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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Featured Member: Yigit Yavuz on Translation and Radio Production

One of the best things about TEBP is the opportunity it has given me to meet wonderful new people all over the world. I have tremendously enjoyed working on this post with Yigit and hope you'll enjoy reading it too!





1) Turkey has a very rich political history. The predecessor of the current Turkish State, the Ottoman Empire, lasted from 1299 to 1922 when Turkey became an imperial monarchy and that monarchy was replaced in 1923 by the Republic of Turkey. Even though you are too young to have actually witnessed the change from one form of government to the other, you grew up in a country with a vast cultural heritage that goes back thousands of years, but that is very young as a de iure state. How would you describe the political scene in which you grew up?




I always remember the September morning in 1980 in which I woke up early with loud announcements made by the military forces in the street that a coup had been made. I did not immediately realize the situation. I was 10 years old. My mother and father explained to me that the military had taken power and a new political era had started in the country. In fact, this was the third military coup in Turkey. Every ten years, in 1960, 1970 and finally in 1980 we have seen coup’de etats. Certainly, you cannot blame people for expecting another one in 1990. But this did not happen. The military did not or could not intervene democracy again and we have been living an uninterrupted civil life for 29 years.



1980 was an important cornerstone for the country not only in the political but also in the economical sense. Liberalism and free foreign trade had started. Until then, the export and import of goods had been strictly limited, Turkish people were not able to reach foreign markets. But the first civil government after the 1980 coup led by Turgut Ozal changed the situation radically. Now there were plenty of European and American goods in the market and with foreign trade accelerated, many rich people arose in the cities. In the mean time, the political activists of the past were suffering in the prisons of the military, under very unfavourable conditions. The leftist groups in the country suffered a sharp blow but the ordinary citizens were content because the terror in the streets had ended. It was true that the streets were not safe before the intervention. I remember that my mother cautioned me at the time: in case I was questioned by people as to whether I had left or right wing views, I would say that I was only a child and did not know anything about these matters.



In the Turkey of the 80’s, ideals imposed on the younger generation were quite different from those of the 70’s. The revolutionary views and political action were out of fashion. We were supposed to study, get a good job and earn as much as we could. In this atmosphere I chose to study business administration, but it did not take long for me to understand that I was acting very wrongly. I never liked business school and my faith led me to very different paths.





2) In your bio you mentioned how much you loved Ankara, the capital of Turkey, when you were a child but you don’t seem to like it so much today. Why is that?




You know, early childhood is mostly remembered as the happiest period of our lives. In fact, this is a deceptive situation because childhood memories resident in our minds have previously been bent, filtered and distorted in the prism of a child’s brain. This must be the main reason why I used to love Ankara. In fact it was always a dry, tasteless city but I did not know that at the time. Ankara did not get any better. In many years, it completely lost its identity in the coarse hands of a hateful mayor.




3) You mentioned your parents were both intellectuals. Your mother was a radio producer and your father was an actor. You tried acting for a while, but then decided to go with radio production. What made you decide to do that and how did you get started in radio production?




From an existentialist point of view, our lives are determined by our choices. Yet, though I am not a religious person, I cannot help believing that our lives are predestined. Sometimes you cannot open a door, no matter how hard you push. Anyway, I think the wisest thing to say is that acting did not suit me. I did not have the talent. If I did, what would stand in my way? But radio, even though it was my mother’s profession, I never had in mind. I had worked with video for years and it was very distant to my mind to imagine a production without moving pictures. But as I said, I seems to me that I was destined to work in the radio. After a long procedure following my application to TRT, they appointed me to an open position in Trabzon Radio. For economical, psychological and professional reasons, I did not reject it. Trabzon was a small city and I would be away from my family. There was hardship waiting for me and hardship I received, for some time. But today, after 10 years in the radio, I am happy to be in the world of sounds and have no inner wish to make a shift towards television.




4) You’re somewhat of a self-taught English speaker and translator. Tell us a little about how you got started and your dream of reading certain books in English.


I started very young with simplified books. Then came the comics. I do not know why I began to translate my first Asterix in English. What I know is that I always liked the languages and at some point I wanted to have a good command of English. So I began to read and translate. At the beginning, translation was a tool to learn the language. And learning English was half play and half self-competition. I was young and I wished to learn a bit of everything. When one is young, the heavy pressure of time is not felt and life seems limitless. I had to be over 30 to understand that I could not learn about everything, and moreover, I did not need to.



Anyway, with my unfocused hunger I bought books in English, tried to read them and failed. In years, I retried several times and failed again and again. But there was no desperation on my side. I liked to be a learner and had a goal: I would read them some day.



Of course, besides the love of knowledge, I also hoped that learning English would help my professional career in the future. But it was not clear in my mind what career I wished to follow. And of course, I did not know that my future position in the radio would be very local and I would always feel sad that my English knowledge was being wasted.



In this sadness, I felt that I had improved my English to a certain point. My management did not care about this, so what else could I do? I decided to start another self-competition and so began my translation career. Staggering and tumbling, I translated my first book which was an academic compilation of articles. Then came another compilation: Jack London’s compiled writings not previously published in Turkish. After that, I completed a new translation of his “Martin Eden” which is due to be published in 2010. Right now, I am working on Pieter Spierenburg’s “A History of Murder”. I am sure others will follow.




5) How do you juggle translation and radio production?




Translation is both my hobby and my second profession now. It is also my passion. Most of the moments allowed from my work and my family, I commit to translation. This means I spend my night hours translating. I sleep a few hours less for the sake of translating a few pages more.




6) You mentioned in your bio that even though your hometown is small, your personal universe is very big. After reading about you, I got the impression this has a lot to do with your passion for learning. However, I could be wrong. Can you tell us a little bit about your world.




That seems to be quite correct. I live in a small city with limited cultural sources. Without books, writing and translation, the world would be dull. I can’t understand people who keep their profession as the centre of their world. Everyone needs -at least- a second thing to do. For me, that is translation now. Surely there are lots of things I would love to do –travelling, photography, biking, concerts etc. Yet, there is one obstacle: My little children. And do you know, they are the most beautiful obstacles! They make my life meaningful and complete my world. So the basic elements of my personal universe are as follows: The radio, translation, and most of all, my family.



If you would like to contact Yigit, please write to info@tebp.org so we can forward him your request.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Professional Translators Against Crowdsourcing and Other Unethical Business Practices Petition

If you would like to sign our petition, just follow the link at the end of this post.

Petition Statement:

For the past few months, professional translators and interpreters all over the world have been expressing their concerns over the ethical problems posed by crowdsourcing and how this practice negatively impacts an already suffering industry, but our concerns have not been heard and more unethical practices have arisen as a result of crowdsourcing. The reasons why we are against crowdsourcing are the following:



1. Professional translation requires years of training, extensive general culture, and excellent command of both the target and source languages. The job of translators and interpreters is not simply to translate words, but rather to convey meaning and concepts as well as to provide cultural localization. This is why being “bilingual” or “knowing another language” is not enough to be a translator. We train, we study, and then we train some more... and for all that hard work we, as any other professional, feel we deserve fair rates and recognition. Crowdsourcing bases itself on non-professional translation provided either by people who are not qualified to translate in the first place (which shows utmost disregard for language and language professionals) or by people who, as a result of other unethical practices, are desperate to find ways of promoting their services and hope this form of exploitation will later translate into paid work.

2. We are users of the sites that resort to crowdsourcing and we feel insulted that the sites we are supporting show such disrespect for our line of work. We don’t see sites like Twitter and Facebook asking doctors who use their sites to provide free online medical services. We don’t see Twitter and Facebook asking lawyers who use their site to provide free online legal services. So we wonder, why do we see Twitter and Facebook asking professional translators who use their sites to provide free online services?

3. For years, universities and professional associations have been providing certification to translators as a way of raising industry standards and homogenizing linguist quality. We ask, what ethical and professional criteria (if any) do sites like Twitter and Facebook use to provide “awards” and “recognitions” to their “best” translators? Where exactly did these sites get the authority to do so?


Translation and interpretation are not hobbies or pastimes, they are professions. As users and supporters of the sites that are resorting to crowdsourcing we ask that these practices stop, that they leave translation to the pros, that they pay translators fair rates for their work, and that they show respect not only for language and culture, but also for their users. This petition was created by the group Translators for Ethical Business Practices, but we feel we speak on behalf of all translators and interpreters and invite all our colleagues (including non-members) to sign this petition and make their voices heard.




Professional Translators Against Crowdourcing and Other Unethical Business Practices Petition

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Proz.com Thought Police, Like Dictators on Power Trips

I have nothing against Proz.com. Quite the contrary, I’m overall happy with most site features and recommend the site to anyone looking to make great new clients and meeting interesting translation professionals. I’ve had the chance to meet many site staff members in person, and know they work really hard to try to provide a great service to site users.


However, what I do have a serious problem with is censorship. Although I’ve been told the site had resorted to censorship many times in the past, as far as I know, the main problem began when the site’s new service (turn-key translations) raised serious ethical questions, which have yet to be answered. As far as I can tell, after the turn-key translations thread was censored and some very valuable members were either kicked out of or left the site, Proz moderators have been systematically resorting to censorship any time they are unable to effectively handle a discussion.


I have no problem with site moderators either, I’m sure despite the questionable way in which they go about censoring people, they mean no harm. I’m guessing they are either simply following orders, or just are really unaware of the bad customer service and negative impact censorship is having on the site’s overall image.


A new thread, questioning whether such a harsh level of moderation/intervention was necessary, was opened, censored, closed and removed from the site yesterday. I guess the philosophy behind it is what the eyes don’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve. As a paying member, I would have loved to be able to participate and have a chance to voice my opinion on an issue that is seriously making me wonder whether or not I’ll be renewing my membership, but the Thought Police beat me to it. Now instead of engaging in a productive conversation on the site with fellow site members, I am left with no choice but to discuss it elsewhere on my blog or Facebook group.


As a Law student, I obviously have a problem with censorship: it violates basic human rights and breaks international law. Every time a Proz moderator resorts to censorship they let you know the reason they are doing it is because something in the thread broke a site rule. Yes, the site does reserve the right to impose its own rules in its user agreement. Yes, our user agreement is a legally binding contract that creates rights and obligations for both parties. Yes, the principle of autonomy of the individual will is a guiding principle in most contracts, but no, the principle does not constitute a green light for violating the right to freedom of speech.


What does all this mean? It means Proz has the right to pretty much stick anything they want in the site rules, as long as it does not conflict with superior interests. The site rules are part of a contract, and that contract is subject to a principle by which that contract becomes “law of the parties” (i.e. only applicable to the parties in the contract) but that principle has a limit: the law (i.e. general laws that apply to everyone). They can write whatever they want in their rules, and enforce these rules however they deem fit, provided neither the rules nor the measures they take to enforce them violate the laws by which the agreement is bound. As I have mentioned before in certain censored threads, our user agreements are subject to “all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations.” This of course includes article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that ensures that “everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference” and by “without interference” they mean censorship, moderation, intervention, etc. So, are the actions of the Thought Police simply bad customer service? No, they are not just bad for business, they are also violations of members’ rights to express themselves on the site –and this is very serious.


After turn-key translations I was sure that given the negative image said censorship was creating for Proz, the number of people that were thinking of canceling their memberships, the way site moderators were mocked online, etc. site authorities would smarten up and find more productive ways of handling customer dissatisfaction (after all, let’s be honest, censored threads all happen to be the ones in which users complain about something). I was wrong. Like dictators on power trips, site moderators and authorities have been abusing the rights they reserved in our user agreements and have turned the site into Big Brother’s wet dream.


What does that say about Proz? To me, it reads insecurity. In the words of Potter Steward, “Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.” A lesson I honestly hope Proz learns in time is that “censorship always defeats its own purpose.” Much smarter people than Proz staff and moderators learned a long time ago that censorship will turn on you: they wrote constitutions around that lesson and drew out international laws protecting freedom of speech. Let’s hope H et al. learn their lesson while there are still members left on the site.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Why I wouldn’t translate Twitter’s FIGS

Crowdsourcing, machine translation, bottom feeding… we all know what these are: threats to professional translators. What we don’t know is just how serious these threats are and what, if any, impact they’ve already had on our industry. On October 8, Tech Crunch published a post called Twitter Needs you to Translate its FIGS. This post tells us about the difficulties Twitter is facing when trying to “expand to the global community” and it describes how other social networking tools like Yahoo Meme have tried to “fill the gap” by offering Twitter-like services in Spanish and Portuguese. Twitter, apparently, is in danger. But do not despair, Twitter plans to “roll out support for FIGS: French, Italian, German, and Spanish […] and while Twitter is going to be doing some of the translations in-house, they are mostly trying to crowdsource translations, which is a strategy that Facebook has used in the past.” Twitter, like Facebook, has found a way to save thousands of dollars on translation. Kudoz to Twitter!


Just for the record, I love Twitter and Facebook. Thanks to these two great social utility tools I was able to reconnect with long lost childhood friends, stay in touch with my relatives, and meet amazing new people. I fully support their efforts to expand to the global community, and as someone who is half-American and half-Argentinean, I know just how much my loved ones in Argentina benefit from having these services in Spanish. What I am uncomfortable with are the ethical implications of crowdsourcing, particularly with Twitter’s added new twist.


What is crowdsourcing?

Crowdousourcing is a system that social utility tools have been using lately to get their interfaces translated for free. It’s based on user-suggested translations. Volunteer users suggest a translation for a particular sentence or phrase which is posted somewhere on the site, and other users vote for the best translation. The most ironic part of crowdsourcing is that implementing it is not fully free; the site has to spend money developing the features that enable crowdsourcing to work. So it’s not that they are not willing to invest to have their sites translated, they just don’t want to pay actual translators when they have thousands of multilingual users willing to help for free.


What was Twitter’s new twist?

Volunteer “translators” on Twitter will be given a level which will be added to their profiles and, according to Tech Crunch, the more their translations are used, the higher their level. Kind of like a game.


Why are professional translators unhappy about this?

The system seems fair and fun enough: participants volunteer so the site isn’t actually forcing anyone to translate for free, and there are many other professions in which people offer their services pro bono. Technically Twitter is not hurting anyone –except pro bono work is usually done for a cause, and I hardly think filling Twitter’s pockets is a worthy cause. Meanwhile, there is much more to it than that. First, translation is not a trade or a hobby; it is a profession that requires training, skills, and constant development. People actually study to become translators because it’s not enough with just being bilingual. Meanwhile, Twitter’s twist to crowdsourcing actually “certifies” a person’s level as a translator (they even use the word “translator”) simply based on popularity and votes by other eager, non-professional translators whose language skills may be great, but might be far from “translator level”. After all, where does Twitter get the authority to “certify” translators? They seem to follow no criteria, other than popularity, for choosing the most suitable translation or assigning levels. It’s almost like certifying a layman’s legal or medical skills based on how well the person is able to answer legal and medical trivia. Would we accept this kind of certification in any other profession? If you were sick, would you hire someone to treat you because they read and understood a couple of medical articles online? If you were on trial, would you hire an eloquent actor as your lawyer to represent you in court? If we respect other professions because of the level of skill and knowledge they entail, why not show the same respect to translation?


Second, the more non-professional translators are willing to translate their profit-earning, social utility tools for free, the more they are affecting overall freelance translation prices. Why would clients pay to have their texts and sites translated by professional translators when they can just hire agencies that use crowdsourcing or Google translator and have a pro “edit” it at half the price? Translation is becoming cheap, not because it’s not a serious profession, but simply because so many people are willing to work in exchange for nothing but online recognition from other users. But is online recognition from other users really enough to make anyone a translator?


However, companies that have the means to pay for their translation services finding ways to get their translations done pro bono is only part of the problem. Although it is true that social utility tools, for the most part, offer their services for free, it is also true that they profit from people using their sites. The more traffic their sites receive, the more their advertising spots are worth or additional products and services they are able to sell, which is where they make their profit. So when they “let” you use the site for free, they are not really giving you any more than what you are giving them. You are in a win-win situation. You get the perks, they get the cash. But when you start saving them thousands of dollars by working for free, where is the reciprocity in your relationship with your social utility tool?


What can we do?

As far as crowdsourcing, a lot of people seem to think there’s not much we can do. It’s here, it works, and it’s profitable. In fact, in the time it took me to write this post, Twitter has already been released in one of its FIGS: Spanish. But what if they’re wrong? What if there is something we can do? In my opinion, there’s still a lot that can be done to prevent practices like crowdsourcing from spreading.


First, as professional translators we can simply not take part in them. Second, we can try to create awareness outside the translation community of the impact and ethical implications of crowdsourcing. Not so long ago, when LinkedIn got enough negative international media coverage for trying to get its site translated using similar methods, it had to succumb to public pressure and cancel the project altogether. Finally, one of the best things we can do to fight unethical practices like crowdsourcing is, as Andrew Bell (author of the blog Running to Work: Thoughts on Translation and Language) would put it, we can be proactive instead of reactive.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Now that Facebook has changed its layout our original group description is too long for the new space provided. So we’re adjusting. We’re keeping our original mission statement in a discussion thread on our Facbeook site and on our blog (just for keeps sake).


For those who would like to know (or simply remember) how and why Translators for Ethical Business Practices got started, here it is:


This group was inspired by a recent experience. As a professional translator and paying member of an online site supposedly aimed at helping me expand my business by connecting me to prospective clients, I have recently seen what really resembles unethical business practices that could potentially be detrimental to my business and the translation industry in general. When many paying members of this site opened a forum to discuss the issue and encourage site staff to address our concerns accordingly, our forum was closed. When we opened a second forum, asking why we had been censured, that forum was also closed. Their explanation was that we had violated site rules that state that threads can be closed by site staff when they feel the positive, result oriented environment of a forum has been lost (translation: site staff can unilaterally decide to close a forum when they can’t take the heat!). The only thing of which we were guilty was defending our rights as paying clients to be provided with clear, transparent information about a matter that affects legitimate legal concerns.


Fortunately, under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, we are all granted freedom of speech. Their rules and guidelines are subject to laws. Translation sites, agencies, and even clients can’t get away with doing whatever they want and then shutting us up!



This experience made me aware of how unprotected we sometimes are (or at least feel) from harmful, abusive, and/or unethical, unilateral decisions made by agencies, clients, and even companies that provide services to translators. That is why I decided to open this group.



This group has two main purposes:
1. To provide a place where translators who feel they have been affected by unethical business practices to get in touch with other translators who might have gone through similar experiences and can provide advice on how to deal with these situations.


Everyone is invited to join and express themselves, but please be respectful. Let’s try to focus on the issues and not use this group to bash sites, agencies, or fellow colleagues with whom we might have a problem. Remember, the intention is to defend our rights, not to violate the rights of others.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Our Ethical Obligation to the Environment is an Ethical Obligation to Ourselves

It was John Locke who wrote, “The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it… that all being equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in life, health, liberty, or possessions…" (in Second Treatise of Government). Beautiful words indeed, but often taken ever so lightly. There are many kinds of harm: intentional, unintentional, accidental, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and the list goes on. I myself am no stranger to unintentional harm, something I’m sure I share with many of my readers. Harm is something that is easy to cause and difficult to amend. The harm we cause can often go unnoticed for years, but have lasting effects for generations to come.


John Locke spoke of natural law, a theory which may not be vividly supported in modern law, but which inspired Constitutions, Bills of Rights, and many of the other legal frameworks that represent the foundation of Human Rights as we know them. Moral philosophers like John Lock, among many many others, asked themselves what rights we needed to grant each other and what obligations we needed to assume in order to build healthy and prosperous societies. Life, health, liberty, and possessions came to be the main building blocks in modern social designs.


This is why when speaking of perpetual poverty, unhealthy living conditions, genocide, and torture, among others, we can speak of violations to “basic” or “fundamental” Human Rights. Hundreds of countries all over the world have signed international treaties that obligate their governments to respect and ensure these rights. Human Rights treaties obligate governments to uphold ethical principles that foster dignity and prosperity. It is understood that when a person is deprived of their health, their liberty, and their possessions that person is deprived all things that can ensure their life. And life is at the top of the rights our legal frameworks are designed to protect.


Life: the cornerstone of all rights. Once life is lost all other rights simply wither away, for there is no sense in ensuring health, liberty, and possessions to the dead. Life gives rights themselves their meaning. Life can be protected in many ways. Most governments have criminal laws that make their citizens feel their lives are “protected” –but we all know criminal law is mostly corrective. Attempts against life are usually “punished” and not “prevented” with criminal law, what ensures life is not simply punishing attempts against it, but providing the necessary social, economic, and educational conditions for life to be sustainable.


Today, almost ten thousand bloggers around the world are participating in an international effort to sustain life: Blog Action Day. It is an effort to provide the social, economic, and educational conditions necessary to promote health, liberty, and life. Today humanity is facing a challenge. Indiscriminate use of natural resources coupled with massive pollution has lead to consequences that threaten life as we know it. Life, the moral value we have sworn to uphold in our legal frameworks and constitutions. The moral value we placed at the top of our treaties. The moral value protected in almost all our religious books, regardless of our religions. Our inaction, our failure to draw out effective legal frameworks, our violations to the Kyoto protocol, our inability to find ways to promote economic growth while protecting our planet is threatening the health of those who live in the areas that are most highly affected by the main consequence of our actions: climate change.


At the most critical point in time, our world leaders have decided to revaluate our priorities. Life is being threatened, the legal frameworks based on our moral and ethical principles have proven insufficient. Our world leaders have realized the commitment we made to uphold life in our treaties and constitutions entails more than just creating laws that “punish” crimes against life. They have realized that our disregard for the environment will, in the long run, constitute a crime against life, but it will be one we can neither punish nor correct, only endure. They have realized that just as certain social, economic, and educational standards are required for a healthy and prosperous society, certain environmentally-friendly social, economic, and educational standards are necessary to sustain life. Because of that, a new legal framework will be drawn out in Copenhagen this year: one which needs to be far more ambitious than the Kyoto protocol, one that contemplates economic growth in ways that do not harm our environment, one which ensures sustainable development while protecting basic human rights. Our world leaders have realized the ethical commitment we, as societies, have made to protecting life entails an ethical commitment to protecting the environment that makes life physically possible, thus turning our ethical obligation to the environment into an ethical obligation to ourselves.


To learn more about climate change, the new framework being discussed in Copenhagen, the effects of climate change on poverty, or any other issue related to global warming, please visit: the WWF, 350.org, and the UN Climate Change Conference Blog.



Tuesday, October 13, 2009

TEBP: The Road Ahead

Sometimes our actions have consequences, both negative and positive, that extend far beyond anything we can imagine. Sometimes our actions generate crises and those crises bring new opportunities to learn and grow. TEBP has recently undergone a “crises” which I am hoping will soon turn into an opportunity for growth and expansion. It is no secret that TEBP recently cleared up a misunderstanding with AIPTI regarding an apparent overlap between our groups. Fortunately, this misunderstanding was quickly resolved and I do not wish to go back on that in this post, I do invite any members of either AIPTI or TEBP who wish to voice any opinions, express concerns, or ask any questions about this issue to visit our relevant discussion thread on our group site.


This misunderstanding did, however, bring to light a series of internal issues TEBP now needs to address. It has lead to some members leaving TEBP. Although it is always sad to lose a member, as I have stated in our discussion thread, TEBP’s focus is quality and not quantity and the kind of members we are looking for are people who are willing to do much more than just click join, refrain from participating, and then leave the group the second they don’t agree with something we are doing. We need people who are active and willing to express their opinions. We cannot build a community around silence and passiveness. That’s not what this group is about.


An issue that was raised in our discussion thread is an apparent “division” among people who are members of TEBP alone and people who are members of both TEBP and AIPTI. Some TEBP members feel there’s something behind the silence of people who happen to be members of both groups. At this point, I respectfully disagree. As I shared on our group site, and after some interactions with certain members on NdeT, I think the overall silence in our group is related to one thing only: our group isn’t taken seriously enough because it’s on Facebook – a “social” media site. I would love to hear from group members on this, but I get the feeling that being a FB group makes some members feel we’re really just a social group. If my perception is correct, this is something we need to work on because TEBP was not created to be just a social group (no offense to social groups though).


Another issue that has been raised repeatedly, which is intricately related to what I wrote above, is the detrimental effect of silence. This silence is generating an overall feeling of mistrust among members and can ultimately divide TEBP into two distinct groups. This is unproductive and unnecessary and we need to turn this situation around before it has negative consequences among our members. It’s the sort of thing that can kill our efforts before we even get started and given the time and effort that certain members continuously put into this group, it would be a shame for that to happen.


The idea behind TEBP from day one was to build a community, to exchange best practices, resources, and ideas, to work together to beat isolation and abuse, and to defend our basic rights and liberties. All of these goals require dedication and commitment, something a lot of members benefitted from behind the scenes, but very few members actually seem willing to give in return. Now we have reached a crossroads, and it’s time to change that. The road ahead will require commitment and dedication. The road ahead will require change and introspection. The road ahead will require vision and cooperation.


All of the questions raised in the above mentioned thread lead me to think it is time for a serious change. In that thread I quoted Martin Luther King and I would like to quote him again here, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.” It is time to make changes to our group. We need to figure out what kind of group we want to be, are we going to be one of those groups you just join and forget about or are we actually going to carry out our mission and work towards Ethical Business Practices?


It is time to design the future of our group. Between free machine translation services like Google Translator, crowdsourcing on Twitter and Facebook, the newly approved US budget for improving machine translation, undercutting, unethical agencies, uneducated clients, etc. our industry is facing a challenge. Some translators feel we are on the brink of extinction, although I don’t think humans can be eliminated from the translation process altogether, I do feel change in our industry is imminent and we need to work together to be prepared to face it. TEBP has always been about finding ethical ways of dealing with these issues. What we need to figure out now is what we’re going to do about it and how.


As someone pointed out to me recently, there are hundreds of translation groups on Facebook and several hundred translator’s association in the world and very few of them are really doing anything other than talk and charge membership fees. This group was never intended to be a member-packed, low-impact Facebook group, nor do we intend to become an association: we’re somewhere in between and we need to define that somewhere. Since the day of its creation our group was intended to be different and make a difference. With that in mind, I would like to invite all members of TEBP to take a few minutes to question why they are members of this group in the first place, what they expect from the group, and what they are willing to contribute to the group, and once that introspection is done, I would like to invite all members to share their conclusions and ideas with us in our new discussion thread: the Road Ahead . For those who do not wish to make their contributions public, please feel free to submit them by email by filling out our blog contact form (asking you to fill out the form is tedious, but we’re trying to avoid spammers).

Friday, October 9, 2009

TEBP, AIPTI and NdeT Address Misunderstanding

Today I published a post requesting clarification from AIPTI and Nota del Traductor as to what seemed to be an overlap in time and aims between TEBP and AIPTI. This post resulted in everything from angry messages to someone leaving TEBP (and something tells me more people will probably follow). However, it was not all negative; it also resulted in what turned out to be a very productive conversation with the president of AIPTI.


My initial post raised questions on several issues surrounding the creation of AIPTI, which included what appeared to be inconsistencies in the public statements made by AIPTI creators as to when exactly their project came to be and why if the association had been in the making for years it was not yet constituted as a not-for-profit organization. During our conversation, the president of AIPTI volunteered information and evidence that an association has been in the making at least since 2007. I must refrain from providing details as to what information I was given because I promised confidentiality. But I do now believe beyond any reasonable doubt they have been organizing this association for a very long time.


In my post I had also raised a question regarding someone who left our group only three days before AIPTI purchased its domain. My question surrounded the time line, the fact that this person expressed a “difference of opinions” but had never voiced their opinions, etc. After my conversation with the president of AIPTI, some light has been shed on this person’s odd behavior and I don’t think it has anything to do with AIPTI.


I also questioned why no one thought to include TEBP when AIPTI was launched. During our conversation I explained to the president of the association that if TEBP would have known about their project, upon reviewing their mission statement we would probably have given them our full support. I was then told that because AIPTI supports TEBP’s mission, they had decided the president would be sending me the info personally. In fact, she had actually sent me (and several other people) a copy of their press release through LinkedIn the day before the association was launched to the public. Unfortunately, I never saw that information, and I believe that may have contributed in part to the misunderstanding.


What in my view made this conversation productive was that, despite the unfortunate circumstances surrounding it, I had the chance to exchange opinions with the president regarding some of the issues translators face today and I have found that we share a great deal of common views. I also got the chance to further understand AIPTI’s mission and I feel that it differs a bit from that of TEBP, but aside from a couple of things I would like to further discuss with her if I get a chance, overall I think what they are trying to do is quite respectable and I sincerely hope they are able to carry their mission out.


On a personal note, I wish the circumstances surrounding how I got to talk to the president were different. After our conversation I felt I was talking to someone who genuinely cares about our industry and who is willing to work (and fight) very hard to improve working conditions for us all. Although that’s just my personal impression, I think it’s worth sharing.


As far as members of TEBP who are using materials from TEBP on other forums, I would again like to kindly ask them to let me know next time. Under the series of events that led to this misunderstanding, that didn’t help.


Finally, there are two things I would like to clarify with this post, just for the record:


My intention when publishing my first post was not to discredit or harm AIPTI or any of its members in any way. All of the information I had is verifiable and true to the best of my knowledge at the time, unfortunately there was some information I lacked because it was not intended for the general public in the first place.


Although I was requested and advised from several sources to delete my previous post, I have decided not to do that at this time. The reason is simple: what I published was published in good faith. I know in general there are going to be a lot of mixed feelings regarding my post for while, but all the information I had before today made me feel things needed to be clarified. I could not bring myself to letting something that seemed odd and fishy just sit there. I will not apologize for defending my beliefs or for trying to clear up a misunderstanding. I cannot apologize for speaking my mind or fighting for what I think is right. If I ever did that, I would have to drop out of Law School. I will, however, apologize if I have caused any real harm, as it was never my intention to do so and I will NOT condone or support any misuse of my previous post, particularly if it is used with the intention of harming AIPTI or any of its members in any way.

TEBP Respectfully Requests Clarification from AIPTI and Nota del Traductor

A new translator’s association was launched on September 30, 2009. This association’s aim, as stated in their motto, is to foster ethical “professional” practices in the translation industry. As a group that has already been aiming at fostering ethical “business” practices (as expressed in our motto) in the translation industry since July 21, 2009 we welcome this new initiative and wish them the best. However, we can’t help feeling there might be a bit of overlap with our group in terms of aims and after analyzing the following timeline, we would like to respectfully request clarification from AIPTI and Nota del Traductor on this series of events.


July 21, 2009: Translators for Ethical Business Practices was created on Facebook. Our mission statement (which has not been changed since) included bringing translators and interpreters together to brainstorm ways of raising industry standards, to discuss issues pertaining to payment and outsourcing, among others (which are currently having a serious impact on our industry), and to figure out a way to fight these problems and raise the bar so that clients can get better service and translators and interpreters can get better payment.


On the first week of August, we got a new member who wrote to me saying they had become interested in our group because our idea was being discussed on another site (Nota del Traductor), a site that belongs to one of the founding members of AIPTI. I looked into this and found 2 references to Translators for Ethical Business Practices on Nota del Traductor: 1) one on July 21, 2009 (same day TEBP was created) in a forum discussing turn-key translations and 2) on July 23, 2009 in another forum in which the president of AIPTI posted links and descriptions of translation-related groups on Facebook, except TEBP was the only group that was not limited to a mere link and description, the president of AIPTI actually copied our mission statement in full on the forum thread.


August 5: One of the very first members of TEBP, founding member of AIPTI, and someone who has a very close relationship to the president of AIPTI, left our group and felt compelled to post that they were leaving on our wall, although no explanation was provided as to the reasons for leaving the group. I contacted this person about it, asking if anything had happened in our group that they were not comfortable with, and they said they were leaving simply because there were differences of opinions. However this person had never actually voiced their opinions in any of our discussions, replied to any of my messages, nor participated on our blog or fan page.


On August 8, 2009: (only 3 days later) The president of AIPTI purchased the domain for AIPTI (you can verify this information on www.whois.net). The site was not launched to the general public until September 30, so this information was not known to me at the time.


In mid August, I tried to create a LinkedIn group to reflect our Facebook group. I was unable to use the name Translators for Ethical Business Practices because it had already been taken by a private group, i.e. someone else had gone and created Translators for Ethical Business Practices on LinkedIn. I asked members of TEBP about this and no one knew anything about it.


September 30, 2009: AIPTI was launched with a very similar mission to that of TEBP, 20 members of TEBP are active (and some even founding or honorary members of AIPTI) only one member of both groups thought to email me about AIPTI. Not a single one of these 20 members shared information about AIPTI on TEBP inviting fellow members to join. How is it that members of an association dedicated to promoting ethics and “stimulating the creation of institutional bonds with other associations and public entities, both foreign and domestic in the defense of the Translating and Interpreting profession” didn’t think to include a group dedicated to fostering ethics in its opening ceremony or dinner celebration considering one of the missions of the association is to promote cooperation between professionals? I even ran into two of its founding members in person that same week and neither one of them mentioned this to me.


In their press release, AIPTI states it has been in the making for two years, which would indicate that the overlap is just a coincidence. Yet on September 30, 2009 in her own forum, the president of AIPTI wrote that they have been working on this initiative for “months” (not years), and she later clarifies that they’ve had the idea of doing something like this for years. There are several other comments on several other forums (including Translator’s Cafe) indicating the hard work they have been putting into this association for months (not years). I don’t doubt, from the seriousness and size of the association, that it took a while to put together. The only thing I am questioning is the overlap in aims and time.


This association also claims to currently be processing their legal status as an NGO. There is no public record of this on the IGJ registry (Inspección General de Justicia, the organ in charge of supervising the constitution of commercial and not-for-profit organizations in Argentina), which is consistent with the statement on their site claiming they’re awaiting approval. However, given that IGJ registration only takes a few months, and the president of this association has insisted on claiming it has been in the making for years, why isn’t the issue of their legal status settled yet?


The overlap between the creation of Translators for Ethical Business Practices and that of AIPTI is something I think needs clarification. Another point that needs clarification is why, despite the fact that the creators of AIPTI were aware of the existence of TEBP, they still chose to make their slogan in English so similar to that of TEBP: if you add the word “working” to ours and change “business” to “professional” you get the AIPTI slogan.


On another note, I have also noticed that some members of TEBP who are also members of AIPTI have copied materials I’ve sent to TEBP members by email (or published on our site for discussion on our forum) and published it on Nota del Traductor for discussion there. Although the information I send members of TEBP is not copyright material, my goal when addressing members of TEBP is for that material to be used on our forum. There is no law against using it anywhere else, but I do find this practice to be a bit disrespectful: when I take the time to look for information for TEBP, I intend for it to be used on TEBP. If I wanted to look for information for members of Nota del Traductor or any other forum, I would post it there. What makes this worse, is that the members who took materials from TEBP to other forums didn’t even bother to participate in our discussion forums (or even confirm receipt of these materials).


With that in mind, I would also like to ask members of TEBP who happen to be members of AIPTI or Nota del Traductor, to please let me know if you are planning to use materials for TEBP on other sites so that I can let the other members of TEBP know in case they too are interested in joining the discussion. TEBP was never intended to be a private club or closed group. We have been open to the general public from day one because we believe that raising the bar in our industry includes effective and inclusive communication. Closing ourselves to private forums fosters secrecy and the kind of clique-like behavior that can ultimately lead to further division in our industry.


Because we don’t believe in “every man for himself” (or every group for itself, for that matter) we would like to clarify these apparent indiscrepancies with AIPTI and Nota del Traductor and hope our groups, forums, and associations can cooperate with each other in the future.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Happy International Translators Day

International Translators Day is celebrated every year on September 30 on the feast of St. Jerome. Saint Jerome’s greatest life work was to translate the bible into Latin, thus rendering him the patron saint of translators.


Today, International Translators Day is not just celebrated by Christians, but by translators and interpreters all over the world and from very diverse creeds and backgrounds. So on this special day, Translators for Ethical Business Practices would like to wish translators and interpreters everywhere a very happy translators day!



Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Featured Translator: Angel Dominguez



You have a very diverse educational background. You studied systems engineering, graphic design, and you have a degree in English. How do you put it all to use in your professional life?


Well, I have always been a curious person. If I could, I would go back to college, learn so many things... But you can learn a lot on your own, even in your daily work; and I have often had to learn to do something to complete a design project; the same is true for translation. Sometimes you even have to do some research to be able to provide a quotation for a specific task.


Now, my background and knowledge allowed me to work in different areas: I have worked as a teacher (and continue to do so), graphic designer, web developer, interpreter and translator. To my partners at Globulart, the design studio where I work, I am a “problem solver”; they even used to call me Mr. Wolf, after the character played by Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction; it can be an advantage but also very tiresome, as people tend to rely on your abilities rather than learning to do something themselves. Lately I have focused my efforts in the field of translation, although design continues to be a big part of my everyday work.


How did you get started as a translator and graphic designer? What skills are required for the services you provide? What do you like about each one?


When I was a kid I loved drawing, I was happy with a notepad and a ballpen; we had a Commodore 64 with an optic pen and I spent hours drawing on the TV, that was something magical to me as a child. In the late 80s I discovered 3D animation and it got me increasingly interested; years later I started learning to use a program called 3D Studio on my own and, while I studied at the university, I created a 3D animation as an intro for a TV show on astronomy a group of friends and I had started at a local TV station; that was back in 1995, the animation took hundreds of hours to render but it was worth the effort. Flash forward to 1999, I began studying graphic design at the Almería School of Art; those were the best, most interesting two years of my life as a student. I hadn’t even earned my degree—it would have to wait another year for me to deliver the final project—when I started working at a company called Visual Chart Group as a designer, web developer and, eventually, translator.


My translation work began at that company; I had to translate parts of the corporate website as well as marketing materials, and, being the only one in the company who could really speak English at the time, I was the one to call when the bosses needed to contact a foreign provider or client. Another flash forward to 2006, when I started collaborating with the TV & radio news show “Democracy Now!”, translating their daily headlines and the weekly opinion column by the host, Amy Goodman.


In 2008 I definitely started pursuing translation as a career, and during the last year I have translated two books on design, several articles for magazines specializing in design and art, TV ads, essays on marketing, etc... with a short incursion working as a court interpreter. True story: the name of the first person I had to assist as an interpreter at the court was “Innocent”.


I believe creativity is a strong plus in both professions, design and translation. As a designer you have to think about what the client actually needs, and fight your inner desires to do this or that; you have to be analytical, do a fair amount of research and draw conclusions from it and from the interview with your client. Having great drawing or painting skills is not an absolute must to create a good logo, for instance, but you need to understand composition, how to lay out the elements, and I believe you have to love typography; it is a great part of a designer’s work, and one has to appreciate it and learn how to use it.


I love design, and I love translation. I believe this is so because I am a creative person, and both activities “tickle” my brain the proper way. Both challenge me, help me learn new things, and in part that’s what life is about. And, as geeky as it may seem, computer games had a big part in my learning English. See, during the 80s and part of the 90s, games were seldom translated; I loved graphic adventures (the likes of LOOM, Leisure Suit Larry, Space Quest, etc) and interactive fiction games, and I had to improve my English if I wanted to know what was going on in the game, so I played with a dictionary next to the mouse. It may seem silly, but that’s how I learned to love the English language. An early start also helped, as I started learning English at school when I was 7; I am thankful for that.


Translation can be quite a competitive industry. Yet your blog displays many beautiful logos that you designed for other translators and which are clearly intended to help your colleagues improve their professional image and promote their own services more effectively. What inspired you to provide design services to translators?


At first it was the other way around; a translator from the UK contacted me via twitter and asked me if I could redesign her website. I saw she needed a proper visual identity before a website could be created, and she gave me the green light for a new logo and business cards, which you can see in my corporate blog at Globulart.


A month after that, another fellow translator contacted me with a similar proposal, and after designing her logo, CV and business cards I am finishing her website.


What I could see is that many translators and agencies have no visual identity, or the one they have leaves a lot to be desired, looks like a template, or just needs more work. A client makes assumptions about you when he or she sees your website, your logo, you business card, your photograph, and so on... so, a good visual identity is a real asset and it can make you stand out from the competition. I am planning to be more active promoting design services to translators (may this serve as a token of my offering these services).






When creating a design, what are your sources of inspiration? How do you make designs that are creative, but at the same time limited to your clients needs? How do you approach designing?


The client is the main source of inspiration; I usually do an interview and try to gather as much information as possible about the target audience, the product or service, the functioning of the company or professional... Add to that a good amount of research on the business of the client and his/her competition, visual style, language, etc... Once you have absorbed all that information it is so much easier to create something that is right for the client in question. Creativity is the X factor, I have to say that I have been surprised by some of the designs I created, and it is hard to tell where this or that touch came from.


I always try to go through those steps; following them is time consuming but extremely important. When I feel I know enough I start doing some rough sketches, with pencil and paper or directly in the computer; when I find a promising concept, then iterate, iterate, iterate... to just get it right; some of my designs, especially logos, can look simple and easy to create, but you would have to see the Illustrator files... lots and lots of versions to come up with the right one; it pays off to take all that time polishing a design, that way it will be much more robust and usable.


Where do you see yourself and your business in the next few years?


I would like to say that I will become a successful translator, which is my goal now and I am working hard to accomplish it. So yes, I have faith in my possibilities, I believe it will pay off. If I start to fantasize, I would have loved to do the Spanish subtitling for the documentary “Helvetica”, or the upcoming “Objectified”, both by Gary Hustwit. I tried to contact the director but got no reply, perhaps some other time.


I don’t think I will stop doing design work; I offer DTP services and that has brought work from time to time. What I would like when it comes to design is to do more creative work—I feel there is still too much technical stuff in my everyday work.





Aside from graphic design and translation you are also a musician. Tell us a little bit about that. How did you get started? Why? What kind of music do you make?


I would say it was at school that I started loving to play music; I remember we had a great music teacher; he challenged us, taught us how incredibly interesting and beautiful music is. We learned to play the recorder, and I remember I was quite good at it (I have a small collection of tinwhistles and I still enjoy playing them). At the age of 12, I convinced my grandmother to get me a keyboard for my birthday; it was a polyphonic keyboard... God, I’ve spent hundreds of hours on it, learning how to play. I could read a musical score, so I bought several music books and slowly learned to play, also playing many songs by ear, mostly by Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis; that helped a lot to improve my skills.


The biggest thrill probably was when I first played a song using both hands. It may seem trivial, but at the time I was blown away, and I have to tell you it feels GREAT when you are inspired and play with the heart; and it’s a very weird and special sensation when each hand moves independently. So, I was about 15 years old when I started making small compositions; Steven, my best friend at the time, also played the keyboard, and had a Roland synthesizer (D10) as well as a Yamaha MIDI sax (WT-11 & WX-11); I wrote and recorded a couple of interesting songs with those pieces of equipment. Me, I was struggling to save money to buy my own synthesizer, something my father didn’t like; that was a cause of confrontation and, long story short, it took me almost 5 years to get the money, and even when I bought it, the synth was kept away for some time, so I had to wait until 1997 to actually have my hard-earned synth, my faithful Alesis Quadrasynth, in my hands. Most of my songs available at Soundcloud were composed during that time, from 1997 to 1998.


Why doing it? Music is a great way to express yourself, writing it is stimulating and rewarding; of course I’d love to make a living creating soundtracks for videogames or movies, but you know, I really think it doesn’t matter all that much. I am happy if a bunch of people listen to my music and it actually makes them feel something. But there was an instance in which I got paid for my music: back in 1999 I composed two 10-second jingles for a local TV station from Granada.


I suppose I could label my music as “New Age”. Everything I have composed is instrumental; many of my songs are evocative, with dream-like passages of strings and tinkles. I say: listen to it, you tell me what you would call it.


Do you feel language, design, and music share common characteristics? Why or why not?


Latest tracks by ahe

They are all creative processes, and they all have their own rules and structure... Music is mathematics, and so is design; math is everywhere: in the tempo, the beats, the chords, the silences and the repetitions... and also in the shape, colour, proportion, balance, etc. The same happens with language, it has its own rules and there is rhythm in it.


As to why this is so, I’m not completely sure, but my guess is that contrast is the key. The human brain likes contrast; when you hear a song, the changes in chord are what stimulates you the most, what uplifts you or makes you feel melancholic. In design, the right contrast between colors or shapes is what catches your eye; with language it may be more subtle, but I think the same thing happens.





Have you always been interested in the arts and language? Do you have any other interests you would like to share with us?


I have! And I remember how, as a child, I thought a lot, and I mean A LOT about words and how they were made, how you could transform one word into another just by exchanging letters or syllables... I played with words in my mind. And I still do, actually.


My other interests include photography, art and film. I collect old computer animations; I have a nice collection of computer animation clips from the 70s, 80s and 90s. I love science-fiction; currently I am reading “Neuromancer”, by William Gibson; I especially like the first sentence in that book: “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”


I have always liked photography; lately I’ve photographed a lot of fireworks, though portraits are usually much more rewarding. During my studies at the school of art, we learned traditional photography techniques... you know, dark room, red lights, developing liquids, etc. I enjoyed that so much, I loved every minute of it. You can see some of my photos here.


I enjoy writing; I have written a couple of short sci-fi stories, one of which was chosen by a popular radio show here in Spain, called “La Rosa de los Vientos”. They recorded and aired a dramatization of that story in May 2005. You can listen to it (in Spanish) here (it will soon be available in my Soundcloud page).


Finally, my translation work for Democracy Now! has made me aware of many things that happen in our world, it is a great source of news. But it hasn’t really changed dramatically my view; if anything, now I have a stronger political conscience.



I would like to thank you for your interest in my opinion, and hope some of your readers find my responses a good read. Regards from Spain!



To learn more about Angel you can view his professional profile on Proz or LinkedIn. You can also see his pictures on Flickr and enjoy his music on Soundcloud.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Turning Trash into Art

This week on Translation and Ethics we're interviewing

Paulette Alexandra Pagani Masson (also known as Alexandra Masson).

Paulette is a professional translator, interpreter, artist, and Member of Translators for Ethical Business Practices. As someone who is deeply concerned about the environment, she has managed to find a beautiful way to approach recycling and create awareness about environmental protection: by turning trash into art!






Q: You’re originally from England but moved to Latin America at a very young age. You lived in several Latin American countries and moved to Venezuela in 1974. Living abroad is usually a very enriching experience. Could you share a little bit about your family life and childhood with us? What did you like best about each of the places where you lived?



A: Generation after generation of my ancestors has moved around the globe, beginning with a great-great grandfather whom I´m told used to be some sort of pirate captain of the seas. I have family members in Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, the U.S., England, Wales, Ireland, Italy and Australia. We have always been quite an international melting pot in my family. I absolutely love beaches, so I would say the best thing about living in Trinidad and Venezuela are the beaches. Buenos Aires is a fascinating cosmopolitan city; I love its French-inspired architecture and well planned-out streets and broad curbs to walk on, apart from the delicious food (the hand-made ice cream is superb, not to mention the pizzas –something to do with the water I guess). Each culture has its positive and its negative traits and the good aspects of one culture balances out the not-so-good of the other, so I believe it has made me a well-rounded individual: I have the sense of responsibility of the European cultures and also the sense of fun of the Caribbean and Latin American cultures and am also able to feel at home in almost any place and enjoy the cuisine of many lands, which is always enriching. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life!





Q: Do you visit the UK often? How do you like living in Latin America?



A: I don´t visit the UK often but I hope to in the near future because an art gallery in Camden town is offering me exhibit space next year. I am also actively seeking sponsors to help me exhibit my art in other European cities such as Milan. Transporting art is rather costly.



What I like about living in Latin America and in particular in Caracas first of all is the climate (a mild 23° C almost all year-round) and the gaiety of the people (Venezuela is the place with the happiest people on earth, according to the Guiness Book of Records). They are always up for a party. The downside is that they are so happy-go-lucky that they sometimes border on being irresponsible. Unfortunately, there is a big drug-consumption problem among the young and not so young, so insecurity in the streets is a big issue, since a young delinquent drug addict is capable of killing you just to take your cell phone or shoes in order to get quick money for a fix. So despite the weather being so benign, which would be conducive to being out in the streets and enjoying the night life until late, this is not the case due to the insecurity in the streets.






Q: You changed majors in college. You started studying biology and then switched to interpretation. What motivated that change?



A: I really and truly wanted to study psychology. At the time, the state university offering that career had limited places for foreigners and no place was left for me the year I graduated from high school. I had always been good at biology, so I decided to present the exam to enter into a very prestigious state-owned university where only brain boxes are admitted, in order not to waste a year at home. I passed the test and was accepted but after two years I realized it was not really the career I wanted to work in for the rest of my life. Ever since I was a little girl, family friends would tell me that I had a flair for switching from the English language to the Spanish language and vice versa so I decided to study translating and interpreting. It really comes naturally to me. I really was born with a talent for simultaneous interpretation. I enjoy it very much because I have the chance to work in all manner of topics. It´s the best career for someone who gets easily bored and who loves to read and find out about new things. This career has also enabled me to travel to places I would not ordinarily have gone to, with all expenses paid PLUS fees!!





Q: Tell us a little bit about your professional background.



A: At the beginning of my career I was in high demand by the oil industry, so that led me to become specialized in that subject matter. I used to accept the first job I was offered. In retrospect, that was a mistake, because now courses for the oil industry have dried up due to internal political decisions by the current government and many of my colleagues have segued into interpretation for medical conferences. I also work sometimes in these but lost many years in which I focused only on oil. I like (most) medical subjects and actually find it more interesting than finding out how to extract more oil from the ground… but by now my colleagues have monopolized the market of medical simultaneous interpreting and only call me as a last resort. Unfortunately, there is a lot of backstabbing and blind ambition and greed in this profession in this country. An older, not-so-pretty interpreter will think twice about calling in a younger, more attractive colleague who is good at her job, because there is much fear of losing the customers… In this country, good looks sometimes opens lots of doors.





Q: In your life summary you mention that your career in translation facilitated your artistic development. How was that so?



A: The main reason my career in translation has facilitated my artistic development is due to the financial security it has provided. I am in touch with many up-and-coming artists who have chosen to study and work in only art-related jobs and they are all suffering from a serious lack of money, to the point of not having monetary resources to buy even paints. I feel very sorry for them. They are really struggling. In this country, a lot has to do with getting a curator to like your work and back you and help you get exposure and that is extremely difficult some times. Making a living solely as an artist is extremely difficult in this country.





Q: As someone who is very concerned about the environment, you have managed to come up with a very unique way of creating awareness about environmental issues by turning trash into art. Can you tell us about the concept behind your art? What inspired you to do this?



A: In his book called ¨Peace is the Way¨, Deepak Chopra states that the inner is reflected in the outer. This thought has moved me profoundly and has led me to countless hours of daydreaming trying to elucidate the ramifications and repercussions of such a simple but mind-blowing statement. The rubbish we see outside of us is a reflection of the rubbish inside. We humans are torn by two conflicting forces, eros (the life-affirming force) and thanatos (the death and destruction-seeking force). I know it because I see it in my family, in my friends and in myself. Creation and destruction are always present, inside and outside. When we manage to turn our destructive impulses into creative ones, we will all be better off, because we will have attained unity within ourselves and therefore outside of ourselves. Nature mirrors this conflict that is inside of us.



Turning trash into art is my personal way of trying to turn my trash into something beautiful, as my tiny contribution or grain of salt towards living in more harmonious surroundings. Perhaps it is also a way of domesticating the beast, the beast meaning the dark side in me… Beauty has always been important to me. A great philosopher once said that beauty is truth. I would like to explore that thought more deeply and really understand what it means. I want to create art from things that already exist, by transforming them and revealing what is hidden from others. My astrological sign is Sagittarius, a sign of fire. Fire destroys in order to clear space for creation. Fire also keeps us warm and cozy. Fire kills germs and bacteria, thereby protecting us from unseen threats. Fire has a dual nature, so to speak, the creative and the destructive sides.



Some of the themes for me to study in more depth in the future are precisely the theme of beauty and the beast, the theme of how to conquer the beast and let beauty flourish, the dual nature of fire, the re-inventing of oneself (which happens to so many people during their lifetimes) and rising from the ashes like the Phoenix bird of mythology… so many things to do and to explore and to learn and so little time in the span of just one lifetime…!





Click here to view Paulette’s professional profile.











I'm currently reading the book How Judges Think by Richard Posner, I love this book because iocoajroieahfo ihaioje iocjoieaw



Thursday, August 20, 2009

Best Practices Contest: Winning Submission

This blog entry was submitted by Carolina M. Torres, the winner of our Best Practices contest. Please note, Caro is not a native English speaker and this was not a language competition. The contest was based solely on content quality.



In my country, Argentina, it is very difficult sometimes for translators to speak of Best Practices. Argentina is a “developing country” this means that the people suffer many necessities and sometimes because of necessities the people are forced to accept very low rates or to work with very difficult clients. It is hard for a translator from Argentina to build a large client base, because there are many translators in Argentina and many translators means much competition. But it is not impossible if you work hard to follow Best Practices and necessity is not an excuse to have Bad Practices.


I think if I have to describe my “best” practices, they are five:

1. Spanish is my native language. My English comprehension is very good, very strong. But I am a better writer in Spanish because it is my language. I do not translate into English. Some translators in my country don’t just translate into English -even though it is not their native language- but they also charge more for working into English. They think it is because the language is more difficult for them, I don’t agree with this practice. When I see texts translated into Spanish that were not translated by a native Spanish speaker, it is obvious to me. I think if I translate into English it is obvious to the person who is going to read my translation that English is not my native language. Spanish is, so it is not ethical for me to translate to another language that I don’t dominate like Spanish.


2. I don’t accept very low rates. It is hard for the people in developing countries to have access to clients who pay good rates, but it is not impossible. I am a professional translator. I studied very hard to become a translator and I think professionals should be paid professional rates, without mattering if they are in developed countries or developing ones.


3. I try to always deliver on time. Sometimes this is very difficult because translators usually have a lot of work. But it is not impossible to become organized and deliver on the time accorded with the client.


4. I take many courses and trainings. I did not finish learning translation when I finished studying translation at University. I continue to take courses about language, editing, grammar, CAT programs, and everything else that I can learn to improve.


5. I travel. I travel to England and the United States as much as possible because it is a good way for me to obtain more fluency and knowledge of my source language. This is very difficult for the people in Argentina because the “peso” is devaluated and traveling is very expensive for us. But every time I have the possibility to travel, I go. It is important for translators to know the source language very well to understand the translation better. But, it is also important for translators to know the culture very well. In language, not everything is grammar and syntaxes, culture and society influence on language. If you understand the culture and society of the source language, you can understand better the translation.


These are what I consider my Best Practices. I think there are many more practices that I could share and describe, but I believe respecting language is fundamental for being a good translator and all of these practices are based on respecting language and clients. I entered this group because I want to continue to learn from other translators. I entered this contest because I believe that if we exchange our ideas, it is the best way to learn.



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