You may not think twice about seeing a sign language interpreter in a classroom, meeting, conference, or training session, but what about onstage at a musical or concert? What does it look like? Performance in sign language gives interpreters a chance to sing with their hands, mind, body, and heart which takes artistry and creativity. It’s an art to enjoy!

Here are just a few examples of sign language performances taken from Tiffany Hill and Bjorn Storm’s channels on YouTube. Check them out and see how talented interpreters can combine signing, acting, and rhythm to capture the meaning and feeling of any song.

Firework performed by Tiffany Hill

Crazy performed by Bjorn Storm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYcSAMWIcAE

Yesterday evening Monterey Language Services had the unique opportunity to help spread some holiday cheer by providing ASL interpretation in a performance setting. When a local children’s theater group reached out wanting to include the deaf community in their upcoming Christmas musical, one of our interpreters happily joined the cast to teach them the lyrics of the show’s finale in ASL.

Even with no sign language experience, the 35 kids learned quickly and had a blast. Now when they take the stage they’ll be able to share the song’s message of happiness, warmth, and joy with their friends in the deaf community. Everyone deserves that on the holidays, and we were thrilled and grateful to the theater for allowing us to be a part of their wonderful idea.

Monterey Language Services is committed to bridging the world’s languages by providing quality, professional and efficient translation & interpretation services in over 175 languages. When it comes to American Sign Language, we specialize in highly technical meetings and trainings, for example: JAVA training sessions for engineers, CPR first aid training for firefighters, brain injury medical seminars, along with doctor’s visits and performance events. Please feel free to request a quote from us.

To accommodate very large audiences in cross-cultural communication, the usual method of simultaneous interpretation with all the necessary equipment may prove too expensive. In its place, Monterey Language Services presents a cost-effective solution that addresses clients’ needs: the Instant Translation method, in which a meeting is presented in one language with an instant translation displayed visually on a screen, or conveniently readable from audience members’ phones, tablets, and other personal devices.

MONTEREY, California – March 29, 2017 – This evening Monterey Language Services (www.montereylanguages.com) provided Instant Translation for a Seaside, California meeting with an expected turnout of over 400 attendees.

The issues surrounding sanctuary cities have recently become a source of major concern for many of us in California and the country. In order to give ordinary people the chance to have their opinions on this important topic heard, the City of Seaside – not far from Monterey Language Services’ base in Monterey – organized a public meeting devoted to sanctuary cities – with an expected turnout of hundreds of people.

Monterey Language Services implemented an Instant Translation solution, in which the meeting was presented in English but instantly translated into Spanish with the translation displayed visually on a screen. Audience members were also able to read the translation on their phones, tablets, and other personal devices. Follow the link to see Instant Translation in action: https://youtu.be/dRP5lQHQ0tM

This real-time display of translation proved to be a success and made the important content of the meeting accessible to everyone. “Tonight’s meeting is a testament to the method’s suitability for large audiences. When it comes to providing cross-cultural communication for very large audiences, Instant Translation is a time- and cost-effective solution,” says Mei-Ling Chen, Director of Monterey Language Services.

When the City of Seaside approached Monterey Language Services with a request for a Spanish language option for tonight’s meeting, Monterey Language Services was happy to take on the challenge: “What sets us apart from the competition,” says Mei-Ling Chen at Monterey Language Services, “is finding solutions that meet our clients’ needs. That’s our strength.”

The usual method of simultaneous interpretation with a sufficient number of headsets, transmitters, and receivers to accommodate such a large audience proved too expensive. Instead, Monterey Language Services presented a cost-effective solution that addresses the City’s needs: a method that can service a full house without adding extra hours to the meeting’s duration because of language interpretation needs.

For more information, please contact Mei-Ling Chen at 831 655 3460 or mei-ling@montereylanguages.com

Monterey Language Services is committed to bridging the world’s languages by providing high quality, professional and efficient translation & interpretation services in over 175 languages.

Contact Information
Mei-Ling Chen
Monterey Language Services
http://www.montereylanguages.com
831-655-3460

Translators often use different techniques to produce a high-quality, natural translation. Experienced translators may even apply them so freely and flexibly that they forget they’re even using a special technique or strategy. This blog breaks down three of the most frequently used translation strategies: detour translation, repetition, and addition.

Detour translation
Because of the differences between two languages, a direct word-for-word translation is not always possible, and translators may have to find another way around – make a translation “detour.” For example, the source language may prefer affirmative statements (like “Staff Only” in English) while in the target language it is much more natural to use a negative statement for the same idea (like闲人免进 or “Non-staff not allowed” in Chinese). This sign could of course be translated literally, but the result would be something that is not idiomatic, natural Chinese. In situations like this, translators would use the detour strategy.

Repetition
To avoid misunderstanding and make the meaning clear, translators frequently use repetition as a technique. In English, pronouns such as “he,” “she,” “it,” etc., avoid repetition by referring to things that have already been mentioned. Chinese, however, does the opposite and usually repeats the original words rather than replace them with pronouns. For example, in translating a sentence like “George put his bag on the table, which is in the middle of the room,” a translator working into Chinese would repeat the word “table” where English replaces it with “which.” Repetition can also be crucial to preserve the style of a source text in which the author repeats specific words to create a certain effect.

Addition
To make a translation acceptable in the target language, translators may need to add more information. For example, when translating “ease the tension between the two countries” into Chinese, translators need to add the word “situation” (i.e. tense situation) to make the translation complete. A proper translation is “缓解两国之间的紧张局势.” Addition is important when translating culture-specific words or expressions because additional explanation is needed to help readers who aren’t familiar with the source culture. In a case like this, a translator may even need to provide a footnote to provide additional information without cluttering up the main text.

The ultimate goal for a translator is to translate the source text’s meaning simply and clearly. The above strategies and techniques can help produce more idiomatic translations, and are a required part of every translator’s toolkit.

Need instant translation from English to Spanish? We can make it happen. This video shows how it looked at tonight’s City Council meeting on sanctuary cities in Seaside, California.

The audience at today’s event received Spanish translation through reading rather than listening. Why? Because this method can accommodate a large turnout, since everyone can read the translation on their phone or tablet.

This instant translation solution involves a combination of simultaneous interpretation and real time captioning.

Simultaneous interpretation first appeared as a mode of oral translation in response to the need for a way to receive interpretation without doubling the length of a meeting. Using technological advances that are now available, Monterey Language Services combines simultaneous interpretation and real time captioning to provide “instant translation” or “visual interpretation.” This method gives audience members the convenience of a translation they can read on their phones, tablets, or other devices. Instant translation is suitable for audiences of any size and useful for those who are hard of hearing and require CART or Remote CART services.

Monterey Language Services is a long-time provider of Simultaneous Interpretation, Remote Real Time English Captioning, Remote Real Time Spanish Captioning, and other services, which cover All Languages. We specialize in providing solutions to address both the cost and time-saving needs of our customers, regardless of the size of their audience.

Contact us if this type of service is what you need for your next event or conference!

Based on their job title, it’s easy to think that a translator’s only duty is to translate, but a good translator also needs to be a skilled editor. A good translation often goes through several stages of editing, which is just as important as the translation process itself, because it helps refine the work and spot mistakes. But how should we edit a translation, and what should we look for while doing it? Here are some suggestions.

Look through the translation only
It’s possible to be too “close” to your own work. Artists will say that after hours of slaving over a piece of work and still feeling unsatisfied, they have to step away for a while to give themselves some distance. Coming back later with a fresh view, they might instantly see what’s wrong and know where to put the finishing strokes. As a self-editor, translators should do the same: a few days after you’ve done a translation, come back to it and reread it as if it were originally written in the target language – that is, without looking at the source. The combination of a fresh look and reading the target text by itself can help you judge whether the translation flows well in the target language, sounds idiomatic, follows the structure of the source too closely, etc. Taking a fresh look will also help you identify errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, etc., which you may have missed the first time around. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can completely toss out the source as soon as the first translation draft is done, which brings us to the second suggestion.

Compare the source and target text
After reading the translation, the second step is to refer back to the source text to see if there are any meaning errors, omitted information, etc. Avoiding any meaning shifts is always on a translator’s mind, but it’s possible to make them without realizing, which is why comparing the source and target again is necessary. Editing a translation, just like translating itself, requires solid command of both languages in order to feel the subtle differences between them and tell whether the translation is a proper rendition of the source text. Be particularly attentive that terminology is translated correctly, and consistently. Make use of term bases provided by the client or agency, and don’t be afraid to ask for them if they haven’t been given.

Format checking
After making sure the content is all good, the last step is to check formatting and layout of the translation. This often may be as simple as matching font and font size, making sure that a few bold, italic, or underlined words in the source are mirrored in the target, or that a hyperlink is in the proper place. Other documents may be formatted in a more complex way, with tables and images which need to be properly recreated or inserted.

The fundamental aspect of producing a translation may be, well, translating, but skilled and careful editing is also imperative. How many authors can write a novel without ever looking at what they’ve written? Following the above three steps will provide a good basis for editing a translated work properly in order to get it ready for delivery.

Monterey Language Services was at the annual Middlebury Institute of International Studies Translation, Interpretation, and Localization Management Career Fair on Friday March 3rd. We would like to thank everyone who stopped by our booth – it was a pleasure to meet all of the Middlebury Institute’s brightest up-and-coming talent. A special thanks to everyone who participated in our raffle giveaway: just like the whole fair, our contest was a big success, and we’re happy to share that our three lucky winners were MIIS students Christopher Madison, David Chen, and Zongqi Li. You can watch our official video announcement of the winners below:

Monterey Language Services wishes all students of the Middlebury Institute success in their coming careers, and looks forward to working with the next generation of translators, interpreters, and localization managers!

Monterey Language Services will be at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies’ annual Translation, Interpretation, and Localization Management Career Fair, which kicks off at 9:00 AM on Friday March 3 and finishes up at 12:30 PM.

This year we’re doing it a little differently!

Of course we’ll be collecting resumes, talking to students, and describing our exciting internship opportunities, but we also want to make it a fun event and help students shed some stress – that’s why we’ve decided to really put the “fair” in “career fair!” We’ll be giving out raffle tickets at the Monterey Language Services booth, with a $25 gift card prize for each of our three winners!

Nervous about talking to us as employers? Don’t be, relax, and come on up! We’re serious about our work, but easy-going in person. We want students to feel comfortable and relaxed at our booth: that’s the best way to meet and get to know new people, and we want to meet you and hear about your unique skills and experience. It may be business as usual at the other booths, but with Monterey Language Services it should be an unforgettable time for everyone who steps up.

Come by our booth, tell us about yourself, and we’ll do the same. Don’t forget to take one of Monterey Language Services’ raffle tickets, you may be the lucky winner of a $25 gift card! And don’t forget to tell your friends and fellow classmates!

Translators and interpreters are synonyms in some ways: both need to have a good command of at least two languages in order to do their job. Both decode what’s in the source language and then encode it in the target language. Both are cross-cultural communicators, whose final goal is to tear down language barriers and facilitate communication.

However, by industry standards, they also have their own distinct professional traits. What do interpreters do that translators don’t? What does a translator need that an interpreter can do without? How different are they really on the job? Here are just a few of the things that set translators and interpreters apart from each other.

1. Work Mode
Professional translators and interpreters sometimes forget that many people outside of the industry often don’t even realize that these are two different professions. To put it as simply as possible, translators write while interpreters speak. A translator takes a text in one language and rewrites it in another language. Interpreters, on the other hand, listen to what someone says in one language and then convey it by speaking in another language.

The fundamental difference in their respective lines of work is this: a translator usually does not speak at a job, but must have excellent writing skills, with all the things this implies: perfect punctuation, spelling, grammar. A successful interpreter needs all the skills required of a good public speaker, delivering messages clearly by speaking.

Translators in general enjoy the luxury of having more time, but that also means they have to be skilled at personal time management and able to focus deeply on one thing for an extended period, whereas interpreters must be quicker on their feet, able to tune out distractions, and have strong multi-tasking skills.

2. Working Environment
Translators and interpreters have different tools in their arsenals, and work in different environments.

A modern translator is computer savvy and skilled with the leading translation software (MemoQ, Trados, Wordfast, Déjà Vu, etc). Translators often have more freedom in terms of where they can do their work, and since translation requires a great deal of focus and time, this means a comfortable space free from distraction, whether it be a home office or a space at the agency or company a translator works for.

Interpreters, by contrast, have much less personalized work areas, since they generally work in spaces that are not their own, although there are interpreters who work over the phone or through video calls from home. Interpreters in many cases also don’t own the equipment they work with: simultaneous interpretation requires microphones, audio transmission equipment, receivers, and headphones, but these are generally provided by the translation company or the client. Interpreters working in the consecutive mode have a more modest toolbox which usually includes just a pen and a notebook. Recently, tablets and digital pens with special features have been making their way into consecutive interpreters’ kits, but are not yet widespread.

3. Dealing With Pressure
Interpreters work under great pressure because what’s being said needs to be interpreted immediately, which doesn’t leave much time to think. For interpreters, time is very precious. If they spend too much time on a certain sentence or word, they run the risk of missing important information that follows.

By comparison, translators are not under immediate pressure but incremental pressure. They spend a long time refining their work and even invite others to edit and proofread it in order to ensure that the final product is as flawless as possible.

Translators are language and culture communicators who can bridge gaps and open up a whole new world for people from different cultures who speak different languages. Have you ever wondered what it is that sets translators apart, or what makes a great translator? How are they different from interpreters, localizers and other linguists? This blog will unveil the mystery by offering some tips for people who aspire to be excellent translators.

1. Read extensively

If you are a book lover, then you are half way there to being a good translator. Reading extensively is useful in that it helps to hone your writing skills and make you more sensitive to the subtle differences between similar words. As a translator in a specialized field (e.g. law, finance, medicine, etc.), reading parallel texts is even more crucial. Parallel texts make you familiarized with terms in a particular field and allow you to familiarize yourself with the field. As a result, your translation won’t look like it’s written by an outsider with no knowledge of the subject. For example, let’s say you’re translating a warranty from Chinese into English. If you find an English-language warranty and compare it with the original text, you’ll see how a warranty is formulated in English and you can use that reference as a guide for your own translation.

2. Write well

Being an excellent writer is essential to success in translation. Writing well means writing clearly, which is as necessary for communicating the source message in a translation as it is for making sense in any kind of written work. Don’t get confused – translation may be an art in its own right, but here writing well doesn’t refer to being a good creative writer; many translators may write impeccably, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they have the creativity to write the next great novel from scratch. Writing is also a largely mechanical skill that can be learned. It means, in part, being familiar with the conventions and preferences of the often very different writing styles that are used in various fields – something which the previous tip can help you with.

3. Be patient and pay attention to detail

Unlike interpretation which is done within seconds, translation is an extended process and your finished texts will be there for all to see long after your work is done. Of course, there are both pros and cons to this: one good thing is that translators don’t have to work under quite the same pressure as interpreters, and they can afford to spend time choosing the most suitable word for any given context. One of the negative sides is that your work will likely be subject to greater scrutiny than many interpretations, since, especially in the digital age, a document can essentially exist indefinitely, whereas the average interpretation is gone forever after it’s been completed. In general, translation demands patience and extreme attention to detail. Translators need to be very careful in editing and proofreading their work in order to avoid mistakes before it is published or presented to others.

4. Learn how to do research

As a translator, you’re bound at some point to encounter a word or phrase you don’t know. Be it an idiom, the name of an organization, someone’s title, or even their name, translators need to have the ability to do extensive research using whatever tools are at their disposal. A translator’s research isn’t limited to looking for difficult to render words, either: they should know how and where to look for reference material – those parallel texts that were mentioned before, and other materials that will make translation much easier. Thanks to modern technology, translators today have incredible access to potential sources of research, starting with everyone’s favorite, Google, which can let you quickly check whether or not your translation is idiomatic in the target language. Frequently translators have to go much deeper than just a Google search, though, accessing various corpora, specialized dictionaries, trade publications, and so on. The internet even makes it possible to reach out to the author of a text to ask for clarification or explanation when a translator encounters difficulty understanding the source. As wonderful as the internet is, a translator shouldn’t rely on it to the total exclusion of good old-fashioned books and other printed material. You never know when you’ll be without internet access, and the sheer volume of information on the Web can make it difficult to know what’s correct, whereas a specialized Spanish-English medical dictionary has been compiled by an expert.

5. Use CAT tools

Recent years have witnessed the nearly universal application and rapid development of computer assisted translation tools, such as Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast, etc. These CAT tools have effectively become the industry standard and can help improve translation efficiency and save time and energy. CAT tools can cut down your time spent and simplify any number of situations, for example handling a large translation project that involves multiple languages. While some of these tools are both powerful and fairly user-friendly, it can be difficult to intuitively navigate and manage some CAT programs with all their features and options. Fortunately, there is no shortage of online tutorials and other CAT tool guides available, but whether you decide to make use of them or explore your CAT tool of choice independently, one thing is for sure: the sooner you learn how to use CAT tools effectively, the better.

These are just a few tips to help you become a better translator. There is one other thing which shouldn’t be overlooked: be passionate about translation! Great translators are “doing their job” all the time, always translating (at least mentally) whatever they see and hear around themselves, be it a sign at the park or an advertising slogan on TV. Enjoying what you do and making it into an everyday, fun activity may be the most important key to becoming a better translator.

Monterey Language Services is committed to bridging the world’s languages by providing quality, professional and efficient translation & interpretation services in over 175 languages.

There are many important factors that need to be considered while doing any translation. This blog focuses on three of them: terminology, context and long sentences.

Terminology
When translating any document, it’s important to compile a glossary first (or read an existing glossary carefully if there already is one). Translation of terminology in a document should be consistent; specialized vocabulary, including titles and field-specific terms – things like, for example: spirit beings, supernatural other being, invisible other – should be rendered clearly and identically throughout the translation.

When dealing with pronouns, translators usually translate word by word. But if this approach results in an awkward translation, translators need to add, delete or replace words in order to make it sound natural in the target language.

Context
It’s important to refer to context, as this may give some clues as to how to translate, and which translation strategy should be adopted. Translators need to not only retain the meaning of the original text, but also the tone of the source.

Take this sentence, for example: “in very limited circumstances, it may be acceptable to pay for travel and lodging expenses.” “In very limited circumstances” and “it may be acceptable” are two key parts in this sentence. These two elements have certain tonal implications, and translators should highlight these two parts accordingly in the translation in order to stress the tone.

Long Sentences
Documents with very long sentences require translators to recreate the meaning of the original and write in a way that is concise and easy to follow. The solution is to identify the appropriate target-language sentence structure first, and then add the different necessary elements in it. Also, translators, of course, need to repeat what’s been said in the source text in order to avoid meaning shifts or mistranslations.

Here’s an example of a long sentence where we can use this strategy: “No employee, subcontractor, or joint venture partner is authorized to provide payment in any form, or to agree to provide payment in any form, for such expenses without the prior written approval of the Company’s legal counsel for the region within which such payment would be made.”
This is a very long sentence, and a very important one. The first thing to do is to set the sentence structure in our target language (in this case, Chinese), which is “……如果没有……，无权……。” Also, while frequent repetition of the same word or words is sometimes thought to be bad style, it may be necessary in serious legal or other specialized documents which uses standardized language.

Monterey Language Services is committed to bridging the world’s languages by providing quality, professional and efficient translation & interpretation services in over 175 languages.