Quantcast
Channel: Transliteria Polish Translations
Viewing all 75 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

Legal translation: differences in common and civil law related to judicial decisions

September 12, 2012, 12:27 am
$
0
0

Legal translation is one of the most difficult areas to specialize in. Translators need to overcome not only linguistic differences but also discrepancies in the legal systems, namely common law and civil law (e.g. in the case of English – Polish translations). The main incongruity between common and civil law, which directly influences for example the judiciary and their decisions, exists on the level of legislation, i.e. the sources of law.

The continental civil law system, which has its origins in Roman Law, is a strictly codified law, thus it derives its authority from codes and statutes (Alcaraz and Hughes 2002:48). The judiciary then plays a role solely of applying the law while common law judges may state the law. This “authoritative source by virtue of the rule of precedent which obliges judges to observe the decisions made by their colleagues of higher courts” (Šarčevič 1997:12) is called case law. As stressed by Griffith (1997:5): “The common law is made as judges decide cases and state the principles on which they are basing their decisions, this accumulation of principles building into a body of law”.

Both the legislator and the judge are lawmakers. Nevertheless, the legislative (statutory) law-making is basically different from judicial law-making, and the statutory form of regulation prevails (Cappelletti 1989:54). Judicial decisions will never be of the same legal force as statutes. The basic rule which governs the case law is that judicial decision making is determined mostly by previous judgments (precedence) made by other judges (Gibbons 2003:6). Such practice though, is inconceivable in the civil law system, where judicial decisions appear “as standard and almost mechanical ‘applications’ of the law” (Cappelletti 1989:53). There seems to be no place for any flexible interpretation, nor for creativity, which by contrast can be observed in the common law jurisprudence; in case of doubt the judges decide how to interpret the statute and as a result, they define its meaning. Such authority, together with their creative function, make the judges’ work of considerable importance, since whenever the question of law arises, their decision will determine the subsequent cases (Griffith 1997:6). The functions of English judges were defined by Philips (2003:52), who, apart from the role of interpreting the law, recognized the function of declaring thelaw, which is the same as the creative function mentioned by Griffith, and of applying the law, i.e. fitting it to the particular situation.

Bibliography


 Alcaraz, Enrique; Hughes, Brian. Legal Translation Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome

 Publishing, 2002.

Cappelletti, Mauro. The Judicial Process in Comparative Perspective. Oxford: Clarendon

Press, 1989.

Gibbons, John. Forensic Linguistics: An Introduction to Language in the Justice System.

Blackwell Publishing, 2003.

Griffith, J.A.G. The Politics of a Judiciary. London: Fontana Press, 1997.

Philips, Alfred. Lawyers’ Language. New York: Routledge, 2003.

Šarčevič, Susan. New Approach to Legal Translation. The Hague: Kluwer Law International,  

1997.

 

 
↧
Search

Translator as the "law-maker"?

September 24, 2012, 2:26 pm
$
0
0

 

     Before you dive into the post, I suggest you browse through the previous one (“Legaltranslation: differences in common and civil law related to judicial decisions”) as both are strongly related.

In relation to the arguments in the previous post, it can be claimed that judges are law-makers, since the judgments they issue are authoritative legal texts. Likewise, as Šarčevič (cf. 1994:301) argues in the context of multilingual law, the translated text shows no inferiority towards the original, hence both the source and the target texts are often referred to as authoritative, i.e. they have the same legal effect. At this point a question arises: if judges, as the original text producers, are called law-makers, can translators be considered law-makers as well, since they produce a text of the same legal effect, though in the target language?

However disappointing it may sound for the translators, the answer is simply negative; the text production by the judge differs considerably from the one of the translator, and the difference lies in the process of interpretation. Alcaraz and Hughes (2002:24) provide a clear explanation of this issue:

For the translator, the purpose of interpretation is to decide on the closest possible linguistic equivalent in the target language, while for the judge it is to match up the resulting propositions against the definitions established in existing law. The difference, of course, is that the translator’s work is over once the semantic hurdle has been negotiated, whereas the judge must go on to apply the results of the linguistic analysis and announce a decision in accordance with the rules and principles of law.

 

Bibliography



 Alcaraz, Enrique; Hughes, Brian. Legal Translation Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome

 Publishing, 2002.

Šarčevič, Susan. New Approach to Legal Translation. The Hague: Kluwer Law International,  

1997.

 
↧
↧

Jak uzyskać brytyjski paszport dla dziecka?

October 5, 2012, 2:38 am
$
0
0

Z założenia dzieci urodzone w Wielkiej Brytanii, których rodzice są Polakami, mają polskie obywatelstwo i przysługuje im polski paszport. Aczkolwiek, zamiast wycieczki do ambasady w Londynie i długiego oczekiwania na dokument, można wybrać znacznie łatwiejszą i szybszą (!) opcję składając wniosek o paszport brytyjski.

Czy jest to możliwe?

Tak, pomimo iż oboje rodziców dziecka nie są brytyjczykami, to ich pociecha może stać się obywatelem Wielkiej Brytanii. Na stronie Home Office czytamy, że dziecko może uzyskać brytyjski paszport tylko jeśli przynajmniej jedno z rodziców posiada obywatelstwo brytyjskie lub gdy rodzice są „settled” w UK. Cały sekret polega na interpretacji tegoż właśnie terminu, albowiem pracownicy infolinii „Passport Advice” wyjaśniają, iż chodzi tu o proces naturalizacji czyli nadania obywatelstwa przez państwo. W praktyce zaś, „settled” to nic innego jak warunek przebywania i przepracowania w UK ponad 5 lat. Wielu z nas spełnia ten warunek.


Co należy zrobić, żeby uzyskać paszport?

Po pierwsze, należy zdobyć i wypełnić wniosek, który można dostać w każdej poczcie. Istnieje również możliwość wypełnienia wniosku online. Do formularza musimy załączyć pełny akt urodzenia dziecka (odpis nie wystarczy), dwa zdjęcia (istnieją pewne wymogi dotyczące zdjęć, w przypadku noworodków mogą być zrobione w domu, ale twarz dziecka nie może być niczym zasłonięta, maluch powinien (choć nie musi) mieć oczy otwarte, tło powinno być jasne (szare lub beżowe). Dodatkowo, jedna z fotografii musi zostać poświadczona przez obywatela Wielkiej Brytanii, który zna jednego z rodziców dziecka przez conajmniej 2 lata. Osoba ta również musi spełniać pewne kryteria, a mianowicie winna mieć określony zawód cieszący się zaufaniem publicznym, np. prawnik, policjant, lekarz, nauczyciel itd. Pełna lista znajduje się na stronie www.direct.gov oraz w broszurce załączonej do wniosku. Poświadczenie zdjęcia polega na napisaniu przez tę osobę zdania o następującej treści: „I certify that this is a true likeness of [imię i nazwisko dziecka]” , podpisania zdjęcia i napisania daty.

Teraz czas na dokumenty potwierdzające, że przynajmniej jedno z rodziców przebywało i pracowało w Wielkiej Brytanii przez ponad 5 lat. W tym celu należy przedłożyć P60 z tego okresu.

Koszty

Wyrobienie paszportu standardowym trybem kosztuje £46,00, zaś w trybie przyspieszonym Fast Track (z założenia jeden tydzień zamiast dwóch, w praktyce tylko trzy dni!) to inwestycja rzędu £87,00. Warto nadmienić, iż w przypadku trybu standardowego, wniosek wysyłamy pocztą, wybierając zaś Fast Track musimy złożyć dokumenty osobiście w jednym z urzędów paszportowych (osoby mieszkające w Bournemouth i okolicach kierowane są do Newport w Walii).

Skoro jesteśmy przy kosztach, warto wspomnieć dodatkową usługę zwaną „Check & Send”, dzięki której nasze dokumenty i wniosek zostaną sprawdzone na poczcie, czy wszystko jest poprawnie wypełnione oraz czy niczego nie brakuje. Ponadto, wykupując tę usługę, możemy mieć pewność, że nasz wniosek zostanie wysłany specjalną bezpieczną przesyłką a także będzie szybciej rozpatrzony. Check & Send to dodatkowe £8,75, które, ze względu na korzyści jakie niesie usługa, warto wydać.

Czy warto?

Jeżeli chodzi o kwestie formalne, to wyrobienie brytyjskiego paszportu wydaje się znacznie łatwiejsze i szybsze niż w przypadku paszportu polskiego, głównie dlatego, że nie musimy jechać do Londynu,a tylko udać się do lokalnej poczty. Oba dokumenty są ważne 5 lat (do niedawna polski paszport była ważny tylko rok, od sierpnia zaś weszła nowa ustawa przedłużająca okres ważności dokumentu do lat 5-ciu). Pozostaje jedynie kwestia natury etycznej/ patriotycznej, a mianowicie, czy rodzice chcą, żeby ich dziecko było obywatelem Polski czy Wielkiej Brytanii.

 
↧

How to translate a divorce petition? Basic terminology of divorce proceedings in translation.

October 19, 2012, 2:12 am
$
0
0

English legal terminology differs across each type of the area of law. Therefore, we may find diverse terms for the same notion e.g. in tort law and in family law. Equally, each area of law has its characteristic phrases and collocations. In this post, I will examine some of the terms, phrases and collocations used in divorce proceedings.

The Parties

In English law, the party who files a divorce petition is called a petitioner- in Polish rendered as powód (female: powódka). It is worth noting that Polish powódis also used in other civil cases and means claimant. Hence, while in English the term petitioner is reserved only for cases that involve filing a petition e.g. divorce or bankruptcy, its Polish translation is applied across all civil cases. Similarly, Polish pozwany (female: pozwana) refers to a defending party in all civil court cases, while its equivalent – respondent is used only in cases involving petition and in appeals.

The Marriage

It goes without saying that in order to get a divorce, a couple needs to be married. Undoubtedly, the marriage must be legal, and the collocation used in English law islawfully married to... which should be translated as zawarł(a) związek malżeński z...  Note that the term ‘lawfully’ added to the English version to underline the legality of the marriage is omitted in Polish, since the very entrance into marriage already implies its lawfulness. Therefore, in the Polish Family and Guardianship Code (Kodeks Cywilny i Opiekuńczy) we find only zawarcie związku małżeństwa(entering into marriage).

The Divorce

When submitting a petition for a divorce, the petitioner claims that the marriage has broken down irretrievably which is rendered into nastąpił nieodrwacalny rozkład pożycia. Polish law goes further and tells about zupełny i trwały rozkład pożycia Article 56 (1) of the Family and Guardianship Code, where zupełny means complete, and trwałyimplies an irretrievable breakdown.

Having met the condition of the marriage being broken down irretrievably, the petitioner may ask the judge to dissolve the marriage, which translates into rozwiązać malżeństwo.

Prayer

The prayer of a petition is a request to the court in relation to the decision, costs and ancillary relief. Translation of the term itself should not pose any problems, although there is still a room for error, as translators might be tempted to use a common term prośba, which denotes a general request, yet given that the context is strictly legal, żądanie is a much more appropriate equivalent. With reference to Article 187(1) of the (Polish) Civil Procedure Rules (Kodeks Postępowania Cywilnego), żądanieis one of the obligatory parts of the petition. It would not be a mistake to translate the term into treść pozwu (literally: main body/content of the divorce petition), as – in this context - the term is sometimes used interchangeably with żądanie.

Ancillary relief defined as “a court order incidental to another order or application”refers to a financial provision order or a property adjustment order. These two are treated separately in the Polish law, and hence there is no umbrella term for both. Having said that, for the purposes of rendering the ancillary relief term, translators can reach for zaopatrzenie małżonka, which is the closest equivalent, although not widely used by Polish solicitors. When it comes to the financial matters of a divorce, the two main issues a Polish decree will cover are obowiązek alimentacyjny– maintenance order and podział majątku– division of joint property. The court has also jurisdiction to rule on sposobie korzystania z mieszkania- the use of the residence. When faced with the alimenty term, it is tempting to resort to a calque alimony, which is entirely appropriate if the target language is American English, yet if the translated document is for a British client, the equivalent to be applied here is maintenance. Strongly related to this term is another legal phrase found in a divorce petition, namely a maintenance pending suit– initially misleading, as one may concentrate on the ‘suit’ and consider ‘maintenance pending’ as determiners. On the contrary, ‘maintenance’ here is the main lexical unit and its determiners ‘pending suit’ mean (during/for the time of the suit). The closest equivalent in Polish is alimenty na czas trwania sprawy rozwodowej.
Legal terminology of divorce proceedings has its own specific terms and collocations. In order to render them appropriately into Polish, translators need to be familiar with the basic rules of the divorce proceedings both in English and Polish law.
↧

Jak wypełnić angielski pozew o rozwód?

November 14, 2012, 2:14 pm
$
0
0

Większość z Was nie raz zmierzała się z niezrozumiałymi formularzami i wnioskami. Ze względu na terminologię prawniczą, formularze sądowe należą do grupy tych trudniejszych. Celem niniejszego artykułu jest ułatwienie Wam wypełnienie pozwu o rozwód. Należy podkreślić, iż poniższe instrukcje nie stanowią porady prawnej, ale jedynie zawierają wskazówki i wyjaśnienia pomagające w wypełnieniu pozwu.

W „Introduction” czyli wstępie natrafimy na zdanie: The petition is issued by...– tutaj należy wpisać swoje imię i nazwisko. Osoba składająca pozew to po angielsku petitioner, druga strona zaś to respondent. Punkt 1 to informacje o czasie i miejscu zawarcia małżeństwa, należy wpisać tam również pełne imiona i nazwiska swoje oraz małżonka/i.Kolejne punkty odnoszą się do zmiany nazwiska któregokolwiek z małżonków oraz do miejsca ich zamieszkania.

Kłopotów może nam nastręczyć punkt 3, w którym należy określić na jakiej podstawie sąd posiada jurysdykcję w Państwa sprawie. Podstawę tę stanowi głównie miejsce zamieszkania przynajmniej jednej ze stron. Zatem wystarczy wpisać odpowiednie sformułowane zdanie, np. The petitioner and respondent are both habitually resident in England and Wales – jeżeli obie strony mieszkają na stałe w Anglii lub Walii.

W wypełnieniu punktu 4. pomoże tłumaczenie terminów by occupation– „z zawodu” oraz resides at – „zamieszkały w/przy”. Punkty 5 i 6 dotyczą dzieci, należy zatem wpisać ich imiona i nazwiska. W przypadku, gdy małżeństwo jest bezdzietne, wystarczy wykreślić słowo except. W punktach 7-9 wymagane jest określenie, czy toczą się jakiekolwiek inne postępowania w sprawie małżeństwa, dzieci czy jakiejkolwiek własności należącej do którejkolwiek ze stron.

Punkt 10 należy wypełnić tylko w przypadku, gdy pozew składany jest po 5-letniej separacji. W 11-tce mowa jest o nieodwracalnym rozbiciu małżeństwa. Należy wykreślić ten paragraf, w przypadku gdy pozew składany jest o separację lub mediację. Jeśli zaś wnioskujemy o rozwód, należy uzasadnić dlaczego małżeństwo zostało nierozerwalnie rozbite. W tym celu musimy wpisać jedno z pięciu gotowych uzasadnień wymienionych w broszurze załączonej do pozwu.

Kolejna część formularza to Particulars, czyli szczegóły. W tym miejscu przedstawiamy zarzuty obciążające drugą stronę, a jednocześnie będące dowodem uzasadnień z punktu 12. Wystarczą daty, miejsca i krótkie opisy wydarzeń, nie opisujemy całej historii małżeństwa.

Prayer to kolejna część formularza, w której określamy, o co wnioskujemy do sądu. Jeżeli tylko o separację, to wykreślamy zdanie w punkcie (1) The suit i wpisujemy That the petitioner may be judicially separated from the respondent. W punkcie 2 uzupełniamy zdanie slowem respondent, jeżeli chcemy odzyskać koszty sądowe lub petitioner, jeśli nie chcemy by koszty były pokryte przez małżonka/ę. Ancilliary relief czyli zaopatrzenie małżonka lub dziecka (okresowe lub jednorazowe wpłaty), w tym punkcie wykreślamy te nakazy, o które nie wnioskujemy.

Na koniec musimy złożyć swój podpis, podać adres małżonka/i, załączyć lub przynieść osobiście akt małżeństwa oraz opłatę sądową. Jeśli w małżeństwie są dzieci, należy również wypełnić formularz Statement of Arrangements.

Warto zaznaczyć, iż aby wyrok rozwodowy był prawomocny, pozew musi być poprawnie wypełniony. Wszelkie pomyłki mogą wpłynąć na niekorzyść wnioskodawcy. Ponadto samo wypełnienie pozwu to nie wszystko; w niektórych przypadkach - jeśli strony nie dojdą do porozumienia w kwestii podziału majątku lub opieki nad dzieckiem - konieczne jest postępowanie sądowe. Jeśli potrzebujesz pomocy przy wypełnieniu pozwu rozwodowego lub w dalszym postępowaniu sądowym, skontaktuj się z Transliterią. Zadzwoń od numer +44(0)7851666508 lub napisz info@transliteria.co.uk Rozwód to bardzo stresujące doświadczenie, nie pozwól, aby bariera językowa była dodatkowym powodem do zmartwień.
↧
↧

Terminology issues: Sąd Apelacyjny vs. the Court of Appeal

January 2, 2013, 12:50 pm
$
0
0
      ‘Sąd apelacyjny’is commonly used as an equivalent of ‘the Court of Appeal’. Let us examine if   these courts can be regarded as each other’s counterparts. The Court of Appeal consists of two divisions: the Civil Division and the Criminal Division, while Sąd apelacyjny also distinguishes a third one, namely labour and social insurance division. In both courts the general assumption is that the facts found by the trial at the lower instance court are correct and the appeal takes into consideration only the main points i.e. the matters of law. In the English tradition this is done at a ‘national hearing’, which is virtually a new trial based on the previous one. In contradiction, Polish sources (cf. Kalina-Prasznic 2007) stress that an appeal is a continuation of the proceedings of the first instance court and sąd apelacyjny plays only a supplementary role. Yet, just like other civil law courts, it is capable of conducting a re-examination of the case, scrutinizing not only the questions of law but also the questions of fact (Geeroms 2002:229). Finally, the decision is made; in the English court by three judges, either unanimously or by majority, though each judge has to speak to express his opinion; in the Polish court, the decision is given by a presiding judge or in the case of his/her absence by his/her deputy. Sąd apelacyjny may either dismiss the appeal, which will mean concurring with the court of first instance, modify the appeal and make a ‘new’ decision or simply overturn the previous decision and order a re-examination of the case. Another vivid incongruity between the appeal systems in civil and common law is that in the continental tradition, the appeal case is passed from the court of lower instance to the next court above in the hierarchy, common law courts, however, are capable of giving the judgment to the court two instances higher, e.g. from the High Court to the House of Lords.
 
 
        Even though sąd apelacyjny and the Court of Appeal are not fully compatible, there are no serious reasons why the translator should reject these terms as functional equivalents.
 
Resources:

Geeroms, Sophie. “Comparative Law and Legal Translation: Why the Terms Cassation, Revision and Appeal Should Not Be Translated...” The American Journal of
Comparative Law. 50:1 (2002). 25 August 2008  http://www.jstor.org/search

Kalina-Prasznic, Urszula. Encyklopedia prawa. Wyd. 4. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo C.H. Beck 2007
the Polish Parliament’s web page: http://www.sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htm
↧

Networking inside vs outside your industry

February 12, 2013, 3:53 am
$
0
0

Many translators do not find networking easy. Although a few of my colleagues are networking animals, and easily turn networking to business, the general trend is that translators are rather confined to their bedroom offices and hardly ever stick their noses out, but when they do – they mostly network with people from the same profession. Is this the right thing to do?
Which method of networking would be more beneficial to your business: networking inside or outside your industry? Where and whom to network with? How to network wisely?
These are the questions I will be answering at this Friday’s virtual conference: “Take control of YOUR business” organised by Sharp End Training. There are still places left, so grab one before they’re gone! 
↧

Coraz trudniej zostać Brytyjczykiem

February 20, 2013, 12:56 pm
$
0
0

Obywatelem Wielkiej Brytanii może zostać każdy bez względu na zawód, narodowość czy wyznanie. Należy spełnić jednak określone warunki. Jednym z nich jest zaliczenie testu „Life in the UK” sprawdzającego wiedzę kandydata na temat życia w Wielkiej Brytanii. Od marca pytania testu będą znacznie trudniejsze - czy oznacza to, że tylko nieliczni będą mogli zostać Brytyjczykami?

Jakie warunki należy spełnić, aby otrzymać brytyjskie obywatelstwo?

Przede wszystkim należy mieć ukończone 18 lat, być zdrowym psychicznie i mieć dobre usposobienie. Należy zadeklarować chęć stałego zamieszkania w Wielkiej Brytanii. Wymagana jest również znajomość języka angielskiego, walijskiego bądź też gaelickiego. Kandydaci na obywateli brytyjskich muszą również zaliczyć test „Life in the UK" lub ukończyć kurs „English for speakers of other languages (ESOL)” oraz uczęszczać na zajęcia z wiedzy obywatelskiej. Proces ten nazywany jest „naturalizacją".

Dodatkowo, należy spełnić kilka warunków związanych z okresem pobytu w Wielkiej Brytanii. I tak, kandydat na brytyjskiego obywatela musi mieszkać na terenie Zjednoczonego Królestwa przez 5 ostatnich lat przed złożeniem wniosku o przyznanie obywatelstwa (chyba, że współmałżonek lub partner jest obywatelem Wielkiej Brytanii), w okresie tych 5 lat nie spędził więcej niż 450 dni poza jego terenem, ani więcej niż 90 dni w ciągu ostatnich 12 miesięcy. Ponadto należy posiadać bezterminowe zezwolenie na pobyt na terenie Wielkiej Brytanii otrzymane przynajmniej na 12 miesięcy przed złożeniem wniosku o przyznanie obywatelstwa (chyba, że współmałżonek lub partner jest obywatelem Wielkiej Brytanii). Ostatni warunek mówi, że Brytyjczykiem nie zostanie osoba, która złamała prawo imigracyjne przebywając na terenie Zjednoczonego Królestwa.

Dzieci poniżej 18 roku życia

Osoby niepełnoletnie również mogą ubiegać się o obywatelstwo, jeśli spełniają wszystkie warunki z wyjątkiem zaliczenia testu „Life in the UK". W ich imieniu wniosek składają rodzice.

Jeśli jedno z małżonków jest obywatelem Wielkiej Brytanii

W tym przypadku warunki są nieco złagodzone: nadal jednak należy mieć ukończone 18 lat, być zdrowym psychicznie i mieć dobre usposobienie. Wymagana jest również znajomość języka angielskiego, walijskiego bądź też gaelickiego oraz zaliczenie testu „Life in the UK" lub ukończenie kursu English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) a także zajęć z wiedzy obywatelskiej.

Jeśli drugi z małżonków lub partnerów cywilnych nie pracuje dla brytyjskiego rządu, organizacji międzynarodowej lub w spółce założonej w Wielkiej Brytanii, należy spełnić kilka dodatkowych warunków: należy mieszkać w Zjednoczonym Królestwie przez ostatnie 3 lata, w okresie tych 3 lat nie można spędzić więcej niż 270 dni poza jego terenem, ani więcej niż 90 dni w ciągu ostatnich 12 miesięcy. Warunek niezłamania prawa imigracyjnego przebywając na terenie Zjednoczonego Królestwa również ma tu zastosowanie.

Koszt uzyskania obywatelstwa brytyjskiego poprzez proces naturalizacji wynosi £851,

w przypadku wniosków składanych przez dwie osoby (mąż i żona lub partnerzy cywilni) cena 'promocyjna' wynosi £1317

Jak przebiega proces aplikacyjny?

Istnieją trzy sposoby starania się o obywatelstwo brytyjskie:

Składając  wniosek we własnym imieniu. W tym celu wystarczy wypełnić formularz AN - application for naturalisation as a British citizen. Jeśli składamy wniosek dla dziecka, które nie ukończyło 18 roku życia, to wypełniamy formularz MN1 - application for naturalisation as a British citizen on behalf of a child under 18. Oba formularze oraz broszurę z instrukcjami pomagającymi w ich wypełnieniu można pobrać ze strony internetowej home office http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk

Za pośrednictwem Biura Weryfikacji Narodowości (Nationality Checking Service – NCS). NCS podlega lokalnym urzędom miasta. Na stronie internetowej Home Office można sprawdzić, czy przy najbliższym urzędzie znajduje się NCS.

Poprzez agenta lub przedstawiciela (może to być prywatna firma bądź osoba) - jeżeli korzystamy z tego rodzaju pomocy, musimy sprawdzić, czy agent lub przedstawiciel widnieje w rejestrze prowadzonym przez Biuro pełnomocnika ds. służb imigracyjnych (Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner).

Co następuje po złożeniu wniosku?

Po złożeniu wniosku otrzymamy potwierdzenie - może to potrwać do 4 tygodni. Zaś decyzję o przyznaniu nam obywatelstwa otrzymamy w ciągu 6 miesięcy, chyba, że zajdzie konieczność dostarczenia brakujących informacji bądź dokumentów, w tym przypadku proces może się znacznie wydłużyć.

Warto nadmienić, iż jeśli w tym czasie sytuacja wnioskodawcy ulegnie zmianie, np. przeprowadzi się, zawrze związek małżeński lub zostanie aresztowany, należy niezwłocznie powiadomić UK Border Agency. Można to zrobić wysyłając emaila na adres: ukbanationalityenquiries@ukba.gsi.gov.ukZanim otrzymamy decyzję o zaakceptowaniu naszego wniosku lub i jego odrzuceniu, możemy zostać wezwani na rozmowę, podczas której nie będziemy mogli skorzystać z pomocy tłumacza.

Ceremonia przyznania obywatelstwa

Wraz z odpowiedzią o pozytywnym rozpatrzeniu wniosku, kandydat na Brytyjczyka otrzyma zaproszenie na ceremonię przyznania obywatelstwa. Każdy, kto otrzymał takie zaproszenie, o ile mieszka w tym czasie w Wielkiej Brytanii, jest obowiązany wziąć w niej udział. Ceremonie zazwyczaj odbywają się w lokalnych urzędach miasta. Przybywając na nie należy wziąć ze sobą otrzymane zaproszenie. Przyznawanie obywatelstwa odbywa się w grupach, na które można przyprowadzić 2 gości, istnieje również możliwość zorganizowania prywatnej ceremonii. W tym celu należy skontaktować się z urzędem miasta.

Co się dzieje podczas ceremonii?

Każdy z przyszłych obywateli brytyjskich składa przyrzeczenie, przysięgę wierności (an oath of allegiance) lub zeznanie bez przysięgi (affirmation), jeśli dana osoba nie godzi się przysięgać na Boga. Składając powyższe przyrzeczenia, ślubujący przysięgają przestrzeganie praw, wolności i przepisów obowiązujących w Wielkiej Brytanii. Podczas ceremonii wszystkim uczestnikom zostaną wręczone świadectwa obywatelstwa brytyjskiego oraz pakiet powitalny. W niektórych urzędach ceremonie są nagrywane lub robione są pamiątkowe zdjęcia, które później można nabyć.

Test „Life in the UK"

Test ten jest sprawdzianem wiedzy o życiu w Wielkiej Brytanii i stanowi część procesu aplikacyjnego o obywatelstwo dla osób powyżej 18 roku życia. „Life in the UK" testuje również znajomość języka angielskiego kandydatów. Składa się z 24 pytań wielokrotnego wyboru i aby go zaliczyć, należy poprawnie odpowiedzieć na 18 z nich (75%).

Test wprowadzono w listopadzie 2005r. Kwestią sporną jest jednak treść pytań; niedługo po wprowadzeniu testu krytycy zarzucali autorom, iż przygotowując się do niego, kandydaci na obywateli zamiast uczyć się o historii czy kulturze Wielkiej Brytanii dowiadują się gdzie znaleźć plan pociągów, czy jak starać się o zasiłek.

Dlatego obecny rząd postanowił to zmienić i przekonstruować pytania - teraz aby zostać Brytyjczykiem należy na wskroś znać Monty Pythona, a także wiedzieć ile lat ma Królowa. Przeciwnicy obecnej wersji uważają, iż zaliczenie testu będzie znacznie trudniejsze - według nich jest to kolejny środek stosowany przez rząd, którego celem jest zmniejszenie liczby imigrantów zamieszkujących teren Zjednoczonego Królestwa. Zarzucają również autorom pominięcie pytań dotyczących wiedzy praktycznej dotyczącej życia w Wielkiej Brytanii,  twierdzą, że przecież celem przeprowadzenia testu jest zachęcenie do uczestniczenia we wszystkich aspektach życia obywatelskiego - czego nie zapewnią suche informacje z zakresu historii i kultury.

Trudność nowej wersji testu polega na tym, iż wymagana wiedza jest dosyć obszerna i szczegółowa - aby uzyskać pozytywny wynik należy znać tradycyjne zwyczaje Brytyjczyków, np. na czym polega halloweenowe „cukierek albo psikus", wykazać się wiedzą na temat świętych patronów, a także przełomowych wydarzeń historycznych i związanych z nimi miejsc. Materiał do nauki pokrywa okres od Epoki Kamienia do Olimpiady 2012.  Sylabus przygotowujący do testu będzie wypełniony informacjami dotyczącymi słynnych pisarzy, naukowców czy polityków, dlatego niech nie zdziwią Was pytania o Williamie Szekspirze, Robercie Burnsie czy Winstonie Chirchillu. Nowe pytania zastąpią te dotyczące korzystania z wodomierzy, internetu czy przebiegu rozmów o pracę.

Według Home Office, dzięki nowej wersji testu „Life in the UK" imigranci, którzy starają się o uzyskanie brytyjskiego obywatelstwa poznają „wartości i zasady stanowiące podstawę życia Brytyjczyków" – podkreślił minister ds. imigracji, Mark Harper. „Zamiast uczyć ludzi jak złożyć wniosek o zasiłek, nowy sylabus będzie zachęcał ich do uczestnictwa w życiu Wielkiej Brytanii” – dodał.

W zeszłym roku do sprawdzianu z wiedzy o Wielkiej Brytanii przystąpiło 150.000 osób. Koszt testu to £50, podręcznik zaś kosztuje £12.99. Można go nabyć w wielu księgarniach.

A tu kilka przykładowych pytań opublikowanych w the Daily Telegraph:

1) W roku 1801 powstała nowa wersja oficjalnej flagi Wielkiej Brytanii. Jak jest nazywana? A) The British Standard B) The Royal Banner C) The Union Jack D) The St George Cross

2) W jakim wieku można w Wielkiej Brytanii zostać sędzią przysięgłym?

A) 16 B) 18 C) 21 D) 25

3) Który z poniższych obiektów jest prehistorycznym  pomnikiem znajdującym się w hrabstwie Wiltshire?

A) Hadrian's Wall B) Offa's Dyke C) Fountain's Abbey D) Stone Henge

Odpowiedzi 1) C 2) B 3) D

 
↧
Search

English and Polish Courts Explained

May 17, 2013, 2:28 pm
$
0
0

The knowledge of the legal systems, when translating legal documents, e.g., judicial decisions, includes also familiarity with the hierarchy of courts. And here, we can spot considerable differences between civil and common law.
 
 
The Polish administration of justice consists of courts and tribunals[1]. While the Polish Constitution (Chapter VIII) distinguishes only two tribunals: Constitutional Tribunal and the Tribunal of State, the structure of the court system is of much more complexity. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland enlists four major kinds of courts:

The administration of justice in the Republic of Poland shall be implemented by the Supreme Court, the common courts, administrative courts and military courts.

        [The Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2nd April 1997; art.175(1)][2]


     More often than not, legal documents that translators work with are issued by or for the common courts, and therefore, we will focus on them, leaving administrative and military courts perhaps for another blog post?

  As far as the common courts are concerned, at the top of the hierarchy[3] of these courts there is the Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy), it is the highest instance court in Poland and has its seatin Warsaw. The court handles cassations, i.e. appeals from sentences or decisions of the courts of second instance. It does not consider cases but examines whether the judgments are compliant with the law. The court consists of twelve judges and a chairman.The courts of appeal, second instance courts (Sądy apelacyjne II instancji) are next below in the hierarchy, then there are regional courts, first/second instance courts (sądy okręgowe I albo II instancji), district courts, first instance courts (sądy rejonowe I instancji) and at the very bottom are municipal courts (sądy grodzkie).

This greatly simplified presentation of the Polish common courts structure can be juxtaposed with the English courts in the Civil Division. The House of Lords, however different from Sąd Najwyższy, is the highest court in England; hence it can serve as its counterpart, although these terms are never (and should not be) used as equivalents by translators. The House of Lords, together with the Court of Appeal, which occupies a lower position in the hierarchy, deals exclusively with appeals, although the House of Lords is concerned only with ‘matters of law of general public importance’ (Alcaraz & Hughes 2002:53). The Court of Appeal hears the cases passed on from the High Court, which is a court of lower instance or in special circumstances from the county courts (translated as sądy okręgowe).
One of my previous postsshows the full structure of the English court system; it is presented in English as well as in Polish to provide some suggestions for the translation of the courts’ names.


Resources:

 Alcaraz, Enrique; Hughes, Brian. Legal Translation Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome

Publishing, 2002.

Jopek-Bosiacka, Anna. Przekład prawny I sądowy. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe

PWN, 2006.

The Constitution of the Republic of Poland.

http://www.sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htm


The hierarchy of English courts of Her Majesty’s Court Service

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/aboutus/structure/index.htm


The Hierarchy of English courts in Polish http://ec.europa.eu/civiljustice/org_justice/org_justice_eng_pl.pdf

 

 


[1]‘Tribunal’ does not seem to be congruent with the Polish ‘Trybunał’, although Polish institutions use these terms as equivalents on their officialwebsites (cf. http://www.trybunal.gov.pl/eng/index.htm). Trybunał is a court of higher instance than the Supreme Court (Sąd Najwyższy) (Jopek-Bosiacka 2006:220), whereas English tribunals are the lowest courts in the hierarchy of the justice system (see: Table 2 below). This terminological incongruity shows how important the knowledge of the courts hierarchy is, especially in the translation of court names.
[2]Source: the Polish Parliament’s web page: http://www.sejm.gov.pl/prawo/konst/angielski/kon1.htm
[3]Based on Table 7.5A and 7.5B in Jopek-Bosiacka (2006:220-221)
 
↧
↧

Wrap your business in beautiful words

June 23, 2013, 3:52 pm
$
0
0

Many of us treat language like air; we use it the way we breathe – without realising that we are making any effort. We also tend to think of language – if we actually ever think about it – as of a tool to communicate and express our ideas, thoughts and feelings. Yet saying that language is just a communication tool would be an understatement equal to the one that Google is just an online search engine.

Language is so much more than that. One of the dozens of functions it can be used for is the “ability” to make things beautiful, i.e. describe them in such a way that they suddenly become attractive and desirable. Take for example a well-written description of food; the moment you set your eyes on words such as succulent, juicy, aromatic or luscious, your mouth begins to water and you instantly want to taste it or just eat anything for that matter. Even if it is very simple and ordinary food, the language makes it much more desirable and delicious (in our minds).

This is because words are “translated” by our brains into pictures making us imagine what we are reading or hearing about. Moreover, words appeal to our senses – this is why, when reading a recipe for example, we may feel we are actually tasting the dish; a well-written book about travel can take us to a particular place and see the architecture of the city, sense the smells of local produce in a village market or admire spectacular views of a coastline.

When the magic happens, i.e. when words start to stimulate our senses, we suddenly crave what we read or hear about. This works particularly well in marketing: a superb description of an everyday product, such as coffee, will make you perceive it as an extraordinary, luxurious product that you instantly want to purchase. Similarly, an excellent website copy will easily persuade a potential client to use the company’s services, even if it is just a car wash.

Yes, a well-crafted piece of writing can do just that. I am being convinced of it every time I read Intelligent Life, a sister title of the Economist , where even an article about weeds (!) was engrossing because the author used such wording and style that those mundane, hardly-ever-noticeable and very often annoying plants appeared as intricate and (almost) intelligent flora.

To conclude, not only does it matter WHAT you write but also HOW you write that makes a difference. The language stimulates our brains to create a particular image, which then enables us to develop an opinion about the described matter. Now, by applying appropriate words, collocations, idioms and syntax we are able to stimulate how a particular thing is perceived.

What does this mean to you?

It means that the language you use in your marketing materials will or will not sell your product or service.

If you run a business, you put your heart and soul into it, so that whatever you do is top quality. Yet, does your website copy, marketing materials, press releases and product descriptions do justice to your products or services? The quality of what you are selling should be reflected in the perfect wording. Your products deserve an impeccable, engrossing and, most importantly, an effective description with carefully selected words. The language that you are using across your marketing materials plays a crucial part in the selling process. Don’t let it disappoint you.
↧

Ubierz swój produkt w piękne słowa

June 26, 2013, 4:18 pm
$
0
0

Wielu z nas traktuje język jak powietrze – „oddychamy" nim na co dzień, nie zdając sobie z tego sprawy. Mamy także skłonność do postrzegania języka jako narzędzia służącego do komunikacji i wyrażania naszych myśli i uczuć. Jednak uznanie, że język jest wyłącznie narzędziem komunikacyjnym byłoby niedopowiedzeniem równym stwierdzeniu, że Google to po prostu wyszukiwarka internetowa.
Język natomiast daje nam wiele więcej. Jedną z dziesiątek funkcji języka, jest jego „zdolność" do upiększania, t.j. opisywania rzeczy w taki sposób, że nagle wydają się nam bardziej atrakcyjne i pożądane. Weźmy na przykład dobrze napisany opis smacznej potrawy. W momencie, kiedy naszym oczom ukazują się słowa: soczysty, aromatyczny bądź przepyszny, zaczyna lecieć nam ślinka i natychmiast mamy ochotę spróbować tę potrawę lub po prostu zjeść cokolwiek. Nawet jeśli jest to zwyczajne i proste danie, sposób w jaki jest opisane, czyni je bardziej pożądane i jeszcze smaczniejsze (w naszej wyobraźni).
Dzieje się tak, ponieważ słowa są przetwarzane przez nasz umysł w obrazy, dzięki którym jesteśmy w stanie wyobrazić sobie to, o czym czytamy bądź słyszymy. Ponadto, słowa oddziałują na nasze zmysły -  dlatego czytając, np. przepis kulinarny, możemy odnieść wrażenie, iż czujemy smak danej potrawy. Dobra książka o podróżach jest w stanie przenieść nas w zupełnie inne miejsce, pozwalając nam „zobaczyć” architekturę miasta, „poczuć” zapach warzyw sprzedawanych na rynku oraz „podziwiać” spektakularne widoki wybrzeża.
Kiedy magia działa, tzn. kiedy słowa stymulują nasze zmysły, nagle zaczynamy pożądać tego, o czym czytamy bądź słyszymy. Zjawisko to doskonale sprawdza się w marketingu: świetny opis nawet tak zwyczajnego produktu jak kawa może ukazać go jako niezwykły, luksusowy produkt, który natychmiast chcemy kupić. Podobnie, doskonały tekst strony internetowej szybko przekona potencjalnego klienta do skorzystania z usług danej firmy, nawet jeśli opisywana na stronie usługa to tylko mycie samochodu.
Dobrze sporządzony tekst jest w stanie zmienić nasze postrzeganie danej rzeczy bądź osoby. Przekonuję się o tym za każdym razem, kiedy czytam "Intelligent Life" - siostrzany tytuł "the Economist", w którym nawet artykuł o chwastach (!) był wciągający, ponieważ autor zastosował takie słownictwo i styl, że te nudne, prawie niezauważalne i bardzo często irytujące rośliny, stały się nagle osobliwą i niemalże inteligentną florą. 
Podsumowując, nie tylko liczy się CO piszesz, ale JAK.  Język stymuluje nasz umysł tworząc obrazy, które z kolei umożliwiają nam wyrobienie opinii o opisywanej rzeczy bądź osobie. Zatem stosując odpowiednie słowa, kolokacje, idiomy i składnię, jesteśmy w stanie wpłynąć na postrzeganie danej rzeczy przez odbiorcę.
Co to oznacza dla ciebie?
Oznacza to, że język, który stosujesz w swoich materiałach marketingowych pozwoli ci (bądź nie) sprzedać twoją usługę lub produkt.
Prowadząc działalność, wkładasz całe swoje serce w firmę starając się, aby cokolwiek robisz, było możliwie najlepszej jakości. Czy jednak twoja strona internetowa, materiały marketingowe, komunikaty prasowe oraz opisy produktów oddają tę jakość? Doskonałość twoich usług powinna być odzwierciedlona w idealnych wyrażeniach i pięknych deksrypcjach. Produkt, który tworzysz zasługuje na odpowiednio dobrane słowa oraz na perfekcyjny, wciągający, a przede wszystkim skuteczny opis. Język, który stosujesz w swoich materiałach marketingowych odgrywa kluczową rolę w procesie sprzedaży. Nie pozwól, żeby cię zawiódł.

↧

An Interpreter, please

August 13, 2013, 6:22 am
$
0
0

The demand for translators and interpreters in the UK is on the rise. Recent numbers show that the Government’s expenditure on translation and interpreting services is higher year by year.

Last year, NHS spent more than £16million on interpreters to help their patients from foreign countries communicate with healthcare specialists. Based on the information from the 63 NHS trusts, the top-requested language in 2012 was Polish (which has also been ranked as the second most commonly spoken language in the UK). The demand for Arabic and Slovak interpreters is also significant – both were classified as second.

The 20 most frequently demanded languages are (in alphabetical order): Arabic, Bengali, Czech, Farsi, French, Gorani, Kurdish, Lithuanian, Mandarin, Panjabi, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Somali, Tamil, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese
Source: Ministry of Justice

It’s not only healthcare system that needs translators and interpreters. Last year, the Ministry of Justice signed a £42mcontract for translation and interpreting services. The cost of interpreting for the UK’s Crown Courts is steadily increasing by over £1m every three years.

Interpreters also frequently work with the Councils, which spend more than £1.1m a month (£43.5 over the past three years, according to the figures provided by 352 local authorities in England) to communicate with non-English speaking residents. A considerable number of requests concerns complex child protection cases where the Councils are obliged to provide support.
Kent is the highest spending authority with a three-year bill of £2.2million.While the top spending single city is Coventry, at £1.9million. The London boroughs collectively allocate a budget of £15million for translation and interpreting services.

The figures clearly illustrate the growth and future potential for the translation industry. With the free movement of workers in the EU, there will be continuous influx of non-English speaking workforce, and therefore, interpreters will be always in demand in hospitals, courts, prisons and other institutions.  Although the government is planning to introduce new schemes that will help foreigners learn English, it is doubtful that they will be able to reach such proficiency to be able to understand what a judge says at a court hearing or when a doctor describes a complex treatment of their kidneys.
Image: www.express.co.uk
↧

Happy International Translation Day 2013!

September 30, 2013, 1:56 am
$
0
0
Today is the International Translation Day!

Translators all over the world celebrate this day by having fun, gathering at various events organised by their associations or simply by working (!).

Why today?

The International Translation Day is celebrated on September 30, because this day marks the death of the patron of translators - St. Jerome (Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius). St. Jerome is mostly known for his translation of the Bible into Latin, which eleven centuries later was recognised as the official version of the Bible - the Vulgate.

A humble translator

In today's world, translators are all about high quality and perfection. And while we all do and should strive to create the best translation we possibly can, we can't escape the fact that as humans, we are not 100% faultless (thank you proofreaders!). The thing about St. Hieronymus is that he was humble enough to acknowledge that his work - although excellent - was not without errors, therefore he revisited some of his translations, making corrections and additions setting a good example for other translators to follow.

Dear colleagues!

On this special day, I wish you many interesting and well-paid projects, respectful clients who appreciate your hard work and always pay on time, many fruitful and fun translation conferences and events, user-friendly software that never shows up any errors, accessible Wi-Fi wherever you are on the go and need it, source texts that are always clear and easy to decode (along with clear instructions from the client) and many, many successful years in this wonderful profession. After all, it's the best profession in the world, isn't it!




↧
↧

Telling the Bad News to Your Employee (Via an Interpreter)

January 3, 2014, 1:53 am
$
0
0















It is a challenge for some employers to communicate with their non-English speaking employees on a day-to-day basis. Because of the language barrier, explaining the company's policy and procedures or giving simple instructions sometimes require a bit more effort. Yet, most of the time everyone seems to be coping well in everyday conversations and get the message across despite perhaps some little misunderstandings.


However, there are situations, where you want to be 100% sure that you know exactly what your employee is telling you and vice versa. These include all types of formal meetings, especially disciplinary hearings or redundancy consultations, when it is absolutely essential that there is no confusion as to what is being said.


DISMISSALS, REDUNDANCIES
Telling your employee the bad news is a very unpleasant and stressful moment for both you and your worker. It is essential to use the right wording and be precise as to why you are letting them go. If you want to make sure that your non-English speaking employee understands why they were dismissed or made redundant or what they are expected to do, enable them to hear your message in their native language. Otherwise, they may misunderstand what your intentions are and feel unfairly treated or even discriminated against. 


Although you are not legally obliged to provide an interpreter during formal meetings with your employees, it is a wise thing to do, since it might prevent from any legal issues that could arise if anything goes wrong. It is also a way to prove you have taken the necessary measures to assist your employee in this difficult and stressful moment.


Moreover, being unable to understand what is being said during a formal meeting may aggravate an already tense atmosphere and lead to unnecessary arguments or bursts of anger in the meeting room. A sensible thing to do to avoid this would be to provide an independent, professional interpreter who will act objectively and ease off the tension caused by lack of understanding.

A CHANCE TO SPEAK
Giving your employee a chance to speak during a meeting is a crucial part of the discussion process. Equally, it is the most stressful moment for the worker, when emotions take over and it is difficult to find exact words to express themselves. This is particularly challenging when they need to speak in a foreign language. Stress and pressure add up to already uncomfortable circumstances and this leads to situations where employees are unable to speak in an understandable manner, and put their thoughts into words. 


Sometimes employers have no other choice but to discontinue the meeting due to lack of mutual understanding. This, however, turns out to be costly and delays the whole process, which means a lot of your time will be wasted. Doing it right the first time will save you time, money and unnecessary stress.

IMPARTIALITY AND FAIRNESS
Although law does not set out clear rules on how to carry out e.g. disciplinary meetings, employers are required to make sure they act impartially and fairly. In order to ensure just treatment of employees during a disciplinary investigation or dismissal process, employers are encouraged to follow the rules laid out in the ACAS Code of Practice. One of the rules states, “The employee should have a reasonable opportunity to ask questions, present evidence, call relevant witnesses and raise points about any information provided by witnesses.” It is worth noting that “a reasonable opportunity” for an employee with a limited command of English would mean enabling them to speak in their native language because  this is when they can fully and properly express themselves and feel more comfortable with.


ACAS also advises employers to “Involve employees and/or their representatives in developing any new disciplinary procedures, and make sure the procedures are transparent and accessible to employees.” Again, presenting the procedures to your employee in their first language will be a clear sign that, as an employer, you are taking the necessary steps to make them “transparent” and “accessible”.


Similarly, when it comes to providing written notifications, letters or decisions, it is also important that they are fully understandable to your employee. Unfortunately, non-English speakers might find formal language too difficult to comprehend, especially if the letter contains legal, technical or other complex concepts.

CASE STUDIES
One of my long-term clients - a company in Dorset was forced to select a few employees for redundancy. One of the chosen workers was Polish. They held a few consultation meetings with their employees making sure that the redundancy process is transparent and fair to everyone involved. When it came to the final meeting when a decision was announced it turned out that the Polish employee had a very vague idea of what was going on and when he heard that he had been made redundant, he was shocked. Despite detailed explanations and a long discussion, he still did not understand why he was chosen for redundancy. Only then, the general manager decided that any further discussions were pointless until a professional interpreter was called in. 


The company contacted me and asked if I could interpret during the consultations. Needless to say, they have to run the redundancy process all over again, this time with my assistance. Although the outcome of the meetings was successful, the company lost initially plenty of time and money by not doing it right the first time. Now that they learnt from their mistake, they use an interpreter at every formal meeting with their non-English speaking employees.


Another company in Weymouth was very pleased that they hired a professional the first time they held a disciplinary hearing. It appeared that during the disciplinary investigation there was confusion between two terms: “tin foil” and “plastic bag” that, perhaps surprisingly, were of importance to the investigation. This was just one of the misunderstandings which occurred during the process and were successfully clarified by the interpreter.

SUMMARY
Giving your employee a chance to go through the procedures in their first language will not only save you time, money and any further problems - if meetings need to be discontinued or delayed - but it will also clearly show that you are taking steps to make the whole process transparent and fair to your non-English speaking employee.






↧

Predictions for the Translation Industry in 2014

January 12, 2014, 11:57 pm
$
0
0
Happy New Year to you! Another chapter has just begun in our lives and most of you probably wonder what 2014 will bring to you personally and professionally.

 I was wondering, however, what 2014 will bring to the translation industry and to the translators themselves. In order to find out, I asked a few successful professional translators what they think we can expect to happen in 2014. Here’s what they said:


Rose Newell
German to English translator
@lingocode

Freelancers will improve their professional practices
Translators and interpreters are increasing their awareness of and resistance to dodgy practices that endanger not only their livelihoods, but the general public as well. We saw many examples of this in 2013 (the Interpreters for Justice Campaign, talks at the IAPTI Conference, discussions on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and blogs), so I am optimistic that we will see even more in 2014. 


Freelancers will get out there

Information on good marketing practices is available in so many forms nowadays - from discussions with peers in person and online, to translation and marketing books, blogs and podcasts. We are learning that to remain competitive, we must be able to communicate the quality we offer. More of us will be approaching quality-focused agencies and direct clients in person, online, by telephone and in print.

CPD will become the norm
CPD will become an expected part of being a professional translator. More of us will be recording or even publishing details of what we are doing to stay on top of current trends in language use, our specialist fields and the translation industry. This coincides with changes to recognise CPD efforts in the ITI. Businesses like eCPD will see a steady but stable growth in popularity, and associations are likely to take the opportunity to offer more in the way of webinars and in-person seminars. 

We will get asked to post-edit...
...and not infrequently. But we will say no. Because we know what trash this produces and that any time it saves (at all) is disproportionate to the significant discounts demanded in return for its use. 



Megan Onions
French and German to English translator
@speechmarksxl8

We will determine what happens next. We are the masters of our own destinies, after all. As many colleagues have pointed out, the gulf between the premium and bulk markets is growing, and that will continue this year. Translators in search of more direct clients, higher rates and more fulfilling business relationships will find that it is possible, but you have to work hard for it. It’s very easy to stay in your comfort zone but that’s not where the magic happens.




Marta Stelmaszak
English to Polish translator
@mstelmaszak

With global economy recovering from the crisis, we're going to witness more and more demand for professional translation and language consultancy services. Multinational corporations, small and medium enterprises, start-ups and freelancers will all compete on international markets, leaving us with plenty of work in 2014!





Catherine Christaki
English to Greek translator
@LinguaGreca

Translators have become much more social in the past few years. In 2014, a significant number will abandon their cozy home office and comfy pajamas to try co-working in offices with other professionals. Translation conferences are more popular than ever and there is a plethora to choose from all around the world. Linguists have realized their value and will attend them in masses this year. The topics of sessions have also changed, moving away from theory to practical tips about finding clients, networking, translation tools as well as blogging and social media. Based on those tips, many new translation blogs will be created (can't wait!).

Another thing that I'm sure we will see in 2014 will be translators reaching out to direct clients. Every year we become better and wiser and with help from our colleagues in blogs and social networks, we know which agencies to avoid and what are the best methods to find new and better clients. Last but not least, 2014 will be the year we realize we are not competitors but colleagues, that our individual businesses are better when we share experiences and help each other.



Olga Arakelyan
English and German to Russian translator
@Olenkaarakelyan

 It is my deep conviction that as long as different languages and nations exist, translators will be in high demand. So it really depends on us whether our businesses will prosper, or decline. Those translators who market their services and continue to work on their skills will definitely have a fruitful and prosperous year, and those who don’t will not have a very good year. I have lived with this philosophy for quite a few years now and it has helped me immensely. Hope it helps others, too.




Aleksandra Milcic Radovanovic    
English to Serbian and Croatian translator
@_AleksM

Translators will still be tired of insanely high receivers fees for wire transfer and they will continue their search for a better and cheaper money transfer solutions. This trend started in 2013 with a bunch of freshly new online payment services and I believe it will grow bigger in a year to come.

With increasing use of cloud-based application, I believe more software companies will replace desktop applications with the ones that use cloud storage. Shift like that would change pricing options from one time buy to monthly and yearly subscriptions. As a direct consequence, online CAT tools, services that offer to save a TM in cloud and web applications (for invoicing or storing the documents) will become more popular.

With evident rise of globalization and success of large companies, smaller companies will try to look for their niche. I think most of them will try to satisfy the needs of local markets, so need for translators who works with smaller languages will rise. Localization could be the possible hot topic in 2014.


Konstantina Drakou
English, Swedish and German to Greek translator
@wordyrama

Working as a freelance translator, every year differs from the other. 2012 turned out to be completely different from 2011 and I am pretty sure that 2014 will be, again, different from 2013! 2010 was a slow year, then 2011 was better. In 2012 the number of projects sky-rocked and then 2013 was not as good, even though I got the opportunity to work on the most interesting project in my professional life. EVER! Now, I get very positive vibes for this year, at least this is what the first week of 2014 has led me to believe! If this week can be taken as a prediction, then there is something happening in the market and I see a pour of projects coming down like rain. 



Anne Diamantidis 
English and German to French translator
@ADiamantidis

Just my two cents - I think nothing will change much in 2014 compared to 2013, actually. With the notable exception of the gap between what Chris Durban calls the "premium" and the "bulk" markets, which I think will continue growing drastically. Volumes to translate may be bigger or at least just as huge as in 2013, while rates in the premium market and in the specialized translation market will keep rising. Machine Translation will continue to not be a threat - because it is light-years away from reaching the level of human translation (one of his "fathers", Philipp Koehn, confirmed this himself at the TriKonf conference 2013) - yet half the industry will continue to see it as such. Low paying agencies will continue their disgusting practices because there will still be translators who will accept their rates, and half the freelance industry will keep being full of hatred and spiting on all agencies as a consequence. CPD will hopefully take a growing importance as translators realize they need and should care about their continuous training. I think it will be a good year for our branch - that is, if we let it be a good year, of course. Our branch is its own biggest obstacle, but it has not quite realized it yet. Here's to hoping 2014 will be the year it does...



Karen Tkaczyk
French to English translator
@ChemXlator


1-      Freelancers who wish to get out of the bulk market segments and work in more satisfying market segments will develop diversified services and partnerships that allow them to differentiate themselves from the “typical” freelancer, helping them to move up in the market.

2-      More and more freelancers will create websites and social media accounts as they see the value of modern networking methods for word-of-mouth referrals.

3-      In spite of awareness that what people write online gets around and forms reputations (see point 2), many freelancers will whine and complain about the state of affairs in online forums just as much as ever, and end 2014 in exactly the same position as they started it.

4-      We will see more freelancers admitting to using MT post-editing systems by personal choice in their own translation work.
↧
Search

A Dilemma of Epic Proportions…

January 18, 2014, 4:32 pm
$
0
0
The face of the translation industry is changing more rapidly than most of us can keep up with.

To the horror of many professional translators of my generation, machine translation entered the “mainstream” in 2013—and the repercussions will be widely felt in 2014 and beyond.

The drivers for such extraordinary developments are simple enough to identify. The global penetration of the Internet has created an unprecedented commercial demand for communications in languages other than the sellers’. However, converting messages from one human language into another is a task that requires more skill (and time) than most would-be global traders realise. This raises a dilemma of epic proportions—there are simply not enough humans who have the sort of highly developed linguistic skills to meet the exploding demand.
But commerce has never stalled for lack of human resources.

If there are not enough humans to do the job (or if they are too slow), then the money is simply found to develop a workaround. If the technology solutions are not quite good enough—then the entire paradigm changes. If the machines can meet the market demands for speed and price (but not quality), then customer expectations of quality simply change to match the new reality. Hopefully, quality improves incrementally over time (http://translationbiz.wordpress.com/2013/07/23/will-the-best-and-most-talented-translators-benefit-from-the-disruptors/).

But will the march of this sort of technology put linguists out of business? We might ask if the development of computerised diagnostic expert systems made doctors redundant? Were the first x-ray machines and PET scanners perfect on first release? Not at all—the new developments simply changed the paradigm and raised the bar of what humans were able to achieve, allowing medical professionals to use new tools to solve problems inconceivable to their predecessors.

Could more human translators, perhaps, be trained to meet the emerging demand? Kevin Hentzel, in a recent blog piece (http://www.kevinhendzel.com/bad-advice-for-novice-skydivers-learn-as-you-go/) laments the loss of the sort of rigorous training that was common when I was a beginning translator—an apprenticeship characterised by long years of “constant review by expert colleagues”. Hentzel writes that such in-depth training and mentoring by more experienced translators is essential “if we are to have a new generation of expert translators”.

Despite the continued growth of tertiary-level translator training, I doubt that this will ever compensate for the years of supervised apprenticeship that many translators of earlier generations received. In any event, I suspect that few organisations can afford to provide that level of extended training any more. On the other hand, the challenges facing the next wave of young translators are likely to be qualitatively different from those of my generation and the sort of training they will need for successful future careers may be unrecognisable to the likes of me.

While a relatively small group of highly experienced “old-school” professionals will undoubtedly continue to play an very important (and moderately well remunerated) role in the coming years, I can’t help but feel that, as a group, their size will shrink in proportion to the size of the global translation workforce as new waves of eager, more technologically motivated younger linguists take on challenges which may well seem like a “sell-out” to their older colleagues.

The distinction between “bulk” and “premium” translation will continue to widen in 2014. As Chris Durban pointed out recently, there will be opportunities for translators in both these segments (see Jayne Fox’s report of the talk at http://foxdocs.biz/BetweenTranslations/bulk-versus-premium-translation-chris-durban/). For those translators who have exceptional skills (in particular those whose command of their native language is “better than those of 98% of the general population” as Chris puts it), and a personality sufficiently robust to “dress up and get out there” to meet wealthy customers face-to-face, there will always a market willing to pay a significant premium. May such elite professionals continue to prosper!

In 2014, however, the so-called “bulk” segment (where inevitably “faster and cheaper” will be characterised as “better”) is likely to grow disproportionately faster than the “premium” and will provide most of the new opportunities for young translators. Like it or not, if “faster and cheaper” were not an imperative, most of us would still be doing our translations on typewriters (if not in longhand)!

As a government translator in my youth, I spent years in training to meet exacting standards of some abstract “absolute quality”. But the old paradigm has changed—even top performing solo practitioners like Chris Durban acknowledge the value of more contemporary definitions of “quality”—where the nature of translated output must meet the diverse needs of different customers—and as such, machine translation has a important (and rapidly growing) role to play.

While investment money appears to be pouring into new business models, the industry as a whole remains fragmented—the great bulk of the work continues to be transacted via thousands of very small LSPs who in turn rely on hundreds of thousands of freelance translators. These small LSPs are often “undersized, underfinanced, understaffed and underskilled” (see Luigi Muzii’s comments on Adam Blau’s 2014 industry predictions at http://www.blauconsult.com/2014-predictions-translation-localization-industry/) and will remain under price pressure in the coming year—despite the extraordinary growth in demand. Most freelancers shouldn’t expect any let-up from begging letters from LSPs promising more work if they would but drop their rates…

In 2014 we will see the next generation of young linguists entering the workforce—excited at the prospect of applying their skills and love of language (and languages) to solving problems that, perhaps, previous generations of translators could never have conceived of. It is unlikely that they will have the same kind of training that translators of my generation had (however much many of us will lament the fact). But they will undoubtedly acquire the sorts of skills needed to solve new, and perhaps even greater challenges than did we.


In 2014, many of them will take on the task of revising machine-translated texts with an alacrity that might make some of their older colleagues cringe.

About the author:


Paul Sulzberger was born in New Zealand and studied second language teaching methodology at Moscow State University in the late 1960’s. He completed his MA (Hons) degrees in modern languages and political science at Victoria University, Wellington. Later in life he completed his PhD in Applied Linguistics.
During the 1970’s Paul taught Russian at New Zealand's Otago University and then worked as a translator and interpreter for the New Zealand Government in the early to mid 1980s. In 1986, in collaboration with several other colleagues, he established his own translation company, New Zealand Translation Centre Ltd, which grew into the largest professional document translation provider in Australasia.
Dr Sulzberger has had wide experience in virtually all aspects of the translation industry from working as professional translator, an IT specialist dealing with computing in foreign languages to managing a translation company with a full-time complement of approximately 50 staff.
Dr Sulzberger currently devotes his time to being an enthusiastic grandfather, a little translation, and blogging on translation issues.
↧

Jak złożyć pozew do sądu - kilka formalności

January 27, 2014, 5:34 am
$
0
0
Dłużnik ociąga się ze spłatą pożyczki, "majster" narobił więcej szkód niż napraw, a sklep nie przyjmuje reklamacji wadliwego produktu. Stres, frustracja i bezsilność wywołują u nas chęć uzyskania natychmiastowego zadośćuczynienia. Na usta ciśnie się typowa dla tej sytuacji groźba: "Spotkamy się w sądzie!" 


Czy warto?

Złożenie pozwu do sądu powinno stanowić ostatecznie, a nie jedyne rozwiązanie sporu. Istnieje kilka istotnych kwestii, które należy wziąć pod uwagę, zanim skierujemy swoje kroki do budynku sądowego. W tym artykule wyjaśniam, jakie to kwestie i dlaczego warto je przemyśleć.
 
Formularz pozwu

W zależności od wnoszonego roszczenia, należy wypełnić odpowiedni formularz pozwu. Wszelkie formularze dostępne są w każdym sądzie, jak również na stronie internetowej www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk.Pozew można także złożyć na portalu www.moneyclaim.gov.uk.
Dla roszczeń składanych do sądu okręgowego (ang. county court), formularze podzielone są sekcje zatytułowane np. Claimant (powód), Defendant (pozwany), Details of claim (szczegóły roszczenia), Value (wartość roszczenia).
Przed przystapieniem do wypełnienia formularza pozwu, należy dokładnie zapoznać się z instrukcjami zawartymi w tzw. Claimant’s notes for guiadance. W razie dalszych niejasności, warto skontaktować się z linią informacyjną  Community Legal Service Direct pod numerem telefonu 0845 345 4345 lub za pośrednictwem strony internetowej www.clsdirect.org.uk.
Ewentualną pomoc można również otrzymać w Citizens Advice Bureau. Warto w tym miejscu zaznaczyć, iż personel sądu nie udziela pomocy w wypełnianiu formularza pozwu, ani nie doradza w kwestiach prawnych.

Sąd i opłaty

Wniesienie pozwu do wybranego przez nas sądu nie oznacza, że właśnie tam będzie toczyć się postępowanie - sprawa może być przeniesiona do innego sądu, jeśli okaże się, że nasze roszczenie zostało odparte i że pozwany będzie się bronił. Do przeniesienia zazwyczaj dochodzi, jeśli pozwany mieszka bądź prowadzi działalność gospodarczą w innym mieście. 
Warto również pamiętać o opłacie sądowej (ang. court fee), którą należy uiścić przy składaniu pozwu. Opłata ta zależna jest od wysokości odszkodowania, o które się ubiegamy. W przypadku, gdy opłaty sądowe będą stanowiły zbyt duże obciążenie dla naszego portfela, możemy złożyć wniosek o ich częściowe umorzenie. Wysokość obniżki będzie zależała od  naszej sytuacji finansowej. Dlatego, aby sąd mógł ją ustalić, musimy wypełnić formularz EX160A i załączyć potwierdzenie naszych dochodów, czyli kilka ostatnich „payslipów”. Formularz wraz z ulotką informacyjną można otrzymać w każdym sądzie, a także na stronie internetowej www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk.

Co dalej?
 
Bez względu na to, czy pozew został złożony online, czy w wersji papierowej, jego odpis wraz z formularzami odpowiedzi na pozew (ang. response pack) zostaną wysłane stronie pozwanej.Ta natomiast ma 14 dni na odesłanie odpowiedniego formularza odpowiedzi, w zależności od tego, jak zamierza ustosunkować się do roszczenia. Istnieją trzy opcje odpowiedzi: pozwany może przyjąć pełną odpowiedzialność, przyjąć częściową odpowiedzialność i odeprzeć część zarzutów lub w pełni odeprzeć roszczenie.
Po otrzymaniu odpowiedzi od strony pozwanej, sąd wyśle nam formularz N216 – powiadomienie o odesłanej dokumentacji. W przypadku, gdy strona pozwana nie odpowie na pozew, postępowanie będzie nadal się toczyć, z tym że bez obecności pozwanego.

Prawnik potrzebny od zaraz

Z zasady, zaleca się korzystanie z pomocy prawnika, gdy kwota roszczenia przekracza 5000 funtów, zwłaszcza gdy ubiegamy się o uzyskanie odszkodowania np. za uszczerbek na zdrowiu bądź za uszkodzenie mienia. Tego typu roszczenia są bardziej złożone, dlatego warto skorzystać z porady prawnej, aniżeli działać w pojedynkę. W mniej skomplikowanych przypadkach, np. gdy sprawa dotyczy odzyskania długu, nie ma już takiej konieczności.
Dla roszczeń w kwocie nieprzekraczającej 5000 funtów, które zostały odparte przez stronę pozwaną, asysta prawnika nie jest wymagana. Zamiast adwokata możemy natomiast poprosić członka rodziny lub znajomego, by nas reprezentował w sądzie.
Podejmując decyzję, czy skorzystać z porady prawnej, warto wziąć pod uwagę fakt, iż jako strona pozywająca, to my mamy obowiązek udowodnić, że druga strona ponosi wobec nas odpowiedzialność. Dlatego konieczna jest znajomość prawa oraz procedur sądowych w stopniu wystarczającym do przedstawienia naszej sprawy. Często również konieczne jest uzyskanie dowodów od osób z zewnątrz, na przykład lekarzy specjalistów, rzeczoznawców lub świadków zdarzenia.
Kolejną kwestią, którą musimy ustalić, to wysokość odszkodowania, o które będziemy się ubiegać. Kwota ta powinna być realistyczna, to znaczy proporcjonalna do wyrządzonej nam szkody. Wydając orzeczenie o wypłacie odszkodowania, sędzia musi mieć pewność, że na tym nie zarobimy, ale finansowo znajdziemy się w sytuacji jak przed wyrządzoną nam szkodą. Tutaj również przyda się pomoc prawna – specjalista doradzi nam, czy warto kontynuować sprawę i jaką wysokość odszkodowania powinniśmy żądać.

Bariera językowa

Podczas wypełniania formularza pozwu możemy doświadczyć trudności ze zrozumieniem terminów prawniczych, a co za tym idzie – z poprawnym wypełnieniem pozwu. Podobnie w przypadku dalszych czynności związanych z wnoszeniem roszczenia, nieznajomość języka może znacznie utrudnić nam całą procedurę, a także niekorzystnie wpłynąć na jej rezultat. W tym wypadku, należy poprosić kogoś znajomego lub członka rodziny, który posługuje się językiem angielskim w stopniu, który umożliwi pełne zrozumienie fachowych terminów i odpowiednie przedstawienie sprawy zarówno w mowie jak i piśmie. Jeśli nie mamy nikogo, kto mógłby nam w tym pomóc, warto skorzystać z usług profesjonalnego tłumacza.

Uwaga:
Powyższy artykuł nie stanowi porady prawnej i nie powinien być tak postrzegany. Artykuł ma charakter wyłącznie informacyjny. Autorka tekstu posiada wykształcenie prawnicze, ale nie jest praktykującym prawnikiem. Autorka nie ponosi odpowiedzialności za żadne konsekwencje wynikające z kierowania się informacjami zawartymi w artykule. W celu uzyskania profesjonalnej porady prawnej, należy skonsultować się z prawnikiem.
↧
↧

Translation Quality Control Assurance - what you can expect.

February 4, 2014, 12:39 am
$
0
0
Translators very often claim that they provide top quality translations. Yet, the way they do it and methods they use is a mystery. Are translators simply walking dictionaries, or perhaps they use some tricks to achieve perfection? This post should answer some of your questions and doubts as to what the translation process involves.
Translators always strive to assure that quality is built into the translation as early as possible in the translation process. What is more, they also seek for transparency and continuous improvement in their translation quality assurance by giving their clients an opportunity to participate in the process and by obtaining regular feedback. There are a few stages, which - if strictly observed - should guarantee a well-crafted translation. This is what you should expect from a good translator.

Project Review
What needs to be initially established is the essential information, i.e. the purpose of translation, target audience / readership, target format and target dialect. At this stage, you might expect requests for further information or questions, especially if there is a need to clarify any issues like inconsistencies or missing text. Don’t be tempted to think that if a translator asks you for clarification or anything else for that matter, it means they have no idea what they are doing, on the contrary, it only means that they care about this project and want to make sure that you will receive the best translation possible.
Tip for you: the more information and detailed instructions you give, the more tailored translation you will get.
Further preparations
It is a common practice among translators to read specialist literature in a given field before they start working on the project. This allows them to freshen up and expand their knowledge and ensures proper use of specialist terminology inherent to the subject matter of the text.
Many translators have a number of terminology resources in place that facilitate the process of translation and assure consistent use of specialist terminology throughout the project. These resources comprise mostly of subject related glossaries and dictionaries that translators will refer to while working on the translation. In case of legal translation, for example, an excellent resource are acts and codes where translators can find the right terms that are used in a given area of law.
Tip for you: if you have any glossaries or other resources with terminology that you use internally in your company, share this with the translator. This will prevent any terminological inconsistencies with what your employees, business partners or clients are used to.
Translation
After at least one reading of the whole document, some translators get to grips with more complex terms first and note down possible equivalents, while others dive straight into translation. During the translation process, the most important procedure is to derive meaning from the source text and transfer it into the target text. Needless to say, this process does not involve translating the original text word-for-word but idea-for-idea. Therefore, the task translators have to face is to maintain the meaning and function of the source text, even if they use different sentence constructions or grammatical forms.
Tip for you: be prepared for some further questions at this stage. Good translators are able to notice even the tiniest linguistic or factual nuances that they would want to clarify or confirm. Again, this is all for your benefit, so be prepared to make some inquiries if needed.
Specialisation
For texts of specialised content, translators rely on original resources on a particular subject matter, such as specialist literature, to ensure correct and consistent usage of industry-specific terminology. This is also where translators’ expertise kicks in: if they specialise in a given area, they will have broader and more thorough understanding of the concepts denoted by the terms they are translating. Specialisations are of significant importance in the translation industry. To find out why, take a look at the series of blog posts hosted by Speech Marks Translation http://speechmarkstranslation.com/category/specialisation-series/ .
Tip for you: make sure you hire a translator who has some solid background in the area they are translating in. A degree or practical experience in a given field are the strongest indicators that a translator is well prepared for the job.
Technology
It is no secret that technology plays a huge part in many types of services rendered by professionals. Translation is no different here. Translation memories and CAT ( Computer Assisted Translation) tools are commonly used by the majority and ensure both efficiency and better quality management.
Tip for you: CAT tools do not serve to produce automated translation, they are simply specialised software providing functions to increase productivity, manage terminology and facilitate handling high-volume projects.
Editing
In order to provide utmost professional quality, the target text (translated text) is compared with the source text (original text) in order to identify and correct any errors such as inaccuracies, wrong style or terminology. At this stage, editors also check the overall composition, cohesion and readability of the target text.

Proofreading
This phase requires meticulous review of the target text in order to find and correct all the grammar and spelling errors or incorrect punctuation. It is also essential that the formatting of the translated document matches: paragraphs are separated, numbering of each section is the same, fragments are in bold or underlined etc. Ideally, it should be done by a different person. Proofreading constitutes the final stage of the translation process and upon its completion, the translated text is ready to be delivered to the client.
Tip for you: if you do not need the translation as soon as possible, give the translator an extra day to proofread the translation. It is recommended to give the translation a one day “rest” and review it on the following day – this makes the proofreading process more effective.

Only a full and proper completion of all of the stages guarantees a top quality translation.
I hope this article has answered your questions about how translators assure quality in their work. After all, this is what you pay for, so you have a full right to expect transparency and even participation in the processes involved.
If you still have any questions or need more details about any of the stages mentioned, feel free to ask them in the comment section or simply email me at info@transliteria.co.uk



↧

Translation rates and charges – what you are paying for

March 4, 2014, 6:10 am
$
0
0
When you request a translation quote, you are given a price you probably do not understand. You also want to know why translators ask you about the number of words in your document, why the type of file matters and why some translators ask for a minimum charge.
Let us then take a closer look at what you are paying for when it comes to translation.

                                                What’s in a price?

It would seem obvious that when requesting a translation service you are paying strictly for the act of translating your document into another language. This is not always the case. 

Performance of a translation project involves tasks such as project management and proofreading – both of which tend to be included in the quoted price. Freelance translators do their project management by themselves and what you are paying for is their time to make a quote, exchange emails with you, prepare the document for translation, then translate it, edit and proofread the final draft, then there is delivery of the final translation, QA process, prepare the invoice, process payment, make a record of the completed project, bookkeeping etc. Mind you, when dealing with a translation agency, you pay for all those tasks being done by different people employed by the agency.

Some translators, when making a quote, may take into consideration their high qualifications and experience. This also applies to other professions when you pay the expert not only for the job itself but also for knowing how to do it. Therefore, you might expect that the higher the price, the better quality translation you will receive. Sadly though, this is not always the case, and you might get a horrible translation from someone whose rates are way above the others. What is very likely, however, is that a ridiculously low quote will mean that you are dealing with someone not sufficiently qualified. Tread carefully.

Per word / per line / per page

The way the translation cost is calculated varies from country to country and from language to language. The most common method is counting the amount of words in the source (original) document and multiplying it by the rate for each word. This is mostly used in the UK and the United States. In Germany, you will be charged per line, which consists of 55 characters, including spaces. Whereas in Poland and Bulgaria, translators will give you a quote based on the amount of pages, where a page includes 1800 characters with spaces.

Those differences in methods of calculation are very often a reflection of the discrepancies in the word count in the source and target document. Depending on a language pair and the direction of translation, the translated text will come out as shorter or longer than the original. I asked a few professional translators who work in different language pairs and all of them had a clear idea of how the discrepancies in the word count affect their fees. They agreed that a universal method of calculating the translation cost would be simply unfair. Christopher Sullivan said that charging a client per word for German to English translations would be unfeasible; words such as "Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaft” take up almost half a line and their English equivalents are several words long.
For the same reason, Margarida Cabral Bernardo charges her clients per line for the same language pair. She also said that because of the differences in the word count, some years ago “it was common sense among translators to charge between 10 and 15% more when translating into Latin based languages - i.e. Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and French”. Some translators still add a few percent to their rates for these languages.

Perhaps by the hour?

The charges based on the word count, although widely used and transparent, are not appropriate for more creative translation projects. These mostly include slogans, adverts and marketing messages that require transcreation rather than translation, and therefore, take much more time and effort to be rendered in another language. Therefore, for transcreation projects you may be charged per hour rather than per word but this would have to be set out before the agreement between you and the translator is made.

What is a minimum charge?

Minimum charge (also called minimum fee) is a fixed charge for very small projects, i.e. up to 150-300 words. The word count that constitutes the upper limit of small projects differs from translator to translator. 
The minimum charge covers the administrative work involved in the project. Let’s say, you ask a translator to translate a 50-word email. The job itself is worth a few pounds or euros, but the process of making a quote, the following email exchange, invoicing and payment process take time. Therefore, even if all those tasks would take only an hour, the translator would earn just a few pounds for a 1-hour service.
Very often, the minimum charge is used only for one-off projects. Regular clients, especially if they are invoiced monthly for regular projects usually pay the actual price for the job itself and even may get a few word translation free of charge!

Additional charges

Projects that require additional service or are urgent may require some additional charges. Many translators charge additional 25% - 50% if a translation needs to be done overnight or over the weekend.

You might also expect to pay up to 30% more for some PDF files or other non-editable files that are not supported by translation software. Many translators use special software that allows them to translate segment by segment – this guarantees efficiency, consistency and lack of omissions. If the use of the software is impossible because of the file type, translation will be much more time consuming.

Some translators offer desktop publishing as an additional service but charge for it accordingly. It requires an additional skill and takes extra time to recreate let’s say a brochure than just translate its content. 

Similarly to the minimum charge, the additional charge may not apply to existing clients, but this would depend on the project. However, if your trusted translator is asking you for an additional 50% for a large translation that simply must be completed by Monday, it is worth paying for that peace of mind that the document will be on your desk when you come to the office on Monday morning.

Conclusion

With the differences between methods of calculating the translation cost, the endless variety of projects and additional services that may be required for successful completion of a translation, it is important for translators to make their quotes transparent and to keep their clients properly informed about the actual costs of translation.


If you have any questions, as to what you might expect in terms of the costs, please ask a question in the comment section or alternatively email me on info@transliteria.co.uk.
↧

Does Localisation Make Sense?

March 21, 2014, 1:50 am
$
0
0
International trade has never been easier and more accessible than today. Technology, infrastructure and global opportunities efficiently facilitate trading across the countries and even distant continents. The temptation to expand to foreign markets and the potential growth resulting from reaching new customers encourage the companies to eventually make the move.


When deciding to export to a different country, it would seem a natural choice to leave the website, marketing materials and product information in English since the language has always been recognised as the language of the Internet and business for that matter.
Yet, billions of people do not understand English at all or have not mastered it to a level enabling them to make an informed decision about the purchase. It would appear then that the solution is to provide the relevant information in languages your potential customers understand, but is it worth the effort and the money? Will the localisation of a company’s website and products generate more sales?

These questions have been recently answered in great detail in a “Can’t Read, Won’t Buy” research conducted by Common Sense Advisory Inc., an independent market research company specialising in the language industry.

The study, based on a survey of 3,002 consumers in 10 countries across 4 continents revealed that localisation of websites and products can increase the companies’ sales.
According to the research, non-English speakers tend to avoid English-language websites and spend less time browsing them than the content in their native language. Consequently, foreign consumers do not buy products or services from a website they do not understand. The results of the study show that providing customers with materials in their local language translates into more sales.


The research also proves that language plays a vital role in the global market and that it is important for customers to access product information in their native tongue. “The journey from discovery to awareness to browsing to engagement to purchase must be supported by appropriate content at each step. Having that information available in the language of the visitor improves the customer experience by providing the right linguistic context for it” – says the report.
↧
Viewing all 75 articles
Browse latest View live
Search