Every year school districts across the country spend millions of dollars on education translation services. Obviously, considering the state of the economy and tight education translation budgets we are all looking for ways to cut costs. I have found that one very effective way to reduce written translation costs is to reuse previously translated documents.
There are several ways to reuse education translations but one that stands out is ‘genericizing’ materials so that they can be used repeatedly over several years. To explain, when you create documents for translation into multiple languages, by removing personalized information and replacing it with generic form fields, you are able to simply plug in personalized information such as dates, schools and personal names as appropriate. This ‘genericized’ style of writing minimizes or even removes the need to retranslate the content every year when the personalized information inevitably changes.
For instance, in a parent letter, instead of writing:
—————————–
Dear Mrs. Lopez,
I am writing to let you know that on September 1st, Jose will begin Academically Gifted classes.
—————————–
You could phrase the sentence:
—————————–
Dear Parent,
I am writing to let you know that on DD/MM/YYYY, your child will begin classes through the XXXX Program.
—————————–
In this way, the template of the letter can be translated into many languages and all of the personalized information can simply be plugged into the slots by school district staff. After the initial translation, this letter can be reused over and over again thereby saving your school district translation money!
Keep Learning!
Maggie
K12Translate
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Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
Tips on Reusing Written Education Translations
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009The best education translation comes from native speakers
Monday, August 10th, 2009
As the English Language Learning (ELL) population continues to grow in the U.S., and as talk continues to circle around the idea of federal stimulus money being allocated to Title I and Title VI programs, the ever-expanding need for education translation is only going to grow more acute.
It’s too early to tell how many schools will utilize federal stimulus money, but what we do know is that many of the communities they serve will need K12 education translation services. Those school districts that fail to meet this need are likely to find themselves unable to provide an adequate education for their ELL students.
As you review the skills and capabilities of your current education translation partner, or begin the process of securing one, there are a few things to keep in mind. Uppermost in these considerations is this: Does your translation partner use translators that are native speakers in the languages you need?
Native speakers bring a linguistic intuition that helps ensure that you are clearly and effectively communicating with your audience. That translator should also be as fluent in English as in his or her native language. Their background should also include experience living and working in the U.S. Good luck!
Keep Learning!
Maggie
K12Translate
Word Expansion and its Ramifications in Education Language Translation
Monday, August 3rd, 2009
When translating education materials for school districts, a common expectation is that the translation will match the formatting of the original English version. Obviously, we all know that Korean looks different than English and anticipate that the characters will be unique. But, the actual layout itself, meaning the placement of text, graphics and attributes such as form fields should stay approximately the same as the English.
At first rub, this expectation seems reasonable enough. It would make perfect sense that the language translator could simply swap out the English text with the corresponding language translation and the layouts will be mirror images of each other. But, in reality, this is much more difficult than simply swapping out languages due, in part, to ‘word expansion’.
Word expansion is an increase in the amount of words that it takes to communicate a concept from one language to another. When English is translated into another language, the translated version is often longer as is the case with Spanish in that the word counts can expand approximately 25% and English to Vietnamese increases almost 35%!
When word counts increase so significantly from one language into another, it can be incredibly challenging to format the language translation in the exact same manner as the English. Often, a translation may have a longer page count than the English or it can be near impossible to squeeze a translation into a set form field. For example, the English phrase “Proficiency in English Program” can be translated in Spanish as “Programa para Lograr la Competencia en el Inglés”. The English version is four words whereas the Spanish version is eight words – that is a 50% increase in the amount of words!
As you can see, applying that type of word expansion could make your 20 page parent/teacher handbook start to resemble War and Peace. Ultimately, knowing what to expect will minimize any last minute surprises.
Keep Learning!
Maggie
K12Translate
Cajun, French/Haitian and Portuguese Creoles in Education Language Translation
Monday, July 27th, 2009
Every month I receive a couple of requests from school districts to translate education materials into Creole. This inevitably leads to a discussion about which Creole the school district needs. What many folks don’t realize is that Creole is a rather ambiguous term. The definition provided by the online Merriam-Webster dictionary:
a language that has evolved from a pidgin but serves as the native language of a speech community
In it’s true form a creole is an amalgamation of two or more languages that evolve over time to become the primary language of a region. I frequently run across three dominant Creoles in the United States.
The first is Haitian Creole, also commonly known as French Creole, which is spoken by almost ½ million people in the United States primarily in Florida, New York and Massachusetts . The second Creole is Cajun or Cajun French which is almost exclusively found in Louisiana. According to the 1990 census there were almost 700,000 Cajun speakers in the United States . Both Haitian Creole and Cajun French are French based Creoles. Whereas the third commonly requested Creole, Cape Verdean Creole, is derived from Portuguese. Although I don’t have an exact statistic on how many Cape Verdean Creole speakers overall reside in the United States there are almost 30,000 Cape Verdean natives living in the Eastern United States who most likely speak Cape Verdean Creole fluently.
As you can see, knowing that you need a Creole translation isn’t quite enough information for your language service provider. You will also need to provide the type of Creole and, if you are in a pinch, knowing which state it is spoken in may be the key to knowing which Creole it is.
Keep Learning!
Maggie
K12Translate
What’s the Difference? Simplified or Traditional Chinese in Education Translation
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
If you have ever requested a translation into Chinese, you’ve probably already had the conversation about whether you would like Simplified or Traditional Chinese. But, if not, let me explain that Chinese has two standard written forms, Simplified and Traditional. Traditional was the dominant written language for centuries in China up until the 1950’s when the government introduced a “simplified” version to increase literacy across the country.
This sweeping mandate was very effective within mainland China. However it fell short of a complete conversion because of the sizeable populations of Chinese readers outside of mainland China, who were not affected by the switch, such as Hong Kong and Taiwan. To make things even more complicated, there are still pockets of Traditional Chinese readers within mainland China and vice versa. This is due to a variety of factors such as the age when an individual emigrated. If they left China before the 1950’s there is a pretty good chance that they still read and write in Traditional Chinese.
As you can imagine, determining what the written style of your Chinese speaking ELL audience can be rather tricky. The best way to determine what the writing preference is would be to ask your audience directly. However, the next best thing might be to find out exactly where they are from and make an educated guess.
Keep Learning!
Maggie
What is best for your education language translation — Arabic or Eastern Arabic numbers?
Monday, July 13th, 2009
When providing education language translation services for multiple languages it can be quite challenging to maintain style and formatting consistency. Obviously, the language itself is always unique but have you ever thought about the myriad ways that numbers can be presented?
Nowhere is this linguistic diversity more startling than when working with non-Arabic numerals. To explain, Arabic numerals are the 10 digits most commonly used in English (e.g., 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.). The Arabic numeric style is used in English as well as many other languages such as French, Somali and Vietnamese. However, there is a whole host of languages that use completely different character sets for numbers. In the Middle East, they use what is referred to as the Eastern Arabic numeric system (e.g., ٠.١.٢.٣.٤.٥). To minimize confusion, I will refer to Arabic numerals as English language-style and Eastern Arabic numerals as Arabic language-style.
When undertaking language translation for an Arabic-speaking audience, you should consider whether the Arabic (English language-style) or Eastern Arabic (Arabic language-style) numeric system should be used. If you used the English language-style of numbers would that actually decrease comprehension for your Arabic-speaking audience?
Or, imagine if you received a translated document and you were expecting English language-style numbers. Perhaps your Spanish and Russian translators used English language-style numbers, whereas your Arabic translator used Arabic language-style numbers. Not recognizing the Arabic language-style numbers, you might think that the Arabic translator completely missed the mark and didn’t include any numbers at all!
Being aware of unique language attributes such as numbering systems can minimize confusion and make your documents more readable for your English Language Learning (ELL) audience.
Keep Learning!
Maggie
K12Translate
Targeting Language Translation Services to Ethiopians and Their Language Diversity
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
Ethiopian immigrants and refugees have been arriving on U.S. shores for the past 20 years, bringing with them a wealth of cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity. In fact, the U.S. Department of State indicates that Ethiopia has 77 different ethnic groups, each with its own language! Of those 77 ethnic groups, three-fourths are ethnic Amhara, Oromo and Tigreans whose primary languages are Amharic, Oromifa (Oromo) and Tigrinya, respectively. Sizeable populations also speak Arabic, Somali and English.
For those of you with Ethiopian populations in your school district, the question you may have asked yourself is “Which language(s) should my school district translate into?” With limited school budgets, sometimes it is cost prohibitive to provide education language translation services for all three primary languages. So, without a doubt, your best bet is to always ask your audience which language is most widely spoken in their community.
However, if this is not a possibility, Amharic may be the second best solution. Amharic is the official language of Ethiopia. Most Ethiopian elementary schools teach Amharic and it is, according to the CIA Factbook, the most widely spoken language in Ethiopia. If you have Ethiopian families in your district, keep this in mind when undertaking your next language translation services project.
Keep Learning!
Maggie
K12Translate
Literacy Level: A Key for Effective Language Translation Services
Monday, July 6th, 2009
We all know that K-12 students have different reading levels based on their individual reading comprehension. In the same manner, English Language Learning (ELL) parents also have literacy levels that should be taken into account when applying language translation services to writing and translating outreach materials.
Literacy level is an individual’s ability to read, write and speak in English and is typically measured in grade-level equivalents. We recommend a sixth grade literacy level for general public information.
Of course, people’s literacy levels may vary widely depending on several factors such as the country they are from, education level, affluence and natural aptitude. A good question to ask when determining literacy level is “Who am I writing for?” Are you writing language access notifications for Iranian PhD political asylees that contain complex legal content? Or are you creating basic school closure announcements for an audience that hails from Burkina Faso, which has a 26 percent literacy rate among adults?
Armed with literacy level knowledge, educators and staff can adjust the grade level of outreach materials or work with language translation service providers to achieve the greatest comprehension.
Keep Learning!
Maggie
K12Translate
Is the Supreme Court determining the fate of education translation services in schools?
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
There has been a lot in the news concerning the Supreme Court’s recent 5-4 Horne v. Flores ruling that says the federal government should no longer be supervising state spending on ELL education in Arizona. The highest court in the land has found that Arizona already does a sufficient job of educating ELL students, and Arizona has not broken any federal laws that require schools to provide assistance such as education translation services and bilingual programs to ELL students.
According to Richard Fry of the Pew Research Center, the five states with the highest number of ELL students are Arizona, California, Florida, New York and Texas with about 70% of the total country’s ELL student population. Of this student population, there is still a very significant achievement gap between ELL students and their fluent English speaking counterparts, “In both elementary grades and middle school grades in these states, ELL students are much less likely than white students to score at or above the proficient level in mathematics. The measured gaps are in the double-digits. For example, in Florida 45% of ELL third-graders scored at or above the proficient level on the math assessment, compared with 78% of white third-graders, yielding a white-to-ELL gap of 34 percentage points.”
In my mind, with a 34% achievement gap, I am incredibly hesitant to discontinue monitoring state spending on ELL education. It is our responsibility to ensure all students, regardless of their English fluency, are receiving the highest quality education that we can provide. If we don’t spend the money necessary for education translation services and ELL programs, our ELL students will slip through the cracks even further.
Keep Learning!
Maggie
K12Translate
References:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/education/26educ.html?_r=3&emc=eta1
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/882/english-language-learner
Culture Is the First Step in Effective Language Translation Services
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
While language provides the building blocks to communicating with your English Language Learning (ELL) parents and students, it is always a good idea to understand the cultural components at work within a larger socio-political context. Knowing that many non-English speaking immigrants and refugees come from a wide range of war-torn countries, economically devastated regions and politically tumultuous regimes, we must tailor the message, and the language translation services, to sympathize with their unique experience.
The story of Karen, a guidance counselor, perfectly illustrates how personal experience can deeply influence perception. Karen was responsible for organizing the new school year registration kick-off for her district. She chose a “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie theme for the event to keep the registration process upbeat and lively. Unfortunately, Karen didn’t consider the implications that a pirate motif would have for the Cambodian parents, many of whom had fled the Khmer Rouge as refugee “Boat People.” The images of pirates recalled traumatic memories for the Cambodian parents, which, in turn, significantly reduced their enrollment participation.
If Karen had considered a native Cambodian’s perspective, she would have been better prepared to create a welcoming environment for all of the parents. Hopefully, in the future, Karen can adapt her message, and the language translation services that follow, to her audience’s experience.
Keep Learning!
Maggie
K12Translate
