Spanish Translation Help: February 2005

Feb 24, 2005

New pages added to website

I've recently added some web pages to Spanish-translation-help.com:

Spanish-schools-barcelona.html

Spanish-language-school-spain.html

Spanish-schools-abroad.html

Spanish-language-schools.html

Spanish-translation-service.html

Software learns to translate by reading up

"Translation software that develops an understanding of languages by scanning through thousands of previously translated documents has been released by US researchers. Most existing translation software uses hand-coded rules for transposing words and phrases. But the new software, developed by Kevin Knight and Daniel Marcu at the Information Sciences Institute, part of the University of Southern California, US, takes a statistical approach, building probabilistic rules about words, phrases and syntactic structures." - New Scientist

Multilingual staff can drive up auto sales

"A stroll through the Longo Toyota showroom on a busy afternoon is like eavesdropping at the United Nations. Buyers of all nationalities and races — many of them immigrants — flock to the dealership where the staff speaks more than 30 languages and dialects. From Vietnamese to Punjabi, the sounds of many tongues float across the cavernous, open sales floor." - USA Today

It's about time that people began to realize the importance of multilingual markets in business.

Feb 18, 2005

Aspen Elementary School to offer report cards in Spanish

"This June, Aspen Elementary School will send report cards in Spanish to parents of Spanish-speaking students, school officials announced last week.

The decision is a continuation of a policy adopted earlier this year that mandated teacher comments be translated into Spanish for Spanish-speaking parents. By June, officials say, the transition to Spanish will be complete, and the school will send entire reports - grades as well as comments - in Spanish." - The Aspen Times

Automatic translation of the four languages in the Spanish State

"The Eleka Ingeniaritza Linguistikoa company is leading an R+D project in order to design and develop a system of automatic translation of texts and web sites from Spanish to Basque and also to the other two official languages within the Spanish state: Catalan and Galician. The principal novelty lies in that the system will be an open code one and of free distribution, thus enabling the system to be modified with total freedom in order to update and optimise it for new users and applications. Another important novelty is that, for the first time, a single system involving the four official languages is to be developed simultaneously by groups based in different geographical locations." - EiTB24.com

This is pretty cool in that it will be open code and free distribution.

Feb 17, 2005

Google Introduces New Toolbar Features

"Google released a new beta version of its popular toolbar software this morning that adds some handy new features. The toolbar still features an integrated search box, pop-up blocker and PageRank display options that made it so popular, but now includes features like a translation tool, an autolink feature and an integrated spell checker.

The new translation tool will be of primary use to non-English speakers as it currently translates only from English into other languages. Languages supported include Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Italian, German and Spanish. The tool works by allowing users to set a default language in the options menu so that Google can display the appropriate translation whenever a user hovers their mouse over a word on a Web page. I turned my translation tool on to Spanish and easily found the proper translation to a multitude of phrases without taking the time to look them up one by one." - Search Engine Guide

Many languages of healing

"A recent study by City Comptroller William Thompson corroborated immigrants' anecdotal complaints about hospital access. Of the hospitals studied, 75 percent lacked access to Spanish-language interpreters in clinics, on the phone, in emergency departments or in billing departments." - Newsday.com

Translation vs. right to proper defence

"Ever since the trial began in the Haika-Segi (Basque nationalist left youth organisations) case, we have heard some very poor translations in the Spanish National Criminal Court. On Friday the indictees, lawyers and relatives were open-mouthed when they heard the translators renderings and the same thing happened yesterday. But yesterday beat all."
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"The lawyer Jone Goirizelaia began her questioning by asking Perez if she knew what Jarrai (the Basque nationalist left youth organisation) was. Perez replied: “Yes.” The interpreter rendered this as “bad”." - Berria.info

Pretty bad that this happens in the courtroom. It probably happens a lot more than we know, even in the United States.

Feb 15, 2005

UPN 31 makes strong play for Hispanics

"When Bruno Cohen took over as general manager at KMAX-TV UPN 31 last June, one huge statistic was staring him in the face -- 16.8 percent of the local television market is Hispanic. He wanted to find a way to get part of that market watching his station.

So in October, after months of planning, he tried something a little different. He brought in translators to offer on-the-spot Spanish-language interpretations of the station's free-wheeling "Good Day Sacramento." The news-and-talk show is the station's centerpiece, with 31 hours a week of local programming. Viewers can use the SAP (secondary audio programming) option on their sets to tap into the Spanish-language feed." - Sacramento Business Journal

Here's yet another example of news media confusing the difference between intrepretation and translation. This article discusses a project by a news station to provide real-time interpretation of their English-language show but they refer to it as translation. The article only mentions interpretation four time. That's opposed to variations of the word translation being mentioned 19 times. In a story about interpretation! It's a losing battle.

New website

I've recently been working on a new informational website on mesothelioma. It's also hosted on Blogspot at http://information-about-mesothelioma.blogspot.com

Feb 12, 2005

Activists push for Spanish-language translation of environmental report on landfill

"Some residents of Sun Valley are pushing for a Spanish-language translation of a massive environmental impact report on the proposed Bradley Landfill expansion so everyone in the heavily Latino neighborhood can read it." - KESQ NewsChannel 3 Palm Springs

Feb 10, 2005

LeConte Builds on Dual Immersion Language Program

"In Mary Shogren’s kindergarten class at LeConte Elementary School, some students can’t understand a single word she says. Sitting on the floor with wide-eyed gazes, they stare at her as she reads a children’s book aloud. Some seem to understand everything, while others look puzzled.

It’s what she calls the “deer-in-the-headlights” effect. They won’t look like that much longer, Shogren says.

Most pupils in the Berkeley Unified School District prepared for their first day of school by getting pencils, backpacks and binders. Students in Shogren’s class, however, needed a lot more than a few supplies. They needed another language.

Shogren teaches lessons almost entirely in Spanish as part of the district’s dual-immersion program, designed to make children proficient in Spanish and English by fifth grade and fluent by eighth." - Berkeley Daily Planet

Bilingual police perform vital job as translators

"Burbank police Detective Mark Metelski often makes a special connection with some of the people he meets on the job.

As one of the department's three translators, Metelski, who speaks Polish, said residents appreciate that he speaks their language." - Northwest Herald

LingvoSoft dictionaries for MS Smartphone released.

"Now LingvoSoft English <-> French, English <-> Italian, English <-> German, English <-> Russian and English <-> Spanish dictionaries run on the Microsoft Smartphone operating system, and more languages are expected to follow soon!

With the addition of these handy dictionaries, your Smartphone does become language-smart. Extensive word bases of 400,000 entries each, prompt two-way translations, together with powerful search options, make it into a translation tool that is always ready to go whenever you are.

One neat feature that Smartphone users will particularly appreciate is the ability to look up words containing a specific combination of letters. By typing less you cut back on the time and the button-pressing and streamline your work!

Also, when placing an order at LingvoSoft all customers get a chance to take advantage of various special offers and discounts." - MSMobiles.com

Extension filling need for seminars in Spanish

"Spanish-speaking workers are playing greater roles in the swine and dairy industries in Illinois. As a result, University of Illinois Extension programs for ag workers and managers are being re-tooled and offered in Spanish." - Agriculture Online

Tests show more students increasingly fluent in English

"At Turnbull Learning Academy, many Spanish-speaking children are taught English by learning Spanish.

If the California English Language Development Test results are any indication, this controversial method of bilingual teaching may be working for the San Mateo school, where more than 95 percent of the students are learning English.

The annual release of the California English Language Development Test showed 48 percent of Turnbull test-takers scored in early advanced or advanced levels of English proficiency — up from 15 percent in the 2001-2002 school year." - Inside Bay Area

This is a very interesting (and I believe) and good method for teaching English. The better you know you're native language, the easier it is to transfer that knowledge to your second language. I wonder if this kind of teaching will ever make it past all the hurdles and misconceptions that people will have.

Language Discrimination Hinders Access to Health Care for Latinos

"Spanish-speaking residents of the Washington, DC area often have trouble accessing Medicaid benefits to which they are entitled, according to a recently released study that blames language discrimination in the city’s human services agency and a lack of resources for Spanish speakers." - The NewStandard

Feb 7, 2005

Visual dictionary for Spanish makes saying as easy as seeing

"The surge in travel to Latin America is manifest in new titles from trusted guidebook publishers expanding their reach in this exotic yet relatively close part of the world. And an exceptional new Spanish dictionary becomes an essential resource for those heading south.

The Firefly Spanish/English Visual Dictionary by Jean Claude Corbeil and Ariane Archambault (Firefly Books, 586 pages, $29.95). Choosing between the many Spanish/English dictionaries on the market is largely a matter of personal preference -- comprehensive versus portable, Latin American versus European Spanish, colloquialisms and nuance. This new one from a Montreal publisher breaks new ground, to stunning effect." - SFGate.com

I love visual dictionaries. I think every translator should have one in their resource collection. This looks like an excellent addition for your library.

Feb 4, 2005

Wycliffe in Overdrive

"There are 6,913 languages in the world. But only 2,300 have as much as one book of the Bible translated and available. With a mere 25 new translation projects starting every year (as of 1992), Wycliffe International, the famous Bible translation organization, knew a different approach was needed.

In 1999 Wycliffe came up with Vision 2025—to start a Bible translation "in every language that needs one" by 2025. At the time, they pegged the figure at 3,000 translations. Instead of beginning a new translation every two weeks, they needed to begin two each week." - ChristianityToday.com

An excellent interview with Freddy Boswell, the international translation coordinator for Wycliffe International, on their new push for providing faster turnaround time on Bible translations.

Lawmaker makes history: speaking Spanish in Senate

"Freshman Sen. Mel Martinez, a Cuban immigrant, shattered a 216-year tradition of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday when he used the ceremonial occasion of his first floor speech to speak three sentences in Spanish." - SFGate.com

What a wonderful story! Whether you side with the Democrats, Republicans, or none of the above, what a great sense of pride for all of us who love the Spanish language. Senator Martizinez's life story of being a Cuban immigrant to standing on the floor of the United States Senate giving a speech is incredible.

Hispanics Embrace New WHFS Format

"Some listeners were angry about Infinity Broadcasting Corp.'s decision two weeks ago to scrap radio station WHFS-99.1 FM's alternative-rock lineup for a Spanish-language format, but the change is a welcome one to the ears of newcomers like Karen Terrero." - WashingtonTimes.com

I think the Spanish station is great. I used to live in Utah and Spanish radio stations weren't all that great. It's great to hear all the variety that they play.

Plus, I like to listen and try to understand what they are saying in the songs. It's a good exercise in listening, that's for sure.

Colo. Pulls Spanish-Language Immigrant Guide From Web Site

"Colorado has yanked a Spanish-language guide for new immigrants from a state Web site following criticism that it encouraged illegal aliens to take advantage of government benefits." - AZCentral.com

This is a pretty low blow to yank this type of information from a website. I used to work at a health clinic whose clients consisted mainly of the underserved Latino population. One of the hardest parts of the job was getting the information out to the people on the services that we had that they were entitled to receive.

Nonprofit organizations rely on any medium possible to get their message out and when you take one of those away, not only does the individual suffer, but the organizations trying to help are hurt in the process.

Feb 3, 2005

State of the Union in Spanish

For those of you who would like an exercise in translation, here's a suggestion. President Bush just gave the State of the Union address last night and then English text of the speech can be found here. If you'd like to see how well your Spanish translation abilities are (and if you have some time), try and translate the speech into Spanish. Or, if you'd rather try to translate from Spanish into English, you can access the Spanish translation here.

After you do the translation, compare your translation to the one given by the White House (if you're going from English to Spanish), or check it against the original English (if you're practicing from Spanish to English).

I like this kind of exercise because you really have to know the context of the speech. What kind of speaker is President Bush? Who is he speaking to? What are some things that have happened in the past that could give you a clue as to how to translate certain passages?

Translators often get caught up in transmitting just the written message. Sometimes, you need to step back and see what the overall tone or feeling of the message is and make sure that gets transmitted as well. A speech by a well-known person (such as President Bush) is a good exercise in practicing just that.

Spanish-Language Magazine Marks 50 Years of Commitment

"Nuestra Tarea, the Spanish-language magazine of missions and ministries published by Woman’s Missionary Union, is marking its 50th year in print this February." - SBCBaptistPress.com

TNS Media Intelligence Forecasts Strong Ad Spending for 2005; Internet and Spanish Language TV Show Largest Areas of Growth

"...all leading categories of media will see improvement in advertising spending, with the Internet, Spanish language television and Cable Network TV showing the strongest year over year gains." - BusinessWire.com

Feb 1, 2005