At Monterey Language Services, we do not only provide interpretation services, but also interpretation AV equipment to facilitate understanding. We regularly provide transmitters, receivers, headset microphones, and headsets for simultaneous interpretation events. Transmitters and headset microphones are for the interpreters, and the receivers and headsets are for your visitors. Within seconds, the equipment can be set up and adjusted to your visitor’s comfort.

By using our equipment, the speakers do not need to pause for the interpreters to catch up— instead, they can keep speaking. Simultaneously, the interpreters relay the information to your visitors in their native language. This way, your visitors wearing the receivers and headsets can receive information via the interpreter. At the same time, the audience of the main language does not hear the interpretation and can better focus without any distractions. As a result, the communication at your event will be more effective, and the speech and/or conversations will proceed smoothly and seamlessly.

When we receive a request for interpretation at an event, we gather all relevant information for the event: date, location, language, number of attendees, anticipated length, subject matter that are required for the work.

For smaller events, we provide receivers and headsets for the audience, where the interpreters are able to follow the audience and keep mobility from one location to another. For larger events, we use Interpreter Consoles, where the interpreter stays in a booth to relay information to a larger number of event-goers who speak different languages. We also use a hybrid mix of portable equipment with fixed stations. Please feel welcome to email us to find out more at info@montereylanguages.com

Just as we provide the most suitable interpretation equipment to fit different situations, we ensure to assign interpreters who are experts in the field of your event. For effective interpretation, especially simultaneous interpretation events, multiple interpreters are often needed and we send only those who are knowledgeable in the subject matter. For example, conference interpreters usually specialize in a particular subject, whether it is IT, Business, International Tech Reseller meetings, Product Training, Marketing, or Finance, etc.

We’ve provided services for top tech companies with our portable equipment including for visitors from Latin America and Asia. We’ve provided for large marketing and conference events with interpretation console equipment. Our methodology works. Our easy-to-use and effective equipment, knowledgeable interpreters, and detailed planning rise high to each and every occasion. We owe it to our clients to provide the very best, after all.

Here is some food for thought: The following are some health tips from a small Chinese article found on the internet, which shares a few Chinese principles on how to live a healthy life.

Monterey Language Services has translated and summarized parts of it and hopes that this can become a thought-provoking little tidbit for everyone as we reflect on how to stay healthy, especially during the holiday season.

Chew Carefully

Diabetes is a systemic metabolic disorder. One main cause is a pancreas that’s working too hard. One way to avoid overworking your pancreas is to reduce the burden on it by chewing your food slowly!

The “One Less, Three More” Rule

One Less: Less eating
Three More: More rest, More water, More sweat

Sweat Is Your Friend

Sweat can be a powerful ally because when your body is sweating, it helps protect you from all kinds of diseases!

Eat Until You Are Only Half Full

The more you eat, the more oxygen your body uses up. This creates a lack of oxygen in the cells, leading to more pressure on your heart and thus, higher blood pressure. So, eating until you’re only half-full is actually a good idea, since your body will use less oxygen. When your body signals hunger, it’s the best time for it to detoxify and increase the functioning of your immune system.

An empty stomach and a warm, sweating body are an effective way to stimulate your body’s metabolism, to cleanse/detoxify the blood and to activate the regeneration of cells! When your digestive system is in action, it slows down your body’s natural method of detoxifying itself.

Oxygen Is a Panacea

Oxygen is a panacea that helps the body cure diseases. It strengthens the body’s immune system and the ability of the glands responsible for regulating it. It also controls the ability of cancer patients to fight the disease!
Chinese article source: https://www.fun01.cc/post/489843/

Monterey Language Services strives to provide the highest quality of translation and interpretation services. Please feel free to request a quote from us.

While calling a translation company and requesting a quote might seem to be the next logical step, it is useful to consider the benefits of transcreation when it comes to creative content, such as marketing materials.

First, let’s look at what transcreation is.

Although the term entered the professional jargon of marketing and language experts some time ago, its precise definition remains evasive.

In fact, a myriad of other terms are often used interchangeably depending on the context, such as “cultural adaptation,” “marketing translation,” “internationalization,” “multilingual copywriting,” or “free-style translation.”

According to Wikipedia, transcreation is the process of adapting a message from one language to another, while maintaining its style, tone, context, and, most importantly, intent.

In the simplest terms, transcreation means creative translation. It involves taking the message, stripping down the words, and recreating its essence often using different words while preserving the creative and emotional intent of the original.

You might ask how transcreation differs from traditional translation.

The key difference is the desired outcome.

A professional translator strives to be accurate and faithful to the original, as well as stylistically and grammatically correct. This is the gold standard for translation.

Yet, when it comes to advertising content, even the best translation might not elicit the intended reaction in your new audience because of cultural differences.

Below are some examples of why transcreation matters.

• The Scandinavian vacuum maker Electrolux launched its U.S. marketing campaign with the tagline translated into English as “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”  The Swedish company belatedly realized that, instead of highlighting the vacuum’s high power, the tagline turned off shoppers and damaged its brand in the U.S.
• The German sportswear retailer Puma had to promptly withdraw a limited line of shoes produced in the colors of the United Arab Emirates’ flag after receiving negative feedback from Emiratis who believed the product trivialized their flag. The negative reaction was intensified by the fact that, in many Arab cultures, the shoe is considered dirty as it touches both the ground and the foot.
• When Intel decided to bring its successful “Intel: Sponsors of Tomorrow” campaign to Brazilian markets, it had to change the message in Portuguese to “Intel: In love with the future.” This was done after research showed that “Sponsors of Tomorrow”, rendered in Portuguese, implied that Intel did not fulfill its promises promptly.(Samples were summarized from the sources: Wikipedia and Business News Daily.)

Transcreation helps avoid some of the pitfalls related to word usage, cultural context, and global vs. local marketing that come up in the process of cross-cultural advertising.

A professional transcreation expert is creative, culturally sensitive, and marketing-aware. He cares about preserving the “feel” of the original content and strives to evoke the same sensations using culturally appropriate linguistic means.

Therefore, when contacting a translation company about translating your marketing content, we hope you inquire about transcreation. It may prove a worthwhile investment as it helps to make your product more competitive internationally and allows you to reach your sales goals more quickly.

Monterey Language Services strives to provide the highest quality of translation and interpretation services. Please feel free to request a quote from us.

Through accurate and clear translation of corporate communication materials, customers and employees can gain a better understanding of the corporate message and guidelines and can thus better contribute to the greater success of the corporation.

Global companies working with Monterey Language Services are growing stronger because they have chosen a translation and interpretation company that gives individualized attention to each translation project entrusted to them.

Our company stands firmly by what we believe in and provides the following to our global corporate customers.

Specialty: Translation and interpretation that require high level of expertise

Domains: Medical, legal, technical, and business subjects

Approach: Clear, accurate, and complete translation and interpretation

Value: Professional, efficient, and high quality services

Languages provided: Over 175 languages (including Arabic, Japanese, Hebrew, Malay, German, French, Indonesian, Danish, Finnish, Hungarian, Korean, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Italian, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Hindi Norwegian, Polish, Russian and more)

Monterey Language Services strives to provide the highest quality of translation and interpretation services. Please feel free to contact us for a quote.

In this blog post we interviewed one of our Arabic colleagues, Laith Ibrahim.  

Monterey Language Services (referred to as “M”): Thank you for participating in this interview. Can you briefly introduce Arabic to us?

Laith (referred to as “L”): Arabic is one of the Middle Eastern languages, which also include Dari, Urdu, Farsi, Pashto and Kurdish. These languages all use Arabic letters but depending on the language, each one may have additional letters or extra sounds. I am originally from Iraq. Before settling in the U.S. I have worked in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, where I used a mix of standard Arabic and the local and Iraqi dialect.

M: I’ve heard that in Arabic the term “lion” can have hundreds of names. That sounds very interesting? How is it possible?

L: There are in fact at least 500 names for the word “lion.” The word “sword” is another example. It has around 300 different names that are given based on the characteristics of the sword like shape, size, thickness, weight, etc. 

M: Can you share more differences between Arabic and English?

L: There are many differences, for instance:

• Arabic is written from right to left and in cursive format, with no distinctions between upper and lower case. Arabic has 28 letters and each has up to 4 shapes depending on its location: the beginning, middle, or end of the word. The shape of a letter is also affected by the predecessor and successor.

• Arabic has no vowel letters. Instead, it uses small characters that are written above or below the letter to change the sound of the letter. These are called diacritics (in Arabic, “Harakat”) indicate sounds not represented by the basic alphabet. Arabic text is usually written without them unless a word can be read in a different way if they are not used.

• Arabic has letters that produce sounds that don’t exist in English. Also, the sound for P, CH, V, X don’t exist in Arabic.

• Most words have one form and are written in one way. For example, my name “ليث” has only one way of writing it in Arabic. In English it can be written as “Laith” or “Layth.”

M: Thank you for sharing! One last question, what does your name “Laith” mean in Arabic?

L: (Laughs) “Laith” is actually “lion” in Arabic. It’s a bold, strong lion.

A Passion for Languages

Born and raised in California, David showed a great interest in language learning since young age.  While studying Spanish literature and culture in San Jose State, he has spent time abroad in Madrid, Spain. In his junior year in college, he picked up Mandarin as a minor and went to Beijing University to sharpen his Chinese. These life experiences have given him different perspectives on international issues, which eventually led him to study policy with the focus in trade between the United States and China. David mentioned that “being able to speak another language not only introduces me to a new culture, but also teaches me how people think and behave in that specific culture.” He also joked about how being able to speak both Spanish and Mandarin allowed to “survive” in Spain, Mexico, and China during many unexpected situations.

David feels very fortunate to possess multiple language skills in both academic and professional fields. His academic specialty in trade inevitably requires him to gather both countries’ situations and argument in order to draft a strong analysis. As a result, his ability to read research journals and articles in Chinese has benefited him greatly. David mentioned that a paper can never be “well-rounded” unless both sides of the arguments have been touched upon. In the professional area, David’s academic experience and language skills have helped him land an internship with the U.S. Department of Commerce in Shanghai, and he will continue the internship in San Jose this coming semester.

Benefits of Leaning a Foreign Language

There are many benefits to learning a foreign language. Potential career paths not only include translation and interpretation, but countless others in business and in policy, like David’s. In addition, learning a foreign language can lead to a magnificent journey in a foreign country, the ability to watch foreign movies without the aid of subtitles, and the opportunity to make friends all over the world.

A Real Life Example

The book “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down,” written by Anne Fadiman, describes the cultural and medical misunderstandings that occurred between a Hmong refugee family and the American healthcare system.  Lia suffered severe epilepsy, which causes frequent seizures. Hmong people believe that seizures happen because a spirit catches the person, whereas American doctors identified the imbalance of chemicals as the cause of seizures. Without any medical interpreters, the family could only rely on the help of relatives for informal interpretation. While American doctors prescribed appropriate medicine for Lia, the family never gave Lia the right dosage because they did not understand the doctors’ instructions. Moreover, the Hmong community felt skeptical of modern medicine. As the cultural misunderstanding and confusion continued, Lia’s condition worsened.

Lessons Learned

Imagine how differently Lia’s life would turn out if a qualified medical interpreter was in place. Language skills are the basic expertise a medical interpreter should possess, but a professional interpreter should also have a rich understanding of both cultures. In addition, the interpreter should be respectful and sensible towards cultural behaviors, which can easily lead to misunderstanding between the medical providers and the families. When such occasion rises, the interpreter should react quickly and notify each party (usually with: “interpreter explanation”) and then explain the behavior as a result of cultural practices. For instance, doctors may not able to understand why family member cannot make important decisions on the spot. The interpreter should explain to the doctors that in some cultures, family members need to get together in order to make important decisions.

In the complex environment of healthcare settings, medical interpreters should be not only the communicator of different parties but also the bridge of different cultures.

Monterey Language Services strives to provide the highest quality of translation and interpretation services. Please feel free to contact us for more information.

What the word “quality” means to one person can mean something else to another. Why do people have vastly different measurements for quality? 

Some people strive to attain and maintain high quality; meanwhile, others only give medium or low quality. I, myself, shoot for high quality. I once had a history professor who told me, “your writing doesn’t always have the quantity I expect, but it always has the quality I want.” Therefore, I always got an A.

Today, we must perform at high standards and do high quality work to compete in our global society. Unfortunately, people often tend to turn in work with low or medium quality.

How can we bring the focus back to high quality? First, people need to slow down, put time and effort into their project or assignment, give their best, and be proud of their work. Also, I believe another aspect to this issue is that many bosses or professors don’t give enough praise for a job well done. Not only does praise make an employee feel good about their performance, but it also gives them a better indicator of what the boss really wants. Without praise, people tend to just put in the least amount of effort to get the job done.

Quality can be achieved through practice, pride in your work, and reward for your work. Each person has the ability to give a 100%, yet some try to slide through life giving 50% or less. In today’s global business world, we need to set our standards high. We need to compete and achieve high quality work by giving 100% on each and every project or assignment. The competition is high; therefore, we need to set ourselves apart from the rest. Next time your project is due, give it a second or third revision. This way you can raise your quality level and succeed. Good luck.

This think quality story brought to you by our friend Melissa P. Coyne.

The Illinois-based Dalkey Archive Press has been publishing international literature in English for 25 years and says the lack of literature in translation is a cultural crisis that is growing worse. This company only publishes three novellas a year, all less than 200 pages, by famous European authors who are barely known outside of their countries.

Some of these novels have received the highest honor in their country just to get translated into English, and most rarely make it that far. Danish poet and author Pia Juul said it was “a miracle” when her award-winning novel was published into English because “hardly any Danish authors are.” Because of this “cultural crisis,” there are many books that English-readers miss out on because there is no reliable market for books from another language.

Info from: http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2012/07/books-translation

First picture from: http://bokstugan.blogspot.com/2010/09/mordet-pa-halland-av-pia-juul.html

Second picture from: http://andrewblackman.net/2012/06/the-murder-of-halland-by-pia-juul/

Antonina W. Bouis is one of the best in this business, a renowned translator of around 50 books from Russian into English. She says many readers don’t fully appreciate the art of translation; “When you translate a book, you basically “write” a book. Of course, there’s an outline you’re supposed to stick to – to be forced to remain within the confines of the given project. Also, every author has to sound different; they can’t all sound like Boius.”

So which books on your bookshelf have been translated from another language into English and vice versa?

Some examples are the epic-fantasy novels in which the popular Game of Thrones TV series was inspired by; A Song of Ice and Fire, which have been published into over 20 languages, including Japanese, German and Swedish.

Article: http://rbth.ru/articles/2012/07/23/telling_russian_stories_in_english_16573.html