Film Review – Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets (2000)

Posted on January 18, 2013 by The Language Shop

I recently enjoyed watching the award-winning foreign film, Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets (2000), set in Casablanca, Morocco and directed by Nabil Ayouch, on Netflix.

I was initially disappointed to find that French subtitles were not available in the DVD I received so I viewed the subtitles in English. I had no complaints about the Arabic to English translation, even though generally speaking, I believe that for cultural reasons, Arabic to French translations of films more effectively convey meanings than do Arabic to English translations. French culture has been influenced by and is more akin than English culture to Arabic culture and moreover, French is commonly spoken in Morocco and Arabic more commonly spoken in France, where Ayouch was raised.

The film is not your usual children’s fantasy tale but rather a roller coaster of events of the deepest intensity that depict the lost innocence of homeless youth in Casablanca. It is fraught with contradictions in that it leaves you feeling depressed in one moment and smiling or even laughing for a short moment. Ali has chosen to run away and live like a pauper during his very short life while ironically, his mother lives in reasonably comfortable surroundings. She has done everything possible to make his life comfortable. Yet, the only problem is that she’s a prostitute.

As the title suggests, the film is about Ali Zaoua and his dreams of living a seafaring life where two suns set in different places. Early in the story, Ali receives a fatal blow to the head with a stone and his death shakes Kwita’s world. Nevertheless, Kwita becomes the new leader of the glue-sniffing, homeless trio of boys with men’s faces. The focus shifts to Kwita’s pursuit of Ali’s dreams, with the help of Omar and Boubker. It’s a story of loyalty. Kwita never abandons his devotion to Ali and declares that he will give Ali a burial suitable for the prince that he is. Omar and Bobker go along with the plan, regardless of the obstacles they encounter along the way.

Ali Zaoua is a story of defiance and triumph over adversity and oppression. Ali, Kwita, Omar and Boubker have extricated themselves from the control of Dib, the disgusting deaf-mute leader of the large pack of boys whom he has recruited and abuses sexually and otherwise, on a constant basis. Even though hatred, fear and despair can be felt as Dib’s minions show up repeatedly heralded by the pathetic mantra they repeat: “Life is a pile of shit,” Ali’s three survivors overcome and maintain their emancipation from Dib and his gang. They survive on the streets from day to day by begging, working, stealing and nurturing dreams and fantasies of their own. Most of all, they manage to hide and preserve Ali’s body, even though he has been dead for at least three days by the time they get help with their plans to bury him.

In the end, the compass given to Ali by Hamid, the compassionate boat captain, and subsequently, to Kwita by Ali represents a return to the right course as Hamid takes Ali’s body and allows the three boys to spend their first night on the deck of his boat. The boys are hopeful as they fantasize mostly about what Ali Zaoua must be doing. The story seems to have a happy ending when, witnessed by Dib and his gang, Hamid takes Ali’s mother along with all three boys out to sea to give Ali a proper burial.

Posted in Arabic Language, Film Reviews, Foreign Films, French Language, Translation for Entertainment Industry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Some Projects Completed By The Language Shop in 2012 Specifics/Challenges Encountered and How They Were Resolved (Part 1)

Posted on January 8, 2013 by The Language Shop

We provide EnglishSpanish translation, interpreting and transcription servicesCertified English to Spanish Translations of Personal Documents:  We were asked to provide certified English to Spanish translations of personal documents such as birth certificates, baptismal certificates and correspondence.

Challenge: The client specified that  the translations were needed for Spain. Translators from Spain generally tend to charge a little bit higher than translators in Latin America.

Solution: In order to make the project affordable to the client and to include our tried-and-true translation team, the translation was done by a team in Argentina. We were able to provide the appropriate localization for Spain once the translation was revised by a qualified editor from that country.

Certified Arabic to English Translations of University Transcripts:  A client approached us with University transcripts from Saudi Arabia that needed to be translated from Arabic into English.

Challenge: The client provided specific names on the translations while we wanted to make sure that the names of the student, the school and the principal in the translations corresponded with the names in the original document. Even though we do not authenticate certificates, we obviously would rather not be involved with the certified translations of certificates that are not authentic.

Solution: We communicated the translator’s concerns to the client who produced the English translation by the Saudi Ministry of Education of his third-year transcript in Arabic and was thus able to prove that he was one and the same student in the documents. The translator was satisfied that the documents were legitimate The translation project was completed to the total satisfaction of the client.

The Language Shop provides EnglishJamaican Patois translation, interpreting and transcription services.Jamaican Patois Transcription and Translation Project:

We were approached with two audio recordings of conversations in Jamaican Patois. The client, another language service provider, wanted not only the English translation but also the Jamaican Patois transcripts of the audio files.

Challenges: Jamaican Patois does not have a standard orthography so everyone writes Jamaican Patois words differently. The project was voluminous and one file was about an hour and a half long. Each time a different linguist started transcribing the file, there would be serious disagreement as to how certain words were spelled. For consistency of the already existing portion of the transcript, time had to be taken to make global changes.

Solution: Eventually, one linguist had to focus on completing the Jamaican Patois transcript to ensure that it remained consistent throughout the document.

Posted in Arabic Language, Certified Translations, English to Spanish Translation, Jamaican Language, Jamaican Patios Interpreter, Jamaican Patois Transcription, Spanish Translation and Interpreting, Translating Jamaican Patois, Translation Service Providers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Obstacles Encountered When Translating Rare Languages and How to Overcome Them

Posted on March 16, 2012 by The Language Shop

We were recently asked to translate three documents from English languages of the worldinto thirteen languages, including:

*        Arabic

*        Amharic

*        Burmese

*        Chin

*        Farsi

*        French

*        Karen

*        Karenni

*        Nepali

*        Somali

*        Spanish

*        Swahili

*        Tigrinya

Such a request is not unusual and whether or not the volume of the project is high, no effort should be spared to satisfy the client.

Before the project was confirmed, we had to evaluate and provide a proposal for the job. Two of the documents were in Microsoft Word and one was in Excel. Even though we have hundreds of vendors in our database, the search had to be fine tuned to meet the specifications of this particular project. A translator and editor/proofreader with expertise in the respective specialty area had to be assigned for each language.

Following are some of the usual concerns that need to be addressed when working with rare language translations:

1) Finding language service providers who are dedicated to quality and not to simply collecting payments. No matter how tried and true a vendor is, we have a saying at the office that “you are as good as your last screw up.” Admittedly, this sounds cynical and puts a great deal of pressure on the agency and on the vendor. However, the translation industry is one in which only excellence is good enough. Therefore strict quality assurance standards must be adhered to at all times.

2) Finding vendors who can work within clients’ budgets. Bidding on projects can be very competitive. A very important factor that clients take into consideration when selecting a language service provider is budget. Bearing this in mind, the right balance must be maintained, on the one hand by asking the client to pay enough to be able to ensure the required quality while on the other hand by asking providers to be willing to negotiate in order to be successful in landing the project.

3) Meeting deadlines. One of the biggest challenges that can be encountered during the course of a translation project involving rare languages is delayed responses due to differences in time zones and other technical factors beyond providers’ control. Some examples are loss of phone or internet service, power outages due to electrical storms and other situations that range from mild to disastrous. From the very outset of the working relationship, as far as possible, language service providers must be made to understand the importance of maintaining constant contact from the time they submit their proposals up to and including after delivery has been made to the client.

4) Ensuring that instructions are understood and carried out. Communication problems can occur, among other reasons, if English is not the native language of the language service provider and there can be other challenges if providers do not share the same work ethic as the project manager. At times a linguist may appear to agree with instructions provided, only to display behavior that proves otherwise. However, the project manager must see to it that instructions are understood and carried out.

5) Making sure that the client is satisfied with delivery. Very often the characters used for rare languages are different from those used in English and it is not unusual for them to be garbled in file formats such as Word and Excel. Therefore, along with those deliverables, pdf files should be provided so the client will be able to properly view the characters in the translations. In addition, the fonts used should be provided. Files should be zipped in a format that the client will have no difficulties opening. At times, a font installer may have to be sent to the client so that the client will be able to work with the foreign Microsoft Office files.

At the end of the day, whether a project is assigned to twenty-six different linguists or to one language service provider, the quality must be such that the client will keep coming back.

Posted in Arabic Language, French Language, General/Business, Immigrant Issues, Language Awareness/Cultural Diversity, Medical Translation, Rare Languages, Social Game Translation & Localization, Spanish Translation and Interpreting, Translating Rare Languages, Translation Service Providers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Obstacles Encountered When Translating Rare Languages and How to Overcome Them

Posted on March 15, 2012 by The Language Shop

We were recently asked to translate three documents from English into thirteen languages, including:

*        Arabic

*        Amharic

*        Burmese

*        Chin

*        Farsi

*        French

*        Karen

*        Karenni

*        Nepali

*        Somali

*        Spanish

*        Swahili

*        Tigrinya

Such a request is not unusual and whether or not the volume of the project is high, no effort should be spared to satisfy the client.

Before the project was confirmed, we had to evaluate and provide a proposal for the job. Two of the documents were in Microsoft Word and one was in Excel. Even though we have hundreds of vendors in our database, the search had to be fine tuned to meet the specifications of this particular project. A translator and editor/proofreader with expertise in the respective specialty area had to be assigned for each language.

Following are some of the usual concerns that need to be addressed when working with rare language translations:

1) Finding language service providers who are dedicated to quality and not to simply collecting payments. No matter how tried and true a vendor is, we have a saying at the office that “you are as good as your last screw up.” Admittedly, this sounds cynical and puts a great deal of pressure on the agency and on the vendor. However, the translation industry is one in which only excellence is good enough. Therefore strict quality assurance standards must be adhered to at all times.

2) Finding vendors who can work within clients’ budgets. Bidding on projects can be very competitive. A very important factor that clients take into consideration when selecting a language service provider is budget. Bearing this in mind, the right balance must be maintained, on the one hand by asking the client to pay enough to be able to ensure the required quality while on the other hand by asking providers to be willing to negotiate in order to be successful in landing the project.

3) Meeting deadlines. One of the biggest challenges that can be encountered during the course of a translation project involving rare languages is delayed responses due to differences in time zones and other technical factors beyond providers’ control. Some examples are loss of phone or internet service, power outages due to electrical storms and other situations that range from mild to disastrous. From the very outset of the working relationship, as far as possible, language service providers must be made to understand the importance of maintaining constant contact from the time they submit their proposals up to and including after delivery has been made to the client.

4) Ensuring that instructions are understood and carried out. Communication problems can occur, among other reasons, if English is not the native language of the language service provider and there can be other challenges if providers do not share the same work ethic as the project manager. At times a linguist may appear to agree with instructions provided, only to display behavior that proves otherwise. However, the project manager must see to it that instructions are understood and carried out.

5) Making sure that the client is satisfied with delivery. Very often the characters used for rare languages are different from those used in English and it is not unusual for them to be garbled in file formats such as Word and Excel. Therefore, along with those deliverables, pdf files should be provided so the client will be able to properly view the characters in the translations. In addition, the fonts used should be provided. Files should be zipped in a format that the client will have no difficulties opening. At times, a font installer may have to be sent to the client so that the client will be able to work with the foreign Microsoft Office files.

At the end of the day, whether a project is assigned to twenty-six different linguists or to one language service provider, the quality must be such that the client will keep coming back.

Posted in Arabic Language, French Language, General/Business, Immigrant Issues, Language Awareness/Cultural Diversity, Medical Translation, Rare Languages, Social Game Translation & Localization, Spanish Translation and Interpreting, Translating Rare Languages, Translation Service Providers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Inch’Allah dimanche (Sunday God Willing) Yamina Benguigui, 2001

Posted on February 1, 2012 by The Language Shop

I recently enjoyed watching Inch’Allah dimanche, a French/Algerian film with English subtitles on Netflix. Even though there is some violence in the film, it is very easy to watch as the plot flows fairly smoothly. However, I wished the subtitles had been available in French and not just in English because I feel French subtitles better capture Arabic meanings than English ones.

Inch’Allah dimanche is the story of Zouina, a young Algerian wife, who, accompanied by her husband’s mother, Aicha, along with her three children, travels to France to be reunited with her husband, Ahmed who has been away from Algeria for quite some time. The departure from Algeria is heartrending and extremely traumatic for Zouina and her beloved mother who are both inconsolable as they separate.

Zouina’s form of dress gives one the impression that Algerian customs are relatively liberal in comparison with those of other Muslim countries where women are almost completely covered up in floor-length dresses, burqas, hijabs and niqabs. However, it soon becomes clear from the oppressive treatment she receives from her husband and mother-in-law that her feelings are not taken into consideration and there is not much difference. In fact, when Zouina, Aicha and the children finally arrive in France where the remainder of the film is set, Zouina’s husband never once shows her any sign of affection, apart from a cold, perfunctory hug when he picks up his family to take them to his apartment. If the viewer is looking for some show of tenderness between them, it never happens, which is surprising because Zouina is so attractive.

Throughout the film, Aicha’s words and behavior show how attitudes toward religion seem to play a vital role in family relationships among these Algerians. She constantly pronounces judgment on Zouina’s behavior and invokes Ahmed’s physical punishment upon her to “curse the devil.” At the boat, she shoves Zouina and upbraids her for showing emotion and for tearfully running toward her sobbing mother. As if her despair at having to leave her mother is something evil, Aicha asks Zouina if she has no shame or fear of God.

Zouina is able to enjoy very little interaction with the outside world, except to visit the grocery store and listen to game shows and talk shows on the radio when Aicha is not turning it off. However, determined to overcome the severe restraints on her life and freedom, she endures the constant verbal and physical abuse of her tyrannical mother-in-law and husband. “Damn you” are words he repeats to her upon her every infraction. She leaves viewers on the edge of their seats as she constantly risks further abuse by waiting until her husband and mother-in-law have left and constantly stealing out of her home with her children on Sundays to visit the outside world, knowing full well that such behavior is strictly prohibited.

The most pathetic part of the movie is when Zouina finally meets her fellow Algerian, Malika, whom she has expended every effort and risked her very life to see. She shares her new found ideas of freedom with Malika who, rather than being inspired, becomes very afraid and orders Zouina out of her home, accusing her of trying to have her killed. Malika’s internal conflict is evident as she tearfully stands behind the door, obviously torn apart while Zouina screams and cries for her to let her back inside and not to abandon her like this.

There seems to be no real dénouement and the story appears to end abruptly on a note of hope when Zouina arrives home with her children in the bus driven by a young man who passes her house everyday. She meets Ahmed and Aicha waiting outside with the neighbors and friends after having returned some four hours before with the sheep they have been checking on every Sunday to ensure its readiness for the upcoming Eid celebration. Ironically Zouina is holding the key that will let them inside the house. Instead of punishing her, as recommended by Aicha, Ahmed smiles at her and Zouina tells the children that from now on she will be taking them to school.

In the long run, Inch’Allah dimanche is a story of the triumph of the human spirit over oppression and the willingness to make the ultimate sacrifices to achieve a dream or desire.

Posted in Arabic Language, Film Reviews, French Language, Language Awareness/Cultural Diversity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

The Importance of Good Customer Relations in the Translation Process

Why Informed Clients Receive Better Quality Translation Service

Posted on January 28, 2012 by The Language Shop

Indeed, simply knowing a foreign language does not a translator make

Informed clients who understand the various stages of the translation process are more likely to receive better quality translation service. The more educated you are as a client about the professional nature of translation is the more time, resources and energy you will spare yourself in the long run. Sometimes, when clients believe they can save money by having an acquaintance who is “bilingual” provide a certified translation, they end up losing more than if they had simply hired a professional service in the first place. Indeed, simply knowing a foreign language does not a translator make and botched translations will not be accepted in an official capacity.

Clients can experience a great deal of frustration when after a translation has been completed by someone they know who lives down the street, they learn that qualified translators are unwilling to certify the translation that has not been properly done. Sworn translation or certified translation must be done by a professional translator who has obtained certification from a recognized authority such as a university or a professional translator association such as the American Translators Association.

Even though it may seem to be less expensive to hire a freelancer, direct clients will stand to benefit more by hiring a translation agency to complete their important projects and the accountability of project manager to clients will prove to be a less stressful solution for tight deadlines and specific budgets. A translation agency with a group of competent freelancers will be better equipped than a lone freelancer to handle larger projects in a shorter space of time. Furthermore, an agency with a competent team will also be able to satisfactorily complete important projects since the team will comprise of editors who will be on the lookout for missing text, inaccurate grammar, spelling, punctuation, in addition to stylistic gaucheries in the target language and formatting that is inconsistent with that of the source language.

It is essential for clients to clearly communicate their needs to their language service providers who will be better able to evaluate the respective translation projects that they present for quotations. For example, when a client or prospective client simply requests rates without providing other essential information such as subject material, source and target file formats, deadlines, volumes and special requirements and instructions, the language service provider will not be able to properly evaluate the project. The project manager’s willingness and ability to keep the client appraised of the status of each respective project and provide options during the process will ensure the client’s total satisfaction.

During the entire translation process from the moment of the initial inquiry up to and including after the project has been delivered, constant communication between the project manager and the client and also between the project manager and the rest of the team is necessary to ensure the desired outcome.

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Challenges Faced by Consecutive Spanish Interpreters

Why Spanish Interpreters Are Really Multi-Lingual, Especially When Speakers Use Spanglish

Posted on January 8, 2012 by The Language Shop

One of the ultimate objectives of Spanish language training is to teach students to speak, read and write accurate and impeccable Spanish with the hope that some day, they may become sufficiently proficient in the language to use it professionally. Great efforts have been made to maintain standard Spanish and some of the career paths students of Spanish have aspired to are translation, interpreting, document review, voice-over recording, writing, teaching, et al. 

In this article, we will discuss the challenges some Spanish interpreters face in their daily work. There are two main types of interpreting: (1) simultaneous and (2) consecutive. In simultaneous interpreting, the interpreter renders the speaker’s words from one language into another while the speaker is still speaking. In consecutive interpreting, the interpreter waits for the speaker to stop speaking and then renders the speaker’s words from one language into another. Consecutive interpreters can interpret at court hearings, depositions, jailhouse visits, interviews, business meetings, medical appointments, independent medical evaluations, during telephone conferences or exchanges between a small number of persons. 

Since speakers can go uninterrupted for a significant amount of time before a break is finally given for interpreters to render all that has been said into another language, consecutive interpreters are faced with the task of remembering extraneous amounts of speech. They have to rely upon their short-term memories and note-taking skills. In order to recall what speakers have said that needs to be rendered into another language, consecutive interpreters have to develop an elaborate, personal system of symbols to represent everything that is said in interpreting assignments. To a certain extent, the note-taking system developed by the interpreter is like a language in itself. 

In addition to relying upon their short-term memories and note-taking skills, consecutive interpreters have to be familiar with the respective terminology and subject material being discussed, along with the various regionalisms used in different Spanish-speaking countries, so constant vocabulary building is essential for interpreters’ success since during each assignment, they will have to interpret for Spanish speakers from different regions. 

three ring venn diagram

Spanglish is a blend of Spanish and English used at varying extents

 

As if they do not already have to think on their feet, finding the appropriate symbols to represent everything that is said and then rendering the verbal translation at the appropriate time, interpreters also stand the risk of being baffled when a defendant, deponent, claimant, participant, patient or other speaker says something that they have never heard before in Spanish. It can take the interpreter some time to regain his or her composure and he or she may request a moment to check a dictionary. At some point, the speaker may even clarify the intended meaning of what was said or the interpreter may eventually figure it out. Whatever the case, when such clarification is provided, the interpreter can be taken aback at the realization that the speaker has just spoken Spanglish![i] Spanglish is a blend of Spanish and English that can be used at varying degrees. Users of Spanglish simply do not pay any attention to the efforts being made to keep Spanish, or English for that matter, standard. To the contrary, they have a mind of their own and develop this new way of speaking for their own convenience. Spanglish vocabularies have seen tremendous development and are no longer just a matter of a few words..[ii] 

Hence, Spanish interpreters must either decide to study Spanglish and stay up-to-date with the growing vocabulary or run the risk of being rendered speechless in interpreting assignments. Following are a few Spanish words, their Spanglish counterparts and English meanings:

Spanish Spanglish English
sótano beisman basement
paseando jangeando going out or hanging out
goteando liquiando leaking
alfombra carpeta carpet
éxito suceso success
almuerzo lunche lunch
ayudar asistir to assist
asistir atender attend
empujar puchar to push
estacionar parquear to park

Spanglish is constantly evolving; it is neither organized nor consistent. Perhaps, the only way in which Spanglish may be comparable with Spanish is that different Spanglish expressions are used by different speakers in different regions.[iii] It would appear as if the responsibility for Spanglish interpreting has automatically fallen to Spanish interpreters and embracing this responsibility is not always easy. As Spanglish continues to evolve, the translation and interpreting industry may have to rethink this arrangement and more specialized Spanglish linguists may have to arise to embrace the task of interpreting Spanglish as distinct from Spanish and English. 

[i] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanglish 

[ii] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1438900 

[iii] http://factoidz.com/the-spanglish-language/

Posted in Spanish Translation and Interpreting, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Social Game Translation & Localization

Posted on December 6, 2011 by The Language Shop

The Translation Industry’s Role in the World of Gaming

Playing gamesThere are four stages to a successful social game. (1) The game is first conceived in the mind and imagination of the developer. At the time of conception, the game may or may not be highly marketable. Believe it or not, playing games is a significant part of the job description posted for many positions in a game developer’s business. This is to ensure that a mediocre game becomes something that is phenomenally alluring to prospective players. (2) After the necessary tweaking has been done, the game is ready to be released by a game publisher. It is possible for a game publisher to also be a game developer. (3) If it is conceived that the game may be appreciated in different countries by people of different cultures, it is then localized into various languages. This is where language service providers play a very important role in an industry that has fast moved into a billion-dollar business. (4) After passing through all of the above stages, the game is then monetized. This is where a game publishing company can really make a developer happy and in turn be greatly compensated! This final stage determines in the mind of the developer whether or not the game is a success.

The translation and localization industry needs to keep a keen eye on this sudden burst of activity by social game developers, since localization companies are now in direct competition with game developers and publishers who are now acting as “middle men” who are constantly seeking the most competitively priced and technologically advanced language services to assist them in attaining the jealously guarded position of the top of their industry.

As in every other industry, the quality of work rendered by online game localizers is crucial to the success of any game. Through the use of language and cultural adaptation, online game localizers must help their clients to make a great impression on their multi-tiered target market, starting with other developers down to the individual game player. Many and varied are the cultural gaps to be bridged.

In order to deliver a superb product to clients and players, the online game localizer should be a native speaker of the requested target language of the game. The language service provider should also be well versed in the respective terminology pertaining to each game and able to work in a variety of formats, including graphic arts programs and game applications (sometimes called tools). The online game localizer should be adept at transferring the game from one culture into another. The very evaluation of localization jobs can be challenging since for larger projects, special software will be needed to count the words in the above mentioned formats. For very small projects, the social game localizer will need to convince the game publisher or developer to accept to pay a minimum charge since a per-word rate will not work for a job of under three to five hundred words!

The Language Shop has collaborated with scores of project managers, team leaders and freelance linguists in all continents and time zones to complete 83 complex, multi-tiered translation projects for facebook and other platforms into English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Russian, Arabic, Dutch, Portuguese, Czech, Indonesian, Turkish, Greek, Finnish, Hindi, Norwegian, Swedish from Chinese or English.

Some games translated were Gangster Wars, World War, Serial Kidnapper, Illegal Parking, Texas Holdem Poker, 6waves Poker, Daily Horoscope, Happy Harvest, Pirates of the World, My Fishbowl, Happy Farm, Happy Harvest, Garbage Cleaner. Animal Paradise, Shadow Empire, Frosmo World, Kingdoms of Camelot, Bingo World, Ultimate Slot Machines, World Poker, Chinese New Year, Medical Mayhem, Friends Quizzes, Daily Tarot Cards, Wonder Garden, King of Kung Fu, Give Hearts, App Creator, Sunny Beach, Mall World, Plants vs. Aliens, Resort World, Island Paradise, Battle Punks and Party Town.

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How Good a Listener Are You?

Why Active Listening is the Best Thing You Could Ever Do For Yourself Professionally and Personally

Posted on November 3, 2011 by The Language Shop

So here I was: I had created the job of my dreams that involved going to interesting places and meeting people of different cultures who spoke different languages from all over the world. It all sounded so glamorous. When I arrived at one of my first networking events at the United Nations in New York, I had no idea how I was going to get through it. How could I possibly make these total strangers become interested in what I had to say? If at any moment I had ever been under the impression that using the most impressive words and doing some name dropping would serve to endear me to them, I would have been in for a rude awakening. It will take forever to get close to these people! I thought to myself. How would I ever be able to find out whether or not they needed translation and interpreting services
Over time, I have developed the art of making lifelong allies by simply saying hello and engaging in active listening after that. Finding out from people about themselves, what they do, what successes they have enjoyed, what difficulties and challenges they encounter and losing myself in every word they say has brought positive change, both personally and professionally. When I learned the important lesson that no matter what languages they speak or what their cultures are, people are always going to be more interested in themselves than in anything else, it was as if a light bulb had been turned on in my mind and it is easier now to talk to anyone, anywhere.

Generally speaking, after people have talked about themselves for long enough, they will eventually take a pause and ask the magic words, “So what about you? What do you do?” This is one of the most significant moments in the entire encounter and the next 30 seconds will determine the direction in which the relationship will go. If you can sum up exactly what you are about in 30 seconds, you stand a very good chance of getting an additional minute of the listener’s attention, during which time, your new acquaintance may be inclined to ask you some direct questions. The way you answer those questions will be important and you will need to find a way to show a relationship between your answers and how the listener may benefit in some way.

At every level of the encounter, honesty and sincerity are key because you may just be called upon in the near future to prove some or all of the claims you have made.

Recommended Reading:

http://www.amazon.com/When-Listening-Comes-Alive-Communication/dp/0969707916/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320376181&sr=1-1

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Jamaican Language and Cultural Identity

Posted on July 13, 2011 by The Language Shop

It has been said that how a person speaks may identify where they are coming from but not necessarily where they are going.

Access to travel and emigration have impacted upon the evolution of Jamaican Language, sometimes called Jamaican Creole, Jamaican Patois or Jamaican Dialect, of which there are a plethora of variants. It is spoken by most, if not all Jamaicans all over the world and the very diversity of the language is one reason why it has had difficulty being accepted as an official language and has often been erroneously referred to as “Broken English” by those who do not understand or who have no regard for its origin and/or history.

Knowing that English is the official worldwide language, many Jamaican parents who read, speak and write Standard English fluently demand that it be used in the home so that children will master it as their native language. They figure that their children will have no difficulty learning Jamaican Language from their peers in informal settings so they enforce the learning of English in every other possible situation. In such situations, children learn to separate the two languages and find no difficulty switching from one language to the other, when appropriate and necessary. Since the mastery of Standard English has a tendency to represent breeding, class and education, for social reasons, they believe that the greater the speaker’s mastery of Standard English is the more socially acceptable that speaker is, whether or not they occasionally use Jamaican Language.

Ironically, there are situations in which the converse can sometimes be true because the more that Standard English is used to mitigate Jamaican Language is the more broken the English really becomes and such users are technically poor speakers of Jamaican Language. In actuality, the less the mastery of written and spoken Standard English by the Jamaican Language speaker is the more likely the speaker will use “Broken English” rather than speak Jamaican Language, which is a totally different language. This is true of many Jamaicans who claim that they do not speak Jamaican language, even though their English sentence construction is not grammatically correct and their accent and intonation may sound as if they are in fact speaking Jamaican Language.

While the accent, intonation and syntax of some Jamaican Language speakers may sound humorous to other Jamaicans, the truth is that the more Standard English is interspersed into the Jamaican Language, is the more humorous the resulting sound really can be. The more conscious a listener is of the history of Jamaican Language is the less they will see another Jamaican speaker’s accent as something to be ridiculed, no matter how strange the intonation may sound. In addition, historically aware Jamaican Language speakers will not see the need to intersperse the accent, intonation and syntax of Standard English, thereby mitigating the Jamaican Language, in order to sound socially acceptable.

A Jamaican listener may judge the speech of a Jamaican Language speaker using one of two criteria: (1) the linguistic rules of Standard English; or (2) a respect for the history of Jamaican Language. If the listener uses the former criterion, the Jamaican Language speaker will sound humorous or strange. However, if the listener uses the latter criterion, he/she will find nothing wrong with the sound of the speaker.

Following are some situations in which Jamaican Language speakers may sound humorous to Jamaican listeners but quite acceptable to speakers of Standard English or other languages who base their judgment solely on the subject material being discussed:

- When listeners from the urban or more privileged socioeconomic areas of Jamaica are listening to speakers from more rural or lower socioeconomic areas;
- In settings where the Jamaican Language speaker’s accent may be influenced when interacting with speakers of various different languages and cultures, including British English and American English;
- In interviews in which the Jamaican Language speaker may try to impress the listener by using an inconsistent accent, in an effort to sound sophisticated [or “speaky spokey”]. Jamaicans will probably be the only listeners who pick up on this. Other speakers will probably not notice.
- In cases when the speaker is trying to use complex words and sentences,–sometimes to the point of using malapropisms. The foreign listener will probably just assume that this is part of the dialect.

In most cases listed above, a Jamaican Patois or Jamaican Dialect Interpreter will be hired to facilitate understanding between both (sets of) speakers. A Jamaican Language Interpreter may be necessary for:

- Press conferences and interviews;
- TV and Film (subtitles and voiceover dubbing can also be used);
- Court hearings;
- Jail Visits;
- Wire taps for surveillance (translators receive audio tapes or audio files in electronic format and in turn, provide a transcript in the respective target language of what has been recorded in Jamaican Language).

Jamaican Language has endured modifications from its original usage because of the impact caused by the growing numbers of Jamaican users all over the world who speak Standard English and other languages and dialects. In fact, in modern times, how something is said may just sound comical, while in previous times, the same statement may probably not have been understandable at all in Jamaican Language.

Interesting Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaican_Patois
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaican_diaspora
http://www.uvm.edu/~debate/dreadlibrary/herbold.html

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