In a perfect world, all people speak to each other freely with no language barrier. However, that perfect world does not exist. Fortunately, thousands of individuals are trained to become capable of bridging the language barrier. These people, known as translators and interpreters, spend decades mastering languages and transcribing in between their first and second languages. While interpreters speak their chosen languages, translators writes and records. Translating “books, papers, reports, [and] recordings…” is a translator’s main purpose is to translate written and recorded materials (ACT, 2013, para. 1).
Before one can consider becoming a translator, there are several needed skills: fluency in more than one language, reliability, the ability to remain neutral, and an understanding of deadlines and confidentiality (National Career Service, 2012). Most employers require translators to complete at least a Bachelor’s program in their language (ACT, 2013). However, Lucy Cantwo (2015) states a Master’s degree program or Doctorate is more acceptable, along with several years of experience in chosen languages. While involved in a degree program, Julie Johnson suggests students read, write, and watch television in the chosen language (n.d.). Furthermore, she advises “improving public speaking skills, learn how to take care of yourself, [and] be prepared for a lifelong learning” (para. 6, 9, 10). As of 2010, the field of translation had nearly fifty thousand members, but this field is expected to grow at least 2.2% a year (ACT). Professional translators earn an average of $47,500 per year, which is around $22.75 an hour (ACT). Additionally, translators can choose work in an office or be contracted from home (Cantwo). In the field, ther...
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...lini). Clients only care about the translation, its accuracy, and how much it costs, not the translator. Therefore, as long as one is reachable, it does not matter if a translator works in a stereotypical office, at home, or even at an internet café. In this field, the positive aspects out way the negative, leading most students to continue their education.
After constant research, I still believe translation is the career path I wish to pursue. Once hearing fellow students’ inspirations and the advice from my interviewee, Lucy Cantwo, I am more excited about my career choice than ever. Despite the qualities that are used to weed out the reliable translators from the bad, I am excited to experience the better qualities like job availability and a flexible work schedule. Therefore, my research has provided better insight on translation that I previous believed I had.
The linguistic and cultural clashes that children encounter, and how they negotiate between their ethnic and American “mainstream” cultures, and how these clashes and problems influence their relationship with their parents and their ethnic identities as a whole and how they were dealt with differently as we look at two stories dealing with two girls who are both coming of age in different society from where they originally came from. Jairy’s Jargon a story written by Carmen-Gloria Ballista, is a story that encounters the life of a young girl coming of age in Puerto Rico, except she’s originally from New York. Milly Cepeda’s story, Mari y Lissy, is a story about twin sisters who differ in personality and are often at odds with each other, but are both learning to live in a city that is very different from where they came from.
WIley, Terrence. "A Languages for Jobs Initiative." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, June 2012. Web. 04 May 2014. .
"For the translator, who stands astride two cultures, possesses two different sensibilities, and assumes a double identity" —Husain Haddawy
From my experience, bilingual education was a disadvantage during my childhood. At the age of twelve, I was introduced into a bilingual classroom for the first time. The crowded classroom was a combination of seventh and eighth grade Spanish-speaking students, who ranged from the ages of twelve to fifteen. The idea of bilingual education was to help students who weren’t fluent in the English language. The main focus of bilingual education was to teach English and, at the same time, teach a very basic knowledge of the core curriculum subjects: Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, bilingual education had academic, psychological, and social disadvantages for me.
...ffective communication, I need to be involved in continues act of translation and negations. I need to fully understand what gestures means in a diverse culture.
Why is it necessary for the U.S to hire translators for everyday conversation such as through phones and machine operators, to having to hire a translator for a friend? It’s not With an official language, we could save up to 15 million just on translators. That’s a 120000000 square foot mansion, or 500 Bentley mulsannes! Billions have
Robert D. Peckham, PhD. Foreign Languages An Essential Core Experience. University of Tennessee at Martin, n.d. .
In order to overcome the language barrier and communication problem, the company should hire an interpreter who can smoothen the business run by aiding the negotiation process and provide understanding to the contract agreement for the
Have you ever wondered who taught you to talk the way you do? People learn to talk and express themselves everyday of their lives. Starting from the day you were born you used language or some form of it to communicate with those around you. As a baby you usually show your displeasure with your new surroundings by crying, and if you don’t the doctor will make sure you do. Everyday we express our point of view to others in some form of language. Whether it is through verbal communication, written discourse or through body language, you can tell if a person is upset, angry, or happy. We as human beings don’t realize how much language has to do with our lives. How can you determine if one of your friends is angry with you? Is there a different tone to their voice? Do they have a stern look on their face? Of course they do, your friend feels the need to express their anger to you by these different forms of language. Where do we learn to use these different forms of language? How are our uses of these languages shaped? The three main contributing factors to how we express ourselves through language come from our schooling, our friends, and most of all from our families.
In the contemporary global economy which can be categorized as dynamic and evolutionary in nature, one needs to be cognizant of change that is inevitable within the tourism industry. Due to the demands of the global customer the world can be viewed as being more so inter-connected, owing to this fact the traditional workplace has become more diverse. With diversity in mind the barriers to communication have become prevalent. Within the ambit of the essay such barriers to intercultural communication outlined by LaRay M. Barna shall be explored; anxiety, assuming similarity instead of difference, ethnocentricity, stereotypes and prejudice, nonverbal misinterpretations, language and modern technology will be further discussed. In going forward it is essential to define culture and communication.
To begin with a brief definition of translation, it can be stated that it is basically transferring the words included in one language to the other by making necessary changes and sticking to the source language taken from either the source text or source speech. With the help of rapid technology and the network among countries, the significance given to translation has become an indispensable part of wide range of business and communication purposes. The source determines whether it will be a job of translators or interpreters. It is important to refer each of them by explaining the differences between them at this point.
Language and ethnicity are known to be closely intertwined (Giles & Coupland 1991). However, prior to analyzing interrelation between language and ethnicity I faced the problem of identifying the concept of ‘ethnicity’ itself. Thus, Fishman (1997: 327) points out that ‘ethnicity’ like other notions it is in a close association with, i.e. ‘race’, ‘people’, ‘nation’, ‘nationality’, is not “an exact scientific term”. Therefore it is not clearly defined and thus is open to interpretations (Ibid). In my search I came across a number of rather vogue explanations, and the most common aggregated dictionary definition of ‘ethnicity’ is ‘a belonging to a particular social group that has a common national or cultural tradition’ (MacMillan Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Dictionary, etc.). Dictionary of Cultural Literacy does single out and include language into the ethnicity definition saying that it is an “identity with or membership in a particular racial, national, or cultural group and observance of that group's customs, beliefs, and language”. However, is language always an inevitable part of one’s ethnicity or the ethnicity of a group? Definitely, the most understandable case of interrelation between language and ethnicity is the one when a person is born and lives on a specific territory which historically had one dominant ethnos and one dominant language, so ethnicity is predetermined by close bound between language and territory (Fishman 1997). Thus, Tabouret-Keller (1997) gives an example of a school boy from Belize who identifies himself as Belizean because he was born in that country, he lives there and also is a native speaker of its Creole language. But there are two more cases when interrelation of ethnicity and...
Being multilingual has great importance. As previously presented, it keeps cultural diversity alive and creates better communication with the rest of the ...
The Importance of the Brief for a Translator under the Framework of the Skopos Theory
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language that goes to his heart.” ‒ Nelson Mandela. Since the 1960’s learning a second language has decreased by 30 percent in today’s society. People who wish to learn an additional language often do so to communicate with people who reside in different countries. With an increase in today’s globalization, it is forcing companies throughout the world to break the language barrier. However, with the advancement of technology, numerous citizens find it unnecessary to learn another language, as a translation is at the tip of their fingers. The methods of learning a foreign language can differentiate between people. Nevertheless it has been