A study put on by the Common Sense Advisory found that more translation in Africa could improve economic development, human rights, and even save lives. The study titled “The Need for Translation in Africa” surveyed a total of 364 interpreters and translators for African languages in 49 countries. Combined, these people represented 269 different languages.

269 languages is a large amount, but that only accounts for a little more than 10% of the languages on the continent. Major languages are used by millions of people such as Amharic, Berber, Hausa, Igbo, Oromo, Swahili, and Yoruba, however, across the continent there are over 2000 languages. Problems occur because of the 2000 languages, only 63 are used in the judicial system and around 56 are used in public administration.

Some of the data from the study is as follows:

• 97.14% of respondents said greater access to translated information would help individuals in Africa understand their legal rights.
• 95.85% of respondents said greater access to translated information would help protect human rights in Africa.
• 94.92% of respondents said greater access to translated information would have a positive impact on the collective health of people in Africa.
• 94.87% of respondents said greater access to translated information would help Africans in times of emergency or natural disasters.
• 91.96% of respondents said greater access to translated information would help people in Africa contribute to the political process.
• 88.78% of respondents said greater access to translated information would help prevent international, civil, ethnic, or communal conflict in Africa.
• 63.07% of respondents said greater access to translated information could have prevented the loss of life of Africans in their family or circle of friends.

If you are interested in looking into some data collected here is a link to the study: http://www.commonsenseadvisory.com/Portals/0/downloads/Africa.pdf

Picture taken from: http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m8/map1.php
Source: http://kontax.com/Greater_Access_to_Translation_Could_Save_Lives_and_Protect_Human_Rights_in_Africa-341-en.html

Look at an event such as the World Cup. The top 32 teams in the world are all gathered in one country, to play a sport that is adorned by hundreds of millions of people. There are obvious language barriers between the countries involved, and also the host country. Without interpreters, these barriers wouldn’t be able to come down, and the event wouldn’t be nearly as successful.

Another sport that constantly uses interpreters is Major League Baseball. Currently, the majority of the league is Latino based. Often, to avoid misinterpretation, players will hire interpreters whenever they have press conferences to announce anything important, such as a player signing or a player retiring. Another strong presence in the MLB is from Japan.  These players always have interpreters when they first come to the league, for they are still assimilating to the American culture while trying to adjust to playing at the highest professional level of baseball.

A third sport that relies on interpreters heavily is basketball. Next to soccer, the NBA is the most global sport. Many of players have been drafted overseas to come to America so that they can have a chance at playing against the best talent in the world. Also, some players leave America to try to find a job playing basketball in other countries. For both situations, interpreters are needed to break down the language gap for these athletes so they can focus on their job as professional basketball players.

Facebook friends can now translate posts in different languages to their default language.

In this era of social media and instant communication, translation has stepped up to meet the needs for the Facebook generation. Most people have some friends on Facebook who speaks more than one language; personally I see posts in Spanish, Italian, French, and Croatian.

Recently, I have noticed a new feature underneath these posts in languages other than English that says “See Translation.” This is a button to click that will automatically translate the above text to English, or whatever default language you may have. I tried this out with a post in Spanish and the results were subpar. Instead of translating the text as a complete sentence, this feature translated every word individually, which can change the understanding of the post.

If I knew someone was translating my Facebook posts from English into a language of their choice, I think it could be unfortunate for them to take the post out of context because of poor translation. This could cause for a strain on a relationship with someone who is a Facebook friend, but may speak a different language.

The benefits are for those trying to learn and practice their vocabulary with a new language. It can be beneficial to follow a celebrity who posts in Spanish with proper vocabulary and translate their posts into English. Another way it can be positive is that these words that were once unknown can at least be given a general idea of what the post is about. Pau Gasol is one person who writes his posts in English followed by the same post in Spanish in order to avoid confusion.

By Sam Pereira

Arnel Valencia is 39 and a village elder in Porac, Pamanga (in the Philippines) He says that during his time in his first-grade classroom his teacher would tell him, “Stop talking like a bird. You should use English or the national language.” The reason for this is because he chose to speak the language he used at home and in his village, which is just one of the Philippine’s 175 native languages.

There are only 3,000 people that speak Ayta Magindi and they live in the hills northwest of Manila. Because so few people speak the language, and people like Valencia’s teacher prefer students speak in English or Tagalog (the native language of Manila) this language has a chance of dying out.

Ayta Magindi is not the only language that could be lost forever, according to the chief anthropologist at the Philippine National Museum, Artemio Barbosa, up to 50 of the country’s minor languages could be lost within 20 years.

Info: http://www.rappler.com/nation/4537-a-long-fight-begins-to-save-philippine-languages
Picture taken from: http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t66996.html

If you stop on a treadmill when it is running, you fall off. If you stop moving forward in life, there is no difference.

This semester I participated in an internship at Monterey Language Services. My learning expectations when going into the internship were to learn how to respond to opportunities.

After my internship, I exceeded my educational expectations. I learned that being proactive is the best way to be successful. It will allow you to start tasks, complete them and if you do them correctly, you will be set up for more in the future. Also, deadlines and quality are vital.

Monterey Language Services has this desire. A need to produce things on time in the best means possible. This is a good strategy to follow for every product or service developed by a company.

Overall my internship at Monterey Language Services has expanded my horizons much more than an in-text education would bring me. It has focused my attention to finding the opportunity in every problem instead of finding the problem in every opportunity.

I now own a company called Interkonnekt where we do social media marketing. This would never have happened without the help of Monterey Language Services giving me the realization and motivation to take action.

Baby steps, one step at a time in the right direction. That is all it takes. Always moving, never stagnant. That is the key to success.

By Matthew Stone

Professional interpreters are extremely important in order to avoid misunderstandings on the job. Amateurs and machines often cannot get the job done correctly.

People in the translation and interpretation business stress the importance of having a professional on site, no matter what the job is. In an everyday conversation using a bilingual friend or relative may be acceptable; however, trouble arises when that relative is put into stressful settings such as a medical, legal, or business situation.

When a professional interpreter is sent to one of these places, not only do they know how to fluently speak the necessary languages, but they are also trained in the specific field. For example, a professional interpreter that gets dispatched to a hospital will know how to say all of the different medicines and terms in both languages. On top of this, they have the knowledge to make the translation smooth and grammatically correct in order to avoid any confusion.

One thing to avoid when looking for precise translations are automated translation machines on the internet; although these are useful for translating short lines of text, more than a sentence may cause confusion. This leaves you with a poorly constructed block of text that is not fit for homework, business, or even a short conversation.

If you want proof, go to one of these websites and enter a large block of text from a book or magazine in English to a different language. After you have received the translated text, re-enter it and switch the languages to translate from the one you chose back into English.

Notice anything different?

~By Greg Will

Interpreters provide the bridge for language barriers to be crossed.

Fact: In order to interact with any person, one must have proper common ground.

Fact: People need social interaction to fully be a part of society.

Fiction: It is difficult to connect with someone of a different language origin.

Even if you don’t believe these to be true, it is still a fascinating concept to think about. Relating this to the world of interpreting and translating, it is safe to say that the role that interpreters provide in society would be similar to the role a bridge provides. Both connect two separate areas (The bridge connecting land mass, while the interpreter connects two separate languages)

There would be no possible way to consider unifying all languages into one. There is simply too much culture and barriers in the way to do this. Also, this seems drastic and extremely unreasonable. This is where an interpreter comes into play. The interpreter allows whoever may be crossing their bridge (whatever language that may be) to effortlessly be able to access the other side of things, helping find the ultimate goal: understanding.

Due to the varying differences of language, the interpreter’s bridge would have many rises and falls, mixed in with some parts that open up and split apart. However, this bridge would be the most elegant and sturdy that could ever exist. This is due to the fact that this world has been formed and shaped based on the varying languages we as a people have.

Why is it important that a translation service is located in Monterey Bay? Well, some of the finest language institutes are located in Monterey. The Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) and the Defense Language Institute (DLI) are specialized institutions. The DLI also does research in the Language field and provides linguistic and cultural instruction for the Department of Defense. MIIS provides 15 different fields of study within the umbrella of Language studies. Some of these include Social Change, Terrorism Studies, Environment, Business Studies, and Translation.

Along with these schools, California State University at Monterey Bay (CSUMB) has many students graduating with a degree in Japanese or Spanish. CSUMB also provides classes in American Sign Language (ASL) and introduces students to the deaf culture. Many of the students who graduate with these majors have also studied abroad and have been immersed in the culture with which they study. The same kind of culture can be found at MIIS and the DLI.

Monterey Peninsula College (MPC) also provides language classes that include ASL, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish. This concentration of high quality language instruction in the area calls for the inclusion of a high quality translation service.  ~ By Sam Pereira

Monterey Language Services is happy to call this place “home”.

American Sign Language has its own set of cultural norms and its own community. The people that bridge the gap between the deaf community and hearing people are ASL interpreters. These people are highly skilled and trained specifically for this purpose.

One of the most beautiful, smooth, and expressionistic languages in the world completely disregards sounds coming out of your mouth; rather, it features the use of your hands, eyes, mouth shapes, and facial expressions.

What language is this? Sign Language of course! Or more specifically, American Sign Language, commonly referred to as ASL. To give you a little background on ASL, here are some stats:

Here in the United States there are approximately 600,000 deaf individuals, not counting people that classify themselves as hard of hearing. Of the 600,000, many of these people would identify themselves as part of the deaf community which has its own set of cultural norms and practices. Unfortunately, this whole culture and language is ill-known to most hearing people unless they have deaf relatives, friends, or have taken ASL classes during their schooling. This often leads to misunderstandings, false assumptions, and information being lost in translation.

As with all languages, interpretation is necessary when it comes to bridging the gap between hearing people and deaf people. However, being an ASL interpreter takes a lot more than just being bilingual. This means that just because someone can speak English and also fluently sign does not mean they are fit to be an interpreter, in fact, they have a long way to go.

So what’s it take to be an interpreter for ASL? Well, in the near future you will have to at least have a bachelor’s degree. This is because you need a wide variety of vocabulary and general knowledge in order to mix and match the sometimes rough translations from word to sign. After you have prepared yourself with education and experience, you can then take the NIC, or National Interpreter Certification. The NIC has three levels: the normal certification, the advanced certification, and the master certification.

Learning ASL in itself is a commendable and rewarding experience, but taking the extra step to becoming a certified interpreter literally pays off. These jobs range from part time to full time and offer a substantial amount of cash!

Picture taken from: http://www.ods.ohio-state.edu/services/a-s-l-interpreting-services-for-campus-events/

Stats: http://research.gallaudet.edu/Demographics/deaf-US.php

A study done at two pediatric ERs, reported by the Chicago Tribune, found that when families have no access to a professional interpreter, 20 to 22% of translation errors made could have led to potential health risks to the child.

Studies have found that patients like having a translator available, and that it may improve their care and ultimately cut costs — by avoiding unnecessary tests, for example.

There is an estimated 25 million Americans with what is called “limited English proficiency.” Also considering the fact that almost everyone gets sick or ends up in the hospital at least once in their life, this study could help prevent translation slips that would affect nearly 3.5 to 6.5 million Americans.

However, there aren’t always interpreters assigned to medical cases. It is estimated that it would cost the U.S. $268 million per year to offer interpreter services to most medical institutions around the nation.

Also, there was the least amount of errors reported from interpreters that had a minimum 100 hours of medical interpretation training.  Monterey Language Services provides certified, qualified, and professionally trained medical interpreters for LEP patients in the hospital on a daily basis.

Source of information:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-rt-us-medical-erbre83g15s-20120417,0,1800424.story