http://bit.ly/AqPOMX

La decisión de un juez del Tribunal Superior de Arizona que le prohibió a Alejandrina Cabrera, una candidata a concejal del municipio de San Luis, Arizona, integrar una lista electoral debido a lo que él llamó “amplia brecha” entre su dominio del inglés y los requisitos del cargo pone de manifiesto lo irónico del debate sobre la comunicación en la esfera pública.

Durante los más de treinta años que me he dedicado a los idiomas, primero como intérprete, traductor y editor, y luego como presidente de una empresa proveedora de servicios de idioma para las industrias de los servicios financieros y de atención médica, entre otras áreas, he podido observar lo que percibo como una “falta de comunicación” constante e intencional entre los funcionarios públicos y los ciudadanos a quienes son elegidos para representar.

Si bien ya pasó bastante tiempo, tengo muy presente una audiencia pública programada a fines de los años ochenta con el propósito de analizar la posibilidad de instalar un incinerador de residuos tóxicos en la ciudad de Vernon – ocho millas al sur del centro de Los Angeles – al lado de la fábrica de salchichas y fiambres de Oscar Mayer y otras empresas procesadoras de alimentos.

La única notificación de la audiencia había sido publicada en un periódico de Chicago –en inglés solamente, por supuesto– aunque se trataba de una decisión que afectaría la salud y el bienestar de miles de residentes de la región este de Los Angeles, de los cuales muchos hablaban solamente español. En la audiencia inicial no se suministró ningún intérprete de español. Recién cuando llegaron los activistas acompañados de cientos de seguidores (conmigo como intérprete) se pudo escuchar o comprender la opinión de la amplia mayoría de los ciudadanos.

Prohibir a un candidato a un cargo público en una ciudad como San Luis, Arizona, donde el 99% de la población habla español, es el colmo de las ironías. ¿No sería mucho más lógico pedirles a los concejales que hablen y comprendan español, en lugar de que tengan un determinado nivel de dominio del inglés?

Exigirle a un funcionario público que pueda comunicarse en un idioma que solamente una minoría de la población de la ciudad entiende refleja lo absurdo del debate actual sobre el acceso al idioma en los Estados Unidos. Es más, el nivel de dominio en este caso es, como mucho, subjetivo, y desde ya poco claro.

Aunque no cabe duda de que el inglés es el idioma preponderante en la sociedad estadounidense, y deberíamos hacer todo lo que esté a nuestro alcance para ayudar a los inmigrantes y otras personas que no hablan inglés a aprender el idioma y comunicarse bien, no hay ningún motivo para discriminar a nuestros ciudadanos –y sus representantes– que no hablan inglés como idioma nativo. Vivimos en una sociedad cosmopolita, formada por inmigrantes, que se basa en el principio de que todos los ciudadanos tienen derecho a expresarse en democracia. Negarle el acceso a los ciudadanos o a los funcionarios públicos al gobierno representativo es una medida completamente injustificada.

Otra ironía del caso es que el informe que reveló la falta de dominio del idioma de la candidata se basó en una evaluación realizada por un sociolingüista nacido en Australia. Esto plantea un interesante interrogante: si comprender un acento o una jerga en particular es parte de la prueba de nivel. Por ejemplo, ¿podrían aprobar las pruebas de nivel en inglés estándar los oficiales públicos de determinadas zonas geográficas o ciertos grupos étnicos, dadas las diferencias de vocabulario e incluso gramaticales que existen dentro del propio idioma?

La principal prueba del nivel de competencia de los funcionarios públicos para desempeñarse como tales tendría que evaluar su capacidad para representar eficazmente a sus propios ciudadanos. Podría decirse que una concejala hispanoparlante con dominio limitado del inglés está, como mínimo, tan capacitada para representar a los ciudadanos de habla hispana como un hablante nativo de inglés con dominio limitado o nulo del español.

Lo que más me preocupa es que esta controversia idiomática –como muchas otras de los últimos tiempos– podría ser un ataque encubierto más contra los inmigrantes. En un país fundado y construido por inmigrantes, muchos de los cuales llegaron sin saber una palabra de inglés, nuestro futuro dependerá de la posibilidad de brindarles una oportunidad a todos los habitantes de nuestro país, incluidos aquellos que recién están aprendiendo el idioma.

En lo que respecta al dominio del idioma y la comunicación intercultural efectiva, hay muchas herramientas a nuestra disposición para educar e informar a las personas que no hablan inglés, e integrarlas al idioma y la cultura estadounidenses. Pero cuando el idioma tiene el potencial para ser usado como una forma de discriminar a las personas que no hablan inglés o excluirlas de los debates democráticos, son todos los ciudadanos estadounidenses los que sufren.

You can read the entire article here: http://bit.ly/sfoMQN

It’s that time of year again — time to focus on the good deeds and charitable giving initiatives of the language services industry. How did translation and interpreting companies give back and pay it forward over the past twelve months? Let us count the ways:

Helping disseminate linguistic and cultural knowledge. If everyone spoke the same language, translation wouldn’t be necessary, right? That didn’t stop Eriksen Translations from donating its translation, subtitling, and voice-over services to the We Are New York project, an Emmy-winning television series designed to help immigrants learn English. In a similar vein, Blue Pearls supported those who could not afford the price of English education through various charitable activities. Meanwhile, Terralingua started the Voices of the Earth project to document oral traditions and transmit them to younger generations.

Fighting for cures to diseases. CETRA has raised more than $40,000 for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, including $16,000 in its most recent fundraiser. Global Language Solutions (GLS) team members participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, and also provides financial and in-kind donations to Talk About Curing Autism. ALTA participates in AIDS Walk Atlanta, the Southeast’s largest fundraising event for AIDS research.

Looking out for underprivileged children. UK-based Wolfestone Translation conducted various fundraisers for children, and enlisted the help of its customers by inviting them to donate to BBC Children in Need with each translation performed. Indian translation company Lyric Labs donated money, school uniforms, and study materials for schoolchildren in rural Tamil Nadu. Verztec held a fundraiser for Life Community Services Society, which serves poor and needy children throughout Singapore. Ccaps sponsored the education of a child in Brazil, while Poland-based Argos Translations supported the Children’s Aid Foundation, among numerous other charities. Translation Plus now sponsors 40 children through Save the Children and Child Fund. Babylon launched a donation program called Babylon in Every School, to give children access to language resources and dictionaries. Skrivanek has various giving programs, including one to provide study materials for children in rural Afghanistan.

Assisting disaster victims in Japan and Haiti. After the earthquake rocked Japan, translation companies such as Translia, thebigword, One Hour Translation, and Pacific Interpreters donated money, support for rescue workers, and other forms of aid. Companies like Web Translations and ETLS International offered free or discounted translations for Haitian Creole to help organizations involved in rebuilding Haiti’s infrastructure. Translators without Borders is developing a medical triage dictionary for Haitian Creole, and ALTA has pledged resources to translate and record medical phrases. Fellow translation company Idem donated funds to the Haiti Earthquake Response by Doctors without Borders.

Supporting the needy in Africa and beyond. Anzu Global donates 10% of its pre-tax profits to charities, and hosted a fundraiser to support water irrigation in Niger. Logrus International donated to Turner Broadcasting’s charity program for Ethiopia. CETRA participated in a donation matching program to support clean water in Cameroon. Amesto supports CARE Norway, the world’s third largest aid organization. Carma makes monthly donations to Doctors without Borders as well as discounted rates to numerous other foundations. Multi-Languages Corporation supported vulnerable communities in Canada and elsewhere in the world. Schreiber Translations collected items and donations for people in need, and Euroscript implemented a corporate social responsibility and sustainable development management system. The SDL Foundation donated £25,000 to provide clean water and hygiene education to more than 1,300 people in eight different communities.

Donating services and support for important causes. ISI Translation Services translated the website for the Chiapas Project, and helped edit the Spanish translation of March to Freedom: A Memoir of the Holocaust. Lionbridge donated translation services for the Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia website, and In Every Language supported various contract interpreters. Twin Translations sprung to action to help colleague Álvaro Degives-Más, co-founder of the Nevada Interpreters and Translators Association, raising money for emergency medical bills and treatment. The AIIC created a Solidarity Fund to provide assistance to interpreters in need due to accidents, illnesses, or other unexpected setbacks. K. International supported the environment, adopting a former coal mining site and setting a goal to plant 50,000 trees.

Translating one million words for humanity. Translators without Borders has donated more than one million words to humanitarian organizations around the world, equating to approximately $200,000 worth of services. It received major sponsorship from many companies, chiefly from Rubric and SDL. Other firms in the industry that donated their support included Applied Language Solutions, Asian Absolute, the Association of Translation Companies, Conversis, Exprimo, Folio Online, Global Textware, Lido-Lang, Lionbridge, Medilingua, Multilingual Computing, Petras & Associates, Priebe & Associates, ProZ.com, Simulta, STP Nordic Translation, and UNIT. Common Sense Advisory is also supporting the organization by providing an in-kind donation or a research study to explore the relationship between the lack of available translations and the disparities in available information in Africa.

http://huff.to/wsoJTf

* Hispanics make up just about one percent of the players in the NFL these days, and Puerto Ricans are just a fraction of that number. Even so, last night we were guaranteed to have a Puerto Rican coming off the field with a Super Bowl ring (not literally, those monstrosities will be ordered in the Spring). Patriots’ tight end Aaron Hernandez hails from Puerto Rico, as does the Giants’ Victor Cruz.

* Cruz, who likes to Salsa after his touchdown catches, turned down an opportunity to be on Dancing with the Stars (true story).

* The average Super Bowl party was attended by 17 people.

* According to the NFL, the Super Bowl was broadcast to 232 countries and territories worldwide in 34 different languages.

* Thanks to Sirius, the game could also be heard in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, German, Hungarian, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch, and French.

* We have some staff with NY roots — they are very happy today and will undoubtedly share their joy with the rest of our non-partisan team members.

A few of them even follow football more than they follow futbol, too!

See? Everybody wins.

ISI recently expanded its office space and increased its staff, partly in response to the growing need for language services emerging from regulatory reform in both healthcare and financial services. ISI has grown to 31 full-time Project Management staff members, while strengthening its pool of domestic and international linguists by 60 percent. The technology upgrades give ISI project managers more efficient tools and technologies to provide the boutique-level, concierge approach to customer service that is ISI’s hallmark.

All of the infrastructure upgrades to ISI’s security protocols ensure that every procedure – from email to data storage, from project management to employee hiring – is secure and in full compliance with HIPAA, PHI, Title VI, CLAS and SB853 requirements. In addition, ISI’s web-based project management portal has an SSL-Certificate added (https:) and is as secure as a bank website, meeting the most stringent privacy, encryption and security requirements, as well as enabling upload and download of large files in faster, more reliable and far more secure manner than file transfer protocol (FTP).

“We place the highest priority on security and timely fulfillment,” said Michael Bearden, VP of Client Relations at ISI. “With these recent technology upgrades, we can continue to provide the highest quality language services for companies both large and small, and to handle the spikes in volume that the changing regulatory environment and open enrollment season inevitably bring.”

Among ISI’s technology upgrades – complementing its existing bonded T1 service, gigabit NAS server, and newly enhanced firewall protection through a Sonicwall security solution — are the following:

• Business Class Broadband – A satellite WiMAX-featured wireless broadband network, licensed microwave backhaul network and high bandwidth wireless network, which will provide greater speed and security for transmission of customer data.
• Ethernet over Fixed Wireless (EoFW) – Because ISI needs fast access both upstream and downstream, the new wireless Internet service will provide upload and download speeds of 10MBPS (megabits per second).
• The TelePacific wireless network that ISI employs enhanced levels of encryption and security. It also features an individual point-to-point circuit that is capable only of communications between ISI and the TelePacific network. To further enhance security, TelePacific wireless employs directional antennas throughout the network to ensure that wireless signals are only received at the locations where they are intended to eliminate interception.
• The wireless traffic itself is encrypted over the air via proprietary encryption schemes employed directly in the radios. In addition, the network is easily scaled-up to meet future increased bandwidth.

“In this era of ever-changing regulations and fast-paced communications, translation services not only have to get the work done right, we have to get it there quickly and securely, ” said George Rimalower, President of ISI. “By re-investing in ISI’s success through technology upgrades to ensure both speed and security, we will continue our tradition of high tech and high touch service to our customers and pave the way for future growth.”

Anyone who knows me knows that my answer to that question is a big, hearty “no.”

This Psychology Today blog post, “Desperately Seeking a Final Translation,” offers a fascinating read on the difficulties of translating and the importance of specialized training in the art and science of translation.

The author, François Grosjean, Ph.D., explains it well:

“Translators must express in one language, in as faithful a way as possible, the meaning and the style of the text in another language. This entails fully understanding the original text in the ‘source language’ and having the necessary transfer skills, as well as the linguistic, stylistic and cultural skills in the target language to produce a correct translation.”

He goes on to say:

“Translators are very much ‘special bilinguals,’ and translation is definitely a difficult bilingual skill.”

This is especially true with a subject like healthcare.  My family moved to the United States from Argentina when I was in junior high.  My parents never really mastered English, so as a child I was often called upon to interpret for my family members.  When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, it was difficult for him to understand the information given to him.  Without a full understanding of the medical terminology and cultural nuances of both languages, it’s impossible to convey the true meaning of the life-and-death information being communicated. That’s one reason I’m so passionate about being able to bridge the linguistic and cultural barriers in any setting.  It’s the only way we can take this terrifying and unfamiliar world and make it familiar.

Since those are the stakes, I wholeheartedly agree that being bilingual is not enough.

Have you ever been called on to interpret or translate something simply because you’re bilingual?  Or, have you ever had to enlist the help of someone who is bilingual, but not a trained translator?  How did it work out?  We’d love to hear your experiences.

–George

Latino businesses from all sectors will be featured and awarded at a high profile luncheon which includes finalists from billion dollar companies, along with truly innovative and dynamic small businesses – the kind that comprise the heart and soul of the greater LA economy.

The winners will be revealed at the 3rd annual awards luncheon to be held on January 24th, from 11:00 – 1:30 at the Omni Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. They will later be published within the pages of the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Defense minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi admitted the inaccurate translations caused much embarrassment to the ministry, Malaysia’s The Star reported. “We have corrected the mistakes and translations are no longer done that way. “It is now done manually,” Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said here yesterday.

But not before many of the more humorous translations made it around Facebook and Twitter.

One such example was the phrase “pakaian yang menjolok mata,” which means revealing clothes in Bahasa Malaysia, which was translated as “clothes that poke eye.”

Another was the brief summary of the ministry’s history on the website: “After the withdrawal of British army, the Malaysian Government take drastic measures to increase the level of any national security threat.”

Language Proficiency Assessment
Building Cultural Competency Workshop
Medical Terminology Workshop
Medical Interpreting Ethics and Protocol Workshop