As a professional linguist language learning is something I'm keen to promote, and a New Year presents new opportunities to learn new skills. How can you reach your goal?
Have a reason to learn - Some people start every New Year with the same old list - eat healthier, go to the gym, learn a language - only to fall back into their old routine after a few weeks. So it’s important to think about why you want to learn Spanish. There are many possible reasons - to get a better job, to travel, to enjoy the culture of the country where the language is spoken, to communicate with family members who don’t speak English.
Try to clearly define why you want to study the language, what you want to do with the language (speak it, write it, just read it or all three?) and how you can achieve this - will you learn at home with books and CD’s, assist a class or use a private tutor?
Visualise - Create a mental picture of yourself using the foreign language according to the reason why you want to learn - you could be sitting in a restaurant ordering a meal, watching a foreign language movie or making a business presentation, but allow yourself to dream about this vision - make it as real as possible and you’ll feel motivated to keep learning.
Enlist a friend - It’s always easier to fulfil your goal if you have a buddy to work with, so why not convince your partner, spouse or best friend to team up with you. You can help motivate one other. Why not arrange to meet up with fellow students once a month for a coffee and a revision session, or create a wiki or forum where you can all share ideas and tips. If you live in a university town there may be foreign students who would be happy to spend half an hour a week for conversation practice.
Mix ’n’ match - Language learning should be fun, so mix learning with pleasure. Do you play football or enjoy painting? Look out for foreign language websites on those subjects and you’ll be surprised at how much you can actually understand. Some of your favourite websites might have pages translated into the language you’re learning. By focusing on topics that you enjoy learning you take part of the hard work out of learning.
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Friday, 19 November 2010
Why use a professional translator? Execution yards and Barf Washing Powder - that’s why!
At a time when businesses are facing budget cuts, pay freezes and tough markets, it’s easy to feel that passing on translation work to staff who “know a bit of Spanish” is a cheaper option that using a professional translator. Well beware - it may be cheap in the short term but it can be very costly in the long run. Let me explain by illustration:
Imagine the horror of reading that you are in a prison with an execution yard! That’s how a booklet for Russian prisoners in Lincoln Prison* described the exercise yard according to a recent report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons.
Would you wash your clothes with Barf Washing Powder? That’s the offer on one of the latest ads in the English language section of the European TV channel Euronews.
These two examples just indicate how a single word can change the entire meaning or intent of what is said. Think of the effect of such a misunderstanding on one of your products. Multiply that by the amount of money wasted on advertising that error and again by the cost of correcting it. Now you see my point. We often use the phrase “lost in translation” to indicate that communication has broken down in the translation process, but actually translation produces the opposite effect - it opens doors, overcomes linguistic and cultural barriers, making it easier for you to sell your products or services.
It may cost more, but after all you’re paying a qualified professional to do the job right. Just because the office junior knows how to surf the net, would you let them design your company website? Of course not, you’d pay a professional web designer. Well why let them translate your company information for potential clients worldwide? Professional translators invest heavily in their education, often having spent several years living in the foreign country itself, and follow a program of Continued Professional Development which covers both business and IT skills as well as a specialised knowledge of the topics they translate.
More than that, they have a native-like knowledge of the languages they work with, and here in the UK professional translators only translate from the foreign language into their native tongue, so they are aware of the cultural nuances of the languages in question. That’s why I can tell you now - the ad for Barf Washing Powder was done by a non-native English speaker, because a native speaker would have understood in a flash the connotations of the word barf.
So the next time you want a document translated, think twice before reaching for the phone. Use a language professional. Better to be pound wise than penny foolish.
*Prisons: Execution yard is lost in translation, The Independent, 18 November 2010
Imagine the horror of reading that you are in a prison with an execution yard! That’s how a booklet for Russian prisoners in Lincoln Prison* described the exercise yard according to a recent report by the Chief Inspector of Prisons.
Would you wash your clothes with Barf Washing Powder? That’s the offer on one of the latest ads in the English language section of the European TV channel Euronews.
These two examples just indicate how a single word can change the entire meaning or intent of what is said. Think of the effect of such a misunderstanding on one of your products. Multiply that by the amount of money wasted on advertising that error and again by the cost of correcting it. Now you see my point. We often use the phrase “lost in translation” to indicate that communication has broken down in the translation process, but actually translation produces the opposite effect - it opens doors, overcomes linguistic and cultural barriers, making it easier for you to sell your products or services.
It may cost more, but after all you’re paying a qualified professional to do the job right. Just because the office junior knows how to surf the net, would you let them design your company website? Of course not, you’d pay a professional web designer. Well why let them translate your company information for potential clients worldwide? Professional translators invest heavily in their education, often having spent several years living in the foreign country itself, and follow a program of Continued Professional Development which covers both business and IT skills as well as a specialised knowledge of the topics they translate.
More than that, they have a native-like knowledge of the languages they work with, and here in the UK professional translators only translate from the foreign language into their native tongue, so they are aware of the cultural nuances of the languages in question. That’s why I can tell you now - the ad for Barf Washing Powder was done by a non-native English speaker, because a native speaker would have understood in a flash the connotations of the word barf.
So the next time you want a document translated, think twice before reaching for the phone. Use a language professional. Better to be pound wise than penny foolish.
*Prisons: Execution yard is lost in translation, The Independent, 18 November 2010
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Building a National Language? The Plight of Gaelic
A recent report by the Royal Society highlighting concerns over the development of the Gaelic language claims that every year up to 860 individuals need to become fully bilingual in order to halt the decline of the language. This news presents me with a moral dilemma - as a linguist it pains me to see the decline of any language since it also represents a cultural loss to mankind, another part of the intercultural patchwork of humanity unravelling - but as a Scot I am also tempted to think “So what?”
In recent years there have been huge steps forward in the development and promotion of Gaelic language learning, largely due to the fact that the Scottish Nationalist Party is in power. That in itself makes the whole process quite suspicious and - characteristically SNP - more to do with political ambition rather than educational or cultural reasons. However, despite these advances the general uptake of Gaelic has failed to stem the decline of the language, and that in part may be due to other factors.
Firstly, the concept of Gaelic as the “language of Scotland” is more of a romantic notion than a historical reality. It was only the language of the Western Isles and the Highlands. The majority of Scotland’s population actually spoke Scots or Lowland Scots as it is sometimes called. While some people class Scots as nothing more than a variation of English, it was a language in its own right which developed alongside English until James VI of Scotland became James I of England and moved his Court down to London. From then on English became the language of social mobility and prestige and Scots became less popular among the educated rich. The language went into further declined after the Act of Union in 1707.
So really, the majority of Scots today have no real affinity to Gaelic but they still do preserve some Scots dialect in their regional variety of English - with words like bairn (child), gleckit (stupid) or tane (taken). There is seen in the great variation in the vocabulary of cities like Glasgow, Edinburgh of Dundee for example. That being the case, why even bother to learn Gaelic? Should we not be trying to develop our use of Scots? That’s something the SNP seems to have neglected and for good reason.
You see to go down the road of independence you must have a strong sense of national identity. To develop the concept of national identity you need to develop national symbols - like a national anthem, national symbols and of course a national language. (Although initiating small changes like having a Scottish Government instead of an Executive also contribute to this end because it develops a sense of legitimacy.) Herein lies the problem. To develop a national language you have to control some specific steps - all of which take time - and the first step is to develop an acceptance that Gaelic is a language of prestige, something worth learning, and that’s just not happening!
Secondly, in a globalised world of international trade, should we really be devoting so many resources to learning Gaelic? At a time when the Scottish economy is struggling, when there is such a lack of modern language uptake among school children and young adults, when we need to develop export and trade links abroad in order to grow our economy, is Gaelic really a priority? We need to look outwards not inwards.
And thirdly, language learning in itself does not produce bilingualism in the academic sense of the word. At its most simple level bilingualism can be defined as the ability to speak more than one language. However, it is actually a very complex and diverse condition, and the majority of advance proficiency language learners might never develop true bilingualism. So what is really required is that at the very least, up to 860 people per year have to be brought up speaking both Gaelic and English from infancy to adulthood so that both languages are acquired at a native or near-native speaker level. Quite a mean feat under the current circumstances.
In recent years there have been huge steps forward in the development and promotion of Gaelic language learning, largely due to the fact that the Scottish Nationalist Party is in power. That in itself makes the whole process quite suspicious and - characteristically SNP - more to do with political ambition rather than educational or cultural reasons. However, despite these advances the general uptake of Gaelic has failed to stem the decline of the language, and that in part may be due to other factors.
Firstly, the concept of Gaelic as the “language of Scotland” is more of a romantic notion than a historical reality. It was only the language of the Western Isles and the Highlands. The majority of Scotland’s population actually spoke Scots or Lowland Scots as it is sometimes called. While some people class Scots as nothing more than a variation of English, it was a language in its own right which developed alongside English until James VI of Scotland became James I of England and moved his Court down to London. From then on English became the language of social mobility and prestige and Scots became less popular among the educated rich. The language went into further declined after the Act of Union in 1707.
So really, the majority of Scots today have no real affinity to Gaelic but they still do preserve some Scots dialect in their regional variety of English - with words like bairn (child), gleckit (stupid) or tane (taken). There is seen in the great variation in the vocabulary of cities like Glasgow, Edinburgh of Dundee for example. That being the case, why even bother to learn Gaelic? Should we not be trying to develop our use of Scots? That’s something the SNP seems to have neglected and for good reason.
You see to go down the road of independence you must have a strong sense of national identity. To develop the concept of national identity you need to develop national symbols - like a national anthem, national symbols and of course a national language. (Although initiating small changes like having a Scottish Government instead of an Executive also contribute to this end because it develops a sense of legitimacy.) Herein lies the problem. To develop a national language you have to control some specific steps - all of which take time - and the first step is to develop an acceptance that Gaelic is a language of prestige, something worth learning, and that’s just not happening!
Secondly, in a globalised world of international trade, should we really be devoting so many resources to learning Gaelic? At a time when the Scottish economy is struggling, when there is such a lack of modern language uptake among school children and young adults, when we need to develop export and trade links abroad in order to grow our economy, is Gaelic really a priority? We need to look outwards not inwards.
And thirdly, language learning in itself does not produce bilingualism in the academic sense of the word. At its most simple level bilingualism can be defined as the ability to speak more than one language. However, it is actually a very complex and diverse condition, and the majority of advance proficiency language learners might never develop true bilingualism. So what is really required is that at the very least, up to 860 people per year have to be brought up speaking both Gaelic and English from infancy to adulthood so that both languages are acquired at a native or near-native speaker level. Quite a mean feat under the current circumstances.
Friday, 15 October 2010
Planting the Seeds of a Freelance Career
As exciting as being your own boss is, it’s also a daunting prospect, especially as a novice translator. There’s so much involved in setting up as a freelancer - organising your workspace, joining professional bodies, contacting translation agencies, trying to develop a translation speciality, getting yourself “out there” - and all of this takes place under the shower of “what ifs.”
What if my language skills aren’t up to scratch?
What if I can’t make enough money to pay the bills?
What if my computer skills are too limited?
The list could go on and on but to be honest, who hasn’t felt the same way when starting a new job? Even the most skilled professional translator had to start somewhere, and while many translators would suggest that spending some time as an in-house translator is the best way to gain experience and industry knowledge that’s just not possible or practical to most new translators.
So maybe part of the solution lies in the old adage that failing to plan is just like planning to fail. That planning can easily fall into two categories:
1. Business planning
While the prospect of working at home in your pyjamas, drinking endless cups of coffee while daytime TV plays in the background sounds appealing to some, remember that you still have to make a living out of your freelancing! So be business-like.
• Contact your local Business Link Office.
Arrange to attend some of their workshops(http://www.businesslink.gov.uk). These cover different aspects of starting a new business, such as business planning, finance, bookkeeping etc. They also organise network events and carry out industry wide research that can help you find potential clients.
• Think marketing!
You can build a fairly basic but attractive website by using a hosting service like Mr Site (http://www.mrsite.co.uk) or Moonfruit (http://www.moonfruit.com) without any real knowledge of web design - and all for a few pounds a month! You can also get free business cards and stationery by using a service like Vistaprint. (http://www.vistaprint.co.uk) At this stage there’s no need to spend a fortune, so update your social websites like Facebook or LinkedIn, and use them to inform and hopefully encourage your contacts to promote your business for you.
2. Professional planning
You can still work with experienced translators without having an in-house position with a translation agency. How? By joining the UK’s two principal professional bodies for the translation industry - the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (http://www.iti.org.uk) and the Chartered Institute of Linguists (http://www.iol.org.uk)
• Both organisations operate student and associate membership grades for those studying or starting out in the profession. Membership benefits include a subscription to trade magazines so you can keep up to date with new developments
• Both run internet forum groups on a variety of subject areas and languages, so you can ask questions, get to know other translators and get involved in other professionals activities.
• Both offer excellent opportunities to attend training, networking and social events. Huge emphasis is placed on Continued Professional Development or CPD, which encourages you to develop new and existing skills and achieve a greater level of professionalism in your work.
So really, there is a massive amount of help out there. Plant the seeds and with time they’ll start to grow and develop.
What if my language skills aren’t up to scratch?
What if I can’t make enough money to pay the bills?
What if my computer skills are too limited?
The list could go on and on but to be honest, who hasn’t felt the same way when starting a new job? Even the most skilled professional translator had to start somewhere, and while many translators would suggest that spending some time as an in-house translator is the best way to gain experience and industry knowledge that’s just not possible or practical to most new translators.
So maybe part of the solution lies in the old adage that failing to plan is just like planning to fail. That planning can easily fall into two categories:
1. Business planning
While the prospect of working at home in your pyjamas, drinking endless cups of coffee while daytime TV plays in the background sounds appealing to some, remember that you still have to make a living out of your freelancing! So be business-like.
• Contact your local Business Link Office.
Arrange to attend some of their workshops(http://www.businesslink.gov.uk). These cover different aspects of starting a new business, such as business planning, finance, bookkeeping etc. They also organise network events and carry out industry wide research that can help you find potential clients.
• Think marketing!
You can build a fairly basic but attractive website by using a hosting service like Mr Site (http://www.mrsite.co.uk) or Moonfruit (http://www.moonfruit.com) without any real knowledge of web design - and all for a few pounds a month! You can also get free business cards and stationery by using a service like Vistaprint. (http://www.vistaprint.co.uk) At this stage there’s no need to spend a fortune, so update your social websites like Facebook or LinkedIn, and use them to inform and hopefully encourage your contacts to promote your business for you.
2. Professional planning
You can still work with experienced translators without having an in-house position with a translation agency. How? By joining the UK’s two principal professional bodies for the translation industry - the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (http://www.iti.org.uk) and the Chartered Institute of Linguists (http://www.iol.org.uk)
• Both organisations operate student and associate membership grades for those studying or starting out in the profession. Membership benefits include a subscription to trade magazines so you can keep up to date with new developments
• Both run internet forum groups on a variety of subject areas and languages, so you can ask questions, get to know other translators and get involved in other professionals activities.
• Both offer excellent opportunities to attend training, networking and social events. Huge emphasis is placed on Continued Professional Development or CPD, which encourages you to develop new and existing skills and achieve a greater level of professionalism in your work.
So really, there is a massive amount of help out there. Plant the seeds and with time they’ll start to grow and develop.
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Unequal Opportunities with John Humphreys - BBC2 Monday 20 September
For those of you who saw John Humphreys’ BBC2 programme on the attainment gap between pupils from poor backgrounds and their richer counterparts, it was indeed very thought provoking. Despite massive investment in education over the past decade, the gap seems to be growing wider which will have drastic consequences on society in years to come.
However, the analysis fell into the trap of oversimplifying the relationship between poverty and academic achievement and their subsequent effect on social mobility. While the link between the two is essentially a “no-brainer” Humphreys’ analysis failed to pick up on two essential points.
Firstly, the fault does not lie with private education - there will always be people richer than you who can pay for private education, tuition or anything else for that matter. The quandary is that in modern Britain there shouldn’t be “good” schools or “bad” schools - every school should be a “good” school and as the BBC2 programme highlighted, funding is not the single determining factor. It falls to good leadership, good teaching and a desire to promote excellence. So the question that should be addressed is: Why are there not more “good schools”?
Secondly, the education system can only help break the poverty trap when parents come on board - something Humphreys ignored. A crazy comment was made by a primary teacher from Tower Hamlets, London - that despite living near a park there are “three year old children who have never set foot on grass let alone be taken to a museum or a cinema.”
Sorry, but this has nothing to do with poverty - it’s down to lazy, uninterested parents. It costs nothing to go to a park, library, museum or art gallery. Many of those same parents have no problem spending their cash on plasma TV’s and the latest mobile phones yet can’t afford a bus ride into town to take their kids to the local museum? Stop blaming poverty for what is nothing more than a can’t be bothered attitude! If parents took the time to engage their children more rather than sitting back and expecting the state or the school to do all the work, some of these kids would have a better chance to fulfil their potential.
Education can liberate people from a life of poverty and ignorance but only when it is valued.
Do you agree? If not, why not? let me know by leaving a comment.
However, the analysis fell into the trap of oversimplifying the relationship between poverty and academic achievement and their subsequent effect on social mobility. While the link between the two is essentially a “no-brainer” Humphreys’ analysis failed to pick up on two essential points.
Firstly, the fault does not lie with private education - there will always be people richer than you who can pay for private education, tuition or anything else for that matter. The quandary is that in modern Britain there shouldn’t be “good” schools or “bad” schools - every school should be a “good” school and as the BBC2 programme highlighted, funding is not the single determining factor. It falls to good leadership, good teaching and a desire to promote excellence. So the question that should be addressed is: Why are there not more “good schools”?
Secondly, the education system can only help break the poverty trap when parents come on board - something Humphreys ignored. A crazy comment was made by a primary teacher from Tower Hamlets, London - that despite living near a park there are “three year old children who have never set foot on grass let alone be taken to a museum or a cinema.”
Sorry, but this has nothing to do with poverty - it’s down to lazy, uninterested parents. It costs nothing to go to a park, library, museum or art gallery. Many of those same parents have no problem spending their cash on plasma TV’s and the latest mobile phones yet can’t afford a bus ride into town to take their kids to the local museum? Stop blaming poverty for what is nothing more than a can’t be bothered attitude! If parents took the time to engage their children more rather than sitting back and expecting the state or the school to do all the work, some of these kids would have a better chance to fulfil their potential.
Education can liberate people from a life of poverty and ignorance but only when it is valued.
Do you agree? If not, why not? let me know by leaving a comment.
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Languages develop, grow and die!
While many people imagine learning a new language to be a dull affair with dusty grammar books, endless vocabulary lists and rote learning, languages are actually more akin to living things than most people appreciate.
Languages develop and grow with time - and the English language is probably one of the best examples of this. Look back 20 years and we would never have used words like "blog" or "twitter" as we do today. In fact since Shakespeare's time over a million words have been added to the English language.
That's why learning a language requires constant effort - we will never know all there is to know about our mother tongue let alone a second or third language that we have come to master!
Sadly, by the same token languages also die out. There are many reasons why this is the case, some of which are politically, socially or ethically motivated. Regardless of the reason the death of a language represents the death of a cultural entity.
We talk of the world being like a global village, well the death of a language is like letting a historic building fall into decay and ruin. It might not seem important to some people but to linguists it's a tragedy.
Languages develop and grow with time - and the English language is probably one of the best examples of this. Look back 20 years and we would never have used words like "blog" or "twitter" as we do today. In fact since Shakespeare's time over a million words have been added to the English language.
That's why learning a language requires constant effort - we will never know all there is to know about our mother tongue let alone a second or third language that we have come to master!
Sadly, by the same token languages also die out. There are many reasons why this is the case, some of which are politically, socially or ethically motivated. Regardless of the reason the death of a language represents the death of a cultural entity.
We talk of the world being like a global village, well the death of a language is like letting a historic building fall into decay and ruin. It might not seem important to some people but to linguists it's a tragedy.
Monday, 5 July 2010
As the holiday season gets underfoot many Brits will be packing their sun-tan lotion and heading off to foreign lands. Sadly, we Brits have a terrible reputation abroad when it comes to language skills. Recently Irene Macías wrote about our apparent unwillingness to learn foreign languages recently in the Times Higher Education supplement*. For those working in the tourist industry it is a sad reflection on our desire (or lack of it) to give a good level of customer service.
Some say it’s because of our island mentality - all our neighbours speak English (of a sort!), while on the continent speaking a second or even a third language is not just common, it’s almost expected.
So let’s look at a couple of common misconceptions…
1. “Everyone speaks English anyway”
Wrong! If that were the case we’d have no problems abroad. While many people see English as the key to economic success - a better job, income or education - 75% of people in the world speak don’t speak any English**. In the future that might change as languages like Chinese and Spanish develop - Spanish is already the second language of the United States.
2. “I’m too embarrassed to try and say a few words in their language”
Actually you’ll find that people will warm to you and show you a lot of respect because you actually bother to say a few words - even if you’re pronunciation is a bit dodgy! It tells them that you are interested in their culture and lifestyle.
3. “I’ve tried to learn a few phrases but no-one understand me!”
That might happen, but don’t be put off! Remember - people everywhere have different accents - even when you visit somewhere new in the UK you might get some strange looks when you start to speak - so it’s not personal, don’t be put off.
So why not try brushing up your language skills before going on holiday. Some colleges and universities run language classes for holiday makers and you can find some free lessons on i-tunes or YouTube.
* http://timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=412280&c=2
** http://www.cilt.org.uk/home/valuing_languages.aspx
Some say it’s because of our island mentality - all our neighbours speak English (of a sort!), while on the continent speaking a second or even a third language is not just common, it’s almost expected.
So let’s look at a couple of common misconceptions…
1. “Everyone speaks English anyway”
Wrong! If that were the case we’d have no problems abroad. While many people see English as the key to economic success - a better job, income or education - 75% of people in the world speak don’t speak any English**. In the future that might change as languages like Chinese and Spanish develop - Spanish is already the second language of the United States.
2. “I’m too embarrassed to try and say a few words in their language”
Actually you’ll find that people will warm to you and show you a lot of respect because you actually bother to say a few words - even if you’re pronunciation is a bit dodgy! It tells them that you are interested in their culture and lifestyle.
3. “I’ve tried to learn a few phrases but no-one understand me!”
That might happen, but don’t be put off! Remember - people everywhere have different accents - even when you visit somewhere new in the UK you might get some strange looks when you start to speak - so it’s not personal, don’t be put off.
So why not try brushing up your language skills before going on holiday. Some colleges and universities run language classes for holiday makers and you can find some free lessons on i-tunes or YouTube.
* http://timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=412280&c=2
** http://www.cilt.org.uk/home/valuing_languages.aspx
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