An Example

Imagine an elderly woman being brought to a hospital, accompanied by her grandson. The family has only recently moved to the USA from Oaxaca Mexico, but the elderly woman’s first language is Triqui Bajo, an indigenous Oaxacan language. While her grandson understands his grandmother’s speech and can communicate with her, his native language is Spanish.

If an Triqui Bajo interpreter were not provided, the woman would have to speak to her grandson in Triqui Bajo about the pain in her stomach, the grandson relaying her words to the best of his ability in Spanish to the interpreter or hospital staff. Like the children’s version of the “telephone game,” there’s a high chance that some, if not much, information will be lost. As the grandson was not well versed in Triqui Bajo, he may be missing critical vocabulary, such as anything from “fracture” to “pneumonia,” “hernia,” and beyond.

What this Means

This lack of a matching language pair can inhibit the service that a client receives. In severe cases in a medical setting, this can be a matter of life and death. This case study highlights the importance of translators and especially interpreters who are fluent in minority languages. It’s critical to find people with knowledge of these languages. If due to the last minute nature, an in-person interpreter is not available, remote interpretation methods should kick in.

Imagine that they were able to get an interpreter for Triqui Bajo and English; this would allow for a direct flow of communication between the elderly woman and the hospital staff. Response time for treatment would subsequently be quicker, and the woman might therefore feel more comfortable and confident that she is receiving adequate care. While the grandson might need his own English/Spanish interpreter to understand fully the treatment decisions, that could easily be delegated to another interpreter and not require a stretched out “telephone game” where meaning can be lost.

Monterey Language Services provides translation and interpretation services for all languages and is very strong in providing Triqui Bajo interpretation Services. Every day, we send Triqui Bajo interpreters to cover medical interpretation assignments or IEP (Individualized Education Program) assignments. There have been some high profile Triqui Bajo legal interpretation cases served by Monterey Language Services as well.

1. Aren’t translators and interpreters the same?

This is a very, very common misconception. Outside of the language service provider sphere, “translator” and “interpreter” can be used interchangeably in most discussions. Such as: “We’ll need a translator at the board meeting” versus “We’ll need an interpreter at the board meeting.”

But just what is the difference between those terms? Simply enough, both “translator” and “interpreter” refer to someone who conveys information from one language to another; more specifically, a “translator” works with written words, while an “interpreter” works with spoken words. Some people are only translators, some are only interpreters, and others are both.

2. Can’t any bilingual person be a translator/interpreter?

A very common misconception (in the workplace especially) is “Billy is bilingual, so he can handle this project and translate/interpret for us.” Just because a person is bilingual (or trilingual or more, even), does not mean that they have the training required to be a proper translator or interpreter.

Imagine that “Billy” speaks Spanish at home, but grew up going to school where the primary language of instruction was English. While there’s a chance he can talk about any subject at home with his family members, a likely scenario is that he will know more about biology in English terms rather than Spanish terms. Unless the conversation were very simple, such as general conversation for travel or something similar, it would be very difficult for Billy to translate or interpret something.

Translators and interpreters go through rigorous training for their respective crafts, and have expanded their vocabularies enough to compensate. Proper translators and interpreters have high-level certifications as well.

3. I know a translator/interpreter who did Assignment X, why can’t they do Assignment Y?

In the language services industry, some translators and interpreters can fall under the category of “subject matter experts.” These people have trained to not just be general translators or interpreters, but have polished their skills to cater to certain types of work.

Take “Billy” from above, for example. Imagine he’s become passionate for being an interpreter, and his other interest in biology spurs him to an interest in medical interpretation. After enough study, focus, and—of course—certification, he becomes a proper medical interpreter and specializes in speaking between doctors and patients about surgeries. He might be able to do general interpretation as well, but because of his deep specialty, he might have trouble if he suddenly needed to interpret for, say, a lawyer discussing a lawsuit.

Just like how doctors and lawyers require separate studies, medical interpreters and legal interpreters also require focused study in their area of expertise. They may have skills that overlap, but generally, it’s best to rely on separate translators/interpreters who are subject matter experts rather than the same one for every single job.

4. Wouldn’t machine translation work well enough?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Machine translation can certainly help a translator do their work. Computer-assisted translation tools (called CAT tools in the industry) can keep a handy glossary of terms for the translator, and have the memory to provide reference for older, similar translations.

But if we rely only on machine translation, any number of problems can happen. Machines think very differently than humans and might misinterpret context, homonyms, word register, and so on. Computers may be able to perform complex mathematical calculations, but the human brain is hardwired for language. Put simply, a translation from a human is going to sound a lot more natural—and have fewer mistakes—than a simple machine translation.

5. Why does a translation need proofreading? Shouldn’t the translator be enough for that?

Speaking of “mistakes,” mistakes happen. To err is human, after all. Translators need proofreaders for the same reason that a journalist, book writer, or a lawyer needs one. Mistakes concerning facts, grammar, spelling, etc. can easily be made by any sort of writer, and the same goes for a translator.

Having a second pair of eyes does wonders for any written work. A proofreader for a translation can catch errors in spelling, word register, a forgotten period or comma—anything that might have slipped through the cracks. If you want a translation to be as polished as possible, having a proofreader is essential.

For example, even within English, there are regional differences that can sometimes prevent fellow English speakers from having the same understanding of even simple conversations. Winter can get cold, and when that happens, people in the United States (US) might want to buy a sweater. However, in the United Kingdom (UK), if you asked for a sweater, you might be met with some confusion. Sweater is not the common word that people in the UK would use. Instead, they would use the word “jumper.” Conversely, if you asked for a “jumper” in the US, you would be met with a lot of confusion because the word “jumper” is typically reserved for people who do such activities as jumping.

Moreover, word for word conversion is the number one killer in rendering translation and interpretation. Often times, target audiences have no idea of what a translation is trying to say is because of that. For example, we often have to adjust English to Chinese translations done by other people, and to make the focus of each point clear and to be sure it’s easy to read and understand. The issue is that the original translation was literally written in a way that followed English words and grammar too closely. Unfortunately, Chinese grammar is not the same as English grammar. Therefore, ideas/points were not communicated easily and clearly for Chinese readers.

Another tough aspect to deal with is related to cultures. Many translators or interpreters struggle to find a perfect fit to certain idioms or phrases that might be frequently used in one country, but not in another. For example, in Japan, every time they eat, they have a small ritual of expressing gratitude for the food both before and after eating the food. In most other cultures, there is no such ritual, so it is hard to perfectly translate it. In general, there are many phrases in Japanese to show respect that would not translate easily into other languages without the same kind of rituals. Instead, translators and interpreters will have to skirt around and find similar phrases or words that will be “good enough” to convey the meaning.

Culture is a big part of what makes languages end up having such a big gap in phrases and words, and because of that, a one to one translation is virtually impossible for languages. There will almost always be at least some tiny nuance that is lost in translation. Even so, translators and interpreters do their best to minimize these bumps in the road. Translators and interpreters ensure that even if nuances are lost, an understanding is still able to be passed on, which in our opinion is the essence of translation and interpretation.

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.

At a conference, an English-speaker stands at the front of a table giving a speech in a normal presentation voice.  There are two interpreters seated near the speaker at the front on opposite sides of the table.  Each interpreter wearing a transmitter listens to what the speaker says and verbally translates it into Spanish and French in a softer volume, so as not to interfere with the speaker or each other.  Through the receivers the participants seated around the table hear the interpretation very clearly in their own languages, no matter how far away from the speaker they are seated.  The conference goes off without a hitch.

What is magic is that there are two languages being spoken, but people only hear their own languages.  If you do not wear a receiver, you will hear the dominant voice and the two softer voices in the background.  The interpreters, however, ingeniously stay focused and manage to perform two complex tasks at once.  It is an almost mystifying process.  Just as in Robert Altman’s movies there are many conversations going on at once but it is still clear what the focus is, the focus is very defined in this situation.

Unlike consecutive, which is a stop-and-go process, simultaneous interpretation happens concurrently with the speaker, which saves time.  All the while, the brain has to perform two processes at once: listening to the speaker, and then converting the speech into another language and speaking it at the same time.  Practically everyone can drive a car, but not everyone can simultaneously interpret a language, which requires training.

Simultaneous interpretation is the preferable form for conferences.  Interpreters have to go through training to acquire their skills.  Technology and interpretation equipment are also employed to assist in the process.  Interpreters work in pairs and take a break after a certain amount of time due to the concentration required.  In the process, interpreters might also have to interpret a speaker’s tone and emotions and convey the speaker’s personal style.  In that sense, interpretation is almost like a performance.  In the end, because of the thrill and excitement, an interpreter can feel like a singer does after the curtain call.