MONDAY

Getting started in the language translation industry

Tom offers some useful tips on how to get started as a freelance translator.

TUESDAY

Chinese? What kind? Read Estrella’s blog here about the different types of Chinese.

Chinese language translation: Which Chinese should I translate into?

WEDNESDAY

Foreign Language Cinema: China vs. Hollywood

Tom takes a look at the story behind the China’s film industry and the reasons why Chinese cinema hasn’t managed to make much of a mark in box office figures.

FRIDAY

London 2012 will bring languages to the fore

The London 2012 Olympics are almost here! Steve takes the opportunity to talk about our expert Olympic Games translations, professional interpreting services, and sports translation services.

With 204 nations expected to participate in 302 events over the course of 19 days, the eyes of the world will be on Britain, as our little island hosts the most famous international sporting event on the planet for the third time.

Here at Veritas, we’re understandably as excited about it as most, and Friday July 27 cannot come soon enough. For we acknowledge the sheer importance of so many languages and cultures converging on the UK, and the bid to bring about a lasting legacy of language learning.

A total of 8.8 million tickets were made available for the Olympics and a further two million tickets have been released for the 11-day Paralympic Games (27 July – 9 September), meaning London’s population is set to soar as the whole world seemingly descends on one place.

There are of course six other locations hosting events – Cardiff, Coventry, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, and Weymouth & Portland. Based in Swansea, South Wales, we’re fortunate enough to be situated just 40 miles along the M4 motorway from one of those host venues – the magnificent Millennium Stadium.

There is subsequently an unbelievable opportunity for businesses and organisations nationwide to outreach to an enormous number of potential future clients.

Additionally, we can offer national award winning sports translations. We will provide expert Olympic Games translations, professional interpreting services, and sports translation services as and when needed.

We work with sporting clubs and associations, helping to improve communications. For example, we offer football contract translations, football club website translations, and were recently asked to send our journalists and offer FIFA World Cup translations for multilingual press coverage.

For all sporting organisations who need to widen their market, and at any level, Veritas Sport can advertise multilingually overseas. We can help you to produce professional multilingual brochures, media packs and international press resources.

With 26 sports, 10,500 athletes and millions of spectators, it’s going to be a busy summer. You’d be a fool to miss out.

China’s film industry is one that hasn’t seen a great deal of success like the UK and US box offices recently. Since the release of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 12 years ago, Chinese cinema hasn’t managed to make much of a mark in box office figures, and there are a number of reasons for this.

First of all, the current government of China has imposed harsh restrictions on creative work. As a result, many features of cinema that are common in Western films are not permitted in Chinese cinema. Anything that can be seen as a tool for propaganda, or features risqué subject matter, is still banned in China, thus greatly restricting what is allowed to be represented on film.

A further difficulty for Chinese cinema on an international level is that there are only a few well-known Chinese actors whose talents are recognised worldwide. The most famous of these is obviously Jackie Chan, but now that he’s well into his fifties, producers are desperately looking for somebody to take his place at the forefront of Chinese cinema. There are a number of actors that are well-known within the industry, but they don’t yet have enough of a following to guarantee success worldwide.

On top of all this, the Chinese public seem to be neglecting their own film industry in favour of Hollywood blockbusters, who have dominated the Chinese box office in recent years. Last year for example, four out of the five top grossing movies were Hollywood productions.

As an avid follower of international cinema, I would certainly be glad to see more Chinese films benefiting from international release, but what do you think? Is the allure of Hollywood too strong for Chinese cinema, or is there a place for Chinese cinema on the world scale? Let us know your thoughts!

Well, today we’re going to talk about written Chinese. We often run into clients that need to have something translated into Chinese, but are unaware of the different dialects and writing systems that Chinese consists of, or which variety is the most appropriate for their target audience.

Written Chinese uses characters, rather than letters, known as “hanzi”, each of which represents a word or concept, and normally corresponds to multiple meanings. The sentence structure of Chinese is radically different from English. While in English, the verb tense indicates the temporal placement of the events described, in Chinese it’s adverbs and context that serve that purpose. As a result, an accurate language translation will depend on the translator’s knowledge of the context and connotations of the word choices contained in the document to be translated.

Also, there are two distinct written systems in common use in China. Simplified Chinese, which is used throughout almost all of China, Singapore and Malaysia, and Traditional Chinese, employed mainly in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

This differentiation comes from the end of the nineteenth century, when the People’s Republic of China (PRC) wanted to encourage literacy by simplifying the written Chinese language and so making it easier for the general public to understand.

The importance of this distinction can be significant in language translation, since one or the other will need to be used depending on the location of your target audience, that is, the specific regions you want to target. For instance, if the translation is addressed to Taipei, then the documents must be translated into Traditional Chinese. Conversely, if the language translation is addressed to Beijing, it must be done in Simplified Chinese. That’s why when customers ask us for Chinese translation, our answer is always “do you need Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese”? If our client is not sure about that, then we’re always happy to advise them on which variety of Chinese is most appropriate.

Our translators are experts in the various dialects and written systems of the Chinese language, so they can provide completely accurate Chinese translations.

For more information about language translation services into Chinese, please visit our website.

First of all, you should be aware that most translation agencies will have fairly stringent vetting procedures, and approaching them without experience in the industry will unfortunately almost always lead to disappointment. Many translation agencies will also require applicants to hold a degree. Holding a university degree shows that you have a high level of linguistic competence, alongside writing skills and the ability to keep to deadlines; all essential skills for a translator.

With regard to experience, a great place to start is by completing translations for charities or individuals. Although these may be poorly paid (or completely unpaid), they will give you an invaluable insight into the industry, and will give you the experience you need to allow you to apply to work within larger translation agencies, which can secure a steady flow of paid work in the future.

Another great place to start would be the Institute of Translators and Interpreters (ITI), or the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIoL). These are essentially online communities for anyone who works within, or indeed is looking to work in the translation industry. There are membership fees for both the ITI and the CIoL, but they are both great resources for getting started in the translation industry. There are also huge discounts for students, so if you’re looking to make a start in language translation straight from university, then this would be a perfect starting point.

The next thing to do is to get a great C.V. together. Make sure it’s relevant to the translation industry so that potential employers can clearly see your knowledge, experience, and language expertise. As is the case in most industries, if a C.V. isn’t clear, concise and relevant, then it won’t be memorable.

Another handy hint for translators who want to make themselves known in the industry is to create a website and a blog, showcasing your passion for translation alongside examples of your work. Domain names can be bought for as little as £10 these days, and this will show potential clients your professionalism and your dedication, but more importantly show off your translation skills.

We’d be interested to hear of any other hints or tips that any established linguists out there might have for any budding translators. How did you make your mark in language translation, and what’s the best piece of advice you can offer to anyone looking to work in the industry?

Monday: Which Chinese should I translate into?

Tuesday: Pâles-tu l’Jèrriais?

Wednesday: Welsh language translation – from Llwydcoed to L.A.

Thursday: Translator of the month!

Friday: There’s nowt so queer as folk

Yorkshire. God’s Own County. Those who live there love it. Those who visit love it too. It’s a great place to be but then again I’m probably biased, having been brought up there.

One of the things that continues to fascinate me about thearea, even more so as a Linguistics student, is the array of accents you hear across the county. Maybe because it is such a large county, divided into several regions, that there is plenty of room for variation. Someone from York doesn’t necessarily sound the same as someone from Leeds, despite being half an hour’s train ride apart.

University provides a great mixture of accents and dialects from all over the county as well as further afield but often not everyone understands what everybody else is saying…

My housemate is seeing a friend of mine who is from Wakefield in West Yorkshire and comes out with some particularly Yorkshire phrases, which my housemate sometimes finds it hard to get her head around. It made me wonder what it was that caused her to struggle to understand these interesting phrases. My first thought was that she’s not from Yorkshire, which may explain it, although having lived in York for the past three years I was determined that this wasn’t the only reason. The second explanation I came up with was that I have known him for longer and, often, the longer you know someone, the better you understand their accent. Another reason I found was that we’re both from The Shire, as it’s fondly known, and therefore there could be some mutual intelligibility found amongst the regions of Yorkshire and between fellow Yorkshire folk. Maybe it’s a Northerner thing? People from The North have no problem understanding each other. Whatever it is, my housemate will just have to work at it because those Yorkshire-isms aren’t going to disappear!

Some things which I’ve picked up on which I feel are very much synonymous with Yorkshire and maybe exclusive to certain parts of the county are listed below; contextualised and translated into Standard English:

I’m working 10 while 4 = I’m working from 10 until 4

You don’t get owt for nowt = You don’t get anything for nothing

Summat’s going on = Something’s going on

Y‘reight? = Are you alright? / How are you?

I’m going t’pub = I’m going to the pub

If that isn’t reason enough to visit Yorkshire, I don’t know what is!

Here’s what Patrick had to say about his steps into the industry and his life as a translator:

“My career as a linguist started in 2003 when I obtained my first interpreting certificate at the English-American Institute of Debrecen University (Hungary). This was for the language pair German and Hungarian (both directions).In 2004 I decided to move to England to take my spoken English to new levels of proficiency. In 2006 I obtained my first DPSI (German and English, both directions), one year later I got my second DPSI (Hungarian and English, both directions). In 2005 I moved to Scotland (Glasgow). Later on I went on to study translation at Herriot-Watt in Edinburgh. Even though this was an MSc course, having passed all the necessary exams I stopped short at postgraduate diploma (PgDipl) level, being short of funds to go on for another couple of months to write my dissertation. This was for German and English. In 2009 I relocated from Scotland to Hungary and I’ve been working as a freelance translator since for German, Hungarian and English. Oh and I just remember that I passed my ELTE exams in Hungary for translation in German and Hungarian (2009) and Hungarian and English (2010). The ELTE certificate is the highest qualification for translators in Hungary.

My native tongue is German however, my Hungarian is also at near-native level, having moved to Hungary at the age of 13. Prior to working as a translator I worked as a horse trainer, presenting young colts at show-jumping competitions in Germany and Hungary.

My specialisms are social sciences and legal texts (I worked as a public service interpreter in Scotland for some years).

The aspect about my work I enjoy most is that I can communicate in several languages, which is an asset I can also use apart from work, e.g. when travelling or when meeting friends.”

It’s clear that Patrick really enjoys what he does, which is what makes him just so good at it! He’s a real pleasure to work with, and we’re always happy to receive projects matching his specialisms, as we can always rely on Patrick to deliver.

What more can I say but thanks a lot Patrick, and we look forward to working with you again very soon!

Despite leaving Wales for the bright lights of Hollywood, we’re thrilled to see that Ioan Gruffydd hasn’t left his Welsh roots behind. Here’s what he had to say about his Welsh-speaking background:

“The fact that I am bilingual is something I am extremely proud of. I’m one of a majority of young Europeans who can speak a second language. I speak two languages and this has given me access to two different cultures. It has also given me a wider perspective on the world.”

I couldn’t agree more with his sentiments that learning a language opens up windows to the world. In my opinion there is no better way to immerse yourself in a different culture than by speaking the language. Being multilingual stretches far further than learning the words; it also allows to you to see the world through the eyes of different cultures, which in turn opens up more options than you might think.

With Ioan Gruffyd’s roots based in Welsh-language cinema, it’s very possible that he wouldn’t have made it to where he has today were it not for his knowledge of two languages. So there we have it, one more reason why learning a language could really pay dividends!

To find out more about our welsh language translation services, pay a visit to our website.

Jèrriais is the form of the Norman langage spoken in Jersey, the British Crown Dependency located just off the coast of France. It is referred to by some as ‘Jersey French’, but in order to avoid any confusion between Jèrriais and the administrative language Jersey Legal French, some prefer to call it ‘Jersey Norman’.

The language closely resembles standard French, but with some key differences in phonology, orthography, vocabulary and word order. For example, the sounds ‘tch’ and ‘dg’, which are not used in French, are used in Jèrriais, as are such letter combinations as ‘ouo’ and ‘aithe’. Adjectives can also precede nouns in Jèrriais, in contrast to French grammar norms.

Even though a study by Cambridge University last year warned that the language was set to die out completely, around 3000 people still speak Jèrriais, and the community is keen to keep its language alive. In this spirit, here are a few useful phrases for if you find yourself in Jersey:

For more information about the Jèrriais language, click here.
Veritas provides Jèrriais language translation services. For more information, please contact us for a quote.