This is an interesting article that basically says two things… 1) Providing materials in a communities makes sense from a business or from a mission point of view. 2) You need to provide professional translation or you are going to cause more problems that you help. I think the most telling two paragraphs are here:

A cursory survey of documents provided in Spanish by various agencies turned up many riddled with errors, from misspellings and grammar problems to literal renderings bordering on the incomprehensible.

Huszar thinks that written translation should be done by native speakers who have lived in a Spanish-speaking country and studied at the university level. Inaccurate translations or those using “Spanglish” only add to the distortion of the language, she says.

Read more.

How do The Dalles families who speak only Spanish get information on vital services from local public agencies? More or less imperfectly, it seems, especially when it comes to written text.Local strategies for providing information in Spanish run the gamut from manual translation work by paid, qualified staff to computer-assisted, on-the-fly translating.

And everything in between — or nothing at all.

“They’re not that good,” says Casa Loma resident Fanny Vazquez of the majority of translations done here. The young mother, who was raised in The Dalles and speaks both Spanish and English, often accompanies friends from her west-end apartment complex as an interpreter.

“Most of the Mexicans don’t even understand how they [translate] from English to Spanish,” she says. “[They think], ‘What are they talking about?’”

Still, whatever the challenges, methods, and flaws of the practice, many agencies are increasingly attempting to serve the growing Spanish-speaking community through translation.

“It just makes sense,” says Wasco County District Attorney Eric Nisley, who knows of no legal requirement outside of the court system to provide for interpretation or translation into a language other than English — except sign language and braille, as mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Still, he says, many organizations have made a policy decision to provide information in Spanish, finding that it gives them an economic advantage — or a service advantage in the case of public agencies.

f the local entities The Chronicle talked to, four — the Northern Wasco County People’s Utility District, the Northern Wasco County School District, Wasco Sherman Public Health, and the Wasco County Department of Youth Services — say they regularly provide written information in Spanish.

The summary of this recent study is this - global companies aren’t investing enough in communicating across language divides. This means communication errors from poor translations, language miscues or non-standardized use of terminology in the workplace. Read more.

Failure to pay attention to global communication in the form of local language and consistent terminology is hampering growth in all sizes of business. 

A study carried out by the Localisation Industry Standards Association and global information management provider SDL, which is best known for its translation and terminology management software, found that global business growth is hindered because decision makers have little knowledge of core technology such as content management, terminology management, and budgets associated with global communications.

Terminology management refers to the process of defining the important terms and phrases used within a company. It covers aspects such as how these are used in context, how they are written, and how they are translated so that they mean the same thing in multiple languages.

Even though respondents were aware of the importance of terminology management in driving brand consistency and aiding customer loyalty, few had implemented processes or software to manage it. 56% said the greatest benefit of terminology management would be consistant management of a global brand, while 32% identified the ability to deliver the right global content to the right people at the same time as its key focus.

Interesting to see an overview from the perspective of an interpreter. At WLS, we work with many industries, and we find that in the workplace, those acting as interpreters may be highly -trained professionals, the cousin of the owner who took a few years of Spanish, or in hospitals, the young child of an ill patient - and everything in between. Let’s not forget that quality customer service, whether in a hospital or at a restaurant requires quality communication. Read more.

Maria Currano isn’t a doctor, but for people who speak only Spanish and need to go to the hospital, she could be just as important.Currano, 30, is a Spanish translator and interpreter for the Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly. She helps doctors communicate with Spanish-speaking patients.

“Part of what makes my job so rewarding is that I’m able to use my language skills to help people,” Currano said. “For patients, it makes their hospital experience a lot less scary and more productive if they can communicate well with health-care providers.”

A translator is someone who takes written information and rewrites it in another language. An interpreter listens to what someone says and repeats it in another language. Not all translators are interpreters, and not all interpreters are translators. Currano learned how to do both in school.

English is Currano’s native language. She started learning Spanish in middle school, then studied in Spain and at the University of Maryland. She majored in Spanish and linguistics (the scientific study of language) and took classes in translation. For a while she wanted to be a teacher, but during college she started working at the hospital and enjoyed it.

Translators and interpreters are needed in many industries. Police, schools, courts, the government and international businesses all use translators and interpreters daily.

Most translators and interpreters don’t have extra training in the area they want to work in. Currano didn’t have any medical training and for a long time would carry a medical dictionary wherever she went. More important, she said, is to know about the culture of the group you are translating or interpreting for.

There are so many people in the US who do not speak English. While learning English is an important step for immigrants to become integrated into our culture, both socially and economically, we do need to do what we can to help people them out. I just read this article about a law in Kansas that does just that. Rea Read more…

Linda Covey sat next to a courtroom bench Friday afternoon, conducting a murmured conversation with a defendant’s father while the magistrate judge moved on to other cases.

Speaking in Spanish, Covey told the man that his son was being moved to another county jail, and he needed to contact the court to find out how much his son owed in court costs and fines. She also told the man that his son had 90 days to pay or his driver’s license would be suspended.

After several minutes of conversation, the man thanked Covey and left the courtroom.

Helping Spanish-speaking people understand the complexities of the legal system is part of the daily routine for Covey, a full-time interpreter for Ford County District Court. She also helps English-speaking people navigate the system and fills in wherever she is needed.

Covey said she has worked as an interpreter for five years, and she believes she was born to do that job.

“I’m not saying that pridefully, not at all,” she said in a recent interview. “I’m just saying that I’m a tool to be of service, and that’s what I do.”

Helping people understand the courts

Under Kansas law, courts must have interpreters when needed to help a non-English-speaking person understand what is happening. The interpreter translates the proceedings into the person’s native language, listens to the person’s response, then translates their comments into English for the court.