Upcoming Translation Events in March

March will definitely be an interesting and busy month for translators. Below you will find plenty of conferences, webinars, workshops and events taking place all over the world!

1

NEUROLOGY WORKSHOP FOR MEDICAL INTERPRETERS: CONCEPTS, COMMON CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. Upper Midwest Translators & Interpreters Assn (UMTIA). Saint Paul, MN. USA.

2

Including Localization in Your Change Management Process, The Localization Institute, webinar.

3-20

Free Webinars from ProZ.

4

Northern California Translators Association (NCTA) Chapter Webinar. Translation Techniques for Crafting Natural English from Japanese.

5

Translation Technology Showcase, TAUS, webinar.

So Your Company Needs to Localize – Now What?!, The Localization Institute, webinar.

6

NUTS & BOLTS: HOW TO WRITE AN EFFECTIVE CV (2151). Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

7

INSERCIÓN LABORAL: CONSEJOS Y ERRORES MÁS COMUNES. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

7-27

SDL Trados Training & Certification – Proz. Webinars

8-9

International Shakespeare: Translation, Adaptation, and Performance, UMass Translation Center, Amherst, Massachusetts USA

10

American Translators Association. ATA 55th Annual Conference. Chicago, IL. USA.

MARRIAGE: TILL DEATH DO US PART? MÓDULO 1. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

TALLER INTENSIVO DE CORRECCIÓN EN ESPAÑOL. NIVEL AVANZADO. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

11

Introduction to CAT tools and translation memories, Alexandria Project, the Translation Knowledge Hub, webinar.

TALLER INTENSIVO DE TRADUCCIÓN PARA SUBTITULADO DE MEDIOS AUDIOVISUALES. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

12

FORMACIÓN DEL TRADUCTOR CORRECTOR EN LENGUA ESPAÑOLA. MÓDULO I. OPCIÓN MATUTINA. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

FORMACIÓN DEL TRADUCTOR CORRECTOR EN LENGUA ESPAÑOLA. MÓDULO I. OPCIÓN VESPERTINA. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

13

TALLER: CARACTERÍSTICAS DEL LENGUAJE JURÍDICO APLICADO A LA TRADUCCIÓN. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

14

Translation Risk Management, The Localization Institute, webinar.

Working with CAT tools and translation memories, Alexandria Project, the Translation Knowledge Hub, webinar

14-15

Yale Conference on Baltic and Scandinavian Studies, The Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies, The Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, New Haven, Connecticut USA.

17

SDL TRADOS 2007 NIVEL INICIAL. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

DIVORCE: SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

18

Game Localization Summit at GDC, IGDA Game Localization SIG, San Francisco, California USA.

19

Integrating Localization and Content Development Processes, The Localization Institute, webinar

20

American Translators Association. ATA Continuing Education Webinar. Time Management for Freelancers: How to Get Things Done!

23-26

InterpretAmerica and the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA). “think! Interpreting” Conference.
Istanbul, Turkey.

GALA 2014, Globalization and Localization Association (GALA), Istanbul, Turkey.

24

Training: Build your own Machine Translation system, CrossLang Training Centre, Ghent, Belgium

24-28

Société Française des Traducteurs (SFT). Medical English Seminar. Lyon, France.

25

TALLER DE SOCIEDADES (DIRECTA E INVERSA). Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina

26

CONCURSOS Y QUIEBRAS EN BRASIL, DIFERENCIAS Y SEMEJANZAS CON EL RÉGIMEN JURÍDICO ARGENTINO. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina

27

The Covergence Era: Translation As A Utility, The Content Wrangler, TAUS, webinar.

28-29

Mid-America Chapter of ATA (MICATA). MICATA Symposium Keeping Current—The Next Steps In Your Translating & Interpreting Career. Overland Park, KS. USA.

The Translation and Localization Conference, Localize.pl, TexteM, KOMTE, Warsaw, Poland.

28-30

2014 MICATA Symposium, Mid-America Chapter of the American Translators Association, Overland Park, Kansas. USA.

Machine translation far from replacing human translators

Machine translation has been around for over 20 years now, with new software, programs and web applications being developed at an impressive rate. One of the main reasons for this relates to the importance of the Internet in our daily lives and its subsequent effect: globalization.

However, despite the continued efforts and creative ideas of the developers of machine translation, human translation still remains the predominant force within the translation industry. Human translation is, without a doubt, globally considered to offer the best service in terms of quality for one basic reason: accuracy.

human-translation-vs-machine-translation

Human translation will never be redundant

Machine translation might be quicker, might offer short fixes to immediate problems, it might be useful for translations of basic content needs (like the kind of information likely to be found in a Facebook or Twitter post, or the kind of information found in online forums), but machine translation will never beat human translation when it comes to accurate translations which take context, culture, local community knowledge and the nuances of language (such as metaphors, puns and humor) into account.

This is why, unlike a number of industries worldwide, the translation industry continues to grow year on year and professionals continue to train to become qualified translation experts. Fear of redundancy in the translation industry is very, very low.

What’s happening in the translation industry? What’s its growth like? What are the real figures we should be looking at?

The translation industry is not affected by recessions like most other private industries. The demand for translations is simply too high and this demand is a global one. The most “in-demand” job in the translation industry is for military translators and, according to research conducted by the Common Sense Advisory, the top 100 companies operating in the market generate anything from US$427 million to US$4 million on an annual basis.

Another report, undertaken by IbisWorld, reveals that translation services will most probably reach US$37 billion by 2018, with the United States being the largest market in the world, closely followed by Europe and then Asia. Both government sectors and private companies contribute to the demand for high quality translation across the globe. In fact, the United States Bureau of Statistics predicts the industry to grow by an incredible 42% by the time we get to 2020.

The Internet, globalization and rising industries

The incredible demand for translation expertise on a global scale is a positive sign for both machine and human translations sectors. As the Internet continues to provoke a surge in globalization, there will be more companies, organizations and individuals in need of both quick, concise translations, and detailed, quality translations; those which can only be completed by human translators who have a deep understanding of both the language, the culture and the context of the translation task that they have in front of them.

IBISWorld believes that the translation industry has gone way beyond the growth phrase and is now in the mature phase of its business cycle. By 2018, IBISWorld predicts the translation services will have increased at a rate of 4.7% per annum. The prediction for the global GDP growth for the same period is set to reach a mere 2.1% in comparison. Human translators are going to be needed to cope with such expansions. There’s little doubt that what they can offer in terms of accuracy and contextual knowledge will ever be beaten by a machine, search engine or software program, not matter how good it happens to be.

On a final note, for those translators working on translations for the medical and pharmaceutical industry, the prospects are even greater, particularly in the Asia-Pacific market. Translation services in this area of the industry and in this part of the world are expected to experience an increase of over 14% in the next four years.

Machines might be fast, but the translation industry is going to need plenty of human manpower to deal with the growing demands of globalization in the coming years too. There’s nothing which can beat that human touch.

What are the Top Language Industry Trends of 2014?

Advances in technology, in particular mobile technology, combined with the constant growth in social media communication, are the two driving forces behind the expected demand for professional language and translation services in 2014.

language-trendsImage courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

According to Renato Beninatto, the CMO of Moravia, we will see “major growth in the [language] industry this year.” Beninatto predicts that the expansion of mobile technology and social communications will generate a much higher “demand for localized language solutions.”

The National Council for Languages and International Studies has said that public and private-sector language-related initiatives are now a billion dollar enterprise in the US. In 2013, the industry generated $25 billion in the US alone.

The incredible growth recorded in the industry last year has been attributed to the large number of US companies working diligently to expand and strengthen their global presence. Mobile technology and social media communications have made international business opportunities so accessible that most companies worldwide, large and small, recognize the importance of investing in translation and other language services in order to open their doors to foreign markets.

Strangely enough, however, at the same time as investing $25 billion in language-related initiatives in 2013, the US continues to suffer from a lack of language-related subject interest in the classroom. The US Council on Foreign Relations believes that “foreign language education is on the decline,” and that it has been in serious decline for a number of years. This means that a lot of the language-related jobs needed for US brands to expand their businesses on a global level is outsourced to language experts in other countries.

In short, there are three main language-related trends that we should be ready for in 2014. 78% of CMOs believe that custom content is the future of marketing, reports Social Media Today. If companies want to continue globalizing their businesses throughout 2014, the most important tool that they will have at their disposal is that of content marketing programs. Companies which excel in 2014 will be those companies which invest both time and money in finding ways of connecting with different languages and cultures via mobile technology and social media communications.

Every day, more and more people are turning to mobile devices and smartphones as their primary source of information. Users access information from all over the world and they’re interested in what foreign companies have to offer/share. The demand for localized translations is likely to soar throughout 2014 and this will include translation services which dub multimedia content too.

On a final note, the impressive growth of cloud computing throughout 2013 improved the tracking precision of online user behavior. The detailed access to the demographics of a mass online audience that cloud computing has given us means that companies can now invest even more time and money in the generation of personalized online content for local communities and dialects. A surge in “local” translations is likely to further strengthen the economic position of the language industry as we progress throughout the next months.

The future seems to be very, very bright.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of crowdsourcing translation?

crowdsourcing

Some believe crowdsourcing to be a viable option for the translation industry and others are concerned that speed, quantity and low costs are no match for quality human translations.

Crowdsourcing is a relatively modern process, normally undertaken online, which enables a crowd of people to join together to complete a work-related project or raise a sum of money for a worthwhile cause. The term “crowdsourcing,” a combination of the words “crowd” and “outsourcing,” is best exemplified as a successful process by Wikipedia.

The Wikipedia encyclopedia wasn’t created via the more conventional process of hiring writers and editors to generate the content. Instead, Wikipedia appealed to the masses, a “crowd” of informed and enthusiastic online users, who were given full authority to create the information on their own. Wikipedia, as a result, is the most comprehensive encyclopedia we have ever seen.

The idea is that, by appealing to a large crowd of informed people equipped with the ideas and skills necessary to do the job, contributing enthusiasts will not only generate quality content but they will also make sure that the content generated is consistently updated.

Crowdsourcing in the translation industry

Wikipedia might be an undoubtable example of crowdsourcing success, but that doesn’t mean crowdsourcing is an appropriate avenue for all industries or all projects on every occasion. The translation industry is not necessarily the right environment for this kind of venture, or so many translation experts believe.

The advantages

Machine translation a few years ago made a play to dominate the translation industry by proving itself to be quicker and cheaper than human translation (HT). It became clear that what was missing from the machine translation was the quality, care and accuracy which was guaranteed from human translation. The result was the development of computer-aided translation (CAT), the post-human approach to modern translation which combines the efficiency of computing techniques with human quality.

Crowdsourcing in the translation industry hopes to go one better than CAT. Crowdsourcing translations are human translations which hopes to guarantee the accuracy of the work. Particularly when taking the case of Amara, crowd-sourced subtitle translation service for Youtube, into consideration.

Amara with its $1 million grant, has proved that via its crowdsourcing efforts it can translate videos into 20 different languages within 24 hours. The translations are generated by YouTube fanantics and “online nerds,” authorities in their individual fields with the time, interest, dedication and knowledge to make contributions as part of a global effort to translate YouTube information as quickly as possible.

The disadvantages

One of the main issues with crowdsourcing translations is, as with all new things, once something goes out of fashion or fails to continue to capture interest, productivity can slow down or die without much time to find an alternative.

It’s doubtful that interest in the crowdsourcing translations for Amara on YouTube will decrease. YouTube is just too popular. Here are some basic YouTube facts to blow your mind…

  • 60 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube per minute (to put that another way… one hour of video is uploaded to YouTube every second)
  • More than 4 billion videos are viewed on YouTube every day
  • More than 800 million unique users visit YouTube every month

Amara, therefore, is a translation project which already has the support of a huge number of online enthusiasts. Other translation projects might not be so popular and might risk standing the test of time. Crowdsourcing translations in some instances might simply run their course and it might be necessary to recruit paid translators to finish or continue the job anyway.

It’s also important to consider that while the Amara crowdsourcing community might be a crowd of video experts, translating into their native languages, they probably don’t have professional translation experience. Having subject matter knowledge and being a native speaker, doesn’t automatically make you an expert translator.

A number of industry experts believe that crowdsourcing translation projects still need to be monitored and edited or proofread by professional translators. In this sense the high quality, low costs and rapid results promised by crowdsourcing translation ventures, is nothing but a fleeting, well-disguised illusion.

Upcoming Translation Events in February

February will definitely be an interesting and busy month for translators. Below you will find plenty of conferences, webinars, workshops and events taking place all over the world!

3-6

TALLER DE CONTRATOS Y CALIDAD (DIRECTA E INVERSA). Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina

4

Translation Technology Showcase, TAUS, webinar

6

Best QA Practices for Large Multi-channel Publishing Projects, Globalization and Localization Association, webinar

7

Workshop on Translation Quality/Traduction et qualité. Villeneuve d’Ascq, France

6-8

Association of Language Companies (ALC), ALC UNConference14. West Palm Beach, FL

10-11

¿QUÉ NECESITO SABER PARA TRADUCIR UN SITIO WEB? (2156). Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina

10-12

Israel Translators Association (ITA), ITA 2014 International Conference. Herzliya, Israel

13

Transcreation: Beyond the Words, Globalization and Localization Association, webinar

13

CLÁUSULAS IMPOSIBLES I: CÓMO SALIR DE ESA MARAÑA PARA TRADUCIR. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina

14

Game Culturalization 101: Introduction and Fundamentals, The Localization Institute, webinar

17

Conference: The Philosophy of Translation and the Translation of Philosophy. University of Zurich. Switzerland.

EXHORTOS. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

19

PROCEDIMIENTO TEÓRICO-PRÁCTICO PARA LA ACTUACIÓN COMO AUXILIAR DE JUSTICIA. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

20

Changing the Game: A Painless Localization Process. The International Multilingual Computing User Group (IMUG), Mountain View, California USA

24-25

MANDATO/ AGENCY. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

24-27

TALLER INTENSIVO DE CORRECCIÓN EN ESPAÑOL. NIVEL INTRODUCTORIO. Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina.

27-28

Localization Project Management Certification – on site, The Localization Institute, Bangkok, Thailand

27- March 1

memoQfest Americas, Kilgray Translation Technologies, Los Angeles, California USA

27

Translation Project Management with memoQ Server, Globalization and Localization Association, webinar

28

Monterey Institute Career Fair, Monterey Institute of International Studies, Monterey, California USA

28

FÁRMACOS, DISPOSITIVOS Y ENFERMEDADES: ¿CÓMO ME ESPECIALIZO EN TRADUCCIÓN MÉDICA? Colegio de Traductores Públicos de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina

 

Don’t be a nincompoop!

British English is full of fun and fanciful terms. The phrase, “Don’t be a nincompoop!” is just one prime example.

British termImage courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“Nincompoop,” meaning fool or idiot, was traced back to its first usage in the 1670s by Jonson in his Dictionary of 1755. He believed the word to have come from the Latin legal term, “non compos mentis”, which translates to insane or mentally incompetent or not of sound mind. However, there are a number of etymologists who decidedly disagree with this explanation.

For example, some experts believe that “nincompoop” has actually developed from a proper name. Nicodemus, a derivation of Nicholas, has been cited as a possible example, as it was used in the French language to denote a fool.

Another band of etymologists, however, believe that “nincompoop” might simply be an invented word. The Oxford English Dictionary also believes that the origins of the word can be dated back to the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and that there were a variety of versions of the word in use, including nicompoop and nickumpoop.

Folk etymology, like the kind John Ciardi from A Browser’s Dictionary uses to dismissively relate “nincompoop” to the Dutch phrase nicht om poep, which means “the female relative of a fool,” might hold some weight. “To poop” is an English verb used today to describe the action of going to the toilet, but in the past it was a verb which meant “to cheat” or “to fool.” This verb probably came from the Dutch verb, “poep”, which means “to shit” or “to fart,” which highlights interesting connections between the many meanings of these verbs.

According to Francis Grose’s slang dictionary of 1785, “nincompoop” has experienced a number of spelling variations. There have been recordings of nickumpoop, nincumpoop, nink-a-poop, ninkompoop, ninkumpupe, ninny-cum-poop. In Grose’s notes, “nincompoop,” regardless of how it is spelt, is the word used to describe someone, “who never saw his wife’s ****,” (the asterisks are printed, exactly as printed here, in Grose’s dictionary). An alternative etymology is offered by a later slang collector, John Camden Hotten, who in 1860 suggested the ‘corruption of ‘non compos mentis’ (not of sound mind).

Despite the uncertainty about the origins of the term, its use has always been pretty clear. “Nincompoop” is either used to refer to a fool or a simpleton. The “nincompoop” is a human being, lacking in intelligence and who flaunts his or her stupidity without shame in front of others. Favourable synonyms of the terms include, jackass, idiot, dunce, imbecile, or moron. Any term used to describe an ignorant simpleton can be replaced with the British phrase, “nincompoop”.

However, there are also a few instances in which “nincompoop” has been used to refer to something other than ignorant stupidity. “Nincompoop” has also been used to mean a suitor who lacks self-confidence and it was used by Thomas Shadwell in his 1672 play entitled, “Epsom Wells,” to refer to a hen-pecked husband.

It’s worth mentioning that “nincompoop” is still regularly used by the British in the 21st century in general conversation. It is used as a soft, teasing term amongst friends and loved ones, for the most part, rather than as a cutting term meant to cause pain to someone else or make them feel uncomfortable. The British love for silly-sounding words is probably one of the most important factors in the longevity of this particular 1670s phrase.

 

Upcoming Translation Events in January

The year begins with plenty of conferences, webinars, workshops and events taking place all over the world!

8

Translation Technology Showcase, TAUS, webinar

9

TAUS Dynamic Quality Framework Users Call, TAUS, webinar

9-10

Colloquium “Performativity and Translation” at the Hong Kong Baptist University and City University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong

9-12

Modern Language Association (MLA). 129th MLA Annual Convention. Chicago, IL. USA

15

Conference: 2nd Networking event for Hotel & Tourism industry translators
Online: SDL MultiTerm 2014 for Translators and Project Managers
Online: SDL Trados Studio 2014 Getting Started Part 1: Translating
Online: SDL Trados Studio 2014 Intermediate

16

L20n: Next Generation Localization Framework for the Web, The International Multilingual Computing User Group (IMUG), San Jose, California USA

Online: SDL Trados Studio 2014 Getting Started Part 1: Translating in German
Online: SDL Trados Studio 2014 Getting Started Part 2: Working with the Supply Chain and Pre-production in French

16-17

CIUTI Forum 2014, Conférence Internationale permanente d’Instituts Universitaires de Traducteurs et Interprètes (CIUTI). Geneva, Switzerland

23

Localization unconference, Localization unconference Team, Toronto, Canada

Online: SDL Trados Studio 2014 Getting Started Part 1: Translating
Online: SDL MultiTerm 2014 for Translators and Project Managers in French

28

Online: SDL Trados Studio 2014 for Project Managers Part 1: Managing Projects
Online: SDL Trados Studio 2014 Getting Started Part 2: Working with the Supply Chain and Pre-production

29

Online: SDL Trados Studio 2014 for Project Managers Part 2: Streamlining Projects and Pre-production
Online: SDL Trados Studio 2014 Advanced

30-31

Translation in transition: between cognition, computing and technology. Frederiksberg, Denmark

You wouldn’t Adam ‘n’ Eve it!

With the passing of yet another year, the world has already begun to look forward toward a fresh start and a new beginning. What better duo than Adam and Eve, the starry couple from the very beginning of time, to send us bouncing into 2014 with a cockney rhyming slang phrase on the tips of our tongues?

“Adam and Eve” is the cockney rhyming phrase meaning “to believe” and used by many as a substitute for the verb in the East End of London. It’s not uncommon for a Londoner to enter a room and spark up a story of outrage beginning with, “You wouldn’t Adam ‘n’ Eve it!” but it’s also highly probable that most Londoners who use the phrase know very little about where it comes from and when it first became part of the Eastender’s standard vocabulary.

A brief history of Cockney Rhyming Slang

In the very early part of the 19th century, the first East London police force was formed by Sir. Robert Peel. Police officers earned the nickname, “Peelers” or “Bobbies,” (Bob being the shortened version of Robert). They were some of the first victims of Cockney Rhyming Slang, which was specifically created by East London’s lower classes so that they could communicate with each other without running the risk of the “Bobbies” catching on to what they were saying.

Modern changes

As we move into 2014, you might not Adam ‘n’ Eve it, but Cockney Rhyming Slang continues to go through some big and important changes. For example, it’s less likely that popular, Cockney rhyming phrases would be heard in and around the East End London. Most Cockney speakers are now found a little bit further out in Essex. During the past five decades, East Londoners have been slowly moving out of London and Cockney Rhyming Slang has been duly migrating out with them.

In the 19th century, Cockney Rhyming Slang was a dialect used by East Londoners, born in and around the Bow Road area. However, it is now more accurate to say that most white, working-class people from the south east region of England are the common speakers of Cockney Rhyming phrases.

Grappling to hold onto traditions

Fearing that Cockney Rhyming Slang will one day die out completely, a number of East London schools have been part of a project to teach the phrases to young children. “Apples and pears” (meaning stairs) and “Have a Butcher’s hook,” (meaning look) form part of an East London campaign designed to get Cockney recognised as an official dialect.

This educational program not only hopes to encourage the younger generation to begin reutilising as many Cockney Rhyming Slang phrases as possible, but it also aims to revive East London (Cockney) foods and traditional dishes, as well as East London (Cockney) customs.

Over 100 dialects are spoken by children in East London schools. Cockney, if we consider it to be a dialect, is one of the largest. This explains the recent push towards making Cockney Rhyming Slang part of the East London primary schools’ language program. If you don’t Adam ‘n’ Eve it, feel free to get the full story in London’s Daily Mail Online.

Where does the word Christmas come from?

“Christmas” is an Old English word, constructed from the combination of two words, namely “Christ” and “Mass”. The first recorded Old English version of the phrase, “Crīstesmæsse,” dates back to 1038, but by the Middle Ages the term had already morphed into “Cristemasse;” a slightly more modern version of the phrase.

Xmas

The origins

The two separate parts of the word can be traced back to Greek, Hebrew and Latin origins. “Christ” comes from the Greek word “Khrīstos” (Χριστός) or “Crīst,” and there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that the Hebrew word “Māšîaḥ” (מָשִׁיחַ) or “Messiah,” which actually means “anointed,” has also played a considerable role in the construction of the first part of the word “Christmas.” The second part most probably comes from the Latin word, “Missa,” which refers directly to the celebration of the Eucharist.

It is also believed that “Christenmas” is an archaic version of the word “Christmas,” whose origins can be attributed to the Middle English phrase, “Cristenmasse,” which when literally translated becomes, “Christian Mass.”

Christmas… the international holiday

Even though “Christian Mass” or “Christ’s Mass” refers to the annual Christian commemoration of the birth Jesus Christ, “Christmas” is an international holiday which, throughout the ages, has been celebrated by non-Christian communities and been referred to via a variety of different names, including the following:

  • Nātiuiteð (nātīvitās in Latin) or “Nativity” means “birth” and has often been used as an alternative to the word “Christmas”
  • The Old English word, Gēola, or “Yule” corresponds to the period of time between December and January and eventually became associated with the Christian festival of “Christmas”
  • “Noel” is an English word which became popular during late 14th century and which is derived from the Old French term “Noël” or “Naël,”  literally translating to “the day of birth”

“Xmas”… modern or ancient?

It’s also worth noting that, even though most people tend to view the abbreviation “Xmas” as a modern bastardisation of the word “Christmas,” “Xmas” is an ancient term and not a grammatically-incorrect modern construction. “X” was regularly used to represent the Greek symbol “chi,” (the first letter of the word “Christ”) and was very popular during Roman Times.

Three tips for dealing with translation scammers

Clients looking for expert translators always run the risk of stumbling into a scam. There are many fake translators who apply for translation work across the Internet and who promote their fake skills and qualifications by using profiles that they have stolen from real translators with just some of the details (like the email contacts) changed.

 

scamImage courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It’s difficult to eradicate the problem completely, but that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing real translators and clients looking for qualified, experienced translators can do to reduce the risks and alert others in the industry to the problem.

1. Keep up-to-date

The most important thing translators and clients looking for translators can do to avoid being scammed by scammers is to keep up-to-date with the different kinds of industry scams that they might fall prey to. One of the best ways of keeping up-to-date is to follow as many creditable translation blogs as possible.

Translation industry bloggers will always be amongst some of the first to highlight new translation scams to be aware of. The more contact clients and translators have with these blogs, the more difficult it becomes for scammers to continue tricking potential clients into paying for poor quality or non-existent translations.

2. Learn to recognize a typical scammer’s profile

Read up on the kind of profiles that scammers tend to assume. Find out as much information about the style of profile translation scammers adopt and revise these aspects of any application from interested translators that you receive before agreeing to send any work their way.

For example, most fake translators tend to operate using regular Hotmail or Gmail email accounts which they include on their fake CVs. An experienced, qualified and established translator is more likely to have an email account linked to a personal website or blog which he or she manages. The personal details of the real translator will always appear that much more professional. References will check out and they will be happy to contact you via Skype or other methods of online communication before committing to a translation project. They will also be able to provide lots of links to past translations and be happy to send you a test translated paragraph as part of the interview process.

3. Report scammers immediately

Reporting scammers is incredibly important. Even publishing a short post on the Internet, or making a reference to a bad experience with a fake translator via social media platforms, will help to control the problems which exist within the industry and reduce the power that translation scammers seem to have acquired.

In our last post, we describe in more detail how the scammers manage to get away with their crimes.

If more industry experts began publishing information, the translation industry would grow stronger against potential scammers and professionals working within the field could begin to stop worrying about identity fraud.