Mottakelse to New York

When using any kind of translation helper – dictionary, Babel Fish or Google Translate – remember that if you don’t know the target language, you should always have a native speaker take a look at the final product. Otherwise, your results might be as flamboyantly incompetent as those in this shop window, which I passed not long ago in midtown Manhattan.   welcome

To attract foreign tourists, the store’s owners have tried to translate “Welcome” into a variety of languages. But in almost every case, they chose something inapt. Here they are, starting at the top left:

Welcome (English):  OK, this is right.

Empfang (German):  Nope. This is “welcome” in the sense of a reception, like “they received a fine welcome,” or the reception area in a hotel. It can’t be used to greet people. That would be Willkommen.

accueil (French):  Nope. This means “reception” or “greeting”. They want bienvenue.

boas-vindas (Portuguese):  Nope. Boas-vindas is a noun used the phrase dar as boas-vindas, “to give a welcome”. But they want bem-vindo.

прием, (priyom) (Russian):  Nope. This is another noun meaning “reception” or “receiving” or sometimes “welcome”, but Russians say dobro pozhalovat’ to welcome people.

yookoso (Japanese):  Yes!  Finally one correct, although store and restaurant owners would probably prefer irashaimase.

歡迎 (huan ying) (Chinese):  Two in a row correct. (And besides Johnson’s own typos, we were wrong in initially writing that the sign mixed traditional and simplified Characters.)

bienvenida (Spanish):  Partial credit. Bienvenida would be appropriate to welcome a single woman. Bienvenido or bienvenidos is more neutral, since the masculine adjectives are also traditionally gender-neutral for mixed groups.

welkom (Dutch):  On a roll, and finally unambigously correct! This is what an actual Dutch person would say.

acceptus (Latin):  Nope. Passing Romans will recognise this as a past participle meaning “accepted” or “welcome”, but this was not used a greeting in Latin.  They might want salve.

καλωσορίζω (kalosorizo) (Greek):  Nope. Johnson’s Greek is paltry, so a friend, Coulter George of the University of Virginia, pitched in: “The problem with καλωσορίζω (apart from orthography – it should be written as two words) is that it would literally mean ‘I arrive well’. The proper form καλώς ορίσατε is a past tense ‘You arrived well!’, or more idiomatically, ‘How nice that you’ve come!’”

мэндчилгээ (mendchilgee) (Mongolian):  Mongolian!  I admire the effort to attract New York’s many Mongolian tourists, but this doesn’t seem to be quite right either, according to online phrasebooks and dictionaries for Mongolian. We must confess, though, that Johnson’s Mongolian is worse than paltry. Any readers who can help, please do.

mottakelse (Norwegian): Nope. Once again, they have found the word for “reception” or “welcome area”, but not the greeting in Norwegian, which is velkommen.

Besides the odd language selection (Mongolian and Latin, but no Italian or Arabic), what’s striking is the common use of the wrong part of speech: a verb phrase here, a noun there. But on a shop sign, “welcome” is not an adjective (“you are a welcome guest”), a noun (“please accept my welcome”) or a verb (“I welcome you”.) it is an interjection. If you’re looking up something you don’t know in a bilingual dictionary, in other words, you improve your chances by at least trying to find the right part of speech.

For this advice, you’re mendchilgee in advance.

  The Economist

Fake Interpreters an Issue in the U.S., Too

south-africa-mandela-interpreterThe world recently turned its attention to the passing of the revolutionary former South African president, Nelson Mandela. Also making headlines was Thamsanqua Jantjie, who was hired to interpret sign language for Mandela’s memorial. Videos have gone viral of Jantjie, standing next to top world officials and leaders, gesturing repeatedly but not conveying any accurate portrayal of sign language. I’ve seen so much outrage from my friends, family and colleagues (with and without disabilities) about this event. This event gives me an opportunity to speak up about the issue of inaccurate and unqualified interpreters here in the United States. Most people do not know that the deaf community struggles on a constant basis to acquire qualified sign language interpreters. People who are not proficient enough in American Sign Language are out in our communities posing as “interpreters.” Entities with responsibilities are not always aware of their requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and may allow an unqualified person to interpret. This leaves businesses and government agencies vulnerable to ADA lawsuits while also leaving a person who is deaf without the ability to communicate. According to the ADA, a qualified interpreter means an interpreter who, via a video remote interpreting service or an on-site appearance, is able to interpret effectively, accurately and impartially, both receptively and expressively, using any necessary specialized vocabulary. Qualified interpreters include, for example, sign language interpreters, oral transliterators and cued-language transliterators. Sign language interpreters are more visible today than ever before. This is because the ADA requires businesses, employers and state entities to remove barriers to communication by providing services such as interpreters, and technologies such as assistive listening devices. Before the ADA, sign language interpreters were not professionals. Friends or family members (whom I call “helpers”) would have to assume the burden of interpreting for their loved ones simply because entities would not pay for the service. This meant that the person who was interpreting was never held accountable if there were inaccuracies in the interpretation of the information being exchanged. Oftentimes, providing an interpreter is the only way to ensure mutual understanding between deaf and hearing individuals. In the eyes of the law, providing an interpreter that is not qualified (either because the person erroneously poses as a professional or is a party partial to the situation) is the same as denying a person their right to equal and effective communication. Here are the official guidelines on sign language interpreters as outlined by the National ADA Network: • Public entities and private businesses cannot require an individual with a disability to bring another individual to interpret for him or her. A public entity or private business shall not rely on an adult accompanying an individual to interpret or facilitate communication, except: • In an emergency involving imminent threat to the safety or welfare of an individual or the public where there is no interpreter available; or • When the individual with a disability specifically requests that the accompanying adult interpret or facilitate communication, the accompanying adult agrees to provide such assistance, and reliance on that adult for assistance is appropriate under the circumstances. • A public accommodation shall not rely on a minor child to interpret or facilitate communication, except in an emergency involving an imminent threat to the safety or welfare of an individual or the public where there is no interpreter available. I hope this unfortunate event is an eye opener to those entities that hire sign language interpreters for the deaf. Entities need to make sure that the person providing the interpreting service has received the proper interpreter training, understands the vocabulary being used in the situation and is impartial. The easiest way to do this is to ask the interpreter or agency that supplies interpreters about their training, education, certifications and experience. Missoulian

Online Education: No Longer Lost In Translation

Amidst live-streamed commencement ceremonies and webcasted graduation speeches, the debate over online education comes up more often than usual. Learning remotely through educational resources associated with top universities – Udacity, Coursera, and edX among the leading providers – has become very popular. Coursera-1-300x173_001 Some students choose to receive their degrees online. For those who live in various parts of the globe – Eastern Europe, the Middle East or Africa – online is the only way to access the teachers from top schools. For non-English learners it can be a challenge, but it seems that they will have more options very soon. Coursera, one of the most popular providers for MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) has recently partnered with eight countries to translate its lectures for students around the world. The company will translate selected courses into many popular languages such as Russian, Portuguese, Turkish, Japanese, Ukrainian, Kazakh, and Arabic. Each Coursera Global Translation Partner will begin by translating 3-5 select courses, with the majority of translated courses being available by September 2013. This month, Coursera announced its Global Partnership with Victor Pinchuk Foundation for translation of its courses. A pilot translation collaboration of Coursera and Digital October took off in Russia earlier this spring. “Many of our students are already taking advantage of user-generated subtitles in our courses, and we believe that having translations will significantly improve the learning experience for non-native English speakers,” Coursera Co-Founder Andrew Ng said in a press release. The Eastern European hunger for knowledge spans everything from Information Technology and Statistical Molecular Thermodynamics to Psychology and Financial Markets. Russia and Ukraine are one of the largest suppliers of non-US–based unique visitors for online course providers like Coursera and Udacity. For instance, since the beginning of this year Coursera received more than 1.1 million users from Russia. Online education raises many questions for Americans: will colleges go online? How do you justify high tuition costs if anyone can study online? Skeptics may even worry about dissolving the exclusivity of the Ivy League schools. “The weights will be different and just how it plays out in different environments,” Larry Summers, the 27th President of Harvard University, commented to Forbes at a panel discussion on the revolutionary nature of online education in Davos. “But fundamentally, more of what is best will reach more people and that will spur the good to be better and will provide more people with more access.” The impact made by technology and innovation is much larger in the countries that traditionally don’t have access to the top schools and up-to-date courses.  Coursera’s new translation partnerships will open up new doors for international students and guarantee there will be a flood of new, non-English speaking users.   Forbes