“

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

—Winston Churchill

”

Patricia Bown

Director, PMO, McElroy Translation

Patricia joined McElroy in 1995 as a Translator Coordinator. Since then, she has held positions as Translation Manager, Vendor Manager, and currently is Director of the newly formed Project Management Office, where she now oversees project management and estimating as well as translation and vendor management. Among the new challenges she has accepted are streamlining project communications and integrating project planners and implementers under the same organizational umbrella. In addition to the never-ending supply of challenges, Patricia enjoys working with people from around the word, from whom she learns much about the human face of translation and the true value of long-term relationships. She has come to appreciate first-hand McElroy’s unique position and good reputation among translators worldwide.

Patricia grew up in South Dakota on the family farm that is still run by a couple of her numerous siblings. An independent streak and good advertising prompted her to join the Army after her first semester of college. She served by playing trombone in countless ceremonies and parades during a period that included the nation’s bicentennial anniversary. After leaving the service, she spent the next 10 years achieving her goal of receiving a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Texas Tech University. Throughout that time she also worked full-time (and part-time), married, had kids, divorced, and began what turned out to be an extended spell of single-parenting.

During more than eight years of employment at Texas Tech, she proofread dissertations for a few years, filled a short term as a technical editor, then transferred into a marketing position for the in-plant printing facility (her former all-time favorite job). She initiated programs that were instrumental in regaining market share within the parent organization, which happened not to be obligated to patronize the in-plant facility.

In 1991, Patricia joined the rush to Austin, at first to fill a marketing position for a start-up that beat the dot-com bust by several years, then as Director of Communications for a group-purchasing organization, and finally ending up at McElroy! As she has most of the time since her teens, she also works part-time as a church organist.

The sustaining joys of Patricia's life are her many relatives, including her three twenty-something daughters and her new husband's (yes, she married a translator) thirty-something son and daughter, the spouses and friends of their kids, and two extremely delightful grandchildren.

Russian Translation

McElroy is continuing this series of interviews that highlight some of the characteristics of languages used in doing business globally. This month, we look at Russian.

Map courtesy of Wikipedia

What are some pitfalls specific to Russian to avoid that a client should be aware of when translating into this language?

Transliterations, both in “general” and in special texts. For a well-known example, “killer” should not be translated as “киллер” but rather as “убийца” (an existing Russian word). For another example, “cystic fibrosis” is not “кистозный фиброз” but rather “муковисцидоз” or “фиброзно–кистозная дегенерация.” And for a third example, “mortgage” should be translated as “ипотека” (an existing Russian banking term) rather than transliterated as “мортгедж.”

New Russian terms. Sometimes, there is no direct single Russian equivalent of even a well-known English term. It is advisable to explain the meaning of the English term rather than invent or use a Russian semantically different “equivalent.” For example, there is a legal semantic difference between a “refugee” and an “asylee,” while quite often both have been translated as “беженец.” For another example, “claim” (in the context of insurance or in a different context of unemployment benefits) should almost always be explained to a Russian audience.

Biblical references. Translation of Biblical references (including names) should be done cautiously and in accordance with the canonical Russian Bible.

What are characteristics of Russian that are unique or different from English and/or other languages?

Word order in Russian sentences is free, unlike in English.

Punctuation rules in Russian (especially the use of commas) are more rigid than in English.

Capitalization in Russian is rather limited; usually only the first word in a multi-word name should be capitalized.

The English word “you” when referring to one person may mean either a formal polite reference to this person (“вы”) or much less formal (“ты”). These two kinds of reference are semantically very different. The translator should look at the context.

It became a bad habit to capitalize “вы” (“you”) and its derivatives everywhere in Russian documents. The Russian grammar permits such capitalization only in personally addressed (private) letters rather than in generic documents.

The absence of (definite as opposed to indefinite) articles in Russian requires the translator to find an appropriate way to express the relevant semantics of the English articles in Russian. As an example, consider Hayek’s paper “The theory of complex phenomena” (as opposed to “A theory...”).

Relate an example or two where you found a website page or form difficult to use because it was poorly localized. How might a business lose money, prestige, or incur legal risk due to this bad translation?

Illiterate translations. Quite a few Russian sites have translated “Duke University” either as “Графский университет” or as“Герцогский университет” - thus ruining their credibility. A simple search using yandex.ru resulted in at least 4 references to “Графский университет” and several hundred references to "Герцогский университет.” These are not just news sites, but, for example, even the site of the famous Moscow “Fiztech” (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology): Click Here.

See also above on the translation of “M.D.”

If possible, provide one example of a particular phrase or concept that only a properly qualified, professional translator would be able to correctly communicate.

Quite a few metaphors in American English texts (both general and technical) use baseball terms. Since baseball is not well-known in Russia, these terms cannot be translated literally, and the translator has to find an adequate "baseball-free" equivalent in Russian while retaining the semantics.

Read more...

Identity Theft Hurts In Any Language

McElroy Translation And ITRC Help Spanish Speakers Overcome Struggles With Identity Theft

Solution Summary

Challenges

• Identity theft is as much a problem among Spanish speakers as it is among native English speakers.
• Education and materials are not readily available to help Spanish speakers.
• Spanish speaking identity theft victims are often treated with disrespect by those with whom they must interact.

Solution

• The Identity Theft Resource Center produces numerous informational and educational documents and forms in English for victims.
• McElroy Translation, a full service language services provider based in Austin, Texas, donated its services for translation of key documents into Spanish.
• 34 victim oriented documents translated and made available to Spanish speakers through the ITRC website.

Results

• Better communication to Spanish-speaking victims.
• Quicker resolution of identity theft issues among Spanish speakers.

Identity Theft en Espanol: A Painful Intrusion

A credit card without a social security number, advertised on Mexican radio and television: Finally a chance for a Hispanic immigrant in the US to catch a break.

But is it? Actually, it is a real-life identity theft scheme that targets Hispanic Americans. And those caught up in the mess? They have very little recourse. They don’t know their rights, they may feel they don’t have any rights (if they are illegal), and they can be easily taken advantage by everyone from the thieves to the folks who are supposed to help them.

Identity theft is not a new problem. According to Gartner Research and other studies, there are between 9 and 15 million cases each year—a new case at least every 2.2 to 3.5 seconds.

Read more...

McElroy Gives to Room to Read

McElroy is donating $500 to Room to Read this month. Several people have nominated literacy programs, so this is in recognition of all of those nominations. Helping to improve the lives of children around the globe through promoting literacy is one way McElroy is giving back to our world community.

Room to Read partners with local communities throughout the developing world to establish schools, libraries, and other educational infrastructure. They seek to intervene early in the lives of children in the belief that education is a lifelong gift that empowers people to ultimately improve socioeconomic conditions for their families, communities, countries, and future generations.

Through the opportunities that only an education can provide, Room to Read strives to break the cycle of poverty, one child at a time. Learn more…