Each week we receive a number of resumes from qualified translators worldwide. We wish we had work for each translator that contacts us. Most often the availability of translators is greater than the demand for services from of our current clients.

Still we keep each and every resume we receive for future reference. Each translator’s background is unique and there might be a special project that comes along that requires a certain specialization. For those occasions and as a general policy we keep every translator’s contact.

Here’s what we like to see in emails received from translators:

1) First of all, we do prefer to receive emails rather than telephone calls. A written communication provides a record we can keep permanently.

2) Translators can help by including their primary language combination(s) in the subject title. That lets us immediately know how to sort the email, even if we don’t have time to read the contents right away. If it’s somehow unclear then there’s a risk that we’ll mishandle the message and it’s not filed correctly.

3) When we review resumes, among the things we look for is of course the translator’s experience as a translator, such as what types of projects have they worked on before. We also like to see that the translator has invested in modern translation technology/software. We’re also interested in their rates for the categories of services they provide (e.g., translation, proofreading, transcription, et. al.).

When the first potential project comes up and we contact a new translator (usually by email), a quick reply is important. Projects are won or lost sometimes due to response times with clients.

For additional information or to request a quote for translation services please email files to quote@affinityspanish.com or click here.

A question came up recently on how to handle the translation of a marketing tagline. The client asked for guidance about whether the English tagline should be translated into Spanish or not, and if so how. The tagline in English reads “Smiling for Generations^SM“. The following comment was provided by the translator:

Similing for Generations^SM is a creative expression which I recommend not to translate. The word Generations is the key here. If we translate it into “Generaciones” we should keep the intended meaning, but we lose the brand meaning which you want to maintain as it is.

Also it does not look OK in this case to go hybrid and to translate something like: “Sonreir durante Generations^SM”

So I believe there are two possible solutions:

1) To keep in original

2) To propose a new tagline preserving the brand component.

I personally prefer point 2, so in that case consider the translation below. The basic issue here is that the word “Generations” has the SM (service mark) symbol, which should be a sort of proprietary brand name. If we translate the tagline into “Sonreir durante Generaciones” of course we would preserve the best intended meaning, but we should be translating the proper name (unless the SM symbol is removed). I recommended not to translate it not because of the word itself, but due to the marked name. At any rate, if the customer still wants to translate the tagline, no doubt the best would be:

“Sonreir durante generaciones”

We wonder whether this Google Trends measurement of searches on the phrase ‘Spanish translation’ suggests business for translation companies is increasing?

Then again would optimism be tempered by the following search activity measurement on ‘translation services?’ Despite the arguably mixed messages we tend to be encouraged.

In New York City the City Council approved legislation yesterday requiring large pharmacy chains to provide translation services in the city’s most popular languages.

The bill, which was approved by a vote of 36 to 7, would apply to pharmacies with more than four locations that are under the same ownership. Opponents of the bill say it is another example of the city overregulating private businesses.

According to a 2006 survey by the New York Academy of Medicine, 88 percent of randomly selected pharmacists served people who spoke only limited English every day, but 50 percent did not translate labels or did so less than once a week. About one in four New Yorkers do not speak English.

In a related announcement, Mexico City pharmacies will not be required to provide customers with product labels in any language other than Spanish.

Recently it was announced by The Californian.com that the City of Salinas has launched a new Spanish language website. According to the report:

“The city of Salinas has created a Web site that allows residents to view community information as well as submit online crime reports, maintenance requests and other forms in Spanish.

The site, http://espanol.ci.salinas.ca.us, went live Thursday.

The city paid its vendor about $19,000 to translate its English site at www.ci.salinas.ca.us, said Tom Kever, the city’s finance director. The vendor company will get an additional $1,700 per month to translate updated pages.”

For the record, we’d have done the job for $18,950.

According to an Associated Press published story from the past week, New York City is getting sued over translation services for welfare clients.

A group called Legal Services NYC filed the lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Manhattan on behalf of six clients. The suit alleges that language barriers caused lost or delayed benefits, among other things. The plaintiffs in the case speak Spanish, Mandarin or Cantonese Chinese, and Soninke, a West African language.

In defense of the city’s position, Commissioner Robert Doar says the Human Resources Administration provides 7,000 to 8,000 contracted interpretation services each year. It also uses hundreds of bilingual staff and community resources.

Doar says the agency has translated 800 forms, brochures and notices into required languages. The plaintiffs in this case it seems are not swayed.

Non-English speakers who have to deal with Wisconsin’s legal system still aren’t getting the services they need when they go to court, according to the director of the state’s court interpreter program, as reported by Gil Halsted of Wisconsin Public Radio.

Carmel Capati heads the office in charge of translation services in state courts. He says they could use the help, especially with certain refugee populations. Those include 70 refugees from Myanmar who have arrived in the state this year, and an increase in the number of both Somali and Iranian refugees over the past two years.

Federal money to hire more interpreters could get congressional approval this year. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin) has just re-introduced a bill he’s been pushing for years to send more money to the states to train and hire court interpreters. If it passes this year, it could mean $100,000 to add interpreters in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin currently has 65 certified court interpreters. 59 of them speak Spanish. The others include American Sign Language, Russian, German, Hmong, Chinese Lao, and Vietnamese.

Well is seems that the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission has been instructed to “consider” translating into Spanish a statement given to all drunken-driving suspects. That’s the recommendation of an appeals court that upheld a Hispanic man’s conviction for refusing to take a breath test. The court said state law does not require translation.

However, the judges said the MVC should consider having the statement translated into Spanish and “perhaps other prevalent foreign languages.” The court said recordings could be played for suspects who need translation. Police read German Marquez the 11-paragraph statement explaining the test after he was arrested following an accident in Plainfield in 2007. Marquez responded in Spanish that he didn’t understand.

We’re confident that consideration is taking place.

The following was reported on the receipts at a Red Robin restaurant in Arizona.

Notice the bottom of the receipt. In English, it says “Thanks for visiting RED ROBIN. Please Pay Your Server”. Underneath that, in Spanish, it says “Please Pay Your Server. Tip is not included.” Are they insinuating that Mexicans don’t tip and have to be reminded to include a tip, whereas English speaking people are good tippers and are welcome at Red Robin any time. One might argue that perhaps tipping isn’t common in Mexico. However, tipping is just as prevalent and expected in Mexico as it is here, so that isn’t a valid argument.

Or to our way of thinking the more obvious question is if there were four guests why only two drinks? It’s Arizona for goodness sake. Everyone’s always thirsty there.

A new study from Northwestern University highlights the challenges many pharmacy-counter exchanges might present for those who speak only Spanish. Researchers there surveyed pharmacies in Texas and Colorado (which have had, for some time, large Latino populations) and Georgia and North Carolina (which have burgeoning Latino populations).

Of 764 pharmacies, only 43.3% could solidly offer instructions in Spanish, 21.7% offered some translation services and 34.9% offered no such  services.

Reference information available at: 1) The Northwestern news release and the journal abstract in the June issue of the journal Medical Care, and 2) Manual Merck de información médica para el hogar.

The abstract concludes: “The majority of pharmacies surveyed offered limited or no translation services. Lack of translation services is not isolated to rural areas or locations with a marginal Latino population. Spanish-speaking patients encounter barriers to acquiring instructions that support the safe and effective use of medications.”