Misleading Spanish Directions

In 2001, Indiana-based Mead Johnson Nutritionals recalled 4.6 million cans of Nutramigen Baby Formula due to misleading Spanish directions on bilingual labels. Though the problem was caught before any infants died or became ill, the cost for recalling and re-labeling the cans was exorbitant.

“Translate server error.”

Machine translation, in which text is translated by a software program without human involvement, has opened up the floodgates on potential translation errors. In China, a restaurateur eager to attract an international clientele decided to display the restaurant’s English name on the storefront next to its Chinese name. Unfortunately, the machine translation application he chose to perform the task was not working at the moment, and his restaurant now bears the English name “Translate server error.”

Jiri Stejskal

Alkemist Around the Globe – Belgrade

Serbian: Београд [beógrad]

Literally: White City

Geographic coordinates: 44°49.8′ N, 20°30.0′ E

 By all standards, Belgrade is a city of great size. What is it like to live in such a large city, and how do you personally feel in Belgrade?

 Marija Radojičić: Life in Belgrade is a mesmerizing circle that I will never be able to leave, because it always keeps me enchanted by its beauty and immensity, the friendliness of its inhabitants and those small things that make life what it its. That is why I always wake up remembering our famous poet Duško Radović and wishing my city a good morning.

 Numerous world-class events regularly take place in this city. Which has been the most memorable? Which event has given you the best impression?

 Marija Mirković: The greatest event that has recently taken place in Belgrade is certainly the Eurovision Song Contest. During the days surrounding the show, the capital of Serbia was in its full splendour. You could hear dozens of different languages spoken in the streets and the Belgraders rightfully received the epithet of being excellent hosts. We look forward to the Universiade with as much excitement, because it will gather so many young athletes from all over the world. One should not forget the concerts by world and European stars who now regularly visit Belgrade on their tours.

 Marija Radojičić: Well, there have been many … perhaps the concert of IL DIVO, a fantastic show that made me fly above my city for a while on the magical wings of their music.

 It is an unwritten rule that life is much slower here. Is it true? Is that also the case with work?

 Marija Mirković: Perhaps it is true, if we compare it with other world metropolises. However, if we compare the current situation to the period of crisis during the nineties, we can see that life in Belgrade is constantly improving and becoming more dynamic. The Serbian capital now offers more employment possibilities for young people, as well as opportunities for their professional development and the use of business skills. Belgrade has opened its gates to foreign investors, regional business offices and large international companies. This has provided new possibilities for the people of Serbia, offering them better opportunities to learn new business methods and understand international business trends. Besides, the local companies follow the good examples of European and world companies – they transform and modernize their business and provide young and educated people with better opportunities to advance their careers.

 What does your typical workday look like and what challenges do you usually face at your work?

 Marija Mirković: The everyday coping with new challenges while working in the capacity of an office manager is one of the main driving forces behind a successful day. New texts with varying content covering both familiar and unfamiliar subjects and becoming more familiar with many different languages and cultures certainly represent a challenge for everyone who works in a translation agency. Likewise, every new day brings new and varying clients who need to be provided with high quality and expeditious services.

 Finally, would you like to add something for my readers?

 Marija Mirković: The only thing to add is to invite you to come to Belgrade and feel and breathe in this City with an Open Heart, as tourists and visitors like to call it.

 Marija Radojičić: Its hospitable people, rich tradition, prominent historical and cultural monuments and attractive art, as well as its night life, will certainly not leave you indifferent. On the contrary, they will make you return to this city over and over again.

A Good and Convincing Translation

 Event title: Healthcare for Children

Client: The Human Rights Ombudswoman of the Republic of Slovenia

Service provider: The Alkemist Translation Company

 Brdo pri Kranju, Slovenia, Europe, saw the gathering of eminent guests, participants at the international conference entitled Healthcare for Children. The audience is first addressed by Dr Zdenka Čebasek – Travnik, the Human Rights Ombudsman of the Republic of Slovenia. Smiles on the participants’ faces. The participants understand each other.

 How is this possible? The client has provided simultaneous interpretation of the event into three languages. Simultaneous interpretation is done within the booths allowing the participants to hear the translation over their headphones and portable receivers. Interpreting a language combination always requires two interpreters who take turns every 15 to 20 minutes, in line with interpretation standards. The technical personnel of the Alkemist Translation Company have equipped the hall with loudspeakers and the most advanced simultaneous interpretation equipment available. The European Community has prescribed high standards and requirements for this field. The Audipack soundproof interpretation booths are made in compliance with the ISO 4043 standard. They were the reason why participants heard Alkemist’s interpreters in the three interpretation booths only over their headphones.

 The area where the interpretation was carried out was equipped with loudspeakers and microphones, with the technical personnel constantly making sure that everything ran smoothly throughout the entire meeting. There were six interpreters in the booths, for the Slovenian-English, the English-Croatian and the Slovenian-Croatian language combinations. After two days of interpretation, the interpreters and participants said goodbye to each other with smiles on their faces. The speakers’ words and intended meanings were therefore properly conveyed by the interpreters to the listeners – the most important aspect of interpretation.

 It was proven again that speakers sound as good and convincing as the interpreters in the booths.

“Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”

Even when the translation is correct, it is important to remember that certain words may have connotations in one culture that they do not have in another. In England, a Swedish vacuum cleaner company used the slogan “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.” In the United States, where “sucks” has become a trendy word for something that is bad or of poor quality, this would not go over very well.

Jiri Stejskal, ATA

Who is Hugo Barrera?

Hugo Barrera, with his more than 30 years of experience and research in translating, represents a synonym for translation excellence and top level interpreting. The work of Hugo Barrera has placed significant historic landmarks in translating.

However, the story of excellence began on the street. There, he was selling souvenirs from his hometown to colourful masses of tourists as a poor barefooted boy in the 1950s. He soon realised that, through street sales, his knowledge of foreign languages had advanced so much that he was able to help communicate with the locals to all those who came into his country to earn a living, or simply out of eagerness for adventure.

 His friends named him “the alchemist” because, with his talents, he could effortlessly transform one language into another.

 It was therefore no surprise that he decided to study translating. Of course, this study was something entirely different in the 1960s from how it is today. There were no Internet points or study libraries with computer rooms.  There were only heavy and robust typewriters, which were quite costly, especially for a student’s pocket. At the beginning of his studies, it became apparent that Hugo Barrera’s talent was something special – something comparable to Mozart’s composing of symphonies, and for that, he instantly won the affection and trust of his professors. His tasks, his first translations and his research originated in a chamber of great minds from the field of translating. In addition to a working place, they provided him his first experience in translating for the university.

 Quick technological development in the years that followed brought about major changes for translators. But Hugo’s vision reached further than the visions of his peers, who constantly complained about novelties. With the first computers, he instantly saw an opportunity for vast progress, as a typographical error wasn’t as fatal as before and the arrival of the Internet decreased the time it took to access the ever-required data sources. A photocopier saved the effort of double transcription. The development of sound systems and equipment for simultaneous interpreting brought everything even closer to the user and, at the same time, interpreters became truly multifunctional within the interpreter booths, where they could write, listen and interpret at the same time; the first mobile phone improved accessibility and even enabled on-the-spot e-mail pick-up.

 Today you will not find Hugo Barrera in an interpreter booth or in front of a computer translating documents for hours at a time. He continues his journey of overcoming linguistic and cultural barriers as a professor of simultaneous interpreting at a reputable university, where he passes on his rich experience and knowledge to his students. In his free time he runs a foreign languages centre offering free services to talented youngsters from socially insecure environments.

 All of his experience so far, his years of important achievements in translating, constant striving for improvements and progress along with attention towards people are all dominant tracks that he leaves behind. They prove, without a doubt, that Hugo Barrera is an inspiration to all of us who know that to understand a fellow man is the key to understanding.