![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
Stereotypes of all kinds have been present in human history ever since linguistic and cultural differences were observed. Nowadays, most people resent stereotypes that, for example, portray Greeks as saving what they do not have, and Germans as saving more of their money.
However, for Keith Chen, a Yale Behavioural Economist, some truth may be found in these stereotypes, more precisely in the language a person speaks and how that language expresses the future grammatically. According to Chen’s research, languages can be classified into two distinct groups in regards to how they deal with the future. The language group a person falls into, he claims, will seriously impact the financial decisions they make.
Chen says that for a language like English – that has tense distinctions between present and future – every time a person speaks, they will be slightly tempted to think of the present and the future as instinctually different. In other words, it seems to be harder to relate to your future self if tense distinctions exist in the language you speak. Chen argues that people who use the same verbs for the present and the future are better positioned to think about the future and perhaps even save more!
Chen first divided up world languages according to future tense differentiation: English, Arabic, Greek and the Romance languages make future distinctions, while Chinese, German, Japanese and Norwegian have few distinctions according to future tense. Then, he adjusted for other factors that could cause variation, such as incomes, religious preferences and education levels. His results?
Chen found large differences in saving between these two groups. The future tense distinction group was found 30% less likely to save in any given year. In addition, on average, by retirement, this group accumulates USD 207,000 less than the first group. Now, that is a substantial sum!
Although the idea that language affects thought is controversial to say the least amongst linguistic specialists, Chen insists that the numbers back him up.
Whether or not the study has some truth to it, it does reveal some pretty interesting ideas regarding the power of language and translation! So, next time you’re wondering if to buy something or not, which language will you use?
Source: PRI's The World <http://www.theworld.org/2011/10/futur
Image: BBC <http://node1.bbcimg.co.uk/iplayer/image
As a professional translation agency, we have a lot experience providing services to our Clients from different industries, and are willing to assure our Clients that we always meet and exceed best standards of the language/ translation services industry. We have developed and are applying a very sophisticated quality control procedure, which is tailored to unique needs of the language industry, and more specifically to such complex areas as legal / technical / medical translations.
As a company, in comparison to individual translators, we provide our Clients with much more value as we use professional translators with specific industry experience. We also use TEP process (translation-editing-proof) whereby text is checked by 3 people as opposed to 1. This is just one of the examples of our internal procedures (applied in translation business) as an illustration for our Clients, most of which are familiar, for example, with ISO 9000 Quality Management standards.
It’s important to emphasize that, as a company, incorporated under the laws of British Columbia, we have all necessary government permits and licenses. We are corporate members of ATA (American Translators Association) and are certified by BBB (Better Business Bureau). Among other things, this means following strict ethical codes/ guidelines, and taking pride in and having a very high level of responsibility/ accountability for our work.
We just wanted to illustrate for our Clients that, according to current statistics, out of roughly 1200 translation companies in Canada, only 16 are members of ATA, and fewer than 10 are certified by BBB (in BC there are only 2).
One of our recent projects was a very specific medical translation, where the Client requested the translation of the name of its medical product: Sterile Drape/Sterile Cover. When submitting this urgent translation order, the Client did not provide any clarification. The translation was done into many languages, and therefore, many translators asked for more context/clarification when delivering their initial comprehensive solution. We negotiated shifting the project deadline with the Client, and explained the need for clarification of specific terminology, which should have been provided prior to the start up of the project. When such explanatory information was received from the Client, it was used to either adjust the translation or confirm the original comprehensive solution.
It turned out that the Sterile Drape/Sterile Cover is the same device, and the Client was working with two different names for the same product: “Sterile Drape/Cover is used to keep non-sterile devices out of a sterile medical field. It is a long plastic bag that is sterile”. The picture supplied by the Client showed that after the device was in an ungloved hand, it was placed in the sterile drape, and then pulled up over the cord so that it could be placed in the sterile field. Drapes such as these are generally used to cover non-sterile portions of endoscopic cameras. However, in this specific case camera drape was not supposed to be in the translation.
A couple of days ago, I again came across such an unfortunate translation case. Did you
know that Rogers Communications Inc. managed to terminate their contact
with Bell Aliant Regional Communications LP just because of a misplaced comma
in the French translation of their contract?
Read more about this on our website.
All our short-term and long-term efforts are intended to improve the service for our Clients. We offer several service levels of extensive scope and distinguished quality.
And yet, today we’d like to particularly note and express our gratitude to the Client that made a valuable contribution into the structure of our specific service, thus extending the overall scope and improving the quality of service.
English speaking Client came to us with several documents written in Ukrainian language that included Insurance Quotes, Policies and Agreements. The Client had to make a decision on the most cost efficient health insurance provider within a limited timeframe.
Over the years, we’ve had certain experience providing our Clients with brief summaries of original documents in the target language, or translating information specifically requested by the Client: for example, contract dates, names, costs, wire transfer beneficiaries, amounts or fees etc.
This particular Client provided us with a bunch of Ukrainian documents and a well-organized template in English, where we were supposed to fill in information that was of interest for the Client. We allocated a team of people, which went through the original documents very quickly, analyzed necessary information and translated/filled in Client’s templates. The project was completed within a very restricted timeframe. The Client managed to make an adequate decision, and our team acquired a valuable skill that will benefit all further services.
Noun. A solution (to an argument or a problem) that leaves everyone feeling happy and satisfied.
Dépaysement (French)
Noun. This word describes the disoriented feelings that come when a person is not in his home country.
Torschlusspanik (German)
Noun. The fear of getting older and missing out on opportunities because of one's age.
Meraki (Greek)
Adjective. A word that describes something that was done with passion, creativity, and love.
Cualacino (Italian)
Noun. The mark that a cold glass leaves on the table.
Noun. The happiness a person feels when he is first falling in love.
Kilkanaście (Polish)
Noun. A word used to describe a number between eleven and nineteen, kilkanście is mostly used to describe "a dozen or so" of something.
It became a good tradition to share our practical experiences with the Clients and fellow-colleagues, and any visitors that might have an interest in our website.
As a professional language service, we regularly upgrade our techniques, strive to improve our product and service quality, and rigorously monitor any new developments in translation business and technology.
Often times our Clients ask us for solutions in very specific projects, which not only lead to a quality translation product, but also help us to keep abreast of the industry new developments.
We would like to share our recent experience with a Client that had very specific requirements to their translation project: the file for translation was provided in itd format, accompanied by a pre-established TM, however, the Client instructed us to use an online glossary called SDLMultiTerm, that should prevail in case of any discrepancies with an earlier established TM.
The main challenge was to follow the TM, confirm all specific terminology with the SDLMultiTerm online glossary, and meet the restricted deadlines.
When the work was in progress we had to contact the Client directly for an explanation of specific concepts that were ambiguous/not covered by the TM/Glossary, but very important in this very technical project requested by a banking service provider.
Having received the Client’s expert explanation, we managed to complete the project on time and make sure that all the Client's requirements are met. Our staff had an opportunity to learn a new SDL online tool and offer a Client an effective solution that will help in their banking service development
Famous Russian Phrase
OR
what one incorrectly placed comma might cost you.
English version of the famous Russian expression is not perfect from linguistic point of view, but it gives the reader an idea of how important a comma can be either giving an order to execute in “execute, not pardon” or granting a pardon in “execute not, pardon” (казнить нельзя, помиловать).
As in this Russian story, a little comma could cost someone his life...
In our recent experience, a little comma could cost our Client significant financial losses due to legal/economic implications.
Our Client had a number of documents pertaining to medical products indented for use in different age groups of patients. Therapeutic indications prescribed use “in women of childbearing age, children, adolescents, and adults”. The Client asked us to provide editing of the English translation (from original Ukrainian), and, at that stage, we added “adolescents” - the word that was erroneously missing in the translation. When the Client came to us with others similar documents, it became obvious that a comma in “children, adolescents” is not well visible in all original copies. Ukrainian original said “…у жінок, у дітей, у підлітковому віці, у дорослих…”, which, in case this specific comma was omitted, could limit the target group to “children of adolescent age” only.
It was extremely important to provide editing of all the documents, and then final proofreading, to make sure that all changes are consistent and accurate.
Do you know that your return on BT investment will be much higher than the cost and, what's most important, will cover your risks?
Back Translation is the process of translating a document that has already been translated into a foreign language back to the original source language.
Everyone knows that a word in one language may have no equivalent in another language, or could have a completely different meaning or effect in the translated language. This is why translation can be viewed as an art rather than a science. And then, Back Translation can be considered a quality assurance service that is more and more in demand in the current business and market environment.
In some translation projects, for example, research study protocols, market surveys, client satisfaction assessments, medical forms, informed consent forms, pharmaceutical queries, costly errors can be built in. That’s why it is important to involve an independent well-trained professional translator, who has no prior knowledge of the objective/ specific context of the project, to perform Back Translation.
We can illustrate with an example from our recent experience. One of our Clients had a lengthy project of a series of pet food labels intended for very different purposes. And only at BT stage, it was discovered that two very specific terms “dietary” and “light” were translated same way, while the differentiation was necessary to achieve the overall intended purpose. Based on out BT effort, we helped our Client to fix the Ukrainian translation (to have two different terms “дієтичний” and “полегшений”) and avoid potential financial losses and other negative repercussions after the products are introduced to Ukrainian market.
In addition to this simple example, we had a lot of experience providing Back Translation of surveys/ questionnaires for our Clients, whose marketing teams depend on the little shades of opinion from consumers to prepare market campaigns that make the difference and bring value to the final costumer. Investment in BT service eliminated the risk of disruption of accuracy of the survey results and potential errors in the following decision-making process.
