It is perfectly fine to serve your client directly in the language of their preference. At the same time, it may still be a good idea to have an interpreter as part of your team.
Category Archives: Language and Society
Non-Profits and Machine Translation: (How) Should You Use It?
If you work for a non-profit that serves speakers of languages other than English, you may find yourself using automatic translation to bridge the language barrier. I would like to encourage you to use it appropriately and consider what alternatives may be a better fit in some scenarios.
Demystifying Russian Names
Russian naming conventions may be confusing to people outside the region, and this gets compounded when people bearing these names come to the US. In this post, I will look at some sources of potential misunderstanding arising from the use of names in the Russian language—in but not limited to the country of Russia and by but not limited to ethnic Russians.
What’s Wrong with Using Child Interpreters?
While it may be harmless or even helpful for the family in many everyday situations, I would warn against relying on child interpreters in high-stakes situations that may have financial, legal, or medical consequences.
Are Native Russian Speakers Always Russian?
Your Russian-speaking client or partner may not come from Russia or be of Russian ancestry.
Translation Ethics Case Study: Dating Article
Russian feminist Nastya Krasilnikova recently came across a sexist article in the Russian version of GQ. However, following the link to the American magazine where this article first appeared, Nastya discovered that the author was a woman. It appears that many points in the translation have been changed beyond simple cultural adaptation.
Demand for Russian Outside US-Russia Relations
I am sometimes asked how the interactions between Russia and the US will affect the demand for Russian translation and interpreting. The political climate certainly impacts language services by affecting trade and international cooperation. However, English and Russian are not the exclusive purview of Russia and the US. Here are some areas where Russian is needed independently ofContinue reading “Demand for Russian Outside US-Russia Relations”
How Do You Say Rogue One in Russian?
By now, many people will have seen and enjoyed a Star Wars spin-off movie Rogue One. One of the things that occurred to me after watching it was the challenge of translating the word “rogue.”
Guilty By Association: When Idiomatic Translation Hurts Your Message
One of the benchmarks of a good translation is whether it sounds “natural” or “flows.” An important exception to this rule is when the “natural,” idiomatic expression has negative connotations in that language. Such cases may warrant a departure from the choices made in the original text.
Are Your Corporate Materials Localization-Ready?
US-headquartered corporations will often want to expand their operations overseas. At the same time, few of them internationalize their corporate communications and training materials. In other words, the original content was authored with the US in mind, and when the company decides to publish this content abroad — to localize it for other markets —Continue reading “Are Your Corporate Materials Localization-Ready?”
Maria Guzenko 