Will 90% of the world’s languages cease to exist?

Posted On October 17, 2009By TranspanishIn English Language, Languages, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/ 2 Comments

A program in BBC radio reveals the following:

An estimated 7,000 languages are being spoken around the world. But that number is expected to shrink rapidly in the coming decades.
In 1992 a prominent US linguist stunned the academic world by predicting that by the year 2100, 90% of the world’s languages would have ceased to exist.
According to Ethnologue, a US organisation that compiles a global database of languages, 473 languages are currently classified as endangered.

What is lost when a language dies?

As globalisation sweeps around the world, it is perhaps natural that small communities come out of their isolation and seek interaction with the wider world. The number of languages may be an unhappy casualty, but why fight the tide?

“What we lose is essentially an enormous cultural heritage, the way of expressing the relationship with nature, with the world, between themselves in the framework of their families, their kin people,” says French linguist Claude Hagege.

“It´s also the way they express their humour, their love, their life. It is a testimony of human communities which is extremely precious, because it expresses what other communities than ours in the modern industrialized world are able to express.”

For linguists like Claude Hagege, languages are not simply a collection of words. They are a living, breathing organisms holding the connections and associations that define a culture. When a language becomes extinct, the culture in which it lived is lost too.

Cross words

The value of language as a cultural artefact is difficult to dispute, but is it actually realistic to ask small communities to retain their culture?

One linguist, Professor Salikoko Mufwene, of the University of Chicago, has argued that the social and economic conditions among some groups of speakers “have changed to points of no return”.

As cultures evolve, he argues, groups often naturally shift their language use. Asking them to hold onto languages they no longer want is more for the linguists’ sake than for the communities themselves.

Ethnologue editor Paul Lewis, however, argues that the stakes are much higher. Because of the close links between language and identity, if people begin to think of their language as useless, they see their identity as such as well.

This leads to social disruption, depression, suicide and drug use, he says. And as parents no longer transmit language to their children, the connection between children and grandparents is broken and traditional values are lost.

“There is a social and cultural ache that remains, where people for generations realize they have lost something,” he says.

What no-one disputes is that the demise of languages is not always the fault of worldwide languages like our own.

An increasing number of communities are giving up their language by their own choice, says Claude Hagege. Many believe that their languages have no future and that their children will not acquire a professional qualification if they teach them tribal languages.

Babbling away

Perhaps all is not lost for those who want the smaller languages to survive. As the revival of Welsh in the UK and Mouri in New Zealand suggest, a language can be brought back from the brink.

Hebrew, says Claude Hagege, was a dead language at the beginning of the 19th century. It existed as a scholarly written language, but there was no way to say “I love you” and “pass the salt” – the French linguists’ criteria for detecting life.

But with the “strong will” of Israeli Jews, he says, the language was brought back into everyday use. Now it is undeniably a living breathing language once more.

Closer to home, Cornish intellectuals, inspired by the reintroduction of Hebrew, succeeded in bringing the seemingly dead Cornish language back into use in the 20th Century. In 2002 the government recognised it as a living minority language.

But for many dwindling languages on the periphery of global culture, supported by little but a few campaigning linguists, the size of the challenge can seem insurmountable.

“You’ve got smallest, weakest, least resourced communities trying to address the problem. And the larger communities are largely unaware of it,” says Ethnologue editor Paul Lewis.

“We would spend an awful lot of money to preserve a very old building, because it is part of our heritage. These languages and cultures are equally part of our heritage and merit preservation.”

Some Statistics

6% of the worlds languages are spoken by 94% of the world’s population
The remaining 94% of languages are spoken by only 6% of the population
The largest single language by population is Mandarin (845 million speakers) followed by Spanish (329 million speakers) and English (328 million speakers).
133 languages are spoken by fewer than 10 people

SOURCE: Ethnologue

British companies relying too much on the English Language

Posted On October 13, 2009By TranspanishIn English Language, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/ No Comments

English may be the leading international business language and UK companies may still have a head start in the 53 Commonwealth countries where English is spoken, but the National Centre for Languages says that three-quarters of the world’s population speak no English and 94% of English speakers do so only as their second language. Chinese is the most widely-spoken language, followed by Spanish and then English.

When the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) asked almost 3,500 of its members for reasons why they did not export to Europe, 11% cited language barriers and 5% cultural barriers.

Isabella Moore, former president of the BCC and managing director of Leamington Spa-based Comtec Translations, says the survey showed that on average small businesses were losing up to £250,000 a year in orders due to a lack of language skills.

“You have a school of thought that you manage in English. But when you look at our export successes, we do best where English is spoken widely,” she says. “Then you look at countries like Spain and Italy, where we don’t do as well proportionately. Look at South America and it’s only a fraction of our overall export figures.”

Prof Foreman-Peck also found that British exporters are not benefiting from others’ willingness to learn English to the extent that they may believe. Analysis in the US found that online buyers with poor English were six times less likely to make a purchase than those with good English. The research also showed the customers were willing to pay more if the website was in their native language.

The BCC research found that the main reason why companies choose a particular export market is because they know there is
potential demand and feel able to secure sales, but 14% said they were attracted because of linguistic and cultural similarities to the UK.

However, businesses in the same survey did not see securing better language skills as a priority. Only 5% of the companies polled said they would welcome subsidised language training.

Similarly, demand for an “Export box” all-in-one starter package launched by UK Trade & Investment in June, which included translation services, has been slow.

The package included subsidised website translation and redesign to target a foreign-language market, a Google adwords campaign, logistics from Royal Mail and subsidised banking services from HSBC.

Mr Wheeldon says there were plenty of inquiries, but a “much smaller number” had actually then bought the service, which costs £3,000. “I knew that we were not great at exporting, but I didn’t appreciate the fear and anxiety and the time it takes for people to do it,” he says.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

Lunfardo: The Slang of Buenos Aires

Posted On October 6, 2009By TranspanishIn Languages, Latinos, Lunfardo, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/ No Comments

Argentine Spanish is peppered with words and phrases from Lunfardo, a vast vocabulary developed on the streets of Buenos Aires in the second half of the 19th century. Criminals and other shady characters looking to keep their activities under wraps developed Lunfardo by borrowing and twisting words from the melting pot of languages that surrounded them, allowing them to communicate with each other even in the presence of the police or prison guards. While initially used by the more unsavory element of Argentine society, Lunfardo was later popularized through the tango, literary art forms, and upwardly mobile immigrants and has become a part of everyday, informal speech regardless of social class. Today, the use of Lunfardo is most prevalent in Argentina (particularly in and around Buenos Aires) and Uruguay, though some elements have been adopted by neighboring countries such as Chile and Paraguay.

Lunfardo was largely a product of the great wave of European immigration to Argentina that took place from the late 1800s through the mid-1900s. The huge influx of immigrants hailing from Spain, Italy and France, many of whom spoke non-standard regional dialects or languages, greatly influenced the development of Lunfardo. Certain words also arrived via the gauchos from Argentina’s interior as well as from native groups like the Guaraní, Quechua and Mapuche.

One of the features of Lunfardo is the use of vesre, a form of wordplay that involves reversing the order of syllables in a word. The term “vesre” is derived from the Spanish word “revés” (in reverse/backwards). Examples of vesre include café → feca (coffee), pantalones → lompa (a truncated form of the word for pants) and hotel → telo (a pay-by-the-hour love motel).

In addition to vesre, Lunfardo also employs words based on metaphors such as tumbero, a slang term for “convict” that originates from the Spanish word “tumba” meaning grave. Another example is the word “campana” (Spanish for “bell”), which describes the lookout man ready to sound the alarm should the police suddenly arrive on the scene.

For those of you looking to add a splash of color to your Spanish, the following website has compiled an extensive list of Lunfardo words and phrases: Diccionario de Lunfardo.

Some Lunfardo words added to our blog:

Meaning of “guita“

Lunfardo: Money Talk

Meaning of Atorrante

Payment Methods for Freelance Translators in US and Abroad

Posted On August 27, 2009By TranspanishIn Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/ No Comments

Translators around the world have never had it so good. With the translation business blooming, they seek to stand a lot from their work. The methods by which translators get paid are many and varied. Many agencies prefer to pay their clients through ACH or Automated Clearing House, in which, it is possible to deposit money directly into the translator’s bank account with the help of electronic financial transactions. Known as direct deposit method, it offers great convenience.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Another payment method that has become popular with both employers and translators is Paypal. Paypal basically is an e-commerce website which allows transactions to be made electronically. It has become a great platform for companies and organizations to pay their translators without the need of traveling or any paper-work. Withdrawal or transactions from the Paypal account to bank account and credit cards are possible. It is free to register and is a highly cost-effective option for many translators worldwide.

Moneybookers is also an international e-wallet system that allows for electronic transactions. The money employers pay can be directly credited to the Moneybooker’s account. Money can be then withdrawn from the account to a bank account or onto a credit card. Electronic transfer is possible only if the bank the translators use is connected to a SWIFT network and it does not operate in some countries.

Wire transfer can also be used to transfer money from one bank account to the other all over the world. All international bank transfers work along with the SWIFT system. Wire transfers are very fast, however, international wire transfers can prove to be very expensive. The entire process related to the transactions is very complicated as all the details regarding bank accounts have to be completely accurate before proceeding to the next step. Transactions can occur within minutes if they are within the same country and a few days if they are of international nature.

These days many of the organizations offer their own credit card with the help of services such as Payoneer. Translators can transfer funds from their online account into the credit card and then use it according to their requirement. Thus, the number of payment methods offered to translators are numerous and depending on their preference and requirements, a particular payment method can be chosen which both the employer and translator are compatible with.

Delicate work in translation

Posted On August 2, 2009By TranspanishIn Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/ No Comments

A letter to the New York Times Book Review complained that Gerald Martin, the biographer of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, had not given due respect to Marquez’s translators. Martin raves about Marquez’s “gorgeous sentences,” but the letter writer complains that he “neglects to mention whether he read those sentences in Spanish or English.” I have often wondered as I am reading a translation how much I am indebted to the original author, how much to the translator.

I’ve heard that the Prendergast translation of Proust’s Remembrances of Things Past is better than the old Moncrieff version, the one I own. When I finally get around to reading the novel, would my experience be heightened if I bought the new one?

I don’t know any language well enough to translate, but I did have a glimmer of the practice when I studied Russian for four years. Professor Pastuhova told me that I spoke Russian with a Boston accent and hinted that the only reason I passed her courses was that I could translate the literature into good English. She had been the tutor of Tolstoi’s grandchildren – her passion was Russian literature. I had to go word by word, using my Russian-English dictionary, but I found that I was reading the work with wonderful concentration. I fancied that I got further into its soul.

I inherited my grandfather’s interlinear New Testament and was so enthralled with it that I bought myself an interlinear Old Testament. Reynolds Price, in his book of essays, A Palpable God, explained why, as a novelist, he decided to translate some parts of the Bible, knowing no Greek or Hebrew. He convinced me to do the same. Scholars have suggested that some of the psalms might have been written by a woman in King David’s court. I looked for one that seemed to be from a woman’s point of view, chose 139, and using my interlinear Old Testament and, aided by commentaries, I translated it. Even though I was faithful to the text, I could give it a spin, emphasizing what a woman thinks of her body. I better understood the rhythm, form and certainly the meaning of the psalm.

My friend Jo-Anne Elder has published a book of short stories as well as poetry and essays, but she is better known as a translator. Two of her translations of Acadian literature have been nominated for Governor General’s Awards. How do juries choose between translations of very different kinds of books? Do they look for those that are unusually faithful to the original or for those that read as though they were originally written in the new language?

Herménégilde Chiasson invented a brilliant poetic form in his Beatitudes, hundreds of lines beginning “those who;” the reader supplies the “blessed are.” Elder translates one as “those who sing at the top of their lungs during storms.” Is the rhythm of the line as good in French, presenting the same vivid picture?

Elder at first translated Acadian poetry in collaboration with the poet Fred Cogswell. Cogswell told me that translating was like doing a crossword puzzle, a good activity while he was watching a baseball game. I’m sure it’s not that easy.

For my The Writing on the Wall project at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Nela Rio’s Spanish poem was translated into French by Elder and poet Rose Després and into English by Hugh Hazelton. Elder wrote me, “I noticed (I think!) that Hugh took a couple of liberties, so I did, too, for the rhythm, which was so strong in the poem. I’ve tried to make it contemplative, because that’s how I heard it.”

The NotaBle Acts theatre festival of New Brunswick plays opened with On and Off the Shelf, an Acadian play by Marcel-Romain Thériault translated by Elder. Translating plays must present a different set of problems from translating poetry. The dialogue has to sound authentic and yet has to convey more meaning than real speech does. The original title is Disponibles en librairie – “available at bookstores.” Why the change? The question is often asked: “What got lost in translation?” Even if you’ve learned another language so well you can translate it into your mother language, can you ever know the nuances and the emotions associated with words and phrases that a child learns instinctively? I frequently weep in church when we sing a hymn that was part of my childhood but never weep when we sing those I’ve been singing at Wilmot United for 44 years.

When I read Marquez, I am getting plot and characterization but not his actual words. We say that Shakespeare is all about language, but his plays have always been revered in other tongues. I think it must be that languages other than our own, although incomprehensible to us when spoken, have an essence we recognize.

Nancy Bauer is an arts columnist who lives in Fredericton. She can be reached at wbauer@nbnet.nb.ca.

Source: http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/salon/article/747157

Translators Wanted at LinkedIn. The Pay? $0 an Hour.

Posted On July 3, 2009By TranspanishIn Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/ 1 Comment

About half of the 42 million members of LinkedIn, the online professional networking Web site, are outside the United States, and to further expand internationally, the company hopes to be translated into more than its current four languages — English, Spanish, French and German. But when LinkedIn asked thousands of its translator members to complete a survey this month that asked whether they would consider volunteering to translate the site into other languages, many said “nyet.”

Chris Irwin, who lives outside London, was irked by the third multiple-choice question, which asked what “incentive” translators would prefer, with five nonmonetary choices including an upgraded LinkedIn account and none (“because it’s fun”). Mr. Irwin checked a sixth choice, “Other,” typing in that he would prefer cash. In a phone interview, Mr. Irwin said he was surprised that LinkedIn “would have the effrontery to ask for a professional service for free.”

Another translator, Matthew Bennett, who is based in Murcia in Spain, started a group on LinkedIn for those annoyed by the survey, and it swelled to about 300.

Some translators are upset because LinkedIn showed “an enormous amount of disrespect towards them and their work from a networking site for professionals where ‘relationships matter,’ ” wrote Mr. Bennett on his personal blog, referring to one of LinkedIn’s marketing slogans.

But LinkedIn insists that the interpreters are, well, misinterpreting.

Nico Posner, the LinkedIn product manager who circulated the survey, declined to be interviewed but in a post to Mr. Bennett’s group wrote that the survey was not asking translators to volunteer per se. He said he was trying to find out whether they would consider “crowd sourcing,” borrowing the term applied to companies like Wikipedia that rely on volunteers’ collective wisdom.

“While I realize that many professionals in the translation and localization field will not be interested in participating in a crowd sourcing opportunity on LinkedIn,” Mr. Posner wrote, others “would welcome an opportunity to volunteer some of their time and skills towards translating the LinkedIn site and highlight their professional work on their LinkedIn profile, not only for pride and glory, but hopefully to land more paid work.”

In a post on LinkedIn’s company blog, Mr. Posner added that thousands of respondents said they would volunteer, especially if credited on the site.

“I didn’t feel cheapened or exploited at all when they asked,” said Erika Baker, of North Somerset, England. “I just thought, ‘Wow what an opportunity.’ ” A translator for more than 15 years, Ms. Baker said that she had rarely been credited as she would be on the LinkedIn project and that she was certain it would bring in paying work.

“These are new ways of marketing, and the Internet is really the way to go,” Ms. Baker said.

Recently a group of illustrators took umbrage when Google asked them to provide free artwork to feature on its Chrome browser; Google countered that it was offering free exposure and that dozens of other artists had signed on.

In 2007, Facebook asked volunteers to offer translations of the standard explanatory language throughout the site into more than 20 languages, with translators voting among themselves for preferred verbiage. Some faulted the company, saying it was shortchanging translators.

But Nataly Kelly, a former Spanish translator who is an analyst at Common Sense Advisory, a research firm that studies how companies translate, said that Facebook’s critics had missed the big picture.

“It would have been far cheaper for Facebook to pay translators 10 cents a word to translate material than to build a community and pay engineers to set up all this infrastructure,” said Ms. Kelly, who volunteered on the Facebook project herself, casting a vote on such head-scratchers as what to call the Facebook profile “wall,” since in Spanish there are different words for interior and exterior walls.

Web sites may expand using volunteer translators, but they often also pay for work, not only in editing and proofreading the volunteers’ efforts, but also in translating content that requires less local flavor and more legal precision, like privacy policies, Ms. Kelly said.

But Ms. Kelly is sympathetic to translators, who “are often taken advantage of and paid late if at all,” and said LinkedIn had acted undiplomatically.

“It might have been more appropriate for LinkedIn to make it very clear what kind of process this was, and the fact that they employ full-time translators, to appease the fears of translators,” Ms. Kelly said. “That would have prevented a lot of the backlash.”

By ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/technology/start-ups/29linkedin.html?ref=business

Translation Throughout History

Posted On March 10, 2009By TranspanishIn English Language, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/ No Comments

Translation has played a role throughout history any time there has been an intersection of two cultures and languages. And each time one culture has produced a written text, translators serve as the bridge that allows literate members of one culture to be exposed to the written material the other has produced.

Perhaps the best documented example of translation history is that of the Bible, but the work of scholars and great thinkers from all over the world has also been translated. These translations have permitted the cross-germination and exposure to ideas and values that have then spread across the world because of their availability in other languages.

There are three general types of translation: literary, technical, and commercial. Most translation history that goes back centuries focuses on the former, literary translation, because of the need to transmit ideas and values from one language to another. The Translator’s Invisibility: A History of Translation by Lawrence Venutis is a seminal work tracing the translation of literary texts into English and how those translations shape translation theory and thought across cultures.

The translation of literary texts is a field unto itself, and the layperson benefits from this because it allows access to great written works written in another language. As Venutis says in his book: “I see translation as the attempt to produce a text so transparent that it does not seem to be translated.” The reader benefits from skilled translations that stay true to the style and content of a text written in the source language and rendered into his own without the need to understand the source language.

The history of machine translation may be more critical to the modern person because of its use as an aid to transmitting information as opposed to ideas and art. Technical and commercial translations can be rendered more quickly and with greater continuity when machine translation tools are utilized. Wikipedia gives a brief overview of the history of machine translation, beginning with its origins in the seventeenth century.

Because of skilled translators and their ability to bridge two languages, we have access to texts as varied as the richly detailed novels of Isabel Allende, scholarly articles, instruction manuals, and pamphlets for non-native English speakers about health resources. Each of these examples are made possible because of the craft of translation whose history dates back to the first intersection of two cultures with written texts.

Hispanic Buying Power: Will it Continue in 2009?

Posted On February 25, 2009By TranspanishIn Latinos, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/ 5 Comments

You may think it strange to discuss the growth of Hispanic buying power as the United States is in the midst of one of the deepest economic downturns in recent history. But when times were flush, a few oft-quoted reports came out about the expected increase in Hispanic wealth-accumulation and buying power. The SeligCenter for Economic Growth’s The Multicultural Economy is a rich source of data. To access the entire report, click here. A key piece of information from the report finds that Hispanic buying power is projected to grow to $1.1 trillion by 2009 and $12.4 trillion by 2011. United States residents may be buying less overall, and Latinos certainly have been hit hard by the sub-prime mortgage crisis, but with the surge in the Latino population, they will continue to buy goods and services. Granted, most families are cutting back on purchases, but as the U.S. economy moves out of the recession, many marketing pros are counting on Latinos jumping back into the purchasing frame of mind. A report from Experian Consumer Research indicates that Hispanics may be less affected by the recession due to certain cultural factors, including less reliance on credit for purchases and the pooling of resources among extended family. And companies may be cutting their advertising budget and outreach to preserve jobs and keep their doors open, but Latinos are one demographic that should not be ignored. This recession is too new to tell whether Hispanics have curtailed buying at the same rate as other ethnic groups, but article from the last recession in the early 21^st century showed that Hispanics were less affected by the downturn. Regardless, savvy marketing pros will continue to tailor their message to the demographic that shows the most promise whether that message is in Spanish or in English with a Latino flair.

Tips for Getting a Quote for Your English to Spanish Translation

Posted On February 3, 2009By TranspanishIn English Language, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/ No Comments

The first step in forming a relationship with a potential translation agency is getting a quote for your project or document. Translation agencies are experienced with asking the right questions so they can provide you with an accurate cost estimate. Many agencies’ websites allow you to submit your document and query via an online application. Some preparation on your end will make the process much more streamlined. Below are some questions you should be ready to answer when requesting a quote:

What is the source language and into what language will the document be translated?
How complex is the document to be translated?
What file format do you require for the final translated document?
What turn around time will you require?
What is the word count of the document?
Do you require a certified translation, such as those for immigration purposes?
Will you require any value-added services such as Desktop Publishing or complex formatting of graphs and tables?

In turn, the translation agency will give you a cost estimate based on the above factors. Don’t be seduced by bargain basement quotes, as the adage “you get what you pay for” applies to translations. A reputable translation agency or freelancer will charge more for highly technical or complex document translation because of the level of expertise required. And agencies may apply a surcharge for formatting the document so that it mirrors your source language document. In this case, be prepared to send the agency all images and tables so that the agency can return a print-ready file. Depending on the file format of the original, you may not be able to tell the translation agency the word count. If you only have a hard copy or scanned copy of the document, agencies will price the project based on either the final word count of the translation or the number of pages. In this case, the final cost may differ from the initial estimate offered. Your chosen translation agency should be able to work in various file formats and many are able to provide value-added services such as those mentioned above. Being clear about what you require in the end product and being open to dialogue with the agency will facilitate not only pricing but also the entire translation process.

Clear Communication with Your Freelance Translator

Posted On January 14, 2009By TranspanishIn Spanish Translation, Translation Buyers/ No Comments

A qualified English to Spanish translator can save your business time as well as bring in new clients with their document translations. But keeping your communication streamlined and clear will expedite any translation job you contract them to work on.

Below are some tips on getting the most out of your working relationship with a freelancer English to Spanish translator:

Remember, you are the expert on the material to be translated and they are the experts in giving you the end product. You have to put your trust in your translator because you can’t check the accuracy of the final document. Therefore, hiring a freelancer knowledgeable in the subject matter should be your first priority.
Provide your translator with the final document to be translated, not a draft. If you alter the document midstream, then you may be opening yourself to extra charges depending on what is in your contract with the freelancer. Not to mention, the translator may have already rendered most of the English document into Spanish, which wastes time.
Keep the lines of communication open! Just as you appreciate a freelancer who checks in about her progress, make sure that communication goes both ways. Ensuring a timely response to any emails or calls with questions will allow the translator to continuing working. What may seem an unimportant question to you could hold up a translator as she waits for an answer.
Explain your needs and expectations at the beginning. The nature of freelance translation requires that translators be flexible, but there’s a point where unclear communication can cause a project to crash. This could ultimately wreck a relationship with a trusted English to Spanish translator. Head off a communication breakdown by explaining what you expect before starting a project, and make sure that your translator has all her questions answered so that she can start work.

Of course, even translation projects that seem simple at the outset can turn complicated. But by keeping courtesy, clarity, and communication a focus of your partnership with a freelancer, you will reap the rewards of powerful, accurate Spanish translations.

Translation Buyers