Before this year, I was more of a KudoZ asker than an answerer. For those of you who don't know, KudoZ is a system at ProZ whereby translators ask how to translate difficult terms and other translators post their answers. The more points an answerer is awarded, the higher his or her ranking. Additionally, it is a positive experience for the answerer because the ProZ community and anyone who searches that term or phrase on Google can see the quality of his or her research and reasoning.
To make KudoZ answering a better experience, I would like to give you a few tips:
- Only answer if you are positive or almost positive you know the translation. This usually means sticking to your field of expertise. If you have information to add but aren't sure of the translation, you can add reference information.
- Try to include as much information as possible in your answer (links to sites backing up your answer). If you only cite a dictionary as your reference, this may not be enough.
- Answer as fast as you can. If you don't somebody else may unwittingly post the same or a similar answer. One trick is to post the translation so you get your answer out quickly and then go back and edit your answer and include the definition and any other pertinent information.
- Don't succumb to the competition. As KudoZ is a competitive arena, other translators may try to discredit you. It is important not to get emotional about this and politely defend your answer if you think it's necessary. After all, your answer will be immediately indexed in Google and will stay there for a long time.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
El Plop - A source for slang.
You would be surprised how much slang pops up in legal documents. Even if judges and court clerks write in formal legal Spanish, the people who need to make use of the law sometimes do not. As part of being legal translators, we translate letters, sometimes handwritten, and witnesses' testimony.
One way to cope with this phenomenon is to amass a wealth of resources. You never know what you will be facing when you have a tight deadline. I have found El Plop helpful on numerous occasions. It is a compilation of words and phrases contributed by individual speakers from all over Spain and Latin America.
One way to cope with this phenomenon is to amass a wealth of resources. You never know what you will be facing when you have a tight deadline. I have found El Plop helpful on numerous occasions. It is a compilation of words and phrases contributed by individual speakers from all over Spain and Latin America.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Who said what to whom?
Spanish is a language in which it is not necessary to specifically name the subject of a sentence with a pronoun or otherwise. If I say canto, it is obvious that I am doing the singing because the verb cantar has the unique o ending for the first person singular. However, when we are dealing with the third person singular, (canta), we really don't know who is doing the singing without a context. He/she/it/the wind?/ sings. It gets even worse in the imperfect. Cantaba can mean I sang/used to sing, you (formal) sang/used to sing or he/she/it/a frog sang/used to sing.
Then we have su/sus. This word could correspond to his/her/its/your (formal singular and plural)/their. If there are several persons involved in an account and the text is not clear enough, it can be a potential pitfall to the translator.
Fortunately, most of the time, legal texts are fairly straightforward -barring the famous legalese, but that is a different problem. Legal language provides lingustic safeguards such as "del mismo/de la misma/de los mismos/de las mismas" to signify his/her/its/their. Similarly, if there is more than one person involved in a suit (there usually is), then you will commonly see "el primero/la primera" and "el segundo/la segunda" to signify the former and the latter.
In my experience, I have found that the ambiguous language comes from transcribed oral proceedings such as a reply to interrogatories (prueba confesional) where the respondent is required to answer questions about the facts of the case and his/her answers are written down. There is often a context which the translator is not entirely privy to, and the information is not presented in legal language.
My answer to this potential ambiguity is to read the unclear passage of the source text several times and, at the same time, ask myself "Who is doing what to whom?" There are usually several clues to help sort out the details.
Then we have su/sus. This word could correspond to his/her/its/your (formal singular and plural)/their. If there are several persons involved in an account and the text is not clear enough, it can be a potential pitfall to the translator.
Fortunately, most of the time, legal texts are fairly straightforward -barring the famous legalese, but that is a different problem. Legal language provides lingustic safeguards such as "del mismo/de la misma/de los mismos/de las mismas" to signify his/her/its/their. Similarly, if there is more than one person involved in a suit (there usually is), then you will commonly see "el primero/la primera" and "el segundo/la segunda" to signify the former and the latter.
In my experience, I have found that the ambiguous language comes from transcribed oral proceedings such as a reply to interrogatories (prueba confesional) where the respondent is required to answer questions about the facts of the case and his/her answers are written down. There is often a context which the translator is not entirely privy to, and the information is not presented in legal language.
My answer to this potential ambiguity is to read the unclear passage of the source text several times and, at the same time, ask myself "Who is doing what to whom?" There are usually several clues to help sort out the details.
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