Vision / Mission as a Translator

As a translator I have known the importance of caring about communication and give a good performance, which are key elements of my profession. Therefore, my mission is to accomplish the best of my translations, offering a high quality and accurate translation service to all my clients.

In order to achieve this I will always keep track of the news, changes, and current studies that are made on English and Spanish translation. I am committed a 100% to respect the language, the culture and all the details involved in this profession, and at the same time to meet my client´s needs in the best way possible. 
I will do my best to keep you satisfied with my work and promise I will do business farily, professionally and honestly at all times.

Karla Angulo C./ Angulo Traducciones.

Reach me at: karla.anguloce@gmail.com or my Linkedin here: Karla Angulo | LinkedIn

San José, Costa Rica 
 

Image taken from flickr.com

Advice to Translators!

My learning process has been incredibly satisfactory. In a short period of time I have learned so much that I cannot imagine how much I have left to read and inform myself in the long term. It must be a lot!

In this entry it is my pleasure to give some advice to all of you looking forward to enter this profession; you should definitely work on the next elements to excel:
First of all I will advise people to look for a specific area or field of study when trying to become translators. Because making a choice on a certain area will help you to have a better performance, and as you feel more comfortable working you tend to give your best every day.

Second, it is crucial to be aware of the linguistic norms of all the source and target languages you work with.

Third, try to be careful with linguistic interference when translating idiomatic expressions; they are tricky and also remind us how challenging can be to render any text without affecting the cultural features in the wrong way.
Fourth, you should always pay attention to every word that might need any type of reformulation, like explicitation (extra information) or any change to render words or phrases as accurate as possible. Those are the moments when your ability using translation strategies will show the best of your strengths.

And finally, your spelling must be perfect always; any error will damage your entire profession.

I really hope these pieces of advice motivate you to work hard and make an effort to be great translators. My extra advice will be to fall in love with translation and all its linguistic adventures; you will not regret any second.                                                                       

Image taken from Pinterest.com

Translation of a Comic

Not long ago I had to translate a comic, and it was a really good experience although not so easy. I was able to translate this type of text with the help of all the tools I have mentioned before that are important; also, was careful with the huge amount of idiomatic phrases and the intended text function that are typical in this kind of literature. An advantage I had for translating this comic was that I felt really comfortable and familiar with the source culture since it was related with the Hispanic and Latin America world. Here is a segment of the translated text to exemplify my work.

TT

Pero siento que México y ser mexicano es parte de mi identidad. Yo hablo español, he visitado y vivido en más ciudades de México que de los Estados Unidos de América.

Durante mi niñez me sentía más cercano y acostumbrado a mi familia materna, por lo que empecé a decir “soy hispano” o “soy latino”, y a utilizarlos de forma intercambiable.(Source Text here!)

Work cited

Blass, Terry. “You say latino: a mini comic”. Vox.com. Web. 21 ago. 2015.

What is Translation Competence?

Image taken from www.edweek.org

                                                                                                              

As far as translation is concerned, professionals in the field should produce quality work. I would like to share with the readers some relevant elements I have noticed are necessary to accomplish this. First, the science of an excellent translation practice is not about how well you handle two languages but about how far you go when doing your work. As a translator we also need important skills such as creativity, because when you need to translate an idiomatic phrase or uncommon word, for instance, you have many options and strategies to use, but the more original and at the same time accurate your response is the more points you add to your competence.

Also, you cannot build your competence by using only dictionaries to check spelling or meaning. Since words change and the evolution of language never stops it is very important to be updated. There are sources you can rely on to study this evolution, such as linguistic organizations and certain translation journals that you should constantly read, so you do not lose track of the overall changes and languages regulations that exist.

The way you work and proceed says a lot about your professionalism; to excel you need to pay close attention to details and your client´s specifications. All this aspects will give you the chance to master the source text and produce a good target text. Regardless of my experience in translation I can assure you that they will make the difference in your performance and will also demonstrate your potential to future customers.

Online Translation Tool

For translators, it is very important to use certified tools to look for the meaning of a single word or a phrase. To accomplish this there are many tools online, such as dictionaries, encyclopedias and glossaries. I would like to recommend Linguee.es to you for many reasons. Linguee is a translation dictionary that offers contextualized translations with clear structures which is something that gives authenticity to the source. Also, a strong advantage is that the sources from which texts are taken, are reliable sources. I hope these are enough reasons to encourage you to use this tool.

Take a look at This Dictionary!

Translation Journal

Tomado de: www.lalinternadeltraductor.org

In this entry I will share with the readers the name of one translation journal. This journal is entitled La linterna del traductor, and it can be consulted through this link. It provides information about scientific, literary, juridical, audiovisual, technological translation; and information of members of the journal like publishers and proofreader’s.

In addition, it includes articles about spelling, new words and, terminology inconsistencies their cooperators have studied, academic works as tools, which have been useful and good sources to improve their jobs and, book and author´s reviews. Also, they are currently updating their database (on a six-monthly basis) so, one can find different sceneries and business conditions for translation over the years.

Personally, the book reviews they publish are worth reading, since they are about previous translations their professionals have made, which is a really good approach to this field of study. 

To conclude, what I like the most about this journal are the relevant experiences their translators have had, the advice that the writters give about the translation industry; also, share many advantages and challenges they have faced during their professional life. I definitely think everyone interested in translation or, looking forward to become a professional in this field, should have this journal to generate critical thinking and to learn new ways to deal with translation nowadays.

Translation Strategies

There is lot to be learned in translation matters, a key element is to be able to identify all the strategies and steps that will make your translation´s appearance and meaning not only accurate but easy to understand. Practice makes perfect, since there is a big number of strategies, it is proved that the more you use them the more you learn to anticipate further issues and similar challenges when translating. 

According to Delisle, H., Lee-Jahnke, H. and Cormier, M. in their study of Translation Terminology there are several procedures and strategies to render appropriately. The first strategy I am going to mention is "modulation", it consists on restructuring a statement of the source text changing the view point or the emphasis of the original formulation, for instance, the active voice to the passive voice. (My translation). Here is an example of my own using this strategy, you will notice how the word "daño" is changing the emphasis of the word "safe" but, the final meaning fits well. (Terminología de la traducción p.265)

ST: "A cup of coffee before your workout is probably safe"

TT: "Una taza de café antes de su entrenamiento es probable que no le haga daño."

Another strategy is "borrowing" , it consists on keeping a word from the source text in the target text(my translation), you will notice that since the word used is accepted as correct in the target language there is no problem keeping it for the target text .(Terminología de la traducción p.276). This case is exemplified as follows:

ST: "Peanut bread sandwiches"

TT: "Sándwiches de mantequilla de maní"

Work Cited

Delisle, Jean, Hannelore Lee-Jahnke y Monique C. Cormier. Terminología de la traducción. Ámsterdam: John Benjamins, 1999. Impreso.

My first translation

The following is a recipe that I have made as one of my first translation exercises in the translation course I am enrolled in; it is shown to you with the purpose of exemplifying my work. The source text, Recipe of Arabic Bread from the book Lebanese Cuisine, needed to be adapted into the target language, for The Spanish department at Universidad Nacional.

Source text Image

Pan árabe:

Masa básica de pan 

Kbubz Arabi

1 Paquete de levadura                              
1 Cucharada de azúcar
2 Tazas de agua tibia                                
6 Tazas de harina
2 Cucharaditas de sal
1/3 De taza de leche

Disuelva la levadura y el azúcar en media taza de agua caliente. Deje reposar de 5 a 10 minutos. Coloque la harina y la sal en un tazón grande haciendo un hoyo en el centro. Combine el resto del agua, la leche y la levadura disuelta; vierta la mezcla en el hoyo. Empiece a mezclar la harina con el líquido asegurándose de que todos los ingredientes queden incorporados a la masa. Amase hasta que resulte una masa uniforme y los lados del tazón estén limpios. (Las manos pueden ser sumergidas ocasionalmente en agua, mientras se amasa, para darle un acabado suave y elástico.)

Cubra la masa con un limpión y deje crecer en un lugar cálido hasta que duplique su tamaño (de 2 a 4 horas). Desde el borde de la masa agarre bolas del tamaño de una naranja y fórmelas uniformemente, hasta utilizar toda la masa. Cubra las bolas de masa con un limpión de cocina y deje crecer sobre otra toalla de tela por 30 minutos. Estire las bolas con un rodillo hasta formar círculos de 6mm. Cubra y deje crecer de nuevo sobre un limpión por 30 minutos.
Caliente el horno a 250°C. Coloque la masa directamente en las parrillas del horno. Tan pronto como la masa crezca de 2 a 5 minutos, colóquela bajo el modo dorar por unos segundos hasta que se dore ligeramente. Deje enfriar.

7-9 unidades

Bibliografia

Farah,Madelain.LibaneseCuisine.NewYork:FourWalsEight Windows, 2001. Impreso.

Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.Web.03mayo.2015

Xaviar Barriga.Pan.Editorial, La cornue.Web.03mayo.2015

Diccionario de palabras en inglés www.Dictionary.com Web.03mayo. 2015

Convertidor de métricas: www.metric-conversions.org Web.03mayo. 2015                                             

Professional Challenges Faced by Translators

Terminological challenges

One of the aspects that translators need to learn to deal with to fulfill their duties, is at the time they are adapting any text they must be knowledgeable about references in case of existing specialized terminology; It is often necessary to look for parallel texts which means similar texts written in the target language. Therefore, as I have inferred and experienced as well, it might become challenging to find sources and be sure of which ones are reliable.

Socio-cultural challenges

Other challenging aspects are the socio-cultural characteristics and purposes present in most texts. One clear example are comics. They are loaded with big cultural content; while translating them I have noticed the need to understand the ludic function of the language used for each culture and society. If I leave this function aside and translate word by word, I risk making a totally inaccurate translation, all elements of irony or fun are going to be erased, and nobody is going to be aware of them. Accomplishing translations can become much more complicated and complex without these aspects.

What is translation?

For me translation is an ability as well as a field of study that has to do with the complexity of communication between languages in the world; it involves not only the act of communication but the act of processing information as well. Because we are surrounded by many languages and different ways of perceiving life we cannot just consider the languages committed to be translated, it is crucial to have an integral view of the purposes when translating messages, texts, official documents or any type of sources within their own contexts. Undeniably there are vital strategies and methodologies one has to put into practice to guarantee quality and accurate responses to the specific needs of translation but, the purposes and contexts make a huge difference in what the final result of our translations will be. These elements: contexts and purposes, according to Amparo Hurtado Albir, are basic presuppositions and relevant extra linguistic knowledge needed in the process of translation, to make any kind of translation integral, proper and the most devoted one.

Work cited

Hurtado Albir,Amparo.Traducción y traductología: introducción a la traductología. Madrid: Cátedra, 2001.Impreso.