As a director of translation for years, I have worked with many translators and interpreters.  The most important quality I found in them is being responsible and taking their jobs to the heart.  It’s such a pleasure to work with them.   Here is one good example.  ~Mei-Ling Chen

by Lee Eisenberg

I have done many translation projects.  I find translation to be a satisfying practice because I feel as though I have just contributed something to the world that I’m living in.

I just translated a newlywed marriage certificate from Spanish to English.  The work involves not only translating each word.  We must know how to translate a position such as Mexico’s Secretaría de Gobernación (Secretary of Interior), and what an extemporaneous birth certificate is.  We also have to ensure to format the translation properly.  Correct formatting makes the translation look official and easier to read.

All in all, translating this project gives me a true feeling of accomplishment.  I feel joy for the people who have just gotten married.  It might be a small thing to do, but I’m definitely proud to have done it, and I wish the newlyweds well.

February 25, 2011 Career Fair

Tate Miller, Dean at the Center for Advising and Career Services at Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS), conveyed to us that many students had wonderful conversations with us at the MIIS job fair. This brought back a lot of fond memories. The feeling is mutual; we also had a fantastic time talking to the students. Among the interesting topics we discussed:

– how a translation and interpretation company like Monterey Language Services is operated

– how all of the languages are supported at Monterey Language Services

– how to distinguish yourself from your peers in a competitive job market

– how medical interpretation involves human life and feelings that go beyond technical interpretation

– how instant messaging has changed the way language is processed in our minds

– how something like music is related to language and translation

We consider all of the students our colleagues. They showed us a lot of talent in their conversation and works, enriched us with their different perspectives and strengths, and we were very happy to share our experiences from 12 years working in the translation and interpretation industry. In fact, we enjoyed talking with the students so much that we were the last table at the career fair and at the reception the night before. Like the last table remaining after a busy night in a lively restaurant or at a good party, the one that stays the longest laughs and enjoys themselves the most!

In short, we care about each individual encounter. To us, it is not only a process of submitting and collecting resumes; instead, we always seek to bridge different hearts, minds, and ideas, whether participating in an event like the MIIS Career Fair or connecting at the workplace. As a result of this conviction, students’ passion, energy, fun, and laughter is seen coming out.

The team at Monterey Language Services would like to send you our warm holiday greetings.  We wish you happy holidays & a healthy and successful 2011!  

Thank you for your continued support and friendship.  We look forward to furthering our relationship in the coming year.

Click to enjoy our holiday special presentation!

Happy New Year Greetings from Monterey Language Services

‘Fresh Produce’ is gaining awareness everywhere in the world.  Fresh produce markets (or Farmer’s market) are sprouting up all over, in cities big and small.  Many of these Farmer’s markets specialize in local, organically grown products.

We were curious about the official translation of the term ‘fresh produce’ in other languages. Our search in Spanish was unsuccessful (no official translation).  Most people use the term in English, or translate it as ‘productos frescos’ (or ‘alimentos frescos’ to include both agricultural and livestock production).  However, the term ‘organic food’ does have an official translation in the European Union: ‘alimentos orgánicos/ecológicos/biológicos’ (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alimentos_ecol%C3%B3gicos)

In French, ‘fresh produce’ is known simply as, ‘le frais,’ which is short for ‘produits frais.’  The French are no strangers to locally grown products.  This is evident by the myriad of online grocer’s offering home delivery of ‘le frais’ in France.

We hope you enjoy some fresh produce this holiday season!

Authors: Mei-Ling Chen and Emily Frye

Monterey Language Services was out in the park at the celebration of Marina’s 35^th Anniversary, among cultural groups such as Kiwanis International, Youth Leadership Forum of Medicine, Our World Peace Park, and many others. 

People who speak different languages came by and talked to us, Czech, Pashto, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, etc.  People shared with us their experience dealing with interpreters.  We also got interviewed by local TV.

This was a great day to witness our community’s incomparably rich culture diversity.  It’s hard to grasp the significance of the culture mix until you come out and see it for yourself. 

It’s wonderful for Monterey Language Services to be out and reach local resources & make translation and interpretation services accessible to the people in the community. 

The City of Marina, where Monterey Language Services is headquartered, is the 7^th largest multilingual city in the United States. 

On its 35^th anniversary, we would like to wish the City a Happy Birthday in the following languages: Spanish, Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Afrikaans, German, Tagalog, Hebrew, Samoan, French, Italian, Russian, Chinese, and Portuguese.  Thanks to our many translators who responded quickly to contribute to this special occasion.

Hindi and Turkish just got in:

Hindi – जन्मदिनमुबारकहो!

Turkish – Mutlu Yillar Sana

Happy 35th, City of Marina!

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, being able to speak more than one language can help ward off dementia in old age.  As language professionals, we celebrate the news by sharing it!

“Specifically, the advantages of bilingualism are thought to be related to a brain function known as inhibitory or cognitive control:  the ability to stop paying attention to one thing and focus on something else…  Fluent speakers of more than one language have to use this skill continually to silence one language in their minds while communicating in another.”

Reference:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703794104575545923443462444.html

At Monterey Language Services, we are always searching for interesting tidbits to lift our spirits. Here is one good example. 

Deborah Fallows has a Ph.D. in linguistics.  She decided to immerse herself into Chinese culture by learning Chinese.  In her new book, Dreaming in Chinese:  Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love and Language, Fallows provides intriguing insights into how Chinese think and act as reflected in their language.  We found a delightful interview she had with NPR in which she explains why Chinese talk to each other so bluntly.

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=129552512&m=129556812

The following insights shared by our team members look at the two types of hermeneutics, or art of interpretation, and their role in translation and interpretation market place.

Exegesis is a straightforward, factual explanation.  It assumes that a text contains fixed and invariant meaning. The exegete is a neutral or objective expositor, a transmitter of meaning that is embedded in a text. A creative exegete develops a critical explanation or analysis, expands the original meanings to new applications or expressions, but maintains the objective, determinable meaning inscribed in the interpreted text.

Eisegesis is an explanation with analysis and incorporates one’s own ideas. Eisegesis keeps the reader’s perspective in mind, considering the reading to be neither a neutral nor an objective activity. The individual performing the eisegesis will have to answer critical questions from academic circles, such as the questioning of his assumptions, citations, orientations, presuppositions, blindness, bias, even preferences, interests, and motives.

If this approach faces so much criticism, why is it still one of the main methods in interpretation of texts?  The value of this practice is that it creates a way to look at a text from different angles, transcending what straight word-by-word interpretation would not be able to convey, thus further increasing the complexity of the interpretation.

In the market place, both methods can be applied to various situations in translation and interpretation assignments.  For example, the former suits legal and technical subjects, while the latter is most seen in translation of business and marketing brochures.  An experienced translator or interpreter knows the value, distinction, and roles between the two and is able to interplay at times between them to bring out the best result in communication.

Authors: Mei-Ling Chen, Emily Frye, Lee Eisenberg, Eric Hsiung

Why do we translate Deutschland into Germany
in English?

By Emily Frye

While studying abroad in France my sister and I decided to take a trip to Munich, Germany. While crossing the border by train a policewoman asked what we were doing in Europe.  I said that we were students in France and were visiting a friend in Munich.  She replied in English, “So you are studying in Frenchland.”  Frenchland? We thought she obviously didn’t know English very well.  However, later I realized the policewoman had been quite logical.  After all, Germany in German is Deutschland, so the term Frenchland didn’t sound strange anymore.  But, it did get me thinking…

Why do we translate Deutschland into Germany in English?  A little research unveils that it’s not really a translation, but a consequence of the geopolitical history of the region.  Julius Caesar had borrowed the term “German” from the Gauls. They had used it for the tribes who tried to invade their territory from across the Rhine.  It most likely meant “neighbor” or “men of the forest.” Caesar used the term to coin “Germania,” which simply described the entire region beyond the Rhine and Danube (present day Germany).  This led me to question the origin of many other country “translations”, such as:  Hungary for Magyarország, Croatia for Hrvatska, or Finland for Suomi.

One of the most intriguing however is in the Czech language.  In Czech, Germany is Německo.  The old Slavic tribes called the groups of people that lived by the Rhine River, the Nemetes.  In old Slavic, Nemetes literally means “mute.”  For the Slavic people, the language of the Germanic tribes was incomprehensible, so they appropriately named the region after its “mute” inhabitants.

Source: Schulze, Hagen (1998). Germany: A New History. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, p. 4.