Concern for Trademark Infringement in Spanish

Posted On May 22, 2010By TranspanishIn Languages, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/ No Comments

With an ever-growing number of businesses looking to cash in on the growth of the Hispanic market in the U.S., English-language trademarks have become increasingly susceptible to infringement by companies looking to take marketing shortcuts.

So, what exactly constitutes trademark infringement? To qualify as infringement, the translation into Spanish must be determined to be direct and literal. In addition, it is difficult to prove copyright infringement in cases where the English-language trademark consists merely of a service or product description (e.g. jeans branded with the name “Rugged Pants”).

In order to protect your business’ English-language trademark, first hire a professional translator to produce one or more possible Spanish translations of your copyrighted name. The following steps may then be taken to avoid trademark infringement:

1) Hand over the translations to a trademark-watching firm, which will warn your company of any potentially conflicting trademarks.

2) Set up a Google Alert to receive notifications about a specific word or phrase to sniff out companies that may be using your trademarked name online.

3) Monitor new trademark registration application filings at http://www.USPTO.gov.

4) Ask Spanish-speaking colleagues with a finger on the pulse of the Hispanic community to remain vigilant.

Read more about this issue at the Richmond Times-Dispatch website.

Foreign Language Study Abroad

Posted On May 6, 2010By TranspanishIn Languages, Spanish Language/ No Comments

While it’s possible to achieve a high level of proficiency in a foreign language while studying in your home country, in order to take your skills to the next level, it’s essential to be immersed in the language. Language study with native speakers in a foreign country opens you up to the possibility of a more well-rounded experience, as you’ll be able to enjoy the culture together with the language.

Be sure to carefully weigh your options when planning for a foreign language study abroad experience. For example, if you’re interested in Spanish, there are over 20 Spanish-speaking countries to consider, each with its own unique culture, accent and slang. Do some research to determine which locations fit best with your language goals. If you want to improve your Spanish for use on the job, and the people you’re likely to be in contact with are primarily from Latin America, you may want to skip a language immersion experience in Spain in favor of, say, Mexico.

If you’re interested in studying a more obscure tongue like Icelandic or Luxembourgish, studying abroad may be your only opportunity to truly get a handle on the language, as access to native speakers and learning materials in these languages are most likely extremely limited in your home country.

Once you’re in country, one of the keys to gaining fluency is to reinforce classroom study through real world interactions. Don’t be afraid to take what you’ve learned in your language classes and practice it outside the classroom: go to the movies, chat up the locals, join a club or team. You’re bound to make mistakes as you go along, but language foibles come with the territory. Just remember to keep a sense of humor!

Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that merely visiting or living in a foreign country isn’t enough to help you perfect your skills – just ask the thousands of expats who successfully live for years on end in a foreign country without ever mastering the language. If you confine yourself to the “expat bubble,” you’ll spend the majority of your time surrounded by those who speak your native tongue, depriving yourself of the chance to exercise your foreign language muscle. Get out there and interact with the natives!

The Importance of Translating Foreign Texts

Posted On April 29, 2010By TranspanishIn English Language, Languages, Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/ 1 Comment

The reluctance of publishers in the English-speaking world to translate works from other languages truly boggles the mind. At a point in the world’s history in which we are more connected than ever before, America and the rest of the Anglophone world remain remarkably isolated from the literary contributions of other languages and cultures. The statistics are rather eye-opening: Just two to three percent of books published every year in the U.S. and Britain are translations, in comparison to close to 35 percent in Western Europe and Latin America.

Ignoring a bulk of the world’s literature represents a problem on several fronts. Aside from the fact that English speakers lose out on the obvious advantages gained by an understanding of different worldviews and perspectives found in foreign literature, as it turns out, a refusal on the part of publishers to translate books from other languages into English also does a disservice to non-English speakers the world over. “English often serves as the linguistic bridge for the translation of a book into a number of Asian and African languages.” Lastly, a paucity of translated works means that the exchange of information and ideas that is cherished by free, democratic societies ultimately suffers.

Click here for more information on this story from Foreign Policy.

Transcreation: Specialized Translation for Marketing

Posted On April 20, 2010By TranspanishIn English Language, Languages, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/ 1 Comment

The translation of marketing and promotional materials presents unique challenges, not only from a language standpoint but from a cultural one as well. Translations of advertising copy must strive for something beyond technical accuracy; just like the carefully-crafted original text, the translation of a marketing message must be both engaging and culturally relevant to the target audience. The incorporation of specialists in transcreation and cultural adaptation to the linguistic team ensures that marketing messages are accurately conveyed without sacrificing creativity or consistency.

Transcreation services focus on adaptation of a text rather than a strict translation, guaranteeing that – by remaining faithful to the original and reflecting the local preferences and culture of the target audience – the message achieves the greatest impact in every market. Transcreation entails a host of services including translation, copywriting, and localization, bringing together the creativity and contributions of professionals whose principal interests and activities center on content adaptation.

“The goal of transcreation isn’t to say the same thing in another language. Indeed, it is often not possible to say exactly the same thing in another language. The aim of the game with transcreation is to get the same reaction in each language, something that translation in itself won’t be able to achieve.” [1]

The translation of copy for the marketing world differs significantly from other types of translations such as technical translations, which leave little room for creativity, and some training in copywriting is recommended. Translators with a flair for creative writing tend to produce the best results with advertising, marketing, and media texts and are best suited to work as transcreators.

Transcreation demands an intimate understanding of the source language, continuous exposure to the local media in the target market, as well as a high degree of familiarity with the target audience. A specialist in transcreation will be able to evaluate why the advertising message works for the original group, and he or she will produce materials that are culturally adapted and tailor-made for the target audience. Ideally, translators, transcreators, and those responsible for content adaptation should engage the client in a dialogue about the brand and its intended message to consumers to maintain consistency and meaning for the target audience.

[1] Bad Language, Translation vs. Transcreation

Constructed Languages

Posted On April 1, 2010By TranspanishIn Languages/ No Comments

Though thousands of natural languages are spoken throughout the world, constructed languages – also known as conlangs or artlangs – peacefully coexist (often in obscurity) alongside them. Unlike the natural evolution that led to the creation of most languages spoken today, a constructed language’s elements have been consciously formulated by one or more individuals. There are numerous reasons to devise an invented language including a desire to facilitate communication, linguistic experimentation, as a means to bring a fictional world to life, or for artistic expression.

Esperanto, arguably the most successful of all constructed languages, was invented in 1887 by linguist L. L. Zamenhof. Created with the admirable goal of having a universal language that would unite people regardless of their culture and native tongue, Esperanto claims a small but fiercely-devoted following. According to figures provided by Wikipedia, “Esperanto has between 100,000 and 2 million speakers in about 115 countries, and approximately one thousand native speakers, i.e. people who learned Esperanto as one of their native languages from their parents.” [1]

According to Arika Okrent, author of In the Land of Invented Languages, “We are in an era now where the majority of languages being invented are invented for artistic purposes alone. Not to heal the world, or cure language, but to express a personal idea of what a language could or might be.” [2] For example, Elvish from The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Klingon from the TV series Star Trek are well-known constructed languages that were born of artistic endeavors. The recent blockbuster film Avatar features an invented language called Na’vi, which was created as a reflection of the sci-fi world found in the movie.

Invented languages tend to be more of a western phenomenon, with the majority of the creators and invented language enthusiasts being found in the United States and Europe; however, there are a few constructed languages from non-western cultures including Emami’s City-Language (Iran), Igbinewka’s Guosa (Nigeria), and Morioka’s Baronh (Japan), but these are relatively unknown.

For some, constructed languages are slightly controversial. Some people argue against the invention of languages when there are so many natural languages near extinction. In addition, opponents argue that numerous dead languages exist that could be revived for use in literature or other artistic works.

[1] Wikipedia, Esperanto

[2] Schott’s Vocab Blog, The New York Times, Questions Answered: Invented Language

The Machine Translation Debate

Posted On March 27, 2010By TranspanishIn Languages, Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/ No Comments

Although computer scientists have toiled for decades to produce machine translation comparable to that rendered by humans, they have yet to succeed. In critical moments when human translation or interpretation is simply not an option due to logistical constraints (e.g. rescue efforts during the recent earthquake in Haiti), machine translation can be a literal lifesaver; however, in cases where style, originality, or real-world context count for something, call upon a human translator to deliver the best results.

Previously, computer scientists attempted to “teach” the computer the linguistic rules of two languages in the hopes that the computer would piece together something intelligible in the target language. These days, the newest machine translation technology available through Google Translate takes a different approach. Using powerful search techniques and Google’s vast library of books, Google Translate turns in a reasonable performance based on matches found among thousands of documents produced for organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union by human translators.

While machine translation does serve a purpose now and again, the current technology’s formulaic approach depends upon the works that skilled human translators have already created. In the case of truly original works with zero precedent to be found online, computers fail to render the nuanced translations created by humans every time.

Read more about the machine translation debate in this article by The New York Times.

Read our articles:
Google Translate and the Struggle for Accurate Machine Translations
Google Strikes Deal to Translate European Patents
Machine Translation vs. Human Translation: Pay Less, Get Less
When Never to Use Google Translate

Accent Reduction Techniques

Posted On March 19, 2010By TranspanishIn English Language, Languages, Spanish Language/ 1 Comment

Though many learn to express themselves quite masterfully in a foreign language, most speakers of a language other than their mother tongue can still be easily identified by their accent. Most of the time, an accent poses no problems in terms of intelligibility; indeed, many people find foreign accents charming. However, if your accent interferes with native speakers’ ability to understand you, or you’re simply looking to blend more with the locals, here are some tips for reducing your accent. Remember: it’s very difficult to completely eliminate an accent. Instead, your goal should be to neutralize your accent.

» Don’t speak too quickly. Native speakers will have a difficult time understanding you until you learn the correct intonation and rhythm of the language. Speak slowly so that you can enunciate each word.

» Observe and imitate the facial movements of native speakers. When watching television or conversing with native speakers, take note of the facial movements of the person speaking in order to more accurately reproduce the sounds of the language.

» Record your own voice and listen for errors in pronunciation. Become more aware of the mistakes you’re making by listening to a recording of your voice.

» Read aloud every day for 15 to 20 minutes. This exercise will help strengthen the facial muscles you use when speaking a language other than your native tongue.

» Become accustomed to the prosody or “music” of the language. Each language has its own rhythm, intonation/tone, and pausing. Familiarize yourself with these patterns in order to speak more naturally.

» Listen to audiobooks and follow along using a printed version of the text. You can also make a recording of yourself as you read portions of the book aloud, and then compare your speech to that of the audiobook’s narrator.

» Keep your dictionary handy. Familiarize yourself with your dictionary’s phonetic symbols, and look up the correct pronunciation of words that pose difficulty.

» Create a list of words that are difficult for you to say, and ask a native speaker to pronounce them for you. Make a recording of these words, listen, and practice saying them.

» Consider working with a speech-language pathologist or a dialect coach for professional evaluation and feedback.

Borges as Translator

Posted On March 5, 2010By TranspanishIn English Language, Languages, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation/ No Comments

As one of Argentina’s most famed writers, Jorge Luis Borges produced numerous original works of fiction, poetry, and essays; however, a lesser-known fact is that Borges also made significant contributions to literature through his work as a translator.

Borges’ paternal grandmother was English, and he grew up in Buenos Aires speaking both Spanish and English at home. “Borges would later comment that the household was so bilingual that he was not even aware that English and Spanish were separate languages until later in his childhood.” [1] Borges also spent a portion of his formative years in Geneva, Switzerland, where he studied both French and German.

Borges demonstrated a talent for translation at a very young age. At just nine years old, his very first translation into Spanish – Oscar Wilde’s short story “The Happy Prince” – was published in a local newspaper. As a young adult, he began to write and translate poetry while living with his family in Spain, focusing on translation from English, French, and German into Spanish. Borges went on to translate and subtly transform the works of literary greats such as Edgar Allan Poe, Franz Kafka, Hermann Hesse, Rudyard Kipling, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, and G. K. Chesterton, and he was the first to translate the writings of Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner into the Spanish language.

Borges developed his own theories of translation through three key essays: “Las dos maneras de traducir” (1926), “Las versiones homéricas”(1932), and “Los traductores de Las mil y una noches” (1935). In these essays, Borges “challenges the idea that original texts are superior to translations and rejects the concept of a ‘definitive text.’” [2] Borges also puts forth the view that alternate and possibly contradictory translations of the same work can be equally compelling.

Borges’ reflection on translation nourished his creativity, and translation formed an integral part of the author’s literary process. “The intertwined functions of writing and translation for Borges ‘became nearly interchangeable practices of creation.’” [3] In fact, “not only did he argue that a text could be enhanced by a translation, he went further. For Borges…a translation could be more faithful to a work of literature than an original text.” [4]

Sources:
[1] Swarthmore University, The Garden of Jorge Luis Borges
[2] Periódicos Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
[3] Perilous Peripheries: The Place of Translation in Jorge Luis Borges
[4] The Chronicle of Higher Education, Invisible Work: Borges and Translation

The Lost Works of Jorge Luis Borges

Posted On February 25, 2010By TranspanishIn English Language, Languages, Spanish Language/ No Comments

Jorge Luis Borges, one of Argentina’s most celebrated writers, wrote not only in his native Spanish but in English as well. In collaboration with American translator Norman Thomas di Giovanni, Borges penned a number of short stories in English including “The Library of Babel” and “The Lottery in Babylon.” Unfortunately, after Borges’ death in 1986, the author’s widow revoked publishing rights on stories translated by or written together with di Giovanni, rendering many of these works inaccessible to the public.

Borges’ working relationship with di Giovanni expanded his influence within the English-speaking world and helped catapult Borges to fame as one of the best-known authors of the 20^th century.

Until di Giovanni can reach some sort of settlement with Borges’ widow and/or the publisher, English-speaking readers will have to be content with translations by Andrew Hurley. Sadly, hidden away under lock and key, some of Borges’ original works in English are doomed to remain unread and unappreciated for the foreseeable future.

Read more about Borges’ collaboration with di Giovanni and the resulting works in English here at The Guardian website.

The Ladino Language

Posted On February 13, 2010By TranspanishIn Languages, Spanish Language/ 2 Comments

The Ladino language permits you to travel (linguistically-speaking) through a time warp of sorts. If you ever wondered what Spanish sounded like in the 14^th and 15^th centuries, take a listen to Ladino, and you’ll be afforded a glimpse (or rather a sound byte) of the past. Also known as Judeo-Spanish, Ladino is currently spoken by approximately 150,000 people in Israel, the U.S., and pockets of Latin America.

In 1492, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain – Ferdinand and Isabella – issued the Alhambra Decree, giving Sephardic Jews the choice to convert to Catholicism or leave the country. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Jews fled Spain, settling in locations as diverse as Turkey and Greece, North Africa, and Eastern Europe.

Though forced immigration meant leaving behind much of their lives in Spain, the Jews did hold onto the language of their former home – Castilian Spanish; however, isolated from a Spanish language that continued to grow and evolve, Ladino remained largely suspended in time with grammar, orthographic conventions and vocabulary that reflect those of medieval Spain. Although exposure to languages such as Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Greek and French in the immigrants’ new communities contributed significantly to the Judeo-Spanish lexicon, 60% of the language’s vocabulary can be traced to Castilian Spanish.

As previously mentioned, Ladino retains many features that were particular to Old Castilian: differentiation of the ‘b’ and ‘v’ sounds (as in English); lack of the pronouns usted and ustedes (their use in Spanish developed post-1492); and, the absence of ‘ñ’ and the inverted question mark. In addition, “the phonemes /š/ (English sh), /dğ/ (English g in George), and /ž/ (French j in journal) were retained in Judeo-Spanish (in Spanish they became /x/).” [1]

Prior to the 20^th century, Ladino was written right to left using a version of the Hebrew alphabet known as Rashi script. Contemporary Judeo-Spanish utilizes the Latin alphabet, although texts for religious purposes are occasionally written using Hebrew letters.

Judeo-Spanish is considered an endangered language that faces the possibility of extinction within the next 30 years. Almost 90% of the Ladino-speaking population was wiped out during the Holocaust. The relatively few speakers that remain are primarily 50+ years of age, and most have neglected to pass down the language to the next generation.

Vida Larga para el Ladino – A short documentary of the Ladino Language

A video in Spanish about the Ladino Language

Sources:
[1] Judeo-Spanish/Judezmo/Ladino, Jewish Language Research Website

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