By Kimberlee Thorne-Waintraub, owner of Small World Language Services & Quality Translation, Seasoned Proofreader, Language Arts & Culture Coach and wearer of many other hats
It’s interesting how one becomes naturally impelled to write something like this, in the quest for defining your own personal, yet ever changing definition and how my experiences shape my role in this global community of language collaborators. My contribution today is an attempt to convey how my personal experience has evolved into who I am today.
When I started accepting my first official language gigs in this industry, it was unknown to me that I was making a natural professional transition from verbal communication to that of written, after attempting to mentor my own language students into techniques that would help them communicate in the best way possible.
Moreover, I was tired of doing the same thing, answering the same basic questions over and over again and although I loved the social and cultural interaction with my English students on a personal basis, I was a little bored (more like “drained”) and frankly speaking, I wanted to delve deeper into different languages and find the inner workings of why and how languages work and what makes them tick…
I wanted to work in an area that stimulated me intellectually and one that would force me to read varied texts that would enrich my own vocabulary, yet one that allowed me to reconstruct them and make them better, while adding my personal touch. Fortunately, my wish was granted. Hurray!
This “new activity” consisted of proofreading and editing jobs for my English students and clients who needed real help in creating and rewriting their own essays and emails for their own academic and business correspondence and documents, and others which required a native English speaker’s polished touch.
This required the perspective of someone who could understand the language nuances, grammar and subtleties in English, but ideally it could only be interpreted correctly by someone who had been born and raised in an English speaking country, and who later moved to a foreign country and lived enough time there to understand how the locals live and think on a daily basis and understand their mindsets. It helped to be married to a local, thus I got the inside view instead of a tourist one.
In my case, I started out as a private English teacher (15 years as of date), and with time, due to the immersion process of experiencing daily life in a foreign environment, I could also the roots of the original or source language (in my case, Spanish) in order to understand the thinking process of someone who thought in another mindset, which is a separate chapter in itself, and maybe even a whole series of research that has been done by others on this subject…
Thus, I soon began to realize that there was a huge need for written text to be handled clearly, concisely and be well-communicated, so I began a somewhat fruitless quest in my attempt to teach them how to do this on a personalized level. However, I also realized after a time, that unless the individual had been taught to write clearly in his/her own native language and had continued to utilize these skills on a fairly regular basis, it was very unlikely that the same concept could be taught and successfully incorporated in a second or foreign language.
In summary, and many years later, after taking on one too many poorly written texts in Spanish and Portuguese to English, I have also come to the very clear conclusion that very few texts are written well in the first place…
This is a real issue that we deal with as writers, translators, editors, reviewers and post QA professionals who are given the task of dealing with a less than perfect text that we, for as much as we struggle to do our personal and group best, can rarely produce a quality text, simply due to the fact that the “raw material”, otherwise known as “the source text” got off on “the wrong foot”. I have often witnessed the process of a text that went wrong somehow, since my professional duties are mainly two-fold: Project Management and Revision.
In this fast-paced world that has become accustomed to instant (just add water) food preparation, auto-pilot and mass production, few are able to take the time and effort required to truly do something well, yet we understand that some processes really do deserve to be done in a careful and time-taking fashion, i.e., slow food, cheese, wine, and yes, business reports and written documents (especially emails) are no exception. Therefore, we find that if these necessary steps aren’t taken, the results are far from satisfactory in the end and the end product or service suffers greatly…
As a seasoned reviewer and often the last stop for Quality Assurance, I naturally detect errors in written text in so many places where one would think and take for granted that someone has at least re-read or proofread the text before sending it along to the readers. This is commonly found in social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, professional CVs and cover letters, emails, blogs and newspapers. Furthermore, with so many texts going around continually on the Internet these days, this trend is growing more prevalent, and at an alarming rate, in my opinion.
I’d like to start with the definition of what Proofreading means, according to BusinessDictionary.com (http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/proof-reading.html):
Careful reading (and rereading) of a (yet to be finally-printed) document, to detect any errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar. It may also involve checking of different elements of a layout (such as headlines, paragraphs, illustrations, and colors) for their correct dimensions, placement, type, etc. Every author knows that (despite the spelling checking abilities of modern word processors) a human proof reader is indispensable. See also editing.
Many of you reading this will probably be thinking, “how obvious”, probably due to the fact that you work with language on a regular basis… But you may be surprised to hear that texts are getting worse in these modern times, especially due to the onset of emails, chat sessions and text messages that often corrupt and abbreviate text. Don’t even let me get started on today’s generation of youth that will consequently be those who write our future texts!
I often see e-mails in English that make me think, “Uh-oh. This person is in trouble!” I often wonder if they realize how their writing abilities portray them as a business professional and expose their corporate and personal images openly to others.
Typos and words that are similar from one language to another are what we call “false friends”. They appear to be one thing in one language, but it clearly has another meaning in the second language.
I will use a real example from one of my clients, when I asked about a payment that hadn’t been sent out, and this is the reply I received from my client:
Dear Kim,
I am sorry for the incontinence you had. I am in Italy and just got your message and took care of it right away. For some reason your invoice did not reach the accounting, so I have made sure you will be paid.
Best regards,
If you don’t know what “incontinence” means, I’ll tell you now. It means the inability to retain your own body liquids – a condition that is frequent among elderly people, but certainly not for people my age (I’m in my mid 40s now).
Additionally, when you write in a language that is not your own native tongue, you might tend to rely on your own abilities to do it well, without knowing that it doesn’t sound natural in a foreign tongue. But let’s face it – we are prone to make mistakes, especially since we may not be aware of the fact that we’re making them. It may be more forgivable to make those mistakes while with friends and family, but it’s not alright to make them in business, especially when your image is so at stake.
And since English is the language we currently use in business throughout the world, our writing skills are constantly put to the test. Make sure you proofread/review your written text and if you can, have it read by a native of the language you’re writing in. As a minimum, run the spellchecker in that language. You may be surprised how many mistakes have been made.
Until your writing skills get up to par in a foreign tongue, try to rely on a good native speaker to help you out. There are experts available who can provide you with professional services like email writing and revision, document creation and translation, with the aim of helping you communicate better.
Kimberlee Thorne-Waintraub is an experienced linguist, proofreader and project manager from the USA. She has published multiple articles on the fields of Translation, Localization, Proofreading and Editing. She currently lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
What your Project Manager is (probably) thinking
What your Project Manager is (probably) thinking
by Kimberlee Thorne-Waintraub (Owner of Small World Language Services, moderator of Quality Translation on Facebook, and wearer of many other hats)
Before I create any false expectations on this article, I want to make my own disclaimer before you read this. There is no way that my thoughts may be completely representative of any other Project Manager (hereafter "PM" or “PMs” in the plural form). However, based on my own experience doing this as my professional activity for many years, I would dare say that my opinion is not too far off from a fairly good view of what many other PMs think from time to time...
So here we go, in our attempt to get inside a PM's brain! Wish me luck…
Unless your direct client list is beating a well-trodden path from their location to yours, often breaking your door down, begging you to do language services for them that should have been delivered yesterday, chances you could use some of this helpful advice. However, if your door has been ripped apart and resembles your client's silhouette on it (like an episode from Cartoon Network), by all means, write ME back ASAP and give me your advice, which I will gladly take and run with it, not mentioning your name, for confidentiality sake!
If your path looks covered with snow (or leaves (plural of leaf) like mine), well then, let’s face it - your main income sources most likely come from at least one or two PMs (hopefully more) who represent a translation agency or another similar organization, or surprise, surprise, other translators like you…
And you are most likely considered one of their “resources”, meaning you are one of their “worker bees” or “soldiers”, as I prefer to call members of my wonderful linguist team, or as I am often found telling my people, “Carry on faithful soldier”, while encouraging someone to keep going at an odd hour of the morning, when most of the world in my parts of the Americas should be sleeping… After all, I'm the "queen bee” cracking that whip and the one who will be sending out their payment in the end, right?
Wrong! My collaborators are my partners, an extension of my own self and of the services I have to offer, and form a powerful fusion and force that when in action, is pretty unstoppable!
First of all, let me tell you who I am, and that means revealing myself at the personal level. I'm the owner of a small niche agency called Small World Language Services, whose services specialize in just 3 languages, English, Spanish and Portuguese. I’m originally from the United States, but I have lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina enough to say that my breakfast regularly consists of an Argentine drink called 'mate’ and ‘medialunas’ (croissants in English) and ‘dulce de leche’ (milk jam, coined by exporters from Argentina).
Another thing – I don’t have enough work to give everyone who reads this, simply due to the fact that my organization is still small, but we’re powerful because we work hard, believe in what we do and have great potential to grow more than what we have done in a year (200%)! We are currently among the top 5 on proz.com this year (2011), but it’s not because we’re the biggest agency out there. We’re just focusing on what we do best in the languages we can handle and aren’t interested in offering all the world’s languages and services that the others do.
Nevertheless, just because we won’t always get the chance to work together doesn’t make you any less valuable to me. On the contrary – my organization also does research on multicultural people, which guess what? If you’re a translator, project manager, traveler, expat, or similar, you fit the mold, and I want to get to know you too! Chances are your story could be on our “YouTube” channel someday if we’re able to establish a relationship of trust and make it happen.
I have learned some ways to keep clients coming back over the long-term, and believe me, I want and need my clients and if possible (which I know it is), I want and need more of them...
Nonetheless, I consider myself a dedicated linguist, project manager and excellent reviewer in English. I care about quality and I want anything entrusted to us to come out as impeccable as possible, and I try to do everything it takes to get the job done, and believe me, you don’t want to know what that has required so far…
This is what I’ve learned over the years about PMs, who, by the way, are perfectly normal people like any of us, but who have the role of being responsible for all the aspects of a project, which usually means it has been sold by a sales person, confirmed and accepted, handed over to a PM, who will then decide who gets put on each step of the project, what requirements are needed, within the budget constraints and deadline requested, oh, while pleasing the client along the way until the end, crossing their fingers and often praying that things will turn out well, meaning everyone will still have their hair and hasn’t killed anyone in the process...
Geez, that whole mini job description was exhausting in itself! And believe me, it is. A PM’s job is not easy at best. To the contrary, it’s a high stress job that few are capable of doing well and one that requires an attention to detail, good communication and you know what else? A good sense of humor! Yes, folks, can I tell you how important that has become? You have no idea how much...
This is something I learned from a very valued collaborator located on a sunny island located in the middle of the Caribbean. He knows who he is, but since he’s so good, I'm keeping his name top secret or he’ll get so many job offers that he’ll never be available for me ... But we have grown professionally together throughout the last few years, and he has been the perfect collaborator: trustworthy, good communicator, excellent team member, and does all this with an extremely eccentric sense of humor, even when he sends his invoices. He, along with his wonderful and loving partner in crime (his wife), who is also a great translator, make a great partnership and are people who I have learned to love and appreciate so much…
My wonderful collaborators have taught me how to be a more effective PM, better person and have blessed my life greatly in so many ways, gotten me some cool gifts from other places and some very delicious meals, by following these steps that could easily be named "The Top 10 top secret tips of Working in the Translation Industry":
1) Create a relationship of trust from the beginning. This goes for both sides. Can you yourself do the job well or not? You need to tell me the truth of what's going on with the project, any questions you may have, and if anything goes less than perfect, let's work together to try and make it better. Don't lie to me and tell me that you can do a job when you're lying in a hammock in the middle of the Bahamas, or put one of your substandard colleagues on the project instead of you. That creates mistrust and makes me think you’re only in this for the money, which by the way cannot be hidden once we do the Quality Assurance step… On the other hand, if you do a great job, you'll not only get paid for the first job, but you'll get repeat work from me, and probably lots of it...
2) Respond quickly to job offerings. The saying, “The early bird gets the worm" is so true. If you need to, invest in a mobile device that allows you to communicate quickly. Then be communicative throughout the project until the end. Please, don’t leave me hanging in the middle of a project wondering whether you’ve either been checked into the hospital or your private jet has been hijacked to the middle of some unnamed island that’s not even on the world or local map. Which leads me to my next point…
3) Communicate! Though an email, a phone call, a public computer, text message, mobile device, through someone else or smoke signals if necessary. As long as you can breathe, you can communicate somehow to me and let me know what’s going on with the project I've entrusted to you. I as a PM cannot fathom how you can just disappear off the face of the earth, unless you really did get sucked into the inner bowels of the earth, due to some natural disaster, i.e., an unforeseen circumstance has truly happened, which does happen once in a blue moon anyway, and those circumstances do happen. I just hope it doesn't happen while you're committed to one of my projects!
4) Make me remember you, but for good things. I've worked with so many people over the years, but unless we do a few successful projects together, I probably won't remember you and you'll get lost in the database. It's not on purpose! I'm probably the one missing out on your great services.
5) Be a flexible team player. We aren't always given the best budgets or deadlines to work with, and sometimes the jobs come trickling in instead of steady volume on a regular basis. We need people who can understand our clients’ needs. On the other hand, when better budgets are given to us, we'll be glad to pass that onto you since you're a real team player and we can count on you, and choose to reward you with a higher rate whenever possible.
6) When things go wrong, as they will at times, admit when you were wrong and the work wasn’t up to standard. This shows a PM maturity and responsibility on your part and demonstrates that you care about the quality of the work you’re delivering, and it can oftentimes recover a lost client. Ask them for the reviewed file, so you can check it yourself. You don’t prove anything to a PM by arguing that you were right and the work was in good shape, when it wasn’t… Help me resolve what’s not going right. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
7) Be nice and don’t forget your manners. This is something I shouldn’t have to tell you, but as the world is getting more and more competitive and resources of all kind (food, money, oil, etc.) are getting scarcer, I cannot emphasize this enough. Be grateful for the work you get, and thank the people who give you work. After all, those people are our treasures and a means to make our dreams come true. They deserve to be treated well and yes, loved and pamperedJ
8) Show gratitude for the work received. I know what you’re thinking. She just said that, so why is she saying that again? This means thanking the person who gives you work, offering your services from time to time by saying you’re available and offering new services that can be in demand, and saying thank you for the payment. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Yes folks, this gesture can go a long way, believe me.
9) Be ethical and don’t contact or steal my clients. As a linguist, you are often entrusted with confidential or sensitive information. Do not betray this trust. Sooner or later, this will come back to haunt you. The Golden Rule: Do unto others what you'd have them do until you. and the reverse, Don't do unto others what you don’t want them to do until you. Enough said…
10) Find humor while doing work. Just this last weekend, while working on a very large rush job, a colleague of mine and I came up with the term "Vatman", which means “Very Accurate Translator” and "Vatmobile", which means my translator’s laptop. These are ways that I encourage my people to keep doing a good job and that also make them want to keep working with me while making a normally stressful job a bit more enjoyable…
I hope you’ve found this article helpful and a bit amusing. I welcome your comments and hope to get to know all of you over time through this group.
For more info, see our website at www.smallworldlanguages.net
Proz.com profile - http://www.proz.com/profile/77598
or Like us at our Facebook company page at http://tinyurl.com/4v3upb4
Small World Language Services is a corporate member of the ATA (American Translators Association).
by Kimberlee Thorne-Waintraub (Owner of Small World Language Services, moderator of Quality Translation on Facebook, and wearer of many other hats)
Before I create any false expectations on this article, I want to make my own disclaimer before you read this. There is no way that my thoughts may be completely representative of any other Project Manager (hereafter "PM" or “PMs” in the plural form). However, based on my own experience doing this as my professional activity for many years, I would dare say that my opinion is not too far off from a fairly good view of what many other PMs think from time to time...
So here we go, in our attempt to get inside a PM's brain! Wish me luck…
Unless your direct client list is beating a well-trodden path from their location to yours, often breaking your door down, begging you to do language services for them that should have been delivered yesterday, chances you could use some of this helpful advice. However, if your door has been ripped apart and resembles your client's silhouette on it (like an episode from Cartoon Network), by all means, write ME back ASAP and give me your advice, which I will gladly take and run with it, not mentioning your name, for confidentiality sake!
If your path looks covered with snow (or leaves (plural of leaf) like mine), well then, let’s face it - your main income sources most likely come from at least one or two PMs (hopefully more) who represent a translation agency or another similar organization, or surprise, surprise, other translators like you…
And you are most likely considered one of their “resources”, meaning you are one of their “worker bees” or “soldiers”, as I prefer to call members of my wonderful linguist team, or as I am often found telling my people, “Carry on faithful soldier”, while encouraging someone to keep going at an odd hour of the morning, when most of the world in my parts of the Americas should be sleeping… After all, I'm the "queen bee” cracking that whip and the one who will be sending out their payment in the end, right?
Wrong! My collaborators are my partners, an extension of my own self and of the services I have to offer, and form a powerful fusion and force that when in action, is pretty unstoppable!
First of all, let me tell you who I am, and that means revealing myself at the personal level. I'm the owner of a small niche agency called Small World Language Services, whose services specialize in just 3 languages, English, Spanish and Portuguese. I’m originally from the United States, but I have lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina enough to say that my breakfast regularly consists of an Argentine drink called 'mate’ and ‘medialunas’ (croissants in English) and ‘dulce de leche’ (milk jam, coined by exporters from Argentina).
Another thing – I don’t have enough work to give everyone who reads this, simply due to the fact that my organization is still small, but we’re powerful because we work hard, believe in what we do and have great potential to grow more than what we have done in a year (200%)! We are currently among the top 5 on proz.com this year (2011), but it’s not because we’re the biggest agency out there. We’re just focusing on what we do best in the languages we can handle and aren’t interested in offering all the world’s languages and services that the others do.
Nevertheless, just because we won’t always get the chance to work together doesn’t make you any less valuable to me. On the contrary – my organization also does research on multicultural people, which guess what? If you’re a translator, project manager, traveler, expat, or similar, you fit the mold, and I want to get to know you too! Chances are your story could be on our “YouTube” channel someday if we’re able to establish a relationship of trust and make it happen.
I have learned some ways to keep clients coming back over the long-term, and believe me, I want and need my clients and if possible (which I know it is), I want and need more of them...
Nonetheless, I consider myself a dedicated linguist, project manager and excellent reviewer in English. I care about quality and I want anything entrusted to us to come out as impeccable as possible, and I try to do everything it takes to get the job done, and believe me, you don’t want to know what that has required so far…
This is what I’ve learned over the years about PMs, who, by the way, are perfectly normal people like any of us, but who have the role of being responsible for all the aspects of a project, which usually means it has been sold by a sales person, confirmed and accepted, handed over to a PM, who will then decide who gets put on each step of the project, what requirements are needed, within the budget constraints and deadline requested, oh, while pleasing the client along the way until the end, crossing their fingers and often praying that things will turn out well, meaning everyone will still have their hair and hasn’t killed anyone in the process...
Geez, that whole mini job description was exhausting in itself! And believe me, it is. A PM’s job is not easy at best. To the contrary, it’s a high stress job that few are capable of doing well and one that requires an attention to detail, good communication and you know what else? A good sense of humor! Yes, folks, can I tell you how important that has become? You have no idea how much...
This is something I learned from a very valued collaborator located on a sunny island located in the middle of the Caribbean. He knows who he is, but since he’s so good, I'm keeping his name top secret or he’ll get so many job offers that he’ll never be available for me ... But we have grown professionally together throughout the last few years, and he has been the perfect collaborator: trustworthy, good communicator, excellent team member, and does all this with an extremely eccentric sense of humor, even when he sends his invoices. He, along with his wonderful and loving partner in crime (his wife), who is also a great translator, make a great partnership and are people who I have learned to love and appreciate so much…
My wonderful collaborators have taught me how to be a more effective PM, better person and have blessed my life greatly in so many ways, gotten me some cool gifts from other places and some very delicious meals, by following these steps that could easily be named "The Top 10 top secret tips of Working in the Translation Industry":
1) Create a relationship of trust from the beginning. This goes for both sides. Can you yourself do the job well or not? You need to tell me the truth of what's going on with the project, any questions you may have, and if anything goes less than perfect, let's work together to try and make it better. Don't lie to me and tell me that you can do a job when you're lying in a hammock in the middle of the Bahamas, or put one of your substandard colleagues on the project instead of you. That creates mistrust and makes me think you’re only in this for the money, which by the way cannot be hidden once we do the Quality Assurance step… On the other hand, if you do a great job, you'll not only get paid for the first job, but you'll get repeat work from me, and probably lots of it...
2) Respond quickly to job offerings. The saying, “The early bird gets the worm" is so true. If you need to, invest in a mobile device that allows you to communicate quickly. Then be communicative throughout the project until the end. Please, don’t leave me hanging in the middle of a project wondering whether you’ve either been checked into the hospital or your private jet has been hijacked to the middle of some unnamed island that’s not even on the world or local map. Which leads me to my next point…
3) Communicate! Though an email, a phone call, a public computer, text message, mobile device, through someone else or smoke signals if necessary. As long as you can breathe, you can communicate somehow to me and let me know what’s going on with the project I've entrusted to you. I as a PM cannot fathom how you can just disappear off the face of the earth, unless you really did get sucked into the inner bowels of the earth, due to some natural disaster, i.e., an unforeseen circumstance has truly happened, which does happen once in a blue moon anyway, and those circumstances do happen. I just hope it doesn't happen while you're committed to one of my projects!
4) Make me remember you, but for good things. I've worked with so many people over the years, but unless we do a few successful projects together, I probably won't remember you and you'll get lost in the database. It's not on purpose! I'm probably the one missing out on your great services.
5) Be a flexible team player. We aren't always given the best budgets or deadlines to work with, and sometimes the jobs come trickling in instead of steady volume on a regular basis. We need people who can understand our clients’ needs. On the other hand, when better budgets are given to us, we'll be glad to pass that onto you since you're a real team player and we can count on you, and choose to reward you with a higher rate whenever possible.
6) When things go wrong, as they will at times, admit when you were wrong and the work wasn’t up to standard. This shows a PM maturity and responsibility on your part and demonstrates that you care about the quality of the work you’re delivering, and it can oftentimes recover a lost client. Ask them for the reviewed file, so you can check it yourself. You don’t prove anything to a PM by arguing that you were right and the work was in good shape, when it wasn’t… Help me resolve what’s not going right. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
7) Be nice and don’t forget your manners. This is something I shouldn’t have to tell you, but as the world is getting more and more competitive and resources of all kind (food, money, oil, etc.) are getting scarcer, I cannot emphasize this enough. Be grateful for the work you get, and thank the people who give you work. After all, those people are our treasures and a means to make our dreams come true. They deserve to be treated well and yes, loved and pamperedJ
8) Show gratitude for the work received. I know what you’re thinking. She just said that, so why is she saying that again? This means thanking the person who gives you work, offering your services from time to time by saying you’re available and offering new services that can be in demand, and saying thank you for the payment. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Yes folks, this gesture can go a long way, believe me.
9) Be ethical and don’t contact or steal my clients. As a linguist, you are often entrusted with confidential or sensitive information. Do not betray this trust. Sooner or later, this will come back to haunt you. The Golden Rule: Do unto others what you'd have them do until you. and the reverse, Don't do unto others what you don’t want them to do until you. Enough said…
10) Find humor while doing work. Just this last weekend, while working on a very large rush job, a colleague of mine and I came up with the term "Vatman", which means “Very Accurate Translator” and "Vatmobile", which means my translator’s laptop. These are ways that I encourage my people to keep doing a good job and that also make them want to keep working with me while making a normally stressful job a bit more enjoyable…
I hope you’ve found this article helpful and a bit amusing. I welcome your comments and hope to get to know all of you over time through this group.
For more info, see our website at www.smallworldlanguages.net
Proz.com profile - http://www.proz.com/profile/77598
or Like us at our Facebook company page at http://tinyurl.com/4v3upb4
Small World Language Services is a corporate member of the ATA (American Translators Association).
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Say Good-bye to Your Dragon Tattoo: Why Translation Still Does and Will Always Matter
YALE PRESS LOG
The importance of translation in bringing new books and ideas into English is crucial. Although no one has declared a universal language since Louis XIV, the dominance of English in international commerce, media, and even academia is impossible to ignore. Yet merely an estimated three percent of the hundreds of thousands of books published in the United States have been translated from non-English languages, and the volume of new, translated work from modern and contemporary writers is even less. Read more
The importance of translation in bringing new books and ideas into English is crucial. Although no one has declared a universal language since Louis XIV, the dominance of English in international commerce, media, and even academia is impossible to ignore. Yet merely an estimated three percent of the hundreds of thousands of books published in the United States have been translated from non-English languages, and the volume of new, translated work from modern and contemporary writers is even less. Read more
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY!
JULY 20th--- International Friendship Day!
It was originally promoted by Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark cards in 1919, however, it didn't stick in the United States. In South Asia it is widely celebrated, and I can speak personally that in Argentina it is an excuse to have a good party with friends.
Prior to visiting Argentina, I had never heard of Friendship Day, or as they say in Spanish "El Día del Amigo". Friends send text messages, meet up for dinner and drinks, and sometimes give small gifts to each other. Although I think it is a nice idea, celebrating a day for friends has never crossed my mind before. As it is, we are with friends every chance we get. They are the people we chose to share our lives with outside of our families. But I am left thinking that there is no harm in having a day to reflect on all the great people you have in your life and enjoy a few more good moments together.
I wonder why it faded in the United States. Perhaps it is because we already have enough Hallmark days as it is.
It was originally promoted by Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark cards in 1919, however, it didn't stick in the United States. In South Asia it is widely celebrated, and I can speak personally that in Argentina it is an excuse to have a good party with friends.
Prior to visiting Argentina, I had never heard of Friendship Day, or as they say in Spanish "El Día del Amigo". Friends send text messages, meet up for dinner and drinks, and sometimes give small gifts to each other. Although I think it is a nice idea, celebrating a day for friends has never crossed my mind before. As it is, we are with friends every chance we get. They are the people we chose to share our lives with outside of our families. But I am left thinking that there is no harm in having a day to reflect on all the great people you have in your life and enjoy a few more good moments together.
I wonder why it faded in the United States. Perhaps it is because we already have enough Hallmark days as it is.
Monday, July 18, 2011
TRANSLATIONS GONE WRONG
It seems simple enough. You can enter the phrase into an online translator, use a dictionary, or what you learned in grade school. Companies and businesses translate greetings, directions, and warnings to deliver important messages to people of other languages and countries. The intention to connect and bridge communication gaps is present, however, it is blemished and marked with humor and lack of professionalism.
We can laugh or gasp at a sign that is poorly translation, be forgiving of their errors, but it's a shame that their good intention and the real meaning is lost in the translation.
Have a good laugh at these signs, but let's make sure we do it right!
Photo by: Drpoulette(*)
Photo taken of a sign at a restaurant in Mexico.
Photo by: djrue
Buzzandthecity.com
We can laugh or gasp at a sign that is poorly translation, be forgiving of their errors, but it's a shame that their good intention and the real meaning is lost in the translation.
Have a good laugh at these signs, but let's make sure we do it right!
Photo by: Drpoulette(*)
Photo taken of a sign at a restaurant in Mexico.
Photo by: djrue
Buzzandthecity.com
Thursday, March 17, 2011
New Services added to our company!
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that we've just partnered up with a voiceover (VO) provider that can not only handle your voice over projects in several languages, but also write your scripts.
This is a new offering for us, and we're very excited to do it.
For any information, see our website at www.smallworldlanguages.net or write us at info@smallworldlanguages.net
Kimberlee Thorne-Waintraub
Owner
I just wanted to let you know that we've just partnered up with a voiceover (VO) provider that can not only handle your voice over projects in several languages, but also write your scripts.
This is a new offering for us, and we're very excited to do it.
For any information, see our website at www.smallworldlanguages.net or write us at info@smallworldlanguages.net
Kimberlee Thorne-Waintraub
Owner
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