tokenism

I've posted before on the term token, and there was a great discussion in the comments about how token is different than the effort to reach equality through quotas - basically quotas can be useful as a way to get to equality, as loaded as they can be, and it is not a term to participate in pejorativizing. Months later my colleague and friend Jonathan Sanders just sent me this great follow up idea:

"I had a thought about how to translate "tokenism" and related adjectives, nouns, etc.

"hacer acto de ser incluyente" or "hacer acto de inclusión". The same way you can "hacer acto de presencia" in the sense to "put in an appearence" just so that they you know you were there, you "hacer acto de ser incluyente" so that you go down on the record as supporting diversity. What do you think?"

I think it's fantastic! What do others say?

talking heads

talking heads: cabezas pensantes

Thanks to my friend Juan Carlos in El Salvador for this one. It cracks me up that in Spanish they think, in English they just talk. No, I don't mean the band. You know what I mean, the old guard leadership (las vacas sagradas) all up at a speakers table, just talking at us, no interaction, no participation, very old school. I continue to be frustrated at how much of this still goes on in the movement. Let's walk our talk and talk differently!

(the lettering on this New Yorker cartoon is tiny but it reads "the subject of tonight's discussion is: why are there no women on this panel?")

reverso

I've been having good look lately with reverso, an online dictionary that's new to me. Even better yet, it has twofirefox add-ons so you can get in that fabulous little search bar in the upper right where my word-reference dictionary also lives (links to those and other goodies you can have live there in the tools section on the left of the blog).

mountaintop removal

fantastic video! which Argentinian tv refused to air. here they call it la megamineria a lo abierto. what term have you been using? and how many mountains went into your gold ring?

sufragios y coronas

sufragios y coronas: funeral prayers and wreaths.

I was very proud to interpret for Yessika Hoyos this morning at a national labour convention (of NUPGE). I watched this video to prepare and was struck by the translation of these two macabre forms of death threats. Of course sufragio can also refer to the vote, so pay attention to context, but I'm afraid that today's vote in Colombia is likely to lead to more death threats for unionists and human rights workers if Santos wins. All the more reason we need good translation and interpretation of the brave Colombians struggling for justice!

planes de vida

planes de vida: plans for life, vs life plans

I've seen this phrase, common in Colombian social justice movements, rendered as life plans, but I think that in English we're used to that meaning our individual life plans - ie, to buy a house, have a baby, etc. In the Colombian context these are community plans for protecting and sustaining life, as in, actually staying alive, and then about thriving.

art by Rini

US Social Forum interpreting needs support

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD

Join GGJ in supporting Language Access at the USSF

The Grassroots Global Justice Alliance is committing $500 to support the Language Access Support Fund (LASF) of the United States Social Forum (USSF). The LASF was established last month to support the expenses of bi-lingual interpreters volunteering their services for USSF activities. As we know translation and interpretation is hard work. Interpreters at the USSF are volunteering their time but in many cases will not have funds to cover basic expenses while in Detroit. The fund will help cover living expenses for up to 25 interpreters who will work many hours translating and interpreting workshops, plenaries and Peoples' Movement Assemblies.

The USSF has established a goal of $20,000 for the LASF. GGJ's contribution will bring the total amount raised thus far to $7,500. Seed funding of $4,000 was provided by the USSF, the French American Charitable Trust based in San Francisco has also contributed $3,000.

We urge all organizations, individuals and foundations to help us reach our goal and match the contributions of the USSF, FACT and GGJ. Any amount will be significant! To make a contribution, please make checks out to Praxis Project/USSF. Please put a note in the memo line that it is for Language Access Support Fund!

Send checks to:

Praxis Project

1750 Columbia Road NW, Second Floor

Washington DC 20009

For any questions related to Language Access, please contact Roberto Tijerina, Chair, Language Access Working Group: roberto@ussf2010.org.

Únase a GGJ en apoyar Acceso Lingüístico en el Foro Social

La Alianza Popular para la Justicia Global (GGJ por sus siglas en inglés) ha comprometido $500 al Fondo de Apoyo para el Acceso Lingüístico (LASF por sus siglas en inglés) del Foro Social Estadounidense (FSE). El LASF se estableció el mes pasado para apoyar con los gastos de interpretes bilingües que están sirviendo de voluntarios/as en las actividades del FSE. Como sabemos, la interpretación como la traducción requieren mucho esfuerzo. Los/as interpretes del FSE están sirviendo de voluntarios/as pero en muchos casos no tienen los fondos para cubrir sus gastos básicos mientras en Detroit. El fondo ayudará cubrir los gastos de 25 interpretes que trabajaran muchas horas traduciendo e interpretando los talleres, sesiones plenarias, y Asambleas de Movimiento Popular.

El FSE ha puesto la meta de $20.000 para el LASF. La contribución de GGJ alza la suma actual a $7.500. El FSE proveyó $4.000 de fondos iniciativos, el Fideicomiso Caritativo Franco-americano (FACT por sus siglas en inglés) basado en San Francisco también ha contribuido $3.000.

Encomiamos a todas las organizaciones, fundaciones, y a individuos/as a ayudarnos en alcanzar nuestra meta con donaciones pareadas a las del FSE, FACT, y GGJ. ¡Cualquier cantidad es significante! Para contribuir, por favor escribe su cheque a Praxis Project/USSF. Por favor anote que es para Language Access Support Fund!

Mande los cheques a:

Praxis Project

1750 Columbia Road NW, Second Floor

Washington DC 20009

Para preguntas relacionadas al Acceso Lingüístico, por favor comuníquese con Roberto Tijerina, Presidente, Grupo de Trabajo de Acceso Lingüístico: roberto@ussf2010.org.

stakeholders

stakeholders: partes interesadas

Wikipedia in english defines as:

those entities within or outside an organization which:

a) Sponsor a project or,

b) Have an interest or a gain upon a successful completion of a project.

c) May have a positive or negative influence in the Project Completion.

But I actually don't like that definition much - besides being poorly written, it doesn't seem to apply well to a social justice context. Anyone up for editing the wikipedia? It's easy! Though of course this is generally a more business-y term, far too often imported into social change work for my taste.

campesino

I've posted twice before about campesino

Human Rights Watch recently put out a report on the "new" paramilitaries in Colombia, and included a page with short videos about it. This is a great strategy as most of us probably won't want to wade through the report. They have great subtitles throughout, especially in the short videos labeled "three stories". The translator clearly prioritized being compelling and easily readable rather than overly literal - important for this sort of work. One of the things that jumped out at me was that they used farmworker for campesino. The thing is, that in the US this implies that you don't work your own land, but someone else's - which is often but not always true of campesinos. The nice thing about campesino is that it includes both the English terms 'small farmer' or 'family farmer' and 'farmworker'. Ah, the challenges of there being no exact equivalent!

(pic by Rini)

interpreting tip: body language and um's and ah's

Another useful reminder from the ATA Chronicle article in the December issue on the pitfalls of long consecutive mode in the courtroom, by Janis Palma.

" When a witness uses body language to complete a verbal message, the consecutive interpretation has to be delivered within a timeframe that allows the target language listeners to put the words and gestures together in a way that makes sense. We cannot emulate those gestures and incorporate them into our verbal rendition. Interpreting “He went like this and then I felt something here and as we were struggling I felt him hit me over here, so I went like that and hit him back, but then he threw a punch and I ended up on the ground" interpreting after the witness is done gesturing, without matching those gestures to his words, will be a senseless exercise that will surely leave the target-language listeners wondering what it all meant."

Generally my sense is that movement interpreters with little training tend to do consecutive that is TOO short to make sense, but here is a case where shorter consec is important. Janis also says that in long consecutive it is nearly impossible for the interpreter to deliver all the right pauses, inflections, hesitations, incomplete sentences, false starts, and repetitions. I have heard interpreters attempt it, plummeting into this mechanical read-back of copious notes, with absolutely counterproductive results because the listener is missing out on all the nuances, even
when he is getting all the words. "

Of course sometimes repetitions and hedges are meaningful, sometimes not - and we can be more flexible about this in a community speaking event than in the courtroom.

mesa de trabajo

working group (or sometimes comité is more appropriate if it is an ongoing group)
NOT worktable or, as I recently heard it rendered, workshop.

falsos positivos (I promise to quit obsessing about this term)

I couldn't resist posting about this one more time because I really liked the rendition in this article:
"the body count scandal". It seems to me that this one gives readers/listeners not familiar with Colombia much more of a clue of what it might all be about. This obviously won't work when your speaker refers to a so-called "false positive", but if they're talking about the scandal as a whole, I vote for this version.

translatability

One of the things we can do to improve translations for social change is to educate our movements on how to write (and edit) documents so that they are more easily and clearly translatable. To this end I want to share here some great suggestions for this from technical writer Fiona Hannington:

"Writing for ESL and writing for translatability makes for good technical writing, regardless of whether we have ESL readers (we do) or expect the docs to be translated (maybe one day).

In particular:

• Use simple sentence constructions of subject-verb-object.
• Use the active voice. The passive voice, although appropriate sometimes, can introduce ambiguity (who or what is the actor?).
• Use pronouns clearly so that the antecedent is obvious.
• Avoid turning verbs into nouns (nominalization).
• Avoid phrasal and modal verbs. Phrasal verbs have two or more words. Choose a one-word verb that says the same thing. Modal verbs express the mood of the main verb ("should," "could," "can," "would," "might," and "may"). Use these when there is no other way to make these subtle distinctions. Certainly avoid using both phrasal and modal verbs together.
• Avoid noun strings (more than one adjective).
• Use positive language: avoid negative constructions.
• Choose one term for a concept and use it consistently.
• Do not omit articles and prepositions when they help to clarify the meaning.
• Avoid wordiness: keep sentence length under 20 words.

Example:

Before:

To maintain synchronization [nominalization] between the two controller cards, the operating system occasionally performs an automatic reload of [nominalization] the standby controller card. To facilitate the automatic reload [repetitive; nominalization] of an controller card, the auto-boot? variable must be set [passive] to true.

After:

To synchronize the two controller cards, the operating system occasionally reloads the standby controller card automatically. To enable this process, set the auto-boot? variable to true."

Fantastic. Thanks Fiona!

artivist

artivist: artivista

according to the (longer) English wikipedia definition:
Artivist is a portmanteau word combining "art" and "activist". Artivism developed in recent years while the anti-globalization and antiwar protests emerged and proliferated. In most of the cases artivists attempt to push political agendas by the means of art. Yet this is not political art as it was known before, in the sense of artworks being political. The artivist is often involved in Streetart or Urban Art, Adbusting or Subvertising.

When I went looking for this word in Spanish I found that Kayhan Irani has the fabulous website artivista.org (though she's of Iranian descent, so maybe this word works in Farsi too, but I'm guessing she got it from the Spanish). She also edited the great book, “Telling Stories to Change the World: Global Voices on the Power of Stories to Build Community and make Social Justice Claims”, which I really enjoyed.

The photo here is graffiti in Bogotá.

arengas (interpreting tip)

I haven't found a great rendition of the word arenga itself - rallying cry just has a less powerful ring to it. But check out the great Spanish wikipedia entry on arengas -

and here are some arengas I interpreted at the last vigil to close the School of the Americas (the picture here is from an action to close the SOA that I was part of last Monday while I was in DC - which is why I haven't posted in a while):

por que, por que, por que nos asesinan, si somos la esperanza de america latina!

why, why, why do they assasinate us, we are the HOPE of latin america!

por nuestros muertos, ni un minuto de silencio, toda una vida de lucha!
for our dead, not one minute of silence, but an entire lifetime of struggle!

That last one you'll hear alot from Colombians. The key to interpreting at rallies is to know that it's likely the speaker will throw in an arenga. They usually know before they get on stage which they will use, so be sure to ask them ahead of time and figure it out before hand so that you can be calm and say it strongly and with passion, instead of panicking about rhymes, etc. In this situation finding one with a better ring is more important than being strictly literal.

accents (becoming a better interpreter tip)

One of the skills you need as an interpreter is being able to understand different accents, mumbling, and voices in general. One fun (and sometimes crazy making) way to practice this is by listening to music and making out what they're saying. Now there's a fabulous web site where you can practice this, called lyrics training. Select Spanish or English in top left and it will play you music videos in that language (you pick which, but one of the ones you could choose is this Oreja de Van Gogh one, above), and if you select easy it will give you most of the lyrics with some blanks to fill in. If you're an interpreter though, you should pick hard, where you have to fill in all of the lyrics. The great thing is that it stops the song at the end of each line until you catch up with the typing. It's a fun game - you won't even notice that you're improving your interpreting skills!

falsos positivos (yet again!)

I keep posting about this term because it drives me crazy. It is such a dangerous euphemism! I ran into another proposal for what to call them in the video above (which has a part two), where they suggest simply calling them 'state crimes'. Of course it's not just any crime, it's assassination, presented as a (fake) combat death. It occurs to me that "assassination by the state" is more clearly understandable, and sounds more like the crime that it is, than the more legalistic term I've suggested before of 'extrajudicial execution'. But neither implies that the dead are then presented as a fake combat kill. Thoughts?

Ojo, the video is melodramatic and the translation of the subtitles is not great, but it's still important good work worth watching.

interpreting tips: emotion

The ATA Chronicle had a good article in the December issue on the pitfalls of long consecutive mode in the courtroom by Janis Palma. Some useful reminders:

"You have to modulate your voice so it conveys sentiment, not drama. For example, when someone cries or laughs, you are not expected to laugh or cry, but you should modulate your voice accordingly such that the nonverbal elements of the source- language message are not completely lost to the target language listener. If someone is crying and you are using a cheerful voice to interpret what that person is saying, the target language listener cannot possibly get to remorse a source language speaker may be trying to convey, or the sense of loss and tragedy, just from the words alone. Your performance has to carry the emotional aspect across languages as well.

Also, part of your responsibility as an interpreter is to bring all that feeling across from the source language to the target language without laying it on too thick. When you do, the attention shifts from the witness and what the witness has to say, to you and how you are putting on a show for the jury and everyone else in the courtroom."

moral? not NO intonation or inflection, but also not too much.

no basta rezar

(from the classic movement song in the above video)
no, no, no basta rezar, hacen falta muchas cosas para conseguir la paz:
no, no, it's not enough to pray, there's a lot of work to do to make peace come our way

heh. pleased with the rhyme!

pendejo

funny video about the different meanings of pendejo and coger. from a priest no less! from the fabulous narco news.

interpreters are organizing

this video is from a great campaign to try to save interpreting services in Washington state and allow interpreters union organizing rights.

Victory #1: More than 200 Interpreters came to Olympia to demand lawmakers listen to our concerns!

Victory #2: We got the funding for interpreters restored in the budget! ($16 million restored!) Finally lawmakers see how important the work of interpreters really is.

Victory #3: We won a majority of votes in the Senate for our bill.

Victory #4 is close: Now we must win a majority of votes in the House of Representatives before Fri.

We need your help. if you are in Washington state, please:

Please call and email your House of Representative lawmakers today and ask them to support interpreters by passing ESSB 6726.

It will take 2 minutes. Your phone call and email may make the difference between winning or losing a voice for interpreters to improve this professional. Please call today!

Just call 1-800-562-6000 and they will connect you with your appropriate lawmakers for your legislative district. You have 2 Representatives in the House of Representatives and 1 Senator. Make sure you leave messages or speak to all 3. Follow up with an email asking for their support.

What do you say when you call? " Please pass ESSB 6726 and give collective bargaining rights to interpreters!"

full campaign page here

becoming a better interpreter

Professional interps reading this, forgive my stating of the obvious, but those of you movement types breaking in to interpreting, here's a tip:

I can't recommend enough the importance of videotaping yourself interpreting. At least do audio, but video is much better, and is so ubiquitous these days. It can be from a phone, an ipod or a flip (pictured at right. surprisingly cheap).

Get a friend to do film you, either next time you interpret for real, or just for practice. You'll realize all sorts of things that you're too busy or nervous to catch in the moment. Look at your rendition - given time to think about it is that how you would interpret it next time? But also look at your style. How is your tone, your face, your body language?

One of the things that makes a lot of inexperienced movement interps stand out is bad use of body language. For some reason a lot of untrained interps are uncomfortable holding a pad of paper, and then they don't know what to do with their hands when in front of a crowd. You know who you are!

One of the first things you learn in any interpreter training is the importance of always having a cuadernito. Figure out which kind you like, and always have one on you. Always. Think of it as your security blanket. Even if you never write anything down on it but numbers and names, you have something in your hands. Of course, for good consecutive you really need to be writing down much more than numbers and names, but that's another topic.

If you're in Colombia norma puts out a great little green cuadernito. 80 hojas rayadas. The classic one most interps in the US use is just a steno pad. You want it to be small enough to carry easily, but not so small you have to turn the pages during a segment of speech.

solidarity

solidarity: solidaridad. what I'm writing now to ask you for.

This time, the traffic changed, and they weren't able to force a car crash. This time, it was clear that Martha was in a bulletproof car, so when they pulled the machine gun out all they could do was yell and point it at her. This time, international solidarity will be strong, so that there won't be a next time.

Who wants to kill Martha? Why do they want to kill her? Well, I've written about her case before. Martha is a key witness in the case of several Colombian army soldiers who are accused of killing her father, Orlando Giraldo, an innocent civilian, and dressing him up to look like a guerrilla (to improve their 'combat kill' bodycount). He was one of thousands of documented cases of so called 'false positives'. There has yet to be any justice in any of these cases. Instead there has been all sorts of delays in the few cases that have made it to court, and many threats and attacks. Just last year Martha's uncle was shot in the head on the way to court to testify on this case.

Martha is incredibly brave to keep pressing forward on this case. Not only did she keep going to court after her uncle was shot, she came to the United States to speak about this case! She testified just a few months ago in front of Fort Benning at the vigil to close the School of the Americas (video of her speaking here), connecting the training of Colombian soldiers there to incidents like her father's murder. I was very honored to walk with her at the vigil, holding a banner remembering her father (see picture, I'm in orange and she is next to me).



Coming to the SOA vigil might have put her at even more risk now. But even after this attack, she has chosen NOT to flee into exile, but to keep pressing for justice. This is risky.

But you and I can do something to help protect Martha, especially if you are a US citizen. The US is not only a training but also funding the Colombian army. That's our taxdollars we're talking about (well, if you're in the US it is). So we can write and say that we are concerned about funding these fake combat kills in general, and Martha's dad in particular, and that we want justice in this case, and safety for Martha as a witness in it. There's a quick click system online to do this (with one click you can also send a message to Obama asking him to close the School of the Americas).

But you can do better than this oh-so-easy online action. Please also take two minutes to actually CALL the State Department Colombia desk. They got a bunch of calls on Friday, so I waited until today to ask for more calls. But we need to keep calling. If they get enough calls I do believe that they will be sure that the US ambassador says something to the right Colombian general who will say something to someone who will call off the death squad goons. Of course, please don't say that when you call. Below is a quick script of what you can say. You are likely to get an answering machine but go ahead and leave a quick message! Or if you get them, please be brief and polite.

The State Department folks to call are Terry Steers-Gonzalez (202-647-4173) or Susan Sanford (202-647-3142). Here is a little script you can go off of:

I am deeply concerned for the safety of Martha Giraldo and her family in Colombia. Martha's father was killed by the Colombian military in March 2006. Members of the 3rd Brigade are currently on trial for the killing. As Martha and her family have been working to bring justice to this case, they have received threats and her uncle--a witness in the case--was shot in the head by assassins last year. This week, while Martha was driving through Cali, gunmen tried to run her off of the road and pointed their guns at her.

Given the seriousness of this case, I ask that the State Department take a special interest in it. Please urgently communicate your concern for the safety of Martha Giraldo, and the rest of her family, to the appropriate Colombian government authorities, as they are at serious risk simply for calling for justice in the case against the killers of Jose Orlando Giraldo.

Also, as is typical in Colombia, the trial against her father's killers has been repeatedly stalled. I urge you to inquire about the status of the Jose Orlando Giraldo trial and express the State Department's interest in its swift completion.

Finally, please send Martha and her family a short letter of support. Martha is scared. Knowing she has support makes a huge difference in her spirits and her ability to keep moving forward on this case. Please take a minute to send her a letter today--in English or in Spanish (Witness for Peace will translate them if need be).

Actually, the truly last ask is for you to please hold Martha in your hearts and prayers, hold her in the light, send her energy of protection, or however it is you think of these things. Together we hold each other.

judicializaciones

judicializaciones (Colombia): bogus/trumped up/false criminal charges

As is detailed in this short video, the idea is not only to send a message to the death squads that it's open hunting, but to keep people busy fighting these charges and thus take their time away from political organizing. This is a growing perverse tactic used by the state to squash dissent.

the US Social Forum needs you

Greetings Friends!

We are planning for an historic moment. An estimated 20,000 grassroots organizers, workers, union members, community members, people of faith, educators, youth, peace activists, immigrant and indigenous populations, and displaced folks and evacuees are planning to convene in Detroit for the second United States Social Forum in June 2010. They will be gathering to learn from each other, build bridges between their communities, and share their visions for a more just world. (For more information on the forum, visit the website at http://www.ussf2010.org.

These important conversations can only happen through language negotiation: transmitting the meaning of the message without losing the flavor provided by the speaker. Interpreters – both spoken word and sign language – are key to this negotiation.

The organizing committee of the US Social Forum is calling for interpreters and translators of all languages to provide translation/interpretation services in anticipation of and throughout the gathering. Linguistic and interpreting proficiency are important, as are a passion for social justice, languages, and helping people to connect across linguistic barriers. The US Social Forum has not designated any “official” languages; any and all language combinations are welcome. There is a particular need however for Spanish/English and Arabic/English interpreters and translators.

The call at this time is three-fold. The most immediate call is for interpreters and translators. There is a time-sensitive need for folks who are interested in translating materials prior to the forum (the translation of materials is primarily from English into Arabic and Spanish). We also will need a strong team of qualified interpreters to provide simultaneous interpretation during the many events of the US Social Forum. If either of these is you, please send your name and contact information (email and telephone) to the Language Access Team ASAP at ussflangacc@aol.com and we will contact you shortly.

The second part of the call is for folks who would are able to invest a little more time in the process and are willing to serve on the planning and oversight committee for language needs. This committee will negotiate interpreter logistics (recruiting, scheduling, and orientation), work with the program committee to address language needs at the US Social Forum, and engage other issues to ensure optimal language accessibility. A team of four or five folks that could take point on major areas of work would be ideal. The commitment at this time is to bimonthly calls. Needless to say, the more folks step up, the lighter the load on everyone. Also, we are committed to process that allows for full participation and that is transparent. If this is you, please let us ASAP at the above mentioned email.

Lastly, we are reaching out to persons and organizations that own and use interpretation equipment (shortwave microphone transmitters and receptors). We hope to minimize the cost of having to buy or rent the amount of equipment necessary for an undertaking of this size. If you or your organization own or have access to this any type of interpretation equipment, we ask that you consider sharing that equipment with the USSF for use at the forum. If you are so willing, please let us know via the above contact info.

While we encourage anyone who is interested to step up and participate, we would ask that folks take a minute to reflect on their capacity to do the work before committing. Language accessibility is very important to the success of any social justice gathering. When folks can’t follow through on their commitments, it puts a strain on the other interpreters and can result in participants being left out of the communication process.

The US Social Forum is an exciting, historic process. We invite you to be a part of transforming local communities, the United States, and the world.

Sincerely,

The Language Access Working Group

PS – Please forward this to anyone you know that may be interested.