was a good sized deaf community.

MVSL may have had some influence on the development of American Sign Language when some deaf children from Martha’s Vineyard began attending the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. In addition, as deaf children from around the country attended the school, they probably brought with them “homemade” signs. Over time, these signs probably combined with the other sign language used at the school (including manual English) and developed into what is known as ASL.

Sign Language History Resources

The journal Sign Language Studies from Gallaudet University Press has published articles about the history of sign language. For example, the article “The Study of Natural Sign Language in Eighteenth-Century France,” was in Sign Language Studies, Volume 2, Issue 4, 2002.

Signing in Other Countries

Every country’s sign language has a history. The history is often similar to that of ASL’s development. For example, Nicaraguan sign language developed when Nicaragua’s first school for the deaf was opened. Deaf Life magazine (No.6, December 1996) had a cover story on it.

 To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

Besides, in order to provide the client with a high quality translation, the Account Manager has to be able to listen and communicate well with the client, so that the entire scope of the translation project is understood and correctly passed on to the Production Team, which consists of the Project Manager, Translator, Editor, Proofreader, Designer and also in some cases, a representative from IT.

Once the quote analysis has been received from the Project Manager, the Account Manager provides the client with a detailed quote. The quote needs to be based on the main scope of the project; Quality, Time or Cost. The finalized quote will stem from how well the Account Manager was able to assess the needs of the client.

Along with sending the translation on time, the Account Manager also needs to provide the client with an accurate Invoice, and if the Translation Service was paid by credit card, then also with a Receipt. It is always important to confirm that the client actually received the translation and it always helps to follow up with the client to see if the client has translation needs in the near future.

If all these points are met, I am sure you will have and maintain a very happy and loyal customer for a long time.

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

When approaching different companies who provide conference interpreting it is essential to consider the following: the nature of the business for which the interpreter is required; what languages will be required to be interpreted, and clearly, here it is essential to remember there may be several languages and therefore the need for several interpreters; how many people will be present at the business conference.

When looking for interpreters it is advisable to seek out a company that specialises in conference interpreting. Your business will benefit from the expertise. A good company providing the conference interpreting will want to question you about your specific needs and requirements, so give them as much information as you can.

It is further advisable, to ensure that the company provide you with experienced conference interpreters who have a proven record in that area. Good people skills are essential in this field of work.

You will need to consider the specialised expertise of a conference interpreter, do they have medical knowledge if it is a business conference relating to medical matters. Do they have specialised knowledge of the nature of your business conference. Many subject areas have their own terms and language which must be fully understood by the interpreter.

When seeking business conference interpreters do not try to keep the cost down by engaging a single interpreter. You will find that most companies providing conference interpreters have people working either in pairs or in teams for each language, particularly in cases of high profile meetings involving a stress factor.

It is essential to remember how much money has been invested into your conference. You owe it to them therefore, notwithstanding your own reputation, to provide the best service you can; to make it a pleasant experience for the participants who will wish to return to your business.

Always ensure to compare prices from company to company and don’t just go for the first one to offer a lower cost. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for and where business conferencing and interpreting is concerned, good service will be money well invested.

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

This extend to other fields as well, every tourist knows about the travel guides that translate Italian, French and German to English or English to Italian, French and German. When translating professional documents, financial or legal websites, a translation company must look further than the superficial. They must look at the intent of the words and make sure that the product of the finance or legal translation reflects the intent of the author.

Today’s technology, however, does make the task of translating easier in the sense that at the fingertips of any person, one can access a reference or a professional site and find responses to any questions one might have. Even Google, has created some professional software that can help translating anything in any language spoken today in the world. They employ volunteer translators for languages that are not universally covered, so buyers beware. Just because someone says they can do a finance or legal translation and handle the information for you does not mean there is a knowledgeable person to do so. These services may be tempting to use because they are free, but if your business depends on what your translated documents say then it would be safer to spend the money on a translating agency.

That is where a professional legal translation company comes in. They will rely on native speakers and not on a computer based translation. If you employ a professional language agency you will hire highly accomplished and knowledgeable specialists in the legal or financial fields. Your company will benefit from those translators as they will avoid costly mistakes done by a computer.

Because some companies cut corners translations from signage to medical documents have suffered from poor translation. There are times that this can be humorous, but at other times a simple misunderstanding can lead to unfortunate results or miscommunication of what your business ethic is. The reputation of your company or business rests on the quality of your translations. It is therefore most important that your message is conveyed clearly and accurately particularly in the case of financial or legal translations.

Translators can also take language courses to refresh their skills. They can also keep up with current vocabulary and get the opportunity to practice their native language outside of the working environment. Having an instructor to discuss material with can be a great resource.

Making use of one’s personal resources is another tool that is available to the translator. Friends and family that speak your native language can be useful when having difficulty. Not any single person knows it all, so when in doubt ask for help from others.

No matter where you look there are many resources and tools that translators have at hand. Dictionaries, online or in book form, thesauruses and glossaries are available. There is also online translator websites for simple translation. One can utilize the knowledge of fellow translators when needed. Any number of tools is out there. The translators just needs to go, search and look and they will be amazed to find how much is available out there.

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

Normally, this would be a topic for the appropriate experts in linguistics to discuss. But I can no longer sit on my hands and watch other people make a scapegoat out of ASL. Therefore I would like to share with you my own deaf perspective on this controversial subject.

Granted, illiteracy in the deaf community is nothing new. It’s been a concern for many, many years. I am not surprised at all when people lament the failure of the education system to bring deaf children’s reading and writing levels up to par. Yes, we have failed many deaf children. Yes, we must continue striving for newer and better ways to educate them. But no, we do not need to point our fingers at ASL as the source of the problem.

First of all, let’s take a moment to remind ourselves about deaf history. Illiteracy, as previously mentioned, is a problem that’s been around for a long time. A very long time. Yet if we stop and think about it, ASL has not been around for a long time, at least not in classrooms all over the United States.

The fact is, for most of the 20th century, sign language was not used in the classroom. Oralism was prevalent, and sign language was forbidden. Spoken and written English were the primary means of communication. And, as it still is today, illiteracy was a huge problem. And since ASL was not used in the classroom for most of the century, we cannot blame it for the low reading levels all over the country.

On the contrary, after the philosophy of Total Communication was officially adopted in 1976, opportunities for the deaf skyrocketed. Deaf students have had significantly more access to information in the classroom since then and opportunities for advancement (both academically and professionally) have increased dramatically.

Common sense, really. You can’t learn anything if you don’t understand your teachers. And it is usually sign language that allows most deaf students to understand what’s going on. Look around you and you’ll see more deaf administrators, executives, lawyers, businessmen and entrepreneurs than ever before. Not to sugarcoat anything, mind you. Illiteracy is still a major concern. But if you look carefully at the pattern, ASL has helped more than it has hindered.

In addition to all of this, it is still hard to imagine ASL as the cause of illiteracy because its use in the classroom today is still not as widespread as we might think. For as much as we celebrate ASL, it is actually used by a relatively small number of teachers.

In the November 1997 issue of DeafNation, Trudy Suggs wrote a powerful and sobering article about the number of deaf staff working in deaf schools. The numbers were shockingly low. Only three schools reported that over 40 percent of their staff was deaf. Most responded with numbers between 12 and 35 percent. Many schools refused to respond to the survey at all. The scary thing is Suggs was being generous. She included all deaf staff in her numbers, including aides, maintenance crews, office assistants, dorm staff, coaches, and so on. Had the survey focused exclusively on teachers and administrators, the results would have been far more disconcerting.

No offense at all is intended to the many hearing teachers of deaf students, who are putting forth an incredible amount of effort and dedication into their jobs. But it’s apparent that the number of bona fide, Native ASL-signing staff in deaf schools is very low (during a lecture at the 1998 NAD conference, one educator stated that approximately 12 percent of teachers for the deaf are deaf themselves). Therefore, it makes no sense to blame ASL for whatever literacy problems still exist.

Nonetheless, ASL is still used as a scapegoat for illiteracy. From time to time I’ve seen ASL cited as a possible reason for a child’s lack of English skills. For example, a testimonial by Otto Menzel, Ph.D., was presented to the United States Senate Subcommittee on Public Health and Safety on February 12th, 1998. Truth be told, he gave a very powerful, accurate report on the state of deaf education. I agreed with him in most aspects until he went off on a tangent that appears to pin the blame on excessive use of ASL for today’s disappointing reading levels.

How does ASL wind up taking the blame, anyway? Good question, and I’m going to take a shot at answering it. My belief is that ASL is a victim of guilt by association. Let’s take a look, step-by-step, at how ASL often winds up being the bad guy:

Let’s say a deaf child is born into a hearing family. Such is the nature of this child’s hearing loss is that ASL would be the most beneficial means of communication. Unfortunately, his hearing loss is not identified until he’s almost two years old. By then, a significant language delay is all but guaranteed (note: since the time this article was originally published in mybook Anything But Silent,there have been great strides in testing for hearing loss at birth).

If, at that stage the parents decide to learn ASL, they still have a formidable barrier to overcome. Not only has their child missed out on two years’ worth of language acquisition, but it takes a considerable time (and average of five to seven years, according to information from a Deaf Ed class) for the parents to become fluent in ASL. Considering that the optimal window for picking up language is the first five years of life, we have a real uphill battle in the making (research has indicated that if a child hasn’t had significant access to language by age five, this child will most likely struggle with language and literacy for the rest of his life).

In most cases, however, hearing parents ultimately prefer or are strongly encouraged to choose the mainstream, oral/audist options. Not to criticize those options, as the kids who can thrive in such an environment certainly do. But as for the ones who can’t, they have lost even more valuable time to acquire language.

Now suppose our hypothetical deaf child has had no language at home and has bounced around from one mainstream program to the other with no success. Eventually, he winds up in a residential school where ASL is encouraged. Suddenly, with exponentially increased access, he begins to absorb information. He picks up ASL from his peers and from his teachers. His communication and social skills become vastly improved.

Unfortunately, he is still way behind as far as reading and writing skills are concerned. And then comes the erroneous correlation from professionals everywhere: This kid is using ASL, but he can’t read or write; therefore, it must have been the use of ASL that caused his poor reading and writing skills.

And then, whenever a new, innovative teaching strategy involving ASL is proposed, many people in high places hem and haw and are quick to criticize it. The Bi-Bi philosophy, for example, has been scoffed at by many. It has only been around for a relatively short time and is already being blamed for problems that have existed for over a century. It seems to me, quite frankly, that many people are misinformed and perhaps even intimidated by ASL.

Come on. Illiteracy is a serious problem that must be addressed everywhere, not just in the deaf community. If ASL is the cause of poor reading and writing skills, then what about the incredibly high number ofhearing kids and adults who can’t read? It’s amazing how many people can speak English fluently yet still can’t read or write.

On the other hand, I know many hearing people who are fluent in more than one language; their fluency in a second language does not cause their English to suffer. I feel a need to point this out because I have seen people implying that time spent communicating in ASL takes away from one’s ability to use English. Doesn’t happen. I cite myself, my wife, several relatives and friends as examples. We code-switch all the time and it doesn’t hurt. If anything, I believe it strengthens our minds.

Okay, I’ve rambled enough. While it’s been great defending the merits of ASL, we still have a serious problem with illiteracy, and it’s a problem that needs to be addressed everywhere. Perhaps we can tackle this in a future article.

In the meantime… ASL, the verdict is in: not guilty.

 To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

Legal translation is understood as the translation of technical materials within the field of law. Correspondingly, legal language is a distinct language easy to some extent to those familiar with it, but to whom with which are unfamiliar is of certain difficulty. In other words, Legal language is characterized by a specific language and therefore a specific terminology. So, the would-be 

-1- Terms of Latin and French origin:

 One of many noticeable features of English legal lexicon is the existence of Latinisms (Latin terms) in its terminology. Alcaraz & Brian (2002: 5)¹ link the presence of such terms to certain reasons; we briefly consider them. In the first place, it was inevitable for English law to escape the influence of Latin which was supported by the power of the Roman church over Europe at that time, and also to its widespread use throughout this place of earth as a language of learning and literature. In addition to the incredible power of the Roman law which was a coherent written system, and had strength of an institution over a considerable area of Europe. Here are some Latin phrases and words in common use:

- Bona fide (good faith or in good faith)

-  Res judicata (an issue adjucated)

-  Bes nova ( a new thing; an undecided question of law)

-  Actus reus (guilty act)

-  Alibi (elsewhere; the fact or state of having been elsewhere when an offence was committed) (Garner, B. A, 2001)² 

Like Latinisms, the existence of legal French terms within English legal language is also apparent. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the language of the invaders gained an undeniable position in the legal sphere of England, bringing with it a wealth of legal French terminology (Crystal & Davy 1986: 208) ³. As a case of illustration, the following terms are originally French:

- Contract, proposal, schedule, terms, conditions, policy, alias, quash and so on.

-2- Archaic diction of legal English:

Legal English lexicon is considerably made of archaic legal terms. However, this touch of Archaism is not in vain, it is done on purpose. There are reasons behind this tendency towards archaic words. Tiersma (1999)⁴states that “legal language often strives toward great formality, it naturally gravitates towards archaic language” p. 95.

According to this quotation, archaisms give a flavor of formality to the language to which they belong. Some lawyers prefer to use antique terms instead of new ones. For example, they use ‘imbibe’ as an alternative of ‘drink’, ‘inquire’ rather than ‘ask’, ‘peruse’ instead of ‘read’, ‘forthwith’ as a substitution of ‘right away’ or ‘at once’ and so on. (Examples are used by Alcaraz & Brian, 2002)⁵. Another convenient example is the use of the verb ‘witnesseth’ with the preservation of an ‘eth’ ending for the third person singular of the present tense as an alternative of the current morpheme ‘es’ ‘witnesses’. 

There exist also some archaic adverbs, they are actually a mixture of deictic elements: ‘here’ ‘there’ and ‘where’ with certain prepositions: of, after, by, under etc (Alcaraz & Brian, 2002)⁶. By way of illustration, here are some examples along with their Arabic translations:

Later, Tiersma (1999: 96)⁷ mentions another two reasons for legal language

Conservatism, which are safety and convenience. Accordingly, the more conservative legal terms are, the safer a legal document will be. In other words, this use of antiquated terminology is driven by the need to avoid troublesome changes as far as legal lexical meaning is concerned. The principle, according to crystal and Davy (1986) ⁸, is that “what has been tested and found adequate is best not altered” p 213. Certain archaic words have actually acquired an authoritative interpretation over the years. So, altering them is an absolute risk. Also, this ongoing use of old-fashioned diction is, on the other hand, a matter of convenience. That is, what was workable before can be workable again.

Despite the so called usefulness of the archaic touch within legal language, its functionality is still debatable. It is quite apparent from the examples given previously that certain outdated terms and constructions are truly a handicap for better understanding, they make legal language inaccessible for public reader or more specifically to those who are mainly concerned with legal matters and noticeably such terms render comprehension difficult. So, their unique compensation is seeking advice from lawyers as translators.

-3- Archaic use of the modal “shall” in legal English:

The modal shall pose a level of difficulty in both interpretation of clauses containing it and in the translation of such clauses. Traditionally, the modal shall, in legal texts, carries an obligation or a duty as opposed its common function: expressing futurity (Tiersma: 105) ⁹. More importantly, Sabra (1995: 31) ¹⁰ claims that any legal verb preceded by ‘shall’ is normally translated into Arabic in the present form. For more clarification, we include the following examples along with their Arabic translations

As already stated the modal shall is used basically to demonstrate that the legal subject of a given sentence has a duty not to do something. However, certain sentences in which the modal shall carries a meaning different than that pretended in legal writing can be found. Shall is sometimes used in a way that is truly confusing and causes a dilemma for the translator to assume definitively whether the modal shall is being used for an obligation, futurity or a false imperative. Consider the following examples:

The use of shall, in the two sentences above, bears no consequences on behalf of the legal subject neither wife nor husband. Obviously, The use ofshall in legal texts is widely frequent; and therefore may pose certain difficulty for the translator.

-4 - Lexical repetition or redundancy:

In legal writing, draftsmen avoid the use of anaphoric devices or referential pronouns. Such as: the personal pronouns (he, she, it etc) or the demonstrative ones (this, that, etc), in addition to the verb ‘to do’ that may substitute a whole clause as in the following example, He rents a car and so does his brother (Sabra: 1995) ¹¹. Actually, legal language is highly concerned with the exactness of reference; hence its tendency toward lexical repetition, and therefore to functional redundancy. By way of illustration, consider these examples along with their Arabic translations used by Sabra himself:

Here, if we opt for the possessive pronoun ‘his’ instead of the word ‘Lessor’ in the phrase ‘at the office of the Lessor’ would certainly create confusion and ambiguity. For example:

In this case, it would be confusing whether the intended office is the one of Lessee or that of the Lessor. Consequently, such substitutes may, in many cases, refer to a lexical item other than that intended by the writer.At least this feature of legal writing facilitates the task of the translator to know the exact meaning intended by the legal drafter. However, using anaphoric devises or referential pronouns would definitely increase ambiguity and confusion. Therefore, it will be difficult for the translator to decide precisely which word the pronoun is referring to.

When translating legal texts, it is commonly advocated to keep the same redundancy of the original text since it is a redundancy that is functional. So, the translator should ensure that the version proposed is without ambiguity as its original counterpart.

-5- Unusual use of the words ‘the same’, ‘such’ and ‘said’:

 Using such words in legal language is quite different from using them in ordinary one. The word ‘the same’ usually implies comparison to a similar object or person, but in legal use it refers to sameness of reference. (Tiersma: 88) ¹² For example:  

 - The tenant shall pay all the taxes regularly levied and assessed against Premises and keep the same in repair. 

In this example, ‘the same’ refers to the word ‘Premises’. Correspondingly, Tiersma suggests that the pronoun ‘it’ can conveniently substitute the phrase ‘the same’ (p. 91) ¹³. Also, word like ‘such’ means normally ‘that sort’ or ‘this sort’. Now, observe its use in a legal context:

 - We conclude that the trial court’s order constituted an abuse of discretion in the procedural posture of this case which compels us to set aside such order.

Apparently, the phrase ‘such order’ signifies ‘this order’. So, here, Suchacts in the same way as the demonstrative pronoun ‘this’.

Concerning the function of the word said in legal drafting, it is used as an article or a demonstrative pronoun (Sabra: 43)¹⁴. To illustrate this, we include the following example:

-         Lessee promises to pay a deposit. Said deposit shall accrue interest at a rate of five percent per annum. 

Here, the word ‘said’ could be substituted by the article ‘the’ or the demonstrative pronoun ‘this’ with no loss of meaning. By the way the examples mentioned in this section are originally used by (Tiersma, 1999),

-6- Frequent use of doublets

Actually, there is a common use of such collocations in which synonyms or near- synonyms are combined in pair “doublets” Alcaraz & Brian (2002: 9)¹⁵. Such words can be either nouns, verbs, adjectives or even prepositions. For example:

An important remark is required here, legal drafters, nowadays, do not normally use such pairing of words as a distinction from simple style of expressions, but it is merely a tradition adopted when drafting legal documents (Sabra: 36)¹⁶.

-7- Legal English as a technical language:

We have seen so far that a considerable part of legal English vocabulary is a mixture of archaic terms and terms of Latin and French origin. Another noticeable feature of legal English is its technical terminology. According to Tiersma (1999)¹⁷ “if a word or a phrase is used exclusively by a particular trade or profession or if that profession uses it in a way that differs from its normal meaning and the term has a relatively well-defined sense, it should be considered a technical term” p. 108.

This reveals that a technical term is an unshared term used exclusively by a specific trade or profession. In other words, specialists in the legal sphere are actually equipped by a distinct language peculiar to ordinary people and highly characterized by a vocabulary of technical nature. Accordingly, Alcaraz & Brian (2002: 17) present a classification of technical vocabulary: purely technical terms and semi-technical terms.

-7-1- Purely technical terms: are those that are only applicable in the legal sphere but nowhere else. For example,

Actually, the understanding of such kind of terms is of great importance in grasping any given legal text in which they occur.

-7-2-Semi-technical terms: words and phrases of this group belong to everyday lexicon which has gained extra-meanings in the legal context. So, terms of this type are polysemic, tougher to recognize their precise meaning without resorting to the context in which they occur. The following examples are terms of this type:

General meaning:

Legal meaning:

Actually, purely technical terms are monosemic; that is, having one legal meaning and so having no difficulty for the translator. The latter can simply consult a bilingual dictionary, of course, not a standard dictionarybut a specialized legal one. However, semi-technical vocabulary is a more complex type of terms; they have one meaning or more than one in everyday language and another in the field of law. So, it is recommended for translators to get accustomed to consult specialized dictionaries whenever something in the context alerts them to a usage distinct from standard or everyday usage. Being unaware of this problem, one can take for granted that terms of this type have just a general meaning. 

The main conclusion of this article is that legal English lexicon differs to a great extent from ordinary one. No doubt that such vocabulary does not render legal language clearer, but unfortunately tougher, hard to understand without a considerable familiarity with the legal sphere.

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

Here are some basic steps a person can take into account to minimize the above mentioned challenges.
1) Before you begin sit down with the speaker and have a nice little chat. Get to know their voice and way of expressing themselves, i.e. many times a foreigner speaking English will have an accent that one needs to adapt to in order to fully understand this person.
2) Specifically ask them to please keep their sentences as short as possible and request them if possible to have a minute of practice with you before the conference begins. Any public speaker knows that if the interpreter is not right on they can easily lose their audience, so most of them are happy to do this. 3) Request an outline of their topic beforehand and become familiarized with the subject as much as possible. There might be terminology that is specific to their topic and not so easily translated, remembering that it does not go over well to be requesting help in the middle of the lecture.
4) Considering the subject matter, it might be added, get excited about it! Enthusiasm goes a long way in motivating listeners so if you are really interested in the topic it will no doubt show through.
5) When interpreting avoid looking over at the speaker constantly, it is quite distracting, keep as close as possible to catch every word but maintain your focus on the audience as a whole when speaking.
6) Then again it is recommendable to follow through with the different body gestures of the speaker, without exaggerating of course; it helps maintain an ongoing flow of communication between speaker and audience. It is a well known fact that physical expressions are part of good public speaking.
7) Finally remember that you are only the interpreter, you cannot improve a poor presentation very much, but you can enhance a good one!

To finish I would like to add a little anecdote about a personal experience I had once in this field of conference interpreting. This took place in Paraguay, South America, and the venue was packed, about 500 people or so had turned out to hear this quite famous American speaker. I was sitting next to him on the front row while he was awaiting his turn to make the presentation, so I took advantage of the moment to familiarize myself with him and his topic. He explained his message briefly and then his strategy of catching the attention of the audience. He told me he would use the sport of baseball as an illustration to begin his speech, therefore we would go out there swinging. Before I could react and tell him that nobody in that country had the slightest clue of what baseball was really about, he got up and headed towards the microphone. As you can imagine, swinging, pretending he had a baseball bat in his hands; I was horrified is only a mild way of saying it. Of course I could do nothing else but follow through and needless to say, those first few moments were a total flop. I learned the hard way that it is important to spend a little more time with the speaker before standing up!

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

  Abstract

Legal interpreters perform their vocation in several legal settings, under a specific code of ethics, and at the same time have to confront communicative conflicts and dilemmas. This article explores the mission, the code of ethics, and the challenges, conflicts and dilemmas encountered by court interpreters.

1. INTRODUCTION The demands of courtroom interpreting are complex and legal interpreters have to perform a variety of tasks in order to achieve cross-linguistic and cross-cultural equivalence. Broadly speaking, their mission as agents of languages and cultures determines the outcome of legal procedures and may either lead to success of the communication process or communication breakdown.

This article sets out to examine several features of legal interpreting with specific reference to the controversial issue of ethical conduct and the moral dilemmas interpreters face in court interactions. It will also highlight the need for more explicit standards in the field and specialized training of future interpreters.

2. DEFINITION OF TERM AND MISSION OF THE COURT INTERPRETER

Mark Shuttleworth and Moira Cowie state that Court Interpreting is a term that refers to all kinds of legal interpreting; either it takes place in a courtroom or in other legal settings, such as police departments, prisons, immigration authorities etc. Its basic purpose is to enable the client to participate in proceedings and provide communicative links between claimants, who usually belong to immigrant communities, and the adjudicating body (1997:32), thus ensuring the effective exchange of messages and the success of legal processes.

Court interpreters cover virtually all kinds of legal cases involving people of different age groups, cultural backgrounds, social status and literacy competence. Therefore they need to have general knowledge of various cultural elements and extensive command of vocabulary, ranging from formal legal language to slang and colloquialisms.

Apart from the necessary skills that will enable them to interpret accurately and bridge the linguistic and cultural gaps between claimants and judiciary, interpreters need to prove understanding of legal procedures and be impartial and confidential. Accurate interpretation does not only involve articulating the clients’ claims, but also complying with certain ethical standards in order to ensure the integrity of the justice process.

3. CODE OF ETHICS

‘If the trial is a battle, it is a battle fought with words and the role of discourse strategies in achieving supremacy becomes all important’ (qtd. in Hale 1997b: 201). In the case of court interpreting, such battles are fought by people who cannot speak and understand the legal setting language and the presence of an interpreter is considered essential as a mediator and a necessary contributor in overcoming language barriers and ensuring communication.

However, interpretation in such contexts is bound with ethical standards and considerations that interpreters have to uphold in order to operate effectively and avoid jeopardizing a case’s outcome. Such ethical principles involve fidelity, confidentiality, impartiality and professional conduct (Mikkelson 2000:49-55).

3.1 FIDELITY

Holy Mikkelson states that interpreters have a moral and professional, not to mention legal, commitment to convey the complete meaning of the speaker’s message (2000:49). Since they are the link between claimants, lawyers and the adjudicating body, they have extreme power in the courtroom and need to be very careful in order to conform to the ethical standards of accuracy and faithfulness of clients’ speech.

Therefore, their task does not only involve encoding and decoding speakers’ messages, but also ensuring translation equivalence by preserving the actual words of the original language, adding or deleting nothing. Moreover, they need to maintain all non – verbal elements, such as tone of voice or pauses, so as to convey the whole message of an utterance and avoid distorting the legal process by providing incomplete renditions.

As far as gestures or facial expressions are concerned ‘it can be argued that everyone in the courtroom can see the witness and there is no need for the court interpreter to repeat any movements or facial expressions made by the witness’ (Mikkelson 2000:50). It should be stated however that such non – linguistic elements are often cultural specific and sometimes interpreters need to intervene to the legal process in order to clarify these unstated conventions.

Instances of such interferences are also allowed and considered essential when interpreters have a problem relaying everything stated. Namely, in cases when it is not possible to convey all features of a statement, the court needs to be informed so as to ensure full understanding of a speaker’s testimony.

Finally, when interpreting errors occur, due to misunderstanding or other factors, such as fatigue or rapid speed, all parties have to be briefed and a valid correction is essential.

3.2 CONFIDENTIALITY

‘Interpreters shall respect confidentiality at all times and not seek to take advantage of any information disclosed during their work’. The above is stated in section 4 of the ‘Ethical and Professional Issues’ in the National Register of Public Service Interpreters’ Code of Conduct of the United Kingdom (Mikkelson 2000:50).

Thus, the role of the interpreter is restricted to full secrecy of any major or minor information about the trial process and whatever uttered during the legal procedure. The knowledge interpreters have about a case must be limited to the understanding of the case and preparation of relevant terminology. No details must be revealed or general comments made that may enable manipulation of information and have an impact on the case’s outcome.

3.3 IMPARTIALITY

An important issue that can affect an interpreter’s image and reliability in legal contexts is impartiality. As Muhhamad Gamal argues, impartiality places a special constraint on court interpreters who have to distance themselves from witnesses (1998:55).

Thus, personal opinions and judgements must not be expressed and conclusions that might colour the interpretation process positively or negatively must not be reached so that the jury remains neutral and the outcome of the trial unrestrained. Interpreters should concentrate on their mission and avoid sympathizing or being disdainful of speakers. They should also restrain from conversations with any of the parties, since they might give the impression of interfering with the legal process. However, if they consider it essential to interact with witnesses in order to clarify certain concepts, they should do it privately with the jury’s permission and act distantly and professionally.

It has been often observed that people of the same ethnic group as the interpreter view him/her as an ally and ask for advice or clarifications about the trial. In such cases interpreters must refer those people to the jury explaining that they are unbiased and not allowed to have independent conversations or give advice of any kind.

Even though it is natural for interpreters to form impressions about the claimants and their statements, they should refrain from any personal reactions. Their individual opinions and emotions must be kept in check and they should adopt a neutral attitude. This will ensure all parties that the interpreter is properly qualified and dedicated to professional conduct.

3.4 PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT

There are certain practical guidelines interpreters have to follow in order to comply with the standards of professionalism in legal settings.

As far as their role in the court is concerned, they need to uphold the legal protocol and use proper forms of address for courtroom personnel, as well as bowling or standing and sitting at the appropriate times (Mikkelson 2000:54). They should also be punctual and interpret properly, articulating the correct meaning of statements with the appropriate speed and tone of voice, so as not to disrupt the legal proceedings.

What is also significant is an interpreter’s relations with his/her colleagues. The Spanish Code of Ethics (sections 2.2.7 and 2.2.8) for example, argues that ‘interpreters help their colleagues, present and future, and refrain from expressing opinions about the competence of other interpreters’ (Mikkelson 2000:54). They should therefore manifest solidarity and avoid disputes or conflicts in order to maintain the dignity of each case and the profession in general.

A crucial requirement for professional interpreters is adequate preparation for different cases. Before the beginning of a trial, competent interpreters should research, ensure knowledge of the nature of the case and convey relevant terminology. Furthermore, they should prove integrity in cases when they become aware of any inability to perform their services effectively. In such an instance, they should not only inform all interested parties, but also withdraw from the case so that they do not put legal procedures and outcomes at risk.

Finally, rigorous and specialized training is essential so that interpreters keep up with language development and any modifications in the field. Namely, participation in workshops, professional meetings, interaction with professional colleagues and reading of current literature (Mikkelson 2000:55) is considered crucial so that interpreters are constantly capable of upholding their standards of practice.

4. MORAL CONFLICTS

Interpretation in the legal context is a vexed notion involving faithful rendition of speech according to verbatim standards and excluding transmission of any meaningful concepts or intentions of the speaker. It is therefore viewed as a mechanistic translation process that restricts interpreters from reflecting any unstated conventions by which language operates. This fact affects the interpreters’ role as mediators and makes them face moral dilemmas as to their mission in legal procedures.

As stated in the previous section of this article, accuracy in legal contexts stands for total equivalence of a claimant’s utterances, including dialectal correspondence, stylistic features of speech etc. However, interpreters often have the tendency to either eliminate a speaker’s foreignness, by raising the level of formality when interpreting into the courtroom language, or lowering it, when interpreting into the language of the claimant, in order to establish mutual comprehension.

Sandra Hale provides and comments on several examples of such tendencies of complex interpretation. Firstly, she sets out examples of Spanish claimants’ utterances where the interpreter alters linguistic features and the court gains a wrong impression about the witness’s status. E.g.:

Witness: Ahora, si yo no me tome ningun acto de echarla , porque yo le prometique no la iba a echar . (Now, if I didn’t take any act to throw her out , because I promised her that I wouldn’t throw her out .)

Interpreter: And also I had promised her that I wouldn’t evict her. (1997a: 47)

The above example proves that there are instances when interpreters tailor speakers’ words in such a way in order to conform to the courtroom’s language.

The opposite can happen when interpreters use language familiar to witnesses so as not to confuse and puzzle them. Thus, they opt to transform complex words or sentences in order to avoid misunderstandings and facilitate the legal procedure. E.g.:

Solicitor: And you are the defendant before the court?

Interpreter: Y usted es el que esta aqui en la corte? (And you are the one who is here in court?)

(Hale 1997a: 49)

This example shows that the interpreter deliberately simplified the solicitor’s utterance in order to make it comprehensible to the witness.

The above pattern can also occur when the interpreter and the witness belong in the same cultural community and the interpreter faces the dilemma of assisting and becoming personally involved in the process by elaborating the claimant’s utterances in such a way so as to meet the court’s requirements and help achieve communication between the parties. As Robert Barsky argues, sometimes interpreters provide appropriate contextual information to minimize the damage resulting from behaviour, which is unacceptable in the host culture (1996:55). This is typical in Convention Refugee hearings where interpreters often feel that they should recast information in order to extinguish cultural differences that may interfere in the process and avoid any cross – cultural communication breakdowns.

Barsky provides such an example involving a Pakistani interpreter and a Pakistani claimant that occurred in a hearing in Quebec. The claimant insisted on speaking French, even though he did not have fluent command of the language, probably in order to impress the authorities. E.g.:

Claimant: Moi j’ ai demande Madame, moi demande, Monsieur n’ a pas besoin de translation. Maintenant vous parle pour moi, pourquoi? Moi demander Madame. Je demandais pour moi, moi probleme pakistanais. Elle dit, desole. Moi demander Parisien. France governement, il decide pour moi.

(Literally: Me I asked, Madam, me asked, sir does not need the translation. Now you speak for me. Why? Me ask, Madam. I asked for me, me Pakistani problem. She says, sorry. Me asked Parisian, French Government, it decides for me.)

In this case, the Pakistani interpreter rendered the statement in an acceptable and comprehensible format and supplemented it with additional information, so as to meet the requirements of the Refugee Board.

Interpreter: If I understand correctly, they did not ask the important question: Why

am I sitting in Canada , why did I apply as a refugee? These are the questions that they

should ask. Why was I in prison? Why was my brother killed? Why was I accused of killing the MSF vice president? What he was asked was questions that have nothing to do with the claim. Here is what he is trying to say. They asked questions that had nothing to do with the claim. Why didn’t they ask why I came to Canada ? I was attacked, my brother was assassinated. How many times I have been tortured, imprisoned. And even I have been arrested. They are not talking about the issue that brings to status. They are talking about something different.

However, even though the interpreter managed to achieve comprehensibility between the claimant and the board, this particular witness’s claim has been refused, since no proper interpreter was present during the initial hearing. In that case, the claimant had asked to testify in French, even though he did not have adequate command of the language, in order to impress and convince the French – speaking members of the board (1996: 54).

Unclear material is another critical issue and a major dilemma for interpreters in legal settings. According to Ruth Morris, rules imposed by the court usually forbid the court interpreter to address questions directly to a witness (1995:33). This is a severe flaw that creates deficiencies in the rendering of a speaker’s words and affects the quality of interpreting.

In the following example provided by Morris, the interpreter’s indication about a witness’s slip of the tongue caused the court’s disapproval and reprimand since the speaker’s intention was presumed and clarified. E.g.:

Witness: (in German): Some said they would not travel to Israel .

Interpreter: …to Germany ; witness says Israel but it must be Germany (1995:35).

The burden of interpreters’ responsibilities and the moral dilemmas they face are much more severe when they concern bridging cultural and linguistic gaps in legal contexts where deaf claimants are concerned. Deaf people often view the interpreter as an advocate or an ally, since he/she is the only communicative link between them and the adjudicating body. In these settings it is very difficult for the interpreter to be an invisible presence by performing simple translation tasks and often becomes obtrusive by trying to fill in information gaps, since there are inherent differences between sign and spoken language and concepts that need to be clarified (Brennan 1999:233).

Therefore, interpreters face dilemmas concerning lexical modifications, when they believe that use of certain signs will be difficult for deaf persons to understand or when there is no clear correspondence between specific elements of the two languages. Brennan compares the English language and British Sign Language (BSL) in courtroom settings and states that an ongoing problem for interpreters is the fact that speakers often use English generic terms for which BSL has no direct equivalents. For example, while the English word hit does not clarify how or where someone was hit, the BSL tends to be more specific (1999:233). In this case, the interpreter has to act as mediator and make additions, so as to transmit concrete and eligible information.

All the above illustrations are only a sample of several conflicts and dilemmas court interpreters face in order to facilitate legal procedures and illuminate meanings. It is evident that interpretation in judicial contexts is problematic, since it is restricted to an inflexible and transparent translation process. Therefore, the vital goal of achieving ultimate accuracy through the interplay of culture becomes complex and often unachievable.

5. THE FUTURE

The future of legal interpreting seems ambiguous. The role of court interpreters as agents of culture and negotiators of alien elements and meaningful information is underestimated and reduced to that of a translation device. The deficiencies of the legal norms in this field places emphasis on the need for a formal system that will establish clearer patterns of interpreting behaviour and allow legal interpreters to play an active role in court interactions, so as to translate flexibly, express concepts and meanings and finally draw attention to speakers’ foreignness.

Furthermore, education for proficient court interpreting has to be ameliorated. Academic institutions should provide courses and training, seminars and workshops and finally professional certificates for court interpreters ‘in an attempt to bridge the gap between “generalist” academic training in interpreting and the specific standards and skills required in the professional world’ (Gamal 1998:56).

6. CONCLUSION

This article has attempted to draw attention on certain important concepts about legal interpreting and highlight the critical role of court interpreters in judicial settings. It also commented on some of the challenges and conflicts interpreters are subjected to, in order to fulfil their mission and at the same time comply with the law’s standards. However, one should note that further research has to be carried out in the field, in order to challenge and reflect the need for more explicit codes of ethical conduct, extended education and clearer patterns of interpreters’ behaviour in legal contexts.

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

Verify the interpreter’s qualifications and credentials. In general, interpreting requires the ability to understand the meaning of a spoken message in one language and accurately convey it in a second language without unnecessary additions or deletions and without injecting one’s own opinion. Be sure that legal interpreters have the right credentials, which for courtroom situations means the interpreter needs to be state or federally certified depending on the court. For legal proceedings outside of the courtroom, certification is not required, so if a certified court interpreter is not available, just be sure the interpreter has a strong legal interpreting background. Also, because it is critical that the interpreter have the appropriate skill set and be completely unbiased, it is inappropriate to use a friend or family member of the client or even an untrained in-house staff member to do the interpreting.

Determine what mode of interpreting is needed. Depending on your particular situation, work with your Language Services Provider (LSP) to determine what mode of interpreting would be optimal: consecutive or simultaneous. With consecutive interpreting, the interpreter waits until a complete statement has been spoken and then begins interpreting in the second language, while the speaker waits. With simultaneous interpreting, the interpreter listens to the source message and conveys what is being said in the target language at the same time that the speaker is talking. Simultaneous interpreting usually requires equipment although whispering can be used in some instances.

Provide the interpreter with as much information and support as possible. The more information an interpreter has about a case, the better he or she can prepare for the assignment and effectively interpret. Be sure that the interpreter has access to any documents or other information relevant to the assignment as far in advance as possible. When feasible, a pre-session meeting with the interpreter and legal provider can help to determine ground rules, review terms or documents, and discuss any cultural or logistical issues prior to the interpreting sessio.

Position the interpreter appropriately. You should face the client. The interpreter needs to be to one side of the client, potentially a little behind. This positioning puts the interpreter in the background and emphasizes the key relationship: you and your client.

Use the interpreter to facilitate direct communication, not as a “go-between.” Address the limited-English proficient client directly, as if he or she understood everything. The interpreter will then repeat what is said in the required language. Avoid the use of indirect speech (e.g. “Ask him if…” or “He says that…”) because this can create confusion and a flawed record. Also, be aware that the interpreter must interpret everything that is said in the room, so do not say anything you do not want interpreted.

Speak clearly at a moderate pace and audible volume. Unclear speech is, of course, very difficult to accurately interpret. Try to keep everything clear and to the point, speaking more slowly and in a audible volume. It is also important to pause occasionally to provide enough time for the interpretation. Avoid long, convoluted statements or unfamiliar jargon or acronyms that may be difficult to interpret. Explain legal terms in simple language whenever possible. Ask one question at a time because often subsequent questions are missed or ignored if asked together.

Check for understanding. It is the legal provider’s responsibility to ensure the client understands information and questions. Do not ask the interpreter if the client understands, confirm directly with the client by asking “Do you understand?” so the interpreter can then interpret the question. A nod of the head or even saying “yes” in some cultures may not always indicate that the person understands. It may be necessary to ask the client to repeat what is said for important information that you need to ensure is understood. Also be aware that the interpreter may need to ask for clarification from time to time to make sure the information is correctly and thoroughly interpreted.

Do not ask the interpreters to act as legal assistants. Interpreters should not be asked or expected to explain any legal information, procedures, forms, or concepts or to fill out any documents for the client. Legal providers must provide this information, with the interpreter focused on being the neutral party interpreting what is being conveyed.

The interpreter should not be left alone with the client or allowed to have side conversations. Clients often feel an affinity with the interpreter, which may interfere with the attorney-client relationship. Legal providers need to be present at all times to keep the focus on the attorney-client, relationship rather than on the interpreter. It is also important to discourage any side conversations between the client and the interpreter. Also, refrain from making any side comments to the interpreter, keeping in mind that the role of the interpreter is only to facilitate the conversation between you and the client.

Debrief with the interpreter after the session. When possible, particularly if you will be working on multiple assignments with the client, debrief with the interpreter to examine how the session went and what, if anything, can be improved. This also presents a good opportunity to clarify and provide additional explanation regarding any issues that may have come up in the session.

By following these guidelines and consulting with an LSP about your specific needs, you can maximize the use of interpreting services in order to effectively bridge communication barriers in legal settings in any language. For more information on your language needs, contact us today!

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit http://www.bilingualcare.com.

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

The native speaking interpreters and translators are usually very intelligent and educated. They are almost always very familiar with their culture that is common in that region. Many of today’s expert translation and interpretation services offer translators that have training in that particular field, and concentrate on servicing this specific industry or subject.

When you are in need of translation and interpretation services you will see that there are many different types of translation. Depending on your specific requirements a professional translation service will find the best translator for the task at hand. There is machine translation; machine assisted translation, film translation, sight translation, as well as localization.

Machine translation is where there is no human influence on the translated product. Machine assisted translation involves both human and machine translation. With film translations there is voice over dubbing and subtitles. Sight translation is where a translator interprets a document orally. Localization is basically the general translation of documents to make the product adapt to the target audience.

There are companies that offered specialized interpretation. The two main types of interpretation include consecutive interpretation and simultaneous interpretation. Consecutive interpretation is relayed during the pauses while simultaneous interpretation is an immediate translation. It really depends on your individual needs.

One of the hardest things about finding an interpretation or translation service is locating the company that is going to deliver. Go with one that offers expert, professional translation and interpretation services.

If you are in need of conservative interpretation services, visit Bilingual Resources Group

Our simultaneous interpreters are carefully selected to have the specialized knowledge needed for each event. We seek out interpreters who are not only familiar with your audience’s dialect, but also who understand the subject being interpreted.

Conference interpreting requires a lot more than just being bilingual. Our simultaneous interpreters are professional – they interpret regularly at conferences. The skills involved are different from interpreting in a courtroom or doctor’s office because of the rapid-fire pace.  An excellent written translator may make a poor interpreter because the skills are very different.

Professional interpreters work in teams of two (or occasionally, three). This is because the process of simultaneous interpreting is so concentration-intensive, they have to take frequent breaks. Most team members work about ten minutes on, ten minutes off.

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

Most multilingual families have discovered that a fixed language system in the home greatly reduces the tendency for children to mix the languages — or worse, the flat-out refusal to speak the second language. One parent expressed it perfectly; “I’ve noticed that when Anna gets overwhelmed by something, she just tunes out. I guess that it is the toddler safety mechanism against information overload.” Kees van der Laan continued, “But I really don’t want her to tune out my Dutch, so my wife and I agreed on a language combination that we can both live by, while keeping it simple for Anna. I feel that the consistency is ultimately more important than which kind of system we use.” In choosing your system, you’ll absolutely need to consider what will work best for your family, but here are the two most popular methods:

1. One Person, One Language (OPOL) is the most common family language system in use. For instance, Kees speaks his native Dutch, while his wife speaks English. Each parent or caregiver consistently speaks only one language to the child. Sometimes OPOL requires extra “language supplements,” such as playgroups, visits from family, a trip to the country, or a native speaking nanny or au-pair. It helps tremendously for your child to hear that his parent isn’t the only one who speaks this language. Kids are savvy little creatures who are quite capable of reasoning that they don’t really need to know a language if it is only spoken by one other person.
2. A second option, slightly less common but tremendously successful isMinority Language at Home (ML@H). It simply means that everyone speaks the minority language at home, even if this language is not the native languageof both parents. It is probably the most reliable method for raising truly native speaking children since it ensures consistent interaction from birth until the child leaves home. However, the ML@H parent has to be able to quell doubts and stay the course unwaveringly. When your child isn’t speaking the community language on the same level as his or her monolingual peers (generally the ML@H child doesn’t reach parity with them until around 5 years of age), it’s difficult not to worry. The McColloughs in Germany remember “We were watching other children jabbering away in complete German sentences, while Patrick seemed incapable of getting out two or three connected words.” Within months after starting preschool, however, he had transformed completely. “Now he can’t stop talking in either language.” Even when you know that your child is going to catch up, it can be daunting to watch him struggle. Some parents fear that he will never learn the primary language, even though this really only occurs when children are isolated from the primary language within a minority speaking community.
3. Frankly, any pattern that works for your family and provides enough interaction in the second language is fine. Examples of such variations are: (1) one language is spoken every day, the other on extended vacations to another country; (2) one language is spoken in a certain location (e.g. if the children attend an immersion program), the other at home.

As you can see, the raising of multilingual children is a flexible and highly personal process, so just adapt the basic language systems to something that fits your lifestyle. Even the most highly-trained athlete couldn’t finish a marathon in ill-fitting shoes, and all your training won’t help if you aren’t settled comfortably for the long haul. Remember, it isn’t all on you; you can find an immersion program, call upon grandparents, organize playgroups and schedule frequent visits to your country — good for junior’s language, but just as helpful and fun for you.

But, what if you feel that your child still isn’t getting enough language exposure? How do you motivate him to speak your language back to you? What if you find yourself letting the language system to slip to the wayside? In short, what do you do when you see signs of your carefully laid plans getting derailed?

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

But today, many of the more than 200,000 people who use American Sign Language avoid using this sign because it is a reference to a stereotypical physical feature, slanted eyes.

Instead, many deaf people here are adopting the Japanese’s sign for themselves: pressing the thumb and index fingers of both hands together and then pulling them apart, carving the silhouette of Japan into the air.

Dorothy Casterline, a 65-year-old deaf woman of Japanese descent who lives in Laurel, Md., said: “When I was growing up, I didn’t give that sign a thought. But now that we are becoming aware of cultural differences, people have feelings about it.” Visually Provocative

The signs that are changing, like the spoken words that are dropping out of polite usage, are often those for ethnic groups. “In American Sign Language, politically incorrect terms are often a visual representation of the ugly metaphors we have about people,” said Prof. Elissa Newport, a psychologist at the University of Rochester who studies how signed languages are learned.

The signs for “Chinese” and “Korean,” which are made by forming the letters “C” and “K” around the eye, are changing. There is a new sign for “African-American”; by contrast, “Negro” was indicated by flattening the nose.” The old sign for “homosexual” was a swish of the wrist. One sign replacing it is to sign “q” for “queer,” a term once rejected by homosexuals but now in vogue among some.

And a sign for “stingy,” derived from the sign for “Jewish” (stroking an imaginary beard), has started discussions among deaf Jews around the country, though no new sign has actually shown up in its stead. The sign adds a clenched or tight fist to the imaginary beard.

“Political correctness has definitely crept into the deaf world,” said Prof. Yerker Andersson, a sociologist here at Gallaudet University, the world’s only liberal arts college for the deaf. “Though I don’t always care to use that label, because some people use it negatively. When I say ‘political correctness,’ I mean ‘increased sensitivity.’ “

For many deaf people, the new signs are not only indications of sensitivity to those who feel slighted by stereotypes, but the signs also reflect deaf people’s desire for recognition as a distinct group that deserves the same sort of deference being extended to ethnic, religious and racial minorities.

But replacing what have become regarded as insults with acceptable signs that also work visually is not simple. After the old sign for “Negro” came to be seen as pejorative, it was replaced by either of the signs for the color “black.” In one, the index finger is placed by the eyebrow; in the other, it is wiped across the forehead.

Today, some deaf people, like hearing people, prefer the sign for “African-American.” But the sign for “African” is changing, too, in part because it is still centered around the nose. The new sign is simply to outline the continent of Africa in the air with one’s hand.

As the old sign for homosexual was dropped because of its suggestion that homosexuals were effeminate, an alternative sign was to run a middle finger through the hair, though most homosexuals also regarded that sign as an epithet because of its overtly feminine character.

The appropriate way to sign “homosexual” these days is to finger-spell it, or to place the sign for the letter “q” on the chin.

Sign language changes gradually, just as English does. The fine-tuned, sensitized signs have caught on mostly in urban settings and among the highly educated, much in the same way that words like “African-American” caught on first at college campuses. The changes have not yet been registered in the most widely available dictionaries of sign language.

Most sociologists believe that this attention to diversity has taken longer to catch on in the deaf community. “Deaf people have less access to the media,” Professor Andersson said. “Hearing people, obviously, hear everything, everything, so they become more aware of small cultural changes. It takes deaf people a bit more time to realize them.”

Some educators and sociologists also believe that these efforts to modify American Sign Language are of marginal value.

“Political correctness in the deaf community is certainly meaningful to a degree, because it addresses the stereotypes of certain groups,” said Frederic Jondreau, the director of the American Sign Language Institute in Manhattan. “But I think its overall impact is questionable. The deaf don’t really have the luxury of fully dealing with issues like race and gender yet. They’re still addressing issues in deafness, like the acceptance of sign language.”

Some of the recent revisions in American Sign Language reflect this respect for linguistic sovereignty. Over the last 10 years, the deaf community has adopted dozens of signs that deaf people in other nations use for themselves, even though some of their earlier versions were not considered offensive.

Professor Andersson, who is also the President of the World Federation for the Deaf, says that deaf Americans are also adopting these signs because they have had more contact with their peers abroad in the last few years.

But he and other educators agree that this borrowing frenzy would never have happened if the culture at large had not become so attuned to issues of ethnic diversity.

“If there was no American sensitivity to political correctness, no one in the deaf community would be paying much attention to this,” Mr. Jondreau said.

At times, the use of these foreign signs can get a bit complicated.

For example, putting one hand face down in front of the body and plucking something off it with the other, as if pulling a tissue out of a box, is the new American sign for Swedish. This sign, derived from mountains, is the one that deaf Swedes use for themselves. But in some dialects of American Sign Language it means “bald,” and many Swedes would not consider that a compliment.

“When I first saw the sign, I thought, ‘What do I do here about political correctness?’ ” said Ted Supalla, a professor of linguistics at the University of Rochester who specializes in signed languages. “But then I thought, ‘Well it’s their sign, I really should use it.’ “

But this trend can also erase damaging stereotypes about the United States. The deaf in this country have recently begun to encourage their counterparts abroad to change their stereotyped signs for “American” to the sign that deaf Americans use for themselves. That sign is to lightly weave the fingers of both hands together in front of the body and bring them around in a circle, as if stirring a pot.

In Russia, this change certainly casts the United States in a more flattering light. There, the previous sign for “American” was to suggest a big belly with one hand and simultaneously mouth the word “capitalism.”

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

This article attempts to bring together aspects of genres and legal translation to investigate how these decisive factors can contribute to translation of official documents from Persian to English. First, it provides some conceptual knowledge about the concept of genre in translation studies, and then discusses the impact that it has on translation demands concerning types of official documents. Finally, the macrostructure of a legal genre, which entails the identification and application of genres pertinent to official translation, is rendered as a specimen.

Official documents, such as certificates of birth or marriage, are usually among the most often translated specialized texts because of their extensive public usefulness. They are classified as legal texts (Zralka, 2007) for at least two reasons. First, they are used for matters connected with law, like proving a subject’s identity or marital status, and are prepared most often in the form of sworn translations. Secondly, they share many typical formal characteristics of other legal documents and, at the same time, specialized texts.

The recent spate in international trade in the post globalization period has boosted the demand for official translation services. A cursory glance at the bulk of official documents that required to be translated reveals a striking trend in this kind of translation, which is definitely discernible. The causes for this trend are enormous and encompass requirement of accompanying documentation for education and profession oversea, and the mass mobility of people around the world, which has led to immigration. So as the bulk of official translations increase, the pressure on translators’ shoulders to work more quickly efficiently is more tangible. Some translators focus their attentions on computerized tools in the hope that technology may aid them promote their rendering. Although this trend may be reckoned as a sound way out in certain cases, it is not necessarily an empowering strategy in all circumstances.

The purpose of this article is to suggest that the identification of legal genres common between parallel official documents offers a feasible alternative for translators who are willing to have a scrutiny into the nature of the particular texts they are dealing with as well as to concentrate on increased insight and functionality of translation in the original document. To achieve this, Certificates from Persian (Sheikhbahaee University) plus Norwich City College (Great Britain) were compared from the point of legal genres.

2. Concept of Genre in Translation Studies

Generally defined as the study of situated linguistic behavior in institutionalized academic or professional settings, genre analysis has its crucial characteristics for our translation purpose (Bhatia, 1997: 205):

• Genre analysis shows a genuine interest in the use of language to achieve communicative goals rather than a detailed extension, validation or otherwise of one linguistic framework to the other. Therefore, it is not just an extension of linguistic formalism.
• Genre theory exploits all aspects of socio-cognitive knowledge situated in disciplinary cultures in order to analyze construction, interpretation and use of linguistic communication to achieve non-linguistic goals.

Fortunately, the relevance of genre and genre analysis has begun to be recognized if not widely studied in translation theory and practice in recent years, especially in a text-linguistic approach to translation. Such an approach has helped to increase our sensitivity to the linguistic patterning at various levels and thus makes us aware of the complexity of translation competence (Schäffner, 2000).

It was Katharina Reiß (1971) who first investigated the intricate relationship between genres and translation, though she was mainly concerned with text types and not with genres. Based on Buhler’s three functions of language, Reiß derived three corresponding dimensions of language and formulated three corresponding text types, i.e. informative, expressive, and appellative. These three text types are then linked to three specific translation methods: a straightforward one, that of identifying, and that of adaptation (Schäffner, 2000: 212).

But what seems to be wrong with Reiß’s typology, according to Snell-Hornby (1988: 32), is “the use of box-like categories as a kind of prescriptive grid, creating the illusion of clear-cut objectivity. When applied to real-life translation in all its complexity, Reiß’s typology results, not in scientific objectivity, but in distortion.” For her own part, Snell-Hornby developed an integrated approach towards translation for text types, while not forgetting the blurred edges and overlapping existed among them. From level A to F, level B presents a prototypology of the basic text types. At the end of the scales are the special language text-types, the main fare of the modern professional translator (ibid. p.33); in the training institutes the major areas are law, economics, medicine, science and technology, and these are now being further dealt with intensively in academic and business studies, quite a number of such research can be found in the two volumes edited by Trosborg (1997, 2000): For example, Bhatia (1997) argues that it is crucial to maintain generic integrity of the intended genre when translating legal texts and proposed the adaptation to readership in terms of “easification”.

Göpferich (1995) analyzes a number of German and English professional genres (e.g. instructional manuals, patent specifications, conference reports) and finds, among other things, that conference reports and book reviews seem to have more flexible macrostructures in contrast to patent specifications in the scientific and technical areas. Schäffner (2000) illustrates the advantages of parallel text analysis based on two sample genres, i.e. between English and German job offers and news reports.

3. Legal Genres in Translation

According to Alcaraz and Hughes (2002), ‘genre’ or ‘text type’ refers to “each of the specific classes of texts characteristic of a given scientific community or professional group and distinguished from each other by certain features of vocabulary, form and style, which are wholly function-specific and conventional in nature. Texts belonging to a given genre display at least the following stylistic and formal features:

• A shared communicative function expressed by means of the same performative verb. For example, all injunctions are in the form of orders that must be strictly complied with, whether they involve performing an act or refraining from a specific action; this peremptory nature of the order is thus built into the text in the form of a warning as to the consequences of non-compliance.
• A similar macrostructure, i.e., format or organizational outlines. For instance, all judgments are arranged into a minimum of three basic sections: facts as found, relevant law, and decision or ruling.
• A similar discursive mode of developing the macrostructure (narrative, descriptive, imperative, and optative) and similar discourse techniques aimed at satisfying the discourse expectations of the recipient or addressee.
• A common lexical and syntactic arrangement of the material and a common set of functional units and formal features, e.g. in statutes and other legislative texts, the abundant use of indefinite pronouns, passives and impersonal forms of the verb,” shall’ forms of the future to indicate legal obligation, extensive lists of categories or classes of persons and objects to whom or to which the law applies, and so on.
• Common socio-pragmatic conventions, e.g. the hierarchical structure of the judiciary as reflected in the abbreviated titles of different judges, and the appropriate style of address (‘my Lord,’ ‘your Lordships,’ ‘your Honor,’ ‘your Worship,’ together with the highly conventional use of certain verbs or verb phrases in given contexts (‘submit,’ ‘put it to you.’ ‘crave,’ ‘petition,’ ‘pray,’ ‘grant,’ ‘give leave,’ ‘restore [an injunction],’ ‘discharge [an injunction],’ ‘strike out,’ etc.)(Alcaraz and Hughes, 2002: 101-102).

4. Legal and Official Documents

Regrettably, fuzzy demarcation in relation to other fields of translation is one of the criticisms leveled against official translation. As pointed out by Mayoral Ascencio (2003: 1), it overlaps with fields such as oral translation, legal translation, court translating and interpreting, and community interpreting. Nevertheless, he proposes the following broad definition for official translations “translations that meet the requirements to serve as legally valid instruments in a target country” (2003: 1). These may include birth, death, marriage or divorce certificates, academic transcripts, and legal documents. This specialized field of translation is as important as it is fraught with difficulties, for only in few fields are cultural differences so acute and the consequences of errors so palpable. In a globalizing world, and in the increasingly smaller world we live in, official institutions increasingly depend on translations of official documents, and yet relatively little is being done to develop the necessary skills and tools to help translators working in this field.

As pointed out by Zaro and Truman (1998: 77), the language used in legal and official documents has some common characteristics: it is highly stereotypical, conventionalized and conservative in nature, with a high proportion of set formulae. In addition, it retains morphological, syntactical and lexical features that are no longer used in other types of texts. For instance, the first and second excerpts taken from a power of attorney document, while the third one deals with a birth certificate:

• KNOW ALL MEN by the Presents that I, Edward J. Morrison, HEREBY APPOINT Eleanor Abercrombie, hereafter called my Attorney, to act for me in every respect as fully and effectually as I could act in person concerning all my present and future affairs.
• AND I HEREBY DECLARE that these presents shall be irrevocable for Twelve months from the date hereof and shall at all times be conclusively binding on me and my personal Representatives in favor of third parties.
• IN WITNESS whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this 23rd day of the month of March in the year of our Lord, One thousand, nine hundred and Ninety-eight.

The main aim of this style of language is to make very specific and precise statements, and to avoid wherever possible connotations and ambiguities, to such an extent that it frequently becomes reiterative and repetitive. Nevertheless, there are significant differences in terms of cultural contexts. The functionalist approaches in translation science lay great stress on the principle of cultural embeddedness of the source and the target languages and accordingly view translation as an intercultural transfer( Gambier 2004: 160).In legal communication based on legal texts, communicative situations are directly affected by the legal systems of the source and target cultures. The legal system of one of the parties involved or, more rarely, a supranational legal system is generally adopted as the communication framework and thus defines the language to be used. The translatability of legal texts, however, directly depends on the relatedness of the legal systems underlying the translation. The communicating parties therefore need to be well acquainted with the legal system(s) involved. This is especially the case when using English as the language of communication, as the Anglo-American legal system, based essentially on common law differs substantially from continental law, to which most of European countries belong as well as Persian legal system founded on the Islamic law. The nonequivalence of many legal concepts and terms pertaining to these systems thus has to be taken into consideration (Shiravi, 2004:7).

Given the differences between legal systems, the translator often has to resort to adaptation and is obliged to convey the message by replacing cultural elements in the source language with their nearest equivalents in the target language.

Zaro and Truman (1998: 77) emphasize that legal translation represents something of a compromise. Translators usually strive to achieve acceptability in both the target language and the cultural references that it contains, especially in official translations, which have a clearly defined role to play in legal processes. One fact that makes life easier for the translators is the constant repetition of set formulae and text types, which can facilitate the translationprocess, assuming, of course, that the translator has acquired the experience and knowledge to deal confidently with the specialized terminology.

5. The Macrostructure of Academic Certificates

A good example of a highly conventional genre is the university degree or certificate. Because of the increasing mobility of university students and researchers, translators encounter this type of administrative text on a regular basis. A brief look at the standard macrostructure (layout or outline) of Persian and English specimens shows a striking similarity of scheme, which may be brought under the following headings:

English: Identification of the issuing authorities:
Persian: Taeeine maghamat saderkonandeh madarek daneshgahi
English: The Chief Registrar of the University of ……hereby attests to the fact that:
Academic justification for the award:
Persian: Modir kole amozeshe daneshgah… Bedin vasileh taeed minamayad: Ba tavajoh
be ekhtiyarate tafizi:
English: … on the recommendation of the Senate of the University …
Purpose of the certificate (expressed by a performative verb):
Persian: Nazar be pishnahade shorayeh ali daneshgah…
Ea’lam midarad:
English: … does hereby confer upon ……the degree of ….
Rights and privileges conferred by the award:
Persian: Bedin vasile daneshnameh… be… ea’ta migardad…
En gavahy jahat bahremandy azhoghogh va emtiyazate ea’taeenashi az in
daneshname sader gardideh ast.
English: … with all the rights and privileges appertaining thereto ….
The marking scale:
Persian: Ba koliyehhoghoghvaemtiyazatemarbuteh…
Melake nomrehgozari:
English: Place and date of issue:
Persian: Tarikh va mahale sodur:
English: Drawn up at…
Signature:
Persian: Tarikhe tanzim…
Emza:
English: The University Chancellor/Rector/Board of Trustees.
Persian: Reise Daneshgah/Reise/Heyate Omana(Adapted from Sheikhbahaee University, Isfahan, Iran & Norwich City College, Great Britain).

As can be seen from above Certificates, restating a message in another language requires constant creativity; here we find ourselves moving imperceptibly from the notion of translation to that of expression. Each time the context shifts, the same word takes on a slightly different meaning which must almost invariably be rendered by a different word in the target language. Therefore, it is no longer a question of knowing the lexical equivalents of words in two different languages that can serve as automatic substitutes for one another, but of finding terms that will express “the same thing’’ regardless of the words used in the original statement.

6. Conclusion

A useful innovation in the theory and practice of specialized translation is the concept of genre. The identification of genres is useful for translators since it helps them focus on the particular needs and functions being catered to in the original document, and to look further and deeper into the nature of the particular texts they are dealing with, such as issues of lexical equivalence (polysemy, synonymity), syntactic equivalence (nominalization, passivity, modality, word order) or stylistic equivalence (solemnity, formality, figures of speech and other rhetorical devices, severity or asperity of tone in oral utterances, and so on). In this article, an attempt was made to present genre analysis as feasible strategy towards the translation of official documents as well as to indicate how genre analysis can be effectively carried out to maintain genre integrity in specialized translations. The technical and stereotyped nature of certificates demands an expert knowledge of linguistic, technical and educational factors if translations of texts are to be faithfully done.

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.

Consecutive interpreting.

This is more of a start and stop interpreting technique. For instance, you, as the client, would speak a brief portion then let the interpreter translate what was said. This process just keeps repeating itself.

• This method is typically used when interpreting by telephone, for meetings and in court.
• Consecutive interpreting can take twice the time due to stopping & starting the conversation. You’ll want to factor this into both your budget and your schedule.

Simultaneous interpreting.

With this method, interpreters and other speakers are basically talking at the same time, with the interpreter lagging behind by a half word.

• You’ll typically find interpreters located away from the session noise or in a sound-proof booth. Portable microphones, headphones and pocket-sized receivers may be used.
• Works well for larger groups, such as conferences, conventions and tours.
• Depending on the length of your session, you may want to schedule two interpreters who can take turns translating.

Sight translation.

Interpreters are asked to read some type of written document out loud to an audience that is written in another language.

• Typically this is used in meetings, court hearings, and in hospitals or other care facilities.

When might interpreters be needed?

• When you have visitors from facilities or locations outside the U.S.
• In hospitals and other care facilities ensuring patients clearly understand treatment plans.
• In the judicial system, again, ensuring that those who speak a limited amount of (or even no) English are represented fairly in court.
• At conferences and events, especially since many are now more global in nature
• For internal training at U.S.-based or foreign-based locations.
• Meetings with attorneys, CPAs or other professional-based providers.

To find out how Bilingual Resources Group can support your interpretation, translation and bilingual staffing needs, please call 504-253-0364 or visit www.bilingualcare.com.