Archives for 2008

Australian English

I’ve noticed a few peculiarities to Australian English since I’ve arrived (colourful slang aside, of course). For example, on the train up the coast the other day, we heard “… Passengers for Caloundra, please detrain here.” Detrain??! As in, disembark or alight?!

Detrain doesn’t get too many Google references (most of them are French, “…de train”, etc). And it’s not just me who finds it strange, either. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News had a reader write in and complain about it here, and had the following to say about its origins:

The Macquarie lists “detrain” as meaning “to alight from a railway train” – and says it[‘s] chiefly military slang. Although it’s not listed in either D.H. Dowling’s Digger Dialects or in Amanda Laugersen’s Diggerspeak – so it’s not Aussie military slang. The opposite (getting on board) is covered by another military word “entrain”… And similar words are used in the military of aircraft: if you get on board you “enplane” and if you get off you “deplane”.

It even gets a mention in the online Urban Dictionary, but with very specific Australian (and even more specifically, Brisbane) references:

A newspeak-esque term QRail train conductors use to describe the act of getting off a train.

Train conductor: Passengers for the Ipswich, Beenleigh and Gold Coast lines, please detrain at Central. Make sure you collect all of your belongings before detraining. Thank you.

Passenger: WTF!?!?

The whole misuse of English debate is often levelled at terms like this, but I don’t buy it. (I’m sure being native to a country with a “non-standard” form of English plays a part in my opinion too.) Here we have an example of a word with valid origins being used as management jargon by Queensland Rail. That’s not misuse, it’s re-use. So pretty standard language behaviour, then.

Mind you, I’ve yet to hear the average Joe use it, but given it’s short, snappy and does the job, it seems to fit the requirements of Australian English just nicely!

To test translate or not to test translate?

by Sarah Dillon

There’s a very interesting post on test translations over here. I have my doubts about them myself, so was very interested to read this.

For the record, while I’ve not done as many test translations as Mr. Gerasimov, I have done my fair share and my experience has been pretty much in line with his, i.e. agencies inform me I am on their “freelance list” but I never hear from them again, or I get contacted with jobs well below my usual rates. Generally, I’m left wondering why I ever bothered. And then there was the agency who insisted on contacting me at 4.30pm every Friday for a period of about 6 months with a series of 5,000 – 6,000 word jobs due in for 9am the following Monday, even when I had told them that I didn’t work weekends… given I was usually working to my own COB deadlines on Fridays, I eventually decided I didn’t need the hassle and politely asked them to remove me from their database.

Nowadays, I demonstrate my abilities to potential clients in other ways, e.g. with references, extracts from prior translations (suitably sanitised), etc. and so far, all my clients have been happy with this. But overall, the advice I suggested in this post last year still stands, especially when it comes to doing test translations.

Finally, I don’t like plain old them-against-us posts, and it’s only fair to say that I can understand why agencies feel they need to ask for test translations. But there are loads of other ways to demonstrate your competence, and experience has taught me that nine-and-a-half times out of ten, test translations are a complete waste of time.

Notes from a professional translator on language learning…

by Sarah Dillon

While I’m mostly enjoying the switch from being an into-English translator to being an active language learner, I’d forgotten just how exhausting it can be 🙂 And how slow and steady a process it is to move knowledge from the passive to the active part of the brain! Evidence indeed, if any more were needed, of the entirely different skill sets we use as linguists, as opposed to as professional translators.

Overall, I’m surprised and really pleased about how much progress I feel I have made in polishing and refining my knowledge of Spanish over the past two weeks. I don’t think this is simply because I am here in Spain, although we all know that when push comes to shove, absorption is the way to go. I’ve had other absorption experiences which were not this successful. I think my success is down to a combination of things which seem to be really working for me:

the school has some excellent language teachers who are clearly experienced in teaching ELE (Spanish as a foreign language) to advanced level and/or experienced language learners. I’ve noticed this before too – at this stage of the game, the average language school or language class is simply not going to cut it when it comes to helping me maintain and/or further master my working languages.

I’m really focussed on purely language skills. No trips to flamenco shows, concerts, sightseeing or other “cultural” events this time – I’ve had plenty of chances for all that 🙂

I’ve enrolled to sit the DELE exam, and the fear of showing myself up by getting a bad mark is the best motivation ever! Now interestingly, there’s a couple of reasons why this shouldn’t make a difference to my motivation levels. Firstly, in theory it shouldn’t be much of a stretch for me given my background. Secondly, I don’t even need to tell anybody I’m doing it – so what if I do badly? Thirdly, my performance is no reflection of my abilities as a translator as plenty of professionals do a good job of working from their passive or C languages without ever learning to speak or write them. But for some reason, as a matter of personal pride, I just don’t feel I can afford myself these excuses… whatever works, eh?!

I’m not sure why, but I’ve been very aware of what works for me as a language learner during my stay. Now, I’ve always considered myself to be an active language learner as I’m constantly striving to perfect and indeed maintain my second-language skills in various ways. But I’m not usually so hyper-aware of my learning processes, and especially not in relation to other learners in the class, e.g. the areas in which I am different from and/or the same as them, the things I know I’ll need to go away and work on myself because no amount of explaining will make clear even as everyone else in the class is nodding their heads in agreement, etc. I feel more in control of my learning than I have ever been and it’s a nice feeling, even if it takes a little getting used to. Maybe this is part of growing up 🙂

My expectations have been pretty realistic in terms of what I want to achieve. I used to get very frustrated thinking about how much more Spanish I felt I “knew” when I lived here years and years ago, and the sense of grief would almost overwhelm me. But it’s not bothering me anymore. I can clearly see how what I knew then is quite different from what I need, and want, to know now. I think it helps to be studying with a small group of other learners who are all at different stages of life and who have very different reasons for studying Spanish. I can almost see the ghosts of my past, present and future language-learning selves in that one small room and it’s funny how that clarifies how I’m looking at things!

It’s all about timing! While I know three weeks is nowhere near ideal, I firmly believe you can make a LOT of progress with your language skills within this relatively short period of time. My model of two weeks of classes and just under one week of self-study and consolidation is just right for the way I learn, but I’d also consider taking classes over three weeks but on a less intensive basis to really give things a chance to bed in (although this depends on what the school is offering too, of course). However regardless of your learning style, based on the discussions I’ve had with other students it seems that one week of classes is simply not worth it – your brain has scarcely even registered that you are in intensive language-learning mode by the time you’ve finished. If you really are limited to only one week of classes either due to financial and/or time constraints, I’d recommend thinking long and hard before enrolling in a language school.

The rain in Spain…

by Sarah Dillon

… falls fast and furious, and causes endless power cuts!

Yes, I know it’s been a while. I have another week to go in the rainy but frankly rather gorgeous city of Malaga, and hope to be settled Down Under and back to blogging regularly by early March. I’d planned to continue blogging over this period actually, and even went so far as to have a couple of half-completed posts on stand-by. As usual, things keep getting in the way and let’s face it – real-life fun trumps cyber fun every time 🙂 (Things would be a bit tragic if they didn’t).

My language course is going well and it’s really great to blow the cobwebs off my spoken Spanish again. As expected, my written skills really aren’t being stretched but I plan to work on that via distance learning over the coming year.

The first time I ever lived away from home was in 1997, when I spent a couple of months in Granada as part of my university studies. I’d been to Malaga before both on my own and with family, but the experience was still very “foreign” and frightening at times, and I struggled with the culture shock of it all. So it somehow feels right to be here again more than ten years later, feeling very much at home even as I prepare to relocate to Australia!

Translating Down Under

by Sarah Dillon

I’ve two bits of exciting news to share this morning.

First, some shameless self-promotion 🙂 I was pretty chuffed to garner a mention on Marci Alboher’s New York Times’ blog Shifting Careers last Friday. In addition to being a regular columnist on all things career-blending for the business section of the NYT, Marci is also the author of One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success. I read her book when it came out last year and I liked it a lot. She talks about slash careers, a particular form of portfolio working when people find themselves with two or more very distinct job titles, often in completely unrelated fields. I really like the real-life examples she describes in her column and her book, and feel suitably honoured about the mention. In another happy by-product, traffic to my blog has seen an unseasonal peak so hi to anyone who’s followed the link from that route. And stick around, it gets better 🙂

Second, and in explanation for my silence last week, I’m leaving the London for sunnier pastures this Sunday. My other half is from Australia and he’s convinced me to try translating from Brisbane. It’s a big move and I’m very excited, but things have been a little hectic as I prepare to ensure my move is as seamless as possible for my clients. So expect plenty of reports on the ups and, no doubt, the downs of translating very, very remotely as I do my best to find the answers to such questions as: Will my deadlines be any less stressful with a GMT +10 hour time difference? How quickly can I get up and running in Brisbane when I’ve not even started looking for accommodation yet? Is there a heat threshold beyond which this Irish translator’s brain will stop working? And for how much longer after getting sand in my laptop will my keyboard work??

(Thanks to immigration2australia.com for the picture.)

6 top tips for translators to achieve Chartered Linguist (Translator) status

by Sarah Dillon

Update May 2010: Note this does not constitute official information. Please check the relevant body for information on current requirements.

Here are a couple of things to bear in mind if you are thinking of working towards Chartered Linguist (translator) status, picked up at a training event I attended in London in early 2008. Remember, it’s still a relatively new process so it’s important to keep an eye on latest information as it’s released from the relevant professional bodies.

1. Not all translators should be chartered linguists.

A chartered linguist has to demonstrate:

1. a high level of competence e.g. by being a qualified member of the ITI or CIOL
2. a willingness to maintain their skills e.g. through ongoing, verified CPD and
3. a willingness to be reviewed by their peers e.g. at an interview stage of the chartered status process.

It’s a three-pronged approach, and if you’re not up to strictly following any of these three elements, no matter how good your reasons (and I can think of a few valid ones), then chartered linguist status is probably not for you. But that does not have to be a bad thing – remember, for all the hype, chartered status does NOT test your abilities as a translator, as you are not required to prove the quality of your work in any way. It is your qualified membership of a professional body that verifies this, and as such, being a chartered linguist is no better than being an MITI or MCIL. It’s just a compliment to these other professional qualifications.

2. Before applying, check if you could qualify for chartered status through any other body. In recognition of the realities of working life for a vast majority of translators in the UK, you don’t need to be a full-time translator to apply for chartered status. However, translation does need to be your main professional activity. So, say you’re a multilingual engineer who translates “on the side” for anything up to one or even two days a week, for example, then you may be better off looking into how you could become a chartered engineer instead. In fact, this would be an even better way to market your specialisms as a translator to agencies and could see you command the highest rates. If you’re desperate to prove your dedication to languages, then join the CIOL, wait for them to introduce the remaining two categories of chartered linguists and see if these will suit you better.

3. Don’t apply just because you meet the requirements now. You need to provide evidence of the volume of work carried out for the five years prior to your application (the “qualifying period”) in order to qualify initially, but then you’ll need to show evidence that you are maintaining these levels in future years to retain your registration. If your volume of work drops in any one year, you’ll need to have a good reason for this (e.g. parental leave) and be prepared to present it to the review panel for consideration. Otherwise you could find yourself spending a lot of money on a lengthy process, only to have to re-apply again in the future.

4. Starting out? Join the CIOL first. To prospective translators considering which professional body to join, I would say this: join the Chartered Institute of Linguists first, and concentrate on working towards meeting the requirements for qualified member status with them. To achieve chartered status, you must be a qualified member of one of three recognised professional associations in the UK. For translators, this means you need to be an MITI of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, OR an MCIL of the Institute of Linguists. Now, this gives the impression that these two levels of membership are equal when clearly they’re not. With a postgrad degree in translation, you can gain MCIL after one year’s professional experience in any job requiring the use of languages. MITI, on the other hand, requires a minimum of three years’ professional translation work following your postgrad, PLUS a pass in a professional assessment exam which is far from a walk in the park. Given you are required to apply for chartered status via the organisation you first joined, it makes sense to join the body through which it is easiest to achieve this. It’s an interesting little wrinkle in an otherwise well-thought out process, but not one that realistically could have been avoided for various political reasons.

5. If you’ve been shoddy on keeping CPD records, submit your application before 1 September 2009. There’s currently a sort of grace period in helping translators meet the requirements for CPD. Instead of having to present records for the 5 years prior to application, as is formally required, the admissions panel is currently considering applications with less than 3 years of records. So if you have 5 years’ full-time translation experience (or its equivalent in part-time experience), meet all the other requirements but haven’t kept your CPD details, then it’s worth pulling your socks up and getting an application in early. Incidentally, you are not expected to submit your actual CPD booklet – a page or so of A4 with a list of all your training is considered sufficient.

6. If you don’t live and/or work in the UK, chartered status may not be worth it. Chartered status is not legally recognised outside the UK, and it is not a form of government accreditation. Unlike in some countries such as Germany, there is no government accreditation for translators in this country. This is because the common law legal system does not allow for this (as opposed to civil law legal systems).

So good luck if you go for it! And I’d love to hear from anyone who has gone through the process – what they thought of it, the interview, toughest requirements to meet, etc. Get in touch at sarah at dillonslattery dot com.

11.02.08: edited for clarity

30.01.2011: edited for clarity

The Blushing Translator…

by Sarah Dillon

I went along to a talk on becoming a Chartered Linguist this week, which was run by the London Regional Group of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI). It was good timing for me and I thought it would be a great way to speak to those involved in developing the application process to get answers to a couple of questions I had about it all.

I hadn’t been to an event organised by the London Regional Group for well over a year. The venue was a cosy bar in Chinatown and the room upstairs was literally bursting at the seams. There were lots of familiar faces from various stages of my working life over the past 5 years. It was great to see quite a few of the more newly-established translators too, in addition to the more experienced crowd. I was all set for a long-overdue evening of talking shop. Or so I thought. When I got home, I realised I’d spent the entire evening with my flies undone… nice!

Oh, the talk was very interesting, and I’ll post some of my notes soon 🙂

Alphabet Soup – How to Get More Letters After Your Name (Part Deux)

by Sarah Dillon

Following my last post on ITI Qualified ITI Member status, here’s my take on the requirements for gaining Chartered Linguist (Translator) status based on an information evening run by the ITI London Regional Group in January 2008:

Note this does not constitute official information. Please check the relevant body for information on current requirements.

Chartered Linguist (Translator) status is evidence of having reached the very highest standards as a professional. It’s only been possible to apply for Chartered Linguist (Translator) status since September 2007, so it’s still a very new and very exciting development. The requirements may well change as the application process is further refined over the coming months, so keep an eye on the CIOL website for updates. Remember, it’s a lot easier to keep the correct records as you go along, rather than having to backdate everything when the time comes to apply.

NOTE: Although Chartered Linguist (Translator) status is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL), the process is separate to applying for general membership of the CIOL (in fact, you don’t even need to be a member of the CIOL to apply). As I understand it, the requirements at the time of writing are as follows:

• Education: The CIOL Diploma in Translation or an MA level qualification which must include an assessed practical translation module in the languages for which you wish to register. Status: check.

• Experience: Five years’ full-time translation in the years prior to applying, and membership of the ITI, CIOL or AIIC for 2 years prior to applying. Status: getting there.

• Evidence of CPD: Submit CPD records for the 3 years prior to applying. Status: I’ve kept CPD records based on the ITI’s record sheet for a couple of years now, so I don’t expect this to be a problem. Saying that though, a lot of it hasn’t been “signed off”. Firstly, because it’s not compulsory within the ITI and I think the idea of asking someone to sign my little book is a bit like being back in the Brownies. And secondly, because a lot of my CPD is self-directed so it’s not suitable to ask someone else to sign it.

• References: Three in total: Two from clients or other persons “in a position to assess or report on a substantial portion of your work over a significant period of time”, covering all language combinations. One from someone able to comment on my professional repute, “someone with whom you have been associated in a professional context or who is otherwise able to speak about your commitment to professionalism, personal development and other relevant factors.” Status: to be addressed when the time comes. (I’ve already hassled my poor clients for references a couple of times in recent years.)

• Work volume: Provide evidence of having translated an average of 300,000 words a year over the five years prior to applying. Status: this is a pretty achievable volume, even for a part-time translator. Assuming 45 working weeks per year (I like to be generous when I’m working these things out), this equals an average of 6,666 words per week. However unless they issue more specific guidance, I’ll have to contact admissions to see how best to calculate the volume of my non-traditional translation work.

• Attend an interview: To explore my understanding of professional ethics. Status: I think I can cope with this.

Now this is the point where it gets interesting. Registration as a Chartered Linguist will be assessed on an ongoing basis, and will need to be renewed every 3 – 5 years. As a result, the following will also be required:

• CPD: Submission of an annual report stating that you still meet the criteria for which you were awarded Chartered Linguist (Translator) status, including the number of words translated over the year and CPD activities and plans for the following year.

• Attend an interview: Further interviews every 3 – 5 years.

• Cost: £350 to apply initially, with this cost to be reviewed annually (expect upward), plus £50 to “register” for first year. £100 + VAT each year thereafter, PLUS another sum of money TBD when your registration is reviewed every 3 – 5 years. This is not an insignificant amount of money, so I expect the CL (Translator) designation really will come to represent those translators who are most serious about being recognised within the wider industry.

And there we go – looks like I’ll have a busy few years ahead of me.

Alphabet Soup – How to Get More Letters After Your Name!

by Sarah Dillon

I’ve been reviewing my membership with some of the UK’s professional translation bodies lately as part of my CPD planning, and thought it might be useful to post my notes for anyone else at a similar stage of their career. My aim for the short to medium term is to upgrade my status with the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) to Qualified Member, and then apply for Chartered Linguist (Translator) status. I’ve written before about the benefits of membership, so there is no doubt in my mind as to the value of this.

I first became a student member of the ITI in 2002 or 2003, then upgraded to associate membership after I became a full-time freelance translator in 2005. I joined the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIOL) around then too, qualifying for full membership status immediately. It does require planning to meet some of the requirements of these associations, and I’d recommend that if you are considering joining a professional organisation, check the requirements and start preparing the necessary paperwork well in advance. (Full details and membership requirements here, here and here.)

Here’s a summary of the requirements for ITI Qualified ITI Member status (MITI). Details on Chartered Linguist (Translator) status (CL (Translator)) in a separate post here.

• References – 2 professional, 1 character: I know from experience that these take longer to gather than you might initially expect, and as I work out of three languages, I need to think carefully about who to ask in order to properly represent my experience. I really do dislike asking clients to complete these kind of reference forms though!

• Experience: A minimum of five years’ full-time work experience PLUS either successful assessment of work or a Pass in the ITI Membership Examination. The exam costs £200 + VAT per language combination, so I don’t believe that it’s a worthwhile option for me. I’m not sure what kind of work I’ll need to submit for assessment, so there’s my first action: I’ll need to speak to the ITI’s membership officer and clarify this. I’ll also speak to other translators about their experience of having work assessed.

• Work volume: supply details of work volume (word counts) per language combination for the previous 5 years. Again, I’m not clear on what the ITI expects in terms of volume, or indeed if there is a cut-off of some kind. Their 2001 survey found that most translators and presumably, therefore, their members, work part-time though, so as a full-timer I should be fine on this. I’ll have to trawl through my invoices from the past few years as I’ve not kept specific data of this, but at least I can start keeping note on future jobs. In addition, a lot of my work isn’t easily measured in word count, so I’ll have to speak to the membership officer about how best to quantify it.

• Cost: £200 + VAT annual membership fee. No charge for the application as I’ll be upgrading from my current associate status (it’s £30 + VAT for new ITI members).

Details on Chartered Linguist (Translator) status in a separate post here.

An outtage doesn't have to leave you down and out

by Sarah Dillon

I love thinking of different ways to be more mobile (or “location independent“) as a translator. One of the ways I do this is by trialling different web-based applications to see which best suit my needs. For example, I’m currently using Backpack, an organiser with a calendar, to do lists, notes, etc. to help me stay on top of both work and personal tasks.

So you can imagine how I felt last Friday when I logged in see to this (read from the bottom up):

Thankfully, I hadn’t been left high and dry. I’ve been using Backpack with PackRat, an application which works with Backpack, but which stores all your information on your computer like any other application. This meant I was able to access my information as usual, with no excuse not to get cracking on my to-do list. Phew.

So why is this remotely blog-worthy? This experience probably confirms the worst fears of a whole lot of people, but it hasn’t put me off using web-based tools and I’m convinced that it shouldn’t deter anyone else either.

Even before Friday, I was never seriously worried about my data being irretrievably lost. I’ve carried out my due diligence and I figure that the makers of Backpack are no more likely to lose my data than I am (and even less likely than the UK government, by all accounts). Nor am I excessively concerned about my personal data being “held” and potentially used for sinister commercial reasons – I don’t particularly like the idea, but I don’t buy the misinformed conspiracy theories either. I view it the same way I do my accounts with eBay, Amazon, Hotmail, or any other wonder of the internet age. Anything that important, or that confidential, is backed up and/or not uploaded in the first place. (I’m not using Backpack to store translations or client documents, for example.)

Most of all, there really is no excuse for not backing up regularly, especially as a professional with responsibility to your clients. Backpack’s outtage just emphazises that moving data server-side doesn’t relieve us of this responsibility. We can’t control when the technology is going to fail, we only know that it will; so shame on us if we’re caught out. It’s an oldie, but a goodie.