Tag Archives: fort worth

Update – 2013 Federal Court Interpreter Exam

Yesterday, registration opened for Phase II of the Federal Court Interpreter Certification Exam. Since I was fortunate enough to pass Phase I (Written) last year, I registered right away to (hopefully) test for Phase II in my home city. This way, I can avoid combining travel stress with the stress of a test that won’t be available for another two years if I fail it. Which won’t happen, of course. (Positive thinking…)

Holly to all social invitations: "See you at the end of July!"

Holly to all social invitations: “See you at the end of July!”

FCICE has announced that the exams will be administered the week of July 15th, but it seems we won’t have a firm date until after the registration period closes on May 17th.

After the exam, FCICE warns us that Spanish applicants may have to wait up to 13 weeks for results. Applicants for other languages may have to wait even longer. Which means that I will probably check my mailbox at least 78 times from July to October, or 65 if Saturday delivery is canceled.

Did you also pass Phase I last year? Go straight to the Phase II registration page here. Thinking of starting the FCICE process when the written exam is administered next year? There are some materials available, including a practice oral exam.

 

Should Translations of Official Foreign Documents Replicate the Original Formatting?

Many websites offer speedy, inexpensive translations of official foreign documents such as birth certificates. This is not one of them.

Personally, I find these documents interesting to translate because each country’s documents are so different. For people belonging to an earlier generation than mine, for example, their birth certificate might be a narrative written by a priest in the official municipal registry.

But, I don’t do this type of work often because it can take me a full hour to translate a one-page certificate, between deciphering handwriting and tracking down the meanings of obscure abbreviations (sometimes from government entities that no longer exist). I give a customized estimate for each document and I don’t believe my rates are unfair for the thoroughly researched translations that I provide, but my rate for an hour of translation is still higher than what I see at the pre-paid, one-price-fits-all sites. Of course, quality might suffer with one of these more economical alternatives, but a quick-and-dirty translation may be sufficient as long as the vital statistics are right (though it’s unethical to certify such as a “complete and accurate” translation).

Something that does raise caution flags in my mind, however, is the practice of providing a translation as a formatted replica of the original document. Once, responding to a question on whether to format such translations, my beloved translation professor, a sworn translator from Spain, responded:

Soy traductora. No soy diseñadora gráfica.

(I’m a translator, not a graphic designer.)

Six years later, I still hear her voice and the simple conclusion she impressed on her students. It seems obvious, but sometimes in our eagerness to please our clients, we forget our real function. We translate the meanings of words. Generally, I don’t believe a translator should spend a lot of time messing with text boxes and images unless this work is contemplated as part of a service package (with a higher rate than translation alone) or paid as an hourly add-on service.

More importantly, replicating official documents could bring a risk of allegations of producing false documents. I learned that in Spain, sworn translations are text-only and fully justified, with dashes filling out any unused space on each line to prevent tampering. The only graphic elements in the translation are the translator’s seal and signature. Seals, signatures, logos on the original are described in bracketed translator’s notes: [This document is printed on official watermarked paper. There appears in the upper left-hand corner a seal that reads…]

Now, such sworn translations (and sworn translators) must fulfill much more rigorous standards than certified translations in the U.S., it’s true. But I think it’s in our best interest to play it safe by providing written translations, not replica documents. I have never seen a requirement from any government entity that the translation resemble the original, so why take the risk? At Preciso, the policy is to provide a translation clearly marked as a translation, with a certificate that bears the translator’s name and the title, in Spanish, of the original document.

What do you think? Am I missing an important reason to replicate the original document?

 

 

 

Worst Corporate Buzzwords

This week one question on LinkedIn garnered more than 400 responses:

Maybe we should make our marketing copy more customer-centric

What are the corporate buzzwords we’d like to banish?

Buzzwords are fascinating because when they’re fresh, people often use them to signal membership in a social group. But, much like fashion trends, when they become ubiquitous the group considers the word pedestrian and moves on. Never one to overlook the opportunity to do some sociolinguistic analysis, I did a little back-of-the-envelope calculation to find the top ten offenders:

  1. at the end of the day
  2. leverage (as a verb)
  3. socialize (a project or idea to someone)
  4. low-hanging fruit
  5. clear/clearly
  6. going forward
  7. ask (as a noun -”My ask is this…”)
  8. blue sky (as a verb)
  9. strategic/strategize
  10. value-added

Clearly, being out of the corporate world since forever has kept me out of the loop, because I have never heard several of these. I have no idea what it means to blue-sky something to someone, for example, but it came up a lot. And, although it wasn’t in the top ten, productionize struck me as particularly useless. It turns out, though, that it does have a nuance that produce lacks; productionize means to roll out a new product or service after a pilot period.

Any buzzwords you’d like to go ahead and banish?

 

Announcement – 2013 Federal Court Interpreter Exam

 

A few months back, I received the great news that I had passed the Phase One (Written) portion of the Federal Court Interpreter Certification Exam. Since then, I have been compulsively checking the FCICE web page to see when registration will open for the Phase Two (Oral) Exam. Since the Phase Two exam is only offered in odd-numbered years (2013, 2015, 3001, etc.), I have been eager to set up my study timeline and meet this beast head on in 2013.

So I am thrilled to announce that the wait is over, as the FCICE has announced the registration period:

  • Registration Opens: Monday, March 25, 2013 8:30 A.M. ET
  • Registration Closes: Friday, May 17, 2013 at 5:00 P.M. ET

No word yet on actual exam dates, but I registered for the Phase One exam in May 2012 (got the last slot in the location most convenient to me, whew!) and all exams were administered within a short period in August 2012. It looks like this year’s timeline may be similar. More details at the FCICE site.

 

What Does “Preciso” Mean?

I’m always interested to look at this site’s analytics to see how people arrive. In addition to people searching for how to say Holly in Spanish, there are also many visitors looking for the meaning or language of the word preciso.

Never one to miss an opportunity to please, here you have it:

  • Preciso is a Spanish word that comes from the Latin word praecīsus according to the Real Academia Española.
  • Preciso‘s most common meaning can be translated into English as precise, accurate, specific, or exact, though in some contexts it can have a different meaning.

I chose it as the name for my translation company because it embodies my goal of getting it exactly right whenever I translate or interpret for my clients.

P.S. While we’re at it, the name Holly comes from the common name for a plant family called Ilex. It has green leaves and small red berries. From what I gather, in Spanish the common name for this type of plant is acebo, so technically that would be the Spanish equivalent of the name Holly. Not nearly as nice as Rose/Rosa or Margarite/Margarita, am I right?

Presentations: 3 Things I Was Getting Wrong

Recently, I had a wonderful opportunity to hear Guy Kawasaki speak on Enchantment to a small group of about 200 people in Dallas, Texas. Guy is so good at getting people to listen, most famously during his time at Apple, that companies like GM send him products like Corvettes hoping he will put in a good word.

Movie theater lighting lights the audience, not the speaker, oops!Guy Kawasaki speaks at the Angelika Theater in Dallas

Click here for a full one-hour video of his Enchantment speech. The fact that Guy gives away the presentation and slides, yet people still pay him to fly in and speak for 30 minutes on the same topic, shows he really practices what he preaches about providing great content and getting people to like you.

During his live chat in Dallas he gave several of tips for presentations. But I also noticed his use of a few presentation techniques that he didn’t mention, but worked extraordinarily well.

What he said was:

  1. No more than 10 slides. Minimum font size is 30 points.
  2. No more than 20 minutes long and number your points so people know how close you are to the end.
  3. Customize the introduction to show that you know where you are. Here in Dallas, he showed up wearing ostrich cowboy boots and told us how much he loved them and would like to see the factory.

But I found a goldmine of subtler techniques underneath the other things he said:

  1. “What the hell does this picture mean?” Everyone knows that high-definition, striking images help people stay engaged and remember your message. But the relationship to your point doesn’t always have to be obvious; at one point Guy pointed to a bizarre image of pantomime artists and asked the question in everyone’s mind – “What the hell?” He made us look forward to his explanation.
  2. “My presentation is not displaying properly. I could go over and fix it right now, but I’m not going to.” I have to admit that I’ve put audiences or classes through those awkward moments that stretch on for eternity while I search for the video that was supposed to play but didn’t. Guy, on the other hand, made a Windows joke and told us what was supposed to be on screen. He didn’t lose the audience’s attention for one second. Total control.
  3. “I have tinnitis in my ear and it’s nearly impossible for me to hear you if there is a lot of other noise. I’m sorry if you try to talk to me and I don’t hear you.” This was Guy’s simple response when the event organizer wanted to cut short the Q&A to move everyone from the quiet theater to the bar area, per the event program. Guy didn’t ask for anything, show one ruffled feather, or create tension. Instead, he gave information and let the organizer decide whether to end the Q&A, knowing this was the last chance for attendees to talk to Guy. Of course, the organizer let the Q&A run over.

Thanks to Social Media Club of Dallas for giving me the chance to learn from watching a true influencer (rare thing indeed) in action.

Note: As part of my Paperless Interpreter experiment, I took handwritten notes for this post using a Bamboo stylus on an iPad 2, using the Notability app. Full report on that part of the experience in a future post.