The New York Times Sunday magazine section has a fascinating article entitled “Does Your Language Shape How You Think?” which discusses recent research on how one’s mother tongue shapes one’s experience of the world.  A must read.

“If I want to tell you in English about a dinner with my neighbor, I may not have to mention the neighbor’s sex, but I do have to tell you something about the timing of the event: I have to decide whether we dined, have been dining, are dining, will be dining and so on. Chinese, on the other hand, does not oblige its speakers to specify the exact time of the action in this way, because the same verb form can be used for past, present or future actions.”

“Languages like Spanish, French, German and Russian not only oblige you to think about the sex of friends and neighbors, but they also assign a male or female gender to a whole range of inanimate objects quite at whim…Why is Russian water a she, and why does she become a he once you have dipped a tea bag into her?”

“The habits of mind that our culture has instilled in us from infancy shape our orientation to the world and our emotional responses to the objects we encounter…”

Reference:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html

Monterey Language Services got huge attention from the most prestigious newspaper in Monterey County, and the most famous translation and interpretation school in the world. 

Check us out.

The Monterey County Herald

In the News [click on the image]   

Monterey Institute of International Studies
http://www.miis.edu/about/newsroom/stories/node/21128
[to view it in PDF, click here]

The Californian
http://www.montereylanguages.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/The_Californian_News_MLS.pdf

Monterey Language Services (MLS), situated in the rolling hills a few miles from the Pacific Ocean in Monterey County, California, is a jewel of Monterey County — artistic, creative, multicultural, and language-oriented in an inspiring environment.

MLS team members are professional, dedicated and passionate about languages and foreign cultures. We are oriented towards finding the best words for the best translations. As individuals, we take pride in being cultural communicators and in promoting international understanding.

Offering translations from every language into English and vice versa, our company plays an important role in cross-border business communication. We provide translation, interpretation, copy-editing, proofreading, website localization, software localization, multimedia transcription, dubbing, subtitling, foreign language desktop publishing, and more.

At MLS, resources abound to work with foreign languages. Our network is global, and yet locally we are within easy reach of the top language experts in the world. The language history of this area is showcased in Steinbeck’s Cannery Row, where immigrants of almost every ethnicity worked. The area has developed into a hub of translation and interpretation education and services. MLS captures the essence of what the Monterey Bay Region offers.

The firm’s website www.montereylanguages.com contains numerous blogs by team members.  Here we recount our experiences working with languages and display a wealth of understanding of how language expresses culture in different parts of the world.

MLS handles all your languages needs professionally. For translation of documents, interpretation for diverse settings or for any other language or culture-related services, email us at info@montereylanguages.com and find out how we can help you:

•    optimize and better formulate your ideas, arguments and concepts
•    enrich your personal or your company’s profile, story or presentation
•    increase your personal or your company’s marketability

By Lee Eisenberg

Going to work in Monterey Language Services (MLS) is not like going to work at most other places.  This company, located in Marina, California, is like a summer retreat.  Each workday, you drive along Imjin Parkway, which then turns into Imjin Road.  The barren but impressive setting is bound to astonish anyone.  Finally, you arrive at MLS, found in a slightly secluded place a few miles from the Pacific Ocean.

The company is located in a one-story building, arranged a bit like a capital pi, and is just the opposite of the archetypal factory.  The windows, scattered throughout each room, give the MLS team a fine view of the landscape.  Although the team works in cubicles, these are not the overstuffed cubicles that often represent workplaces.  There is ample space with modern artwork, a very high ceiling, purple walls, and lots of lights.  It is a very contemporary, soothing setting.

The exterior consists of an atrium.  While eating lunch, one can walk around freely and relax in the sun.  There is a shared conference room, where the company hosts open parties.  There is also a shared kitchen where one can prepare coffee and tea, and microwave lunch.  My experience in translating real estate has prompted me to write about the ambiance and environment.

Working for MLS is an experience like no other.  Above all, MLS team members are left to their own devices when working.  It is wonderful to be able to operate in an environment where one is allowed the opportunity to function freely.  All in all, it is like summer vacation here.  As vacation starts, I would like to share this experience to kick off your cool summer journey, and encourage you to share yours with the world by posting your comments here.

Lee Eisenberg, one of our team members and Russian-to-English translators, shares a wonderful story about how he handles translation between two different cultures using the definition of “real estate” as an example, and how subject knowledge is important for a translator.

The picture of him was taken in St. Petersburg, Russia, standing on the frozen Gulf of Finland.  By walking north, one could theoretically walk all the way to Finland.

Full Story by Lee Eisenberg:

Language is the symbolic representation of culture so to produce a meaningful translation from one language to the next requires domain knowledge about the target culture.

The experience that helped me more than any other to understand the need for domain knowledge was my internship in a Moscow real estate office.  Translating Russian documents into English not only taught me the specific Russian translation to real estate (недвижимость), but also taught me how to think about real estate differently.

The word недвижимость literally translates to “immobility,” because real estate does not move once it is built.  This forces one to ask why real estate is called that in English; what does the concept of “real estate” mean?  So, I did some research and found a definition.  Most languages treat real estate as something physical, while English uses a legal definition.  There are more explanations of the words “real estate” at:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1555/why-is-it-called-real-estate

In conclusion, I would recommend practical translating experience in a specific domain in which one is translating to anyone who is entertaining a career in foreign language translation.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations is officially translated by the French as the Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme.  If we translate this word for word back into English it is The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man.  Just men?  Are our French friends stuck in some male-chauvinist society?

Emily Frye, one of our team members and a translation student at the Monterey Institute of International Studies shares Rama Yade’s revelation of an interesting cultural nuance behind the translation.  This story provides a peek into the rich culture of the French language, revealing that being “French” is much more than long lunches, great wine and socialist medicine.

Full Article by Emily Frye

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations is officially translated by the French as the Déclaration universelle des droits de l’homme.  If we translate this word for word back into English it is The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man.  Just men?  What happened to the French Feminist movement of the 1970s?  Are our French friends stuck in some male-chauvinist society?

The answer is, most certainly not.  Any French person would agree that the “rights of man” undeniably includes women.  So why have the French kept this outwardly politically-incorrect term?  We find a possible answer deep in France’s cultural history.

Rama Yade, in her book on the subject, points to the term’s historical importance in regard to the French Revolution and its connection to the ideals fought for at that time.  These ideals would be at risk of slipping away if the term was changed.

This discussion brings to light that the interesting nuances of a culture can be revealed through its language.  And a deeper look at the French language will certainly reveal that being “French” is much more than long lunches, great wine and socialist medicine.

Reference: Yade, Rama. Les droits de l’homme expliqués aux enfants de 7 à 77 ans. Seuil 23 October 2008

There is nothing more frustrating for the linguistically-challenged than watching a film without subtitles.  At the same time, there is really nothing quite like hearing actors speak their parts in one’s native language.

But one organization has come up a creative solution.

Mozilla is sponsoring a new program, Universal Subtitles, which makes it easy for anyone, anyplace to create and view subtitles and request translations of videos:

http://www.mozilla.org/causes/subtitles/?utm_source=gsnippet&utm_content=subtitle&utm_campaign=s010410

Recognizing the power of film in fostering global community and intercultural communication, we wholeheartedly endorse this initiative.

This picture posted by one of our fans on Facebook caught our eye. The Chinese characters were displayed vertically, the way they traditionally are in Chinese.

Is this a big deal? Indeed.

Our Director of Translation, Mei-Ling Chen, once made a presentation on how to handle a translation project from English to Chinese involving marketing a product to Chinese people. The all-American audience seemed uninterested until she casually mentioned that Chinese characters can be displayed vertically. All of the sudden, everyone’s ears perked up. The entire floor turned attentive…

The story reminds us once again of the need to take cultural elements into account as part of the translation process. More than just words, translation brings worlds and peoples together.  Thanks to our fans for sharing the culturally revealing picture.