dichos

Dicho: caballo matado siempre se pandea. A horse with a sore back will always flinch. What do you think this means? It is supposed to mean that people are sensitive to the mention of their defects, but would you have guessed that if you didn't know? Here's a good example of where translation is not enough. Sayings can be SO hard.

white man's burden

white man's burden: la carga del hombre blanco

see the English and Spanish wikipedia entries about this, as linked above.

The term comes from Rudyard Kipling's famous poem, which begins:
Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.

mountaintop removal take two

Here's another activist video about this tragedy, this time about how it is being done in Colombia. The term they use here is "mineria contaminante a cielo abierto", which I like better than megamineria a lo abierto, which is what they used in this Argentinian video

be part of the Voice of Love project

THE VOICE OF LOVE Project is a pro bono, all-volunteer project spear-headed by Advocates for Survivors of Torture and Trauma and Cross-Cultural Communications (which has resources for community interps - check them out).

THE VOICE OF LOVE project is developing a three-day interpreter training program to support quality services to survivors of torture, trauma and sexual violence.

As part of needs assessment for this project, the VOL team is currently conducting focus groups and surveys of interpreters who work with survivors and staff who works with survivors and interpreters. These work products will be made available free of charge to any agency that serves survivors.

If you interpret for survivors of torture, war trauma and sexual assault, in refugee resettlements, and/or for mental/behavioral health services, please take a minute to support this great work by taking this survey.

vereda (third time is the charm?)

vereda: hamlet; rural community.

I've posted twice before about the Colombian term 'vereda. I keep changing my mind on what I like. FOR these days seems to mostly use hamlet. PBI in the video below uses rural community which I like, though it's pretty vague.

the amazing babel box

Affordable appropriate tech simultaneous interpreting equipment. Need I say more? This is so obviously a wondrous and dearly necessary thing. Check it out, from the uber activist geeks with the mostest, the Intergalactic Interpretation Collective, it's the ...... babel box! Great name or what? They provided the equipment for the recent US social forum. See the set up below, and their site here.

the language you speak shapes how you think

Well, duh. But great article about recent research on this here, in the WSJ. Strangely, as my stepdad pointed out, it doesn't mention the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. But still, worth a read.

I recommend the whole thing, but here are some good nuggets:

Take "Humpty Dumpty sat on a..." Even this snippet of a nursery rhyme reveals how much languages can differ from one another. In English, we have to mark the verb for tense; in this case, we say "sat" rather than "sit." In Indonesian you need not (in fact, you can't) change the verb to mark tense.
In Russian, you would have to mark tense and also gender, changing the verb if Mrs. Dumpty did the sitting. You would also have to decide if the sitting event was completed or not. If our ovoid hero sat on the wall for the entire time he was meant to, it would be a different form of the verb than if, say, he had a great fall.

In Turkish, you would have to include in the verb how you acquired this information. For example, if you saw the chubby fellow on the wall with your own eyes, you'd use one form of the verb, but if you had simply read or heard about it, you'd use a different form

...

* Russian speakers, who have more words for light and dark blues, are better able to visually discriminate shades of blue.
* Some indigenous tribes say north, south, east and west, rather than left and right, and as a consequence have great spatial orientation.
* The Piraha, whose language eschews number words in favor of terms like few and many, are not able to keep track of exact quantities.
* In one study, Spanish and Japanese speakers couldn't remember the agents of accidental events as adeptly as English speakers could. Why? In Spanish and Japanese, the agent of causality is dropped: "The vase broke itself," rather than "John broke the vase."

what is the easiest way to do subtitles?

A friend just pointed me to the site dot sub as a free and easy way to do subtitles.

Has anyone used this? Liked it?

Any other suggestions for subtitling that's easier and more accesible to activists than full on video editing software?

regalías

regalías (Mex): benefits (ie sick days, health insurance)



This is a great 15 minute documentary that you should watch if you've ever been on a vaction to Cancun, or are considering it. It reminded me that regalias is used this way in Mexico, though it certainly isn't recognized as meaning this by the RAE. You might notice that they also translate barraca as labor camp.

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!