ETHICS 1

Some of you may know I belong to two professional areas: performing arts and languages. We dancers are supposed to be the dumbest among the dumb. We are not. On the contrary, we are quite smart and we have really helpful life skills other professions lack. It is true that we are tough, both on ourselves and on each other but our ethics are solid.

If anything, the last two years have made me take a stronger stand on ethics, and believe me, they were pretty strong already.

We always talk about how there are a lot of untrained and unqualified people who work as translators and interpreters, and we all go “corporative” and proud, and rant about our training and all the money and time we have invested.

OK. Let’s see. This is something I see in my other profession, dance. When I was young, any good-looking girl would be hired by a TV station as a dancer just because they were pretty, in the very same way that people who speak two or more languages are hired as translators and interpreters. I am a qualified and certified dance teacher and I it pains me to see how many untrained dancers are giving lessons: they lack basic teaching and pedagogy knowledge and they can also injure their students just because they don’t know about child development or advanced anatomy. It’s the same in T&I: I am a translator/ interpreter and therefore I can teach (T&I or languages). Really? 

Teaching T&I is much more than knowing how to do what you do. You need to know why you do it.  You need to be didactic and you need to know how to teach. You need to know Linguistics, Language Acquisition, Cognition, Pedagogy and Psychology among other things. Additionally, you need to like it; if you don’t, it shows. And that, just like it is with people, is a two-way street, if you don’t like teaching, then teaching is not going to like you (and neither will your students). If you think teaching is standing there in front of your students bragging about your professional and personal achievements, again, you are wrong.

Then, my question is: is it ethical to become an untrained and unqualified teacher simply because you are a translator and interpreter? Shouldn't you get proper teaching training before teaching?

*"Ethical" almond milk matcha latte

Experience or training?

In my Research and T&I as a Profession courses this question has come up a few times. 

As I see it, on the one hand, we can have very highly qualified graduates from respected academic institutions that have no experience despite their “practical training” in class. I am not saying that that training is negative or does not count. Unfortunately, no matter how much you try to reproduce real world conditions, it is not going to be the real thing for one main reason: you are in a classroom for educational/ training purposes, and you are going to be assessed accordingly, not by real world standards.

On the other hand, we have highly experienced professionals that had little or no training in the field, maybe because it was not available at their time, that are also excellent at their job.

And then, we have a wide variety of combinations of both in between these two extremes.

There are academic papers that make a robust defence of training as well as others defending experience. I will not cite any of them, but in most cases, there is a problem with the amount of quantitative or qualitative data, and sometimes even both. Sometimes they are plainly biased. My point of view is that you need a combination of both, but you cannot rule out anyone for lacking training if they are well experienced or experience if the have a solid training.

However, I have been hearing from many people that experience is not important at all. They argue that having a degree of training will not only compensate for but, have more weight than having experience.

Please excuse me: if you are going to tell me that my almost twenty years in the field (yes I’m old) account for nothing, I am sorry to tell you that you are wrong. We, people with experience (and also training,) know the ropes of the trade precisely because of our experience, and that is something no diploma or certificate can provide. It is something that comes with time and, of course, experience.

Of course, training is important, but it is not enough on its own.

I am not going to say there is a right amount of training or experience to make the perfect professional if there is such a thing. In my opinion, there are different optimal combinations for various positions, and we all need to find our niche. We are all different, and that is good.

So, what’s your take: experience or training? Both?

Women in Localization – Silicon Valley Chapter Mentoring Meeting

Last Thursday I was happy to attend the Women in Localization – Silicon Valley Chapter Mentoring Meeting.

It was incredible.

It took place at Netflix, in Los Gatos, and they provided dinner, even for me! I am vegan and celiac (sugar intolerant too), and therefore my options are usually pretty scarce. I went with two classmates: Erérndira Saenz, the goddess of networking, and Emma Aguilar, the best TLM computer savvy technician in the world, she has saved my computer and devices, along with my life, more than once. I would advise everyone to keep an eye on them because they are really good, and I’m sure they will make it big. They are not only amazing professionals but also amazing human beings with high standards and ethics, something we don’t find that easily lately.

The event was excellent, the mentors were amazing and have incredible careers: Siobhan Hanna (Lionbridge), Katell Jentreau (Netflix), Katja Zuske (eBay), Teresa Marshall (Salesforce), Magdalena Enea (HighTech Passport), Manuela Furtado (Alpha US), Mimi Hills (VMware), Monique Nguyen (Welocalize), Yasmin Vanya (PlayStation), and Pia Bresnan (Moravia).

They were all inspiring. I attended the speed mentoring sessions given by Katell Jentreau (Netflix), Katja Zuske (eBay), Yasmin Vanya (PlayStation), and Mimi Hills (VMware). They all provided excellent points of view on the profession and on career development, as well as interesting insights on what mentoring is and what it is not.

If I had to choose one thing, it would be Katja Zuske’s “don’t rush it, enjoy every step of your way” and Siobhan Hanna’s “we have to support each other.” Oops, that was two, having to choose is always hard.

A mentor is someone who is there to guide you on your way up. Someone who might not be working in your same area, but that is able to provide valuable insight so you can improve in certain areas or acquire/ develop new skills. Someone who does not provide straight answers but helps you get on the right track. Someone who supports you.

While I was there, I realized I already have someone like that in my life. She was my boss for a few years and said “go for it” with a big smile when I said I was considering going to MIIS. Someone who has been there through all my ups and downs at MIIS and had full trust whatever I’d do would be the right option. This woman runs an amazing LSP called Tick Translations (if you haven’t heard of it, here’s some help http://www.ticktranslations.com/en/) that has just gotten a not so little sister, Cultural Connections (http://www.ticktranslations.com/CulturalConnections/). I have no words to express my immense respect and admiration, as well as how grateful I am, so I hope this will make it: Thank you, Silvia.

So, what's your take on mentoring?

Machine Translation

Long time no see, being a MIIS student does not allow for much leisure time.

I had my first real contact with the facts of MT a month ago and I must admit I loved it. Not bad for a "pre-technological" being like me. I also just created language teaching lessons using social media and feel and feel so proud of myself! But that's something I'll comment in another post (I also loved it).

Here are my thoughts about the future of MT, an essay I had to turn in for my Advanced CAT tools course at MIIS, taught by the amazing Adam Wooten.

I am fully convinced that MT will play a good part in the future of translation. My guess is that it will end merging with CAT tools (something like a much more advanced match or a better MT suggestion plug/ feature).

Still, no matter how good the MT product is, there will always be a need for a human editor/ reviewer who has to be a translator as they need to be able to grasp the nuances of both the source and target texts.

This does not have to carry negative implications for translators (human translator doomsday brought by MT): things will be different, easier in some ways, more complex in others.

I think MT can end up providing both the more basic, as in limited, version it is already offering (needing controlled language, the more controlled the better), and a more advanced product (not that restricted and higher quality). It is just a question of time; it also depends on the development of other technologies. Until then, if anything, MT, even without human revision, is the answer for those offering “peanuts” to human translators. By “peanuts” I mean those rates that could be defined as both hilarious and really depressing at the same time, we have all received one of those offers that already costs money for the time invested in reading the email ($0.012/ word and alike). So yes, MT is already doing us a favor, or should be, at least.

The MT engine project made me realize how good MT can be if we abide by the controlled language rules and the many applications it can have. Then, it is not hard to imagine we can work in broadening the borders of that controlled language until it is less limited. However, reaching the goal of unrestricted text might take some more time and effort, but I do believe it is possible if combined with other technological developments.

That said, I do believe some specific areas such as advertising, dubbing, literature and poetry are not candidates for MT, and I do not think they will ever be. However, it may be used for subtitles, for example, so MT will be used along with human translation in different fields and in different ways.

Also, the possibility of integrating MT and interpretation opens up a whole new world for interpreters and could make our jobs a little bit less stressing without taking away any of the fun.

As I see it, MT and all of its applications and potential developments are just the logical evolution of translation. All other aspects of the sciences are changing and evolving, translation, which I perceive as a hybrid of science and arts/ humanities, should not be an exception.

Networking

Despite having been a freelance translator and interpreter for more than fifteen years, I have never been a fan of networking. In fact, I did not see the point: I did my work, be it at home or the clients' premises and it was enough for me, I was happy with my little pool of clients.

Regardless, I took a course on Marketing for Translators, little did I know the instructor would become my boss some years later (best boss ever, by the way). The course proved valuable however it focused on marketing.

At one of the ATA's conferences I attended a speed networking session and I cannot say I liked it… I guess by now you already know I am not the social type.

However, MIIS has changed my point of view on networking. And not only thanks to our amazing career adviser but also thanks to two of my classmates who happen to have powerful networking and public speaking skills.

Lucy Jobe http://sites.miis.edu/ljobe/ is my personal social media guru. Thanks to her I got reacquainted with Twitter. In one of her speeches, she provided easy and helpful tips to maximize our use of this network with almost little effort. She has also created the MIIS MegaSec Twitter account to promote awareness about our consecutive interpretation practice sessions. For more info about Lucy https://twitter.com/lucielle_j and https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucyjobe. MIIS MegaSec https://twitter.com/MIIS_megasec.

When it comes to personal networking, Eréndira Sáez is my hero. She attends countless events and does not miss any opportunity to talk to new people and even recommend some friends for jobs! She does have a gift for socializing and networking, but she also believes in the usefulness of the later. She is right, a good part of all the good things MIIS can provide for us is the contacts. And not only for us, ultra stressed out MIIS students, but for anyone. For more information about Eréndira https://www.linkedin.com/in/erendirasaenz and https://twitter.com/ErendiraS.

Our world is increasingly becoming more and more cooperative, and translators and interpreters are not isolated anymore. As an almost pathologically shy person, I find it pretty awkward to start talking to just anyone, however, once the first twenty seconds are over, the conversation gets smoother. Current times require us to be good communicators and salespeople. At first, I thought that having a well rehearsed "elevator speech" was not for me and a waste of my time. I couldn't have been more wrong. Having a "basic shot speech" about yourself will come handy in many different situations, and as you never know where your next opportunity will come from, I would encourage everybody to have one.

TRI: To CAT or not to CAT

http://therollinginterpreter.blogspot.com

Welcome

Welcome to a new space that aims to provide some food for thought for translators and interpreters. Are you a geeky translator? Are you afraid of technology? Are you an interpreter who hates translation? Are you both a translator and interpreter? Do you have a Z language? Whatever your case, you’ll be welcome here. 

After 17 years as a freelancer, becoming a MIIS student has changed some of my opinions and positions about the profession and the business.

Let’s roll!