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Thirty Years of Nordic Interpretation

Interpretation between the Nordic languages is a matter of course today within Nordic co-operation. However, it is no more than thirty years since, after much deliberation, the Nordic Council’s annual sessions began using simultaneous interpreters. Marjatta Liljeström, Head of the Nordic Interpretation and Translation unit, drew attention to this point at a conference in London at the end of last week.

It was during the anniversary Session in Helsinki in 1977, as much as 25 years after the Nordic Council was founded, that the Finnish speaking members were given the opportunity to follow the debate in their mother tongue. The Finnish Delegation had initiated the process a couple of years earlier. Amongst those who had signed the initiative back then was MP Erkki Tuomioja, this year’s President of the Nordic Council.

“It was several years before further progress was made. At the beginning interpretation only took place during the Nordic Council’s annual Sessions and the language combination was limited to Finnish-Scandinavian-Finnish,” said Liljeström at the conference. Simultaneous interpretation has, however, slowly become a natural and integrated part of Nordic co-operation – today there is interpretation at a great number of meetings and between many languages. In addition to the Nordic Council Sessions other joint meetings such as committee meetings and party group meetings have interpretation as required. Interpretation is used to a great extent also at the Nordic Council of Ministers ministerial meetings, meetings of senior officials, conferences and other events.

Interpretation is done chiefly within the Nordic languages, i.e. Finnish, Icelandic and the Scandinavian languages. However, interpretation to Russian and not least English has, over time, become more usual as a result of closer co-operation with the Baltic States, Russia and the EU. The theme for the conference in London, organized from 6 – 8 March, was interpretation and translation of Nordic languages. The conference was partly financed by the Nordic Cultural Fund and the Nordic foreign ministries.

The Nordic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers have had a joint interpretation and translation unit in Copenhagen since 1999. The unit employs four full-time members of staff and a large number of interpreters and translators on freelance basis.

Source: http://inorden.org

Youth Council To Speak English

On the grounds that it considers inclusion more important than language, the Nordic Youth Council has decided that it will work in English whenever necessary, a move that runs counter to official Nordic language policy, which specifies Norwegian, Swedish and Danish as the working languages.

“Nordic co-operation has to be open to all, not just an exclusive club for Scandinavian speakers,” the Nordic Youth Council (UNR) said in a statement on 14 April.

“If language leads to exclusion, then it’s time to change the language,” according to the Youth Council. The UNR Presidium has accepted the consequences and decided to use English in its work whenever necessary. The UNR is gathered in Stavanger in conjunction with the Nordic Council’s April meetings.

“We need to understand each other,” says the UNR President, Lisbeth Sejer Gøtzsche. “Some people don’t understand what is being said at the meetings. No matter where people come from, they have trouble understanding the Scandinavian languages,” she added.

As President, she believes that language lies at the very core of the Council’s work. “I’ve come to the realisation that it won’t make me any less Danish or Nordic if we use English at UNR meetings,” she says. She adds that it would be easier to work in the Scandinavian languages if the UNR was to receive greater financial support for interpreters.

“We must accept the fact that knowledge of Scandinavian languages continues to diminish among the younger generations, and that globalisation has made the Nordic countries more diverse. As a result, we shouldn’t take it for granted that everybody in the Region understands and communicates in Scandinavian,” the UNR statement says. The UNR also wishes to draw attention to the need for better coverage of Nordic history and society in the education system.

Source: http://inorden.org

Industry Leaders Convene at Second Annual National Medical Interpreter Certification Forum

The second annual meeting of the National Medical Interpreter Certification Forum took place on May 1, in Portland, Oregon, and was attended by a broad range of industry stakeholders, including representatives of various state and national interpreter associations, interpreters and providers of interpreter services, government officials, educators, trainers, and hospitals and health care organizations. Together they advanced the forum’s goal to improve and support standardization of the quality of language services in the nation’s health care institutions in order to eliminate linguistic and cultural barriers to quality care for patients with limited English proficiency (LEP).

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has long prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin and more recent efforts have been made to clarify and strengthen the language access implications of Title VI. However, the lack of standards and guidelines in providing language access remains a significant health concern for LEP patients, resulting in unnecessary pain, suffering and expense. “We know patients served by a certified medical interpreter and not just someone who speaks their language ultimately will have better health outcomes; it’s that simple,” says forum moderator Linda Joyce, a language access consultant and the former Director of Language Interpretive Services at Grady Health System in Atlanta. “What isn’t simple is the collaborative effort it will take to make national certification a reality.”

One of the most significant outcomes of the forum this year was a formal recommendation, favored by all attendees, to roll out a pilot of a national medical interpreter certification test by May 1, 2009. Supporting this initiative are the results of the second annual needs assessment survey conducted in April 2008 and reported at the forum. The online survey findings provide some indication of what national medical interpreter certification will ultimately look like. Completed by 794 industry stakeholders, 33 percent of whom were medical interpreters, the survey was conducted to check the pulse of those who will be directly affected by a national medical interpreter certification. Survey respondents indicated that a viable medical certification test should offer more than one level of certification, have pre-requisites that include a high level of linguistic proficiency, a minimum age of 18, and some college or certificate coursework. In addition, the option of remote testing, either by phone or over the computer, was highly acceptable to the respondents. They also felt strongly that re-takes should be available to candidates who are unsuccessful on their first attempt and that continuing education should be a requirement once candidates do pass the test.

“Both the dialogue at the forum and the survey findings conclude that we need to move forward collaboratively on a national medical interpreter certification initiative,” explains Louis Provenzano, President and COO of Language Line Services, the company that sponsored the survey and hosted the forum. “To that end, there is much we can learn from Oregon’s ongoing commitment to provide at-risk populations with competent linguistic and cultural access to health care, as well as the other proactive states and industry organizations around the country.”

Oregon is among a small group of states that has formalized, or is in the process of formalizing, medical interpreter certification standards. Others include Iowa, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Washington. “I’m thrilled to be a part of this important initiative to govern the quality of language services in our nation’s health care institutions,” says Jenny Lee-Berry, Acting Director of the Oregon Office of Multicultural Health. “The forum will also help raise awareness of the important role played by medical interpreters every day in health care delivery.”

About National Medical Interpreter Certification Forum

In its conceptual phase, the National Medical Interpreter Certification Forum is an emerging group of stakeholders, large and small, private and public, working together to collaborate with a specific focus on the topic of National Medical Interpreter Certification. The purpose of this initiative is to improve and support standardization of the quality of language services in our nation’s health care institutions.

Source: http://www.redorbit.com

Assistant Professor – Comparative and/or World Literature and Translation Studies

Fixed Term Contract for 2 years, £33,779 – £40,335 pa

You will be able to supplement the Centre’s strong international reputation in both research and teaching. You will develop your own research and will have the opportunity to teach at postgraduate level within the fields of Comparative and/or World Literature and Translation Studies, including the other subject areas covered by the Centre. An interest in interdisciplinarity would be an advantage.

Interview date: 1 July 2008

Click here for further details of the post in Microsoft Word format.
Click here for further details of the post in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).

Click here for an application form. To receive a hard copy application pack, please contact Human Resources, on +44(0)24 7652 3685 (24 hour answerphone), or by e-mail to Recruit@warwick.ac.uk.

An application form must be completed if you wish to be considered for this post. Please note that the hard copy application pack and the on-line application pack are the same.

Please quote job vacancy reference number 34928-048.

The closing date/time for applications is midnight (British time) at the end of Tuesday 27 May 2008.

For further details on how to apply for a post at Warwick, the employee benefits that we offer, information on Warwick people, what it is like working at Warwick, and more, please see our jobs introduction page.

The university values diversity.

Source: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk

Guardans (CiU) pregunta por ausencia catalán, euskera y gallego en cursos UE

El eurodiputado de CiU Ignasi Guardans pidió explicaciones a la Comisión Europea por la ausencia del catalán, el euskera y el gallego en los cursos intensivos de idiomas Erasmus, destinados a promocionar las lenguas menos utilizadas en la Unión Europea.

Según Guardans, estos cursos ofrecen a los universitarios becados con el programa Erasmus la oportunidad de estudiar la lengua del país de acogida durante un periodo de hasta seis semanas. En el período docente 2007-2008, la iniciativa cubre 20 de los 27 Estados miembros de la UE y tres países terceros (Turquía, Islandia y Noruega). ‘Sorprendentemente, en esta lista no figura España, un país donde en muchas universidades la lengua oficial es el catalán, el euskera o el gallego, todas ellas susceptibles de poder ser parte de los idiomas seleccionados en los cursos intensivos de idiomas Erasmus’, lamenta Guardans en su interpelación. El eurodiputado pregunta a la Comisión Europea las razones de esta selección y si piensa adoptar alguna medida para posibilitar, en próximos años, el aprendizaje de dichas lenguas.

Fuente: http://actualidad.terra.es

Euskera para todos, pero sin imposición

El Gobierno abre el debate sobre una política lingüística “progresiva y flexible”

La ecuación que equipara el conocimiento del euskera a su utilización ha fallado. Los datos lo corroboran. Cerca del 84% de los trabajadores públicos titulares cuenta con el perfil de euskera exigido, pero el uso hablado entre ellos y entre administraciones oscila entre el 30% y el 40%.

Muchos de los alumnos que estudian en euskera, cuando pasan del aula al patio de recreo juegan en castellano. Ante ejemplos como éste, el Gobierno vasco ha puesto en marcha un debate social para diseñar una nueva política lingüística, que pasaría por ser menos voluntarista y más pegada a la realidad. Esas son al menos las ideas que recoge el documento base que servirá de plataforma para el debate. El texto ha sido elaborado por las siete personas que integran el grupo permanente de la comisión especial denominada Bases para la Política Lingüística de principios del siglo XXI, formada a su vez por 40 personas de diversas ideologías y ámbitos públicos y privados.

El documento, abierto a “la más amplia participación social”, hace hincapié en que el euskera es “patrimonio de todos”, de los vascoparlantes y de los castellanohablantes, “por encima de ideologías políticas”, subrayó ayer el viceconsejero de Política Lingüística, Patxi Baztarrika, durante su presentación. A partir de ahí, la comisión permanente apunta las líneas que deberían marcar la nueva política lingüística. “Hace 25 años pensábamos que con una legislación y un apoyo económico adecuados seríamos capaces de lograr una sociedad bilingüe, pero esto se ha cumplido sólo en parte”, admitió el catedrático de Filología vasca Pello Salaburu.

Así que, de cara al futuro, plantea dejar de lado el voluntarismo como base de la política lingüística, como se ha tendido a hacer hasta ahora. Esto “fuerza mucho las cosas en la sociedad, sin tener en cuenta que una gran parte de ella no habla euskera. Y además, para el propio desarrollo y fortalecimiento efectivo del euskera como lengua realmente hablada y viva, acaba siendo un fiasco. El objetivo no es tanto la expansión de la lengua sin límites, sino el fortalecimiento de la comunidad lingüística”, argumentó el catedrático de Derecho Constitucional Alberto López Basaguren. Frente al voluntarismo, la comisión aboga por una política que sí ampare a la lengua más débil, en este caso el euskera, pero que esté más centrada en “la voluntad individual de los ciudadanos”. “La voluntad no se lleva bien con la imposición”, señala el documento base. Considera, además, que la política lingüística ha de ser “progresiva y flexible”, debe tener en cuenta “las características lingüísticas de cada lugar”. “Nuestra sociedad no será bilingüe en otros 25 años, pero debemos conseguir en pocos años que los bilingües dejen de ser minoría”.

Fuente: http://www.elpais.com

TC-STAR unifie l’Europe linguistique

Le projet européen développe une tour de Babel informatique permettant de traduire de manière illimitée toutes les langues parlées en Europe. L’un des buts est d’automatiser les services de traduction au Parlement européen.

Vingt-trois langues officielles sont parlées au sein de l’Union Européenne. Cette diversité linguistique pose problème au niveau des rencontres et des échanges intereuropéens, notamment d’un point de vue financier : les institutions dépensent plus d’un milliard d’euros chaque année en services de traduction et en contrats d’interprètes. Selon les membres du projet européen TC-STAR*, faire endosser le rôle de traducteur à des machines permettrait de réaliser des économies de temps et d’argent. Pour y parvenir, le groupe travaille sur un système informatique capable de proposer une interprétation pertinente dans la langue de son choix d’un discours prononcé dans une autre langue. Le tout, en temps réel, quel que soit le sujet abordé et le contexte. Le but étant de le rendre suffisamment performant pour remplacer les interprètes “humains” lors des débats au Parlement européen. Jusqu’à présent, les dispositifs automatiques ne pouvaient en général répondre qu’à une demande limitée, en fonction de leurs programmations.

Traduire de manière illimitée

Un processus qui est souvent à l’origine d’erreurs d’interprétation et de confusions grammaticales. Celui développé par TC-STAR, au contraire, souhaite autoriser la traduction parole-parole dans un domaine illimité. Une méthode qui permet à la machine de s’approcher des capacités d’un humain. Voire de les dépasser en termes de rapidité de compréhension. “Pour les individus, traduire des phrases est souvent un exercice périlleux. Nous devons en effet bien connaître deux langues pour effectuer une traduction valable“, explique Marcello Federico, chercheur au FBK-irst de Trento (Italie) et l’un des participants de l’initiative. Pour fonctionner, TC-STAR combine trois technologies de traduction parole-parole : la traduction automatique (ASR, pour Automatic Speech Recognition), est utilisée pour transcrire les mots entendus en texte. L’identification du langage parlé effectue la traduction de la langue d’origine à celle souhaitée. Enfin, la synthèse texte-parole améliore le rendu final.

70 % de réussite

Les phrases traduites sont ensuite proposées de manière orale ou au format textuel. Depuis le lancement du projet en 2006, plusieurs tests ont été effectués : traduction d’émissions télévisées du chinois à l’anglais, déploiement du système au Parlement, à l’occasion de débats en français et en espagnol… Selon l’aveu même des chercheurs qui travaillent sur le projet, TC-STAR est encore loin de proposer une traduction parfaite des phrases entendues. Les résultats sont cependant encourageants : les deux tiers des mots entendus seraient désormais traduits avec exactitude, même s’ils ne sont pas prononcés correctement par l’énonciateur ou s’ils sont employés d’une manière grammaticalement fausse. A savoir : onze compagnies issues notamment du secteur de l’informatique, des télécoms et du divertissement participent au projet, parmi lesquelles Nokia, IBM et Sony.

Source: http://www.atelier.fr

Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation launches Turjuman Programme for producing translators in the Arab World

The Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation has announced the launch of Turjuman Programme, which is listed under the theme of culture, one of the strategic segments of the foundation’s work.

The programme is aimed at contributing practically and effectively to upgrading the levels of translation in the Arab World by means of producing and training translators with the aim of improving their performance and production. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation and the American University of Sharjah had been signed before the announced was made.

Under the MoU, the university will hold a certified translator course, a six-week training period for translators holding bachelor’s degrees and have a translation experience of no less than 2 years and no more than 4 years. The MoU was signed by Yasser Hareb, Vice President for Culture at Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, Dr Winfred Thompson, Chancellor of the American University of Sharjah, and a number of officials from both parties. The Turjuman Programme comes as part of the chain of strategic initiatives and programmes that have been launched by the foundation since its inception in October last year.

The programme is aimed at improving the level and quality of the translated books and sciences in the field of management and business and developing translations into Arabic through qualifying translators and training them in the use of the advanced translation technologies. It is also aimed at helping revivify translation in the Arab World and render it a contributor to the economic and academic development.

“The foundation is paying utmost attention to translation, this being one of the most important channels for conveying knowledge of the other cultures and a major contributor to and supporter of our endeavours for building the knowledge capabilities in the Arab World”, Hareb said. “This comes at a time the translation industry in the Arab World is experiencing a distinct slump that has urged us to launch such programmes that give a new momentum to this industry, which is viewed as a key pillar for building knowledge and boosting development”, he added. “Through the Turjuman Programme, we are looking forward to redressing the shortage of efficient translators capable of producing such translations that live up to the expectations in terms of both quality and quantity. Based on this, we have conducted a study of the translators’ professional requirements and come up with specialized practical programmes for upgrading the career of such translators who will play a key role in pushing the wheel of translation in the Arab World forward”, Hareb said.

The Certified Translator Programme will feature 20 students in each course and is open to all Arab nationalities. The trainees will get 120 training hours in the course, which extends to six weeks. They will be trained in translation of management and business articles and the use of modern translation technologies. Applications for joining the programme are expected to be received from May 2008, provided that study in the first course will start in June, giving the applicants the chance to graduate in July 2008.

As far as co-operation with the foundation is concerned, Dr Thompson said:

“We are pleased at the co-operation between the university’s Department of Arabic Studies with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for introducing a programme that will contribute practically and efficiently to upgrading the level of translation in the Arab World, boosting the capabilities of translators while offering them the necessary training for enhancing their qualifications and crystallizing their skills in this significant field. We hope that this co-operation will continue for years and will yield a generation of qualified translators in the Arab World”.

A detailed plan will be made for the specialized committees to receive, study and evaluate the participation applications. The committees will later announce the names of the candidates and arrange for their joining the programme. The committees will also track the academic attainment of the candidates during the study period and will announce the titles of the books that have been translated by the students during their study as soon as the students have graduated.

It is noteworthy that early this year the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation launched the “Tarjem” programme as part of the segment of culture in a bid to help streamline and support the movement of translation from and into Arabic and contribute to enhancing the knowledge-based capabilities of the Arab World in all fields. For this purpose, the foundation took upon itself to have 1,000 books translated within the coming three years in co-operation with a number of the most outstanding Arab translation and publishing houses. The first year of the Tarjem programme’s plan will ensure the translation of 365 books, a rate of one book per day, which is equivalent to the total bulk of books translated in the Arab World in one year. The programme will focus on translating the most important books worldwide in the different intellectual fields, particularly management books due to their vital importance in the current stage.

Source http://www.ameinfo.com

New worlds, new translators, new translations

Translation offers a multiplicity of complex worlds, all waiting to be interpreted, understood and absorbed.

Nearly 10 years ago, when the faculty and students of a university in Chicago attended an exhibition of Indian art expecting to see paintings of gods and goddesses, they were stunned to see the colour, variety, power and style of some of our famous l iving artists. To be sure, there were some gods and goddesses, but there was also a great deal else. Techniques learnt from the West in the late 19th century combined with native genius, local rhythms, and a deep absorption of traditions hitherto only dimly understood outside the country, to convey an explosion of Indian experience on canvas.“I feel I’m looking at a new world,” read a line in the visitors’ book.

There is a similar and even more complex world on offer; writings ranging from the Northeastern region of India all the way to Kerala at the other end of the subcontinent, all waiting to be interpreted, understood and absorbed, both by Indians who do not know the languages of the Northeast and Kerala, and by lovers of literature outside the country. While the language of art is different from the art of language, the growth of both is shaped by foreign influences. The large-scale introduction of the teaching of English in India was promoted by the British rulers who had an imperial and cultural plan, and by influential Indians who saw it not only as a social and professional opportunity but who welcomed it as part of the larger move to modernise India. Today, there are more people reading and writing English in India than there are in the U.K. Quite recently, David Crystal, the author of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, remarked that future users of Global Standard English might well say, “I am thinking its going to rain,” rather than “I think its going to rain,” because GSE will have pronounced Indian characteristics.

What does this mean? Does it mean anything to anyone?

A new assertion It might, to translators and publishers of Indian literature in English translation; it probably will, to a market which is no longer shadowy and is gradually asserting itself. With English being the world’s most studied second-language, as it fiercely beats off its rivals and reigns unchallenged as the main international academic language, it seems entirely appropriate to launch writers from our national languages into this parallel language world which demands no visas and recognises no borders. Indeed, there is hardly an Indian publisher with a footprint in the English language space who has not committed at least some of his/ her resources to translating Indian literature. Some publishers are publishing bilingually, and others have set up exclusively — and heroically — to publish English translations of Indian writers. Every one of them probably feels that our stupendous multilingualism should not be frittered away.

Since glimpses are better than descriptions, and I’m always hoping to win new readers to the translations camp, I give below a few samples.

Published in translation 12 years ago, here is an excerpt from Abdul Bismillah’s Hindi novel, Jhini, Jhini, Bini Chadariya (the title itself, a line from Sant Kabir’s verse which images the soul as a length of cloth woven between Heaven and Earth, was rendered as The Song of The Loom). The narrative deals with the impoverished weavers of Benaras who make the beautiful brocades for all of India. When Iqbaal was ready to leave, Aleemun beckoned to him. He sat gazing at her wasted face. Still using gestures Aleemun asked him to open the packet. As Aleemun’s shriveled fingers stroked the sari there was a strange glow in her sightless eyes. This time Iqbaal had woven flowers with threads of gold against a red background. It seemed as if golden buds had bloomed in a valley of rubies. Aleemun wanted to transplant those buds into her eyes. It was as if she wanted to absorb into her very self, this fruit of her husband’s labour. “This year, for Eid, we’ll get you a sari exactly like this!” Aleemun turned to Iqbaal. A fleeting smile touched her ashen lips.

(translated by Rashmi Govind)

Or, published 10 years ago, here are a few lines from The Eye of God (N.P. Muhammad). Against the backdrop of Malayali Muslim village culture with its curious mix of Hindu rituals and beliefs, it tells the poignant story of a young boy sliding slowly into insanity. There is a court which forgives every kind of crime: the heart of a mother. I’ll not allow them to touch my Umma. Amazingly, I remembered what Kunhali Musaliyar had taught me to recite at night school.

“Do you know where Heaven is?” “It is somewhere in the sky,” I said and pointed upwards. “No you fool. Heaven is under Umma’s feet.”(translated by Gita Krishnankutty)

In the new millennium, the kind of English that our translators are experimenting with is vigorously making more elbow room for itself, as seen, for example, in Velcheru Narayana Rao’s translation of Satish Chander’s Telugu poem, “A Child is Born”:

Four sides to the village

Four legs to an animal

Four rows for crossing

Caste walks on four feet

Look at the risks Malini Seshadri takes with her forthcoming translation of Bama’s Tamil novel, Vanmam (Vendetta):

“You know, if I pick up the thing that sits on top of the phone and put it to my ear, I can hear my son’s voice…so clear it is. You think my son stops with that? No, he wants me also to talk. Whatever I talk into that thing, he can listen to over there! He replies immediately… tuk, tuk…just like that! And he asks me questions. I’m just feeling so strange even talking about it. How on earth did anyone invent such a magic thing like that phone!”

Is this Global Standard English or a sort of third language which is neither the Indian language from which it is being conveyed nor “ICS English”? The complexity of texts mirroring experiences uniquely Indian and filtering through classes and communities, can and must be translocated. This calls for great ingenuity. When, for instance, we read Bankim’s Anandamath in English, we know we are reading a 19th century novel. Should the translation match 19th century Bengali or sound like a year 2004 narrative?

Collaborative effort Every editor knows that translation is not the transfer of a detachable meaning from one language to another. S/he looks and listens expectantly for that distinct sound of something that leaps right off the page and rings gloriously, and gloomily recognises the thud of an unsuccessful passage falling to the floor. Manoeuvring it back into the bell-tower is a collaborative effort that takes time and dedication on the part of the parties involved. Because translation is a dialogue between two languages and takes place in the space between them, and because it is literally a new birth, it would be most unwise to rush it. We watch as our translators respectfully tug their texts out of the times in which they are set, and relocate them without disturbing their linguistic ethos and in a language both recognisable and aesthetically satisfying to us.

How many more days were there to amaavaasai? How many more days for the stars to blossom in the ink-black night? In the western heavens, the moon hung like a sliver of pumpkin. How long would it be until amaavaasai? The breeze fell upon me, laden with neem.(Na Muthuswamy, translated by Lakshmi Holmstrom)

I am thinking that India, once captured by the British, captured English, and opened up a parallel universe for its writers and translators to travel in.

Source: http://www.hindu.com