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This lively, interactive webinar identifies a wide range of common translation challenges in the Spanish to English combination and establishes ways to deal with them, to help translators ensure they produce high-quality translations. The main focus is style.
Description
There are certain terms, certain tricky elements of grammar and punctuation and certain translation challenges that come up again and again in the translation process. Spanish, like every other language, has its own unique set of translation “problems”, which represent extra time and indecision for the English-speaking translator. These challenges can lead translators to make bad decisions, which result in errors or poor style, reducing the quality of the translation.
In these two webinars, the first focussing more on terminological and the second more on stylistic issues, we will identify a wide range of translation challenges posed by Spanish texts and establish ways to deal with them, to ensure a higher quality translation. The content has been gathered by the speaker based on her own experience as a translator and proofreader. She will discuss real, everyday challenges that arise in Spanish to English translation due to terminological, usage, grammatical and punctuation differences between the languages.
Attendees will be set short translation challenges during the webinar to make sure they really engage and help them absorb the extensive content, so be ready with your paper and pencil! If you have any specific translation issues you’d like to discuss or any questions about the webinars, please share them in the comments section below.
Target audience
- Spanish to English translators, proofreaders and translation students. The speaker is British and works from European Spanish, but the content should be useful for speakers of other regional varieties of these languages as well.
- English to Spanish translators and translation students may also find this webinar useful, but please note that we will be working from an English perspective and all translation will be from Spanish into English.
Learning objectives
In this course you will:
- Identify lots of specific pitfalls in the process of translating from Spanish to English
- Build up an armoury of ideas and solutions to draw from in future translations
- Learn how to improve the quality of your translations
Prerequisites
- High level of Spanish and English
- Familiarity with the translation process
Registration and payment information (click to expand)
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To purchase your seat at this session please click on the "buy" button. Available slots are limited and will be assigned to registered and paid participants as soon as payment is reported. Early payment is advised in order to secure participation. Allow some time for payment processing if you are paying by wire transfer.
After your payment is received, your status will be changed to “registered and paid” and your spot for the session will be secured. An invoice and receipt of payment will be sent to you for your records.
How do I access the online platform?
72 hours before the webinar takes place, you will receive an invitation to join the session. Please, click the registration link or button provided in the invitation email and complete the registration form.
Software and system requirements (click to expand)
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For PC-based Users:
• Required: Windows® 8, 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
• Required: Internet Explorer® 7.0 or newer, Mozilla® Firefox® 3.0 or newer or Google™ Chrome™ 5.0 or newer (JavaScript™ and Java™ enabled)
• Internet Connection Required: Cable modem, DSL, or better Internet connection
• Recommended: Dual-core 2.4GHz CPU or faster with 2GB of RAM (recommended)
For Mac®-based Users:
• Required: Mac OS® X 10.6 – Leopard® or newer
• Required: Safari™ 3.0 or newer, Firefox® 3.0 or newer or Google™ Chrome™ 5.0 or newer (JavaScript™ and Java™ enabled)
• Internet Connection Required: Cable modem, DSL, or better Internet connection
• Required: Intel processor (1GB of RAM or better recommended)
To Use VoIP (microphone and speakers or headset):
• Required: Fast Internet connection (384 kbps or more recommended)
• Required: speakers or headset (USB headset recommended)
• NOT required: Microphone - attendees can communicate with the trainer through incorporated chat.
Recommendations
• For the visual section of the training course, we recommend that you have a 64kbps link. This means using an ISDN line or Broadband. Wireless connection is NOT recommended.
• For the audio section of the training course, we recommend that you have a headset or speakers.
• We recommend that you log in 30 minutes in advance of the start time to prepare for the training course.
Courses will be open half an hour before the start time. Please login before the start time to ensure that everything on your system is working correctly.
Bio: Gwenydd Jones is a freelance Spanish-to-English translator and translator trainer. She has two MAs, the first in Translation Studies and the second in Legal Translation, and the DipTrans (CIOL). With 10 years’ experience, Gwenydd specialises in business, marketing and legal translation. She is also a copywriter. You can read her blog and discover her Spanish-to-English translation courses at translatorstudio.co.uk.
Spanish to English translation quality assurance 2 - Style
ISABEL SANLLEHI Spain Local time: 03:12 English to Catalan + ...
Registered and paid
Oct 6, 2014
On Friday 3 at 16.00 pm I did payment with discount for the two sessions of Spanish to English Translation quality assurance. It said that the payment had been made but I could not get reach to the session that was going on at 17:00 pm that day. Now, my question is: did you receive my payment? Will I be able to get the recording of the first session even if I could not attend? Thanks
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The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
On Friday 3 at 16.00 pm I did payment with discount for the two sessions of Spanish to English Translation quality assurance. It said that the payment had been made but I could not get reach to the session that was going on at 17:00 pm that day. Now, my question is: did you receive my payment? Will I be able to get the recording of the first session even if I could not attend? Thanks
Hello Isabel,
Thank you for letting me know. Your registration has been processed and you now have unlimited access to the webinar video from the First Part and you will be able to attend the Part Two live session to be conducted later this week.
In case you have any questions or need any help please do not hesitate to submit a support request, http://www.proz.com/support/ Thank you!
My bests, Helen
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Almost one week after Ms. Jones's presentation on ES>EN style, I had a few questions with respect to the examples given. I would like your thoughts on the proposals I make below.
In some of the examples Ms. Jones provided, I noted a great use of the relative "which." In a writing techniques course I took a year and a half ago, I learned that "which" often makes texts heavy and awkward; it is best avoided. The following translations were proposed after the S... See more
Hi, everyone,
Almost one week after Ms. Jones's presentation on ES>EN style, I had a few questions with respect to the examples given. I would like your thoughts on the proposals I make below.
In some of the examples Ms. Jones provided, I noted a great use of the relative "which." In a writing techniques course I took a year and a half ago, I learned that "which" often makes texts heavy and awkward; it is best avoided. The following translations were proposed after the Spanish texts:
A las reuniones suelen asistir los gerentes, los funcionarios, los agentes contractuales..., etc. y siempre las celebran el primer lunes del mes.
>"Managers, civil servants, contract agents, etc. (OR and so on) usually attend the meetings, which are always held on the first Monday of the month."
Ha tomado en consideración diversos factores y ha extraído conclusiones de gran valor que han orientado su toma de decisiones.
>"She took numerous factors into consideration and drew highly valuable conclusions, which guided her decision making."
Respectively, I propose >Managers, civil servants ... usually attend meetings held on the first Monday of the month. >She took numerous factors into consideration and drew highly valuable conclusions that guided her decision-making. (Here, the sentence would become restrictive. Is "decision-making" a compound noun? If so, it should be hyphenated, right? It wasn't hyphenated in the presentation.)
Do the proposals above hold water when "which" is removed?
In the same writing techniques class, I learned that "very" is a great offender. Wherever and whenever possible, it should be avoided and replaced with stronger adjectives, verbs, or adverbs. In one of the "Editor from Hell" examples, Ms. Jones provided us with this Spanish text and its translation:
Como director financiero era muy consciente de sus responsabilidades y las cumplía con la mayor diligencia.
>"As CFO (Chief Financial Officer) he was very conscious of his responsabilities and fulfilled them with the utmost diligence."
What do you think about the options below?
As CFO he was cognizant/aware/sensible/percipient of his responsibilities and fulfilled them with the utmost diligence.
–>Might you have other suggestions? If "very" is removed from the sentence, does the overall meaning change?
Hopefully, I will hear from you soon. Once again, I would like to thank Ms. Jones for sharing her experiences and insight with us. Here's hoping I'll attend one of her future webinars!
The contents of this post will automatically be included in the ticket generated. Please add any additional comments or explanation (optional)
Gwenydd Jones Spain Local time: 03:12 Member (2009) Spanish to English + ...
Hi Dwain
Oct 21, 2014
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. I think that looking for alternatives to "which" to produce a smoother text is a great technique, as long as the meaning is not affected. In your first example ("meetings held on the first Monday..."), the removal of "which" has changed the focus and meaning of the sentence slightly. In your second example, based only on the sentence as it stands, your translation with "that" is absolutely correct. With the drafting error, i.e. with Spanish missing a com... See more
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. I think that looking for alternatives to "which" to produce a smoother text is a great technique, as long as the meaning is not affected. In your first example ("meetings held on the first Monday..."), the removal of "which" has changed the focus and meaning of the sentence slightly. In your second example, based only on the sentence as it stands, your translation with "that" is absolutely correct. With the drafting error, i.e. with Spanish missing a comma before "que", the translation with "which" would be the correct option. I totally agree that I missed the hyphen in decision-making, thanks for letting me know.
I was interested to read your comments on very. A further suggestion to add to yours is perhaps using a different adverb, like extremely or most. ▲ Collapse
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"As with the first part of the course, this session has reminded me to watch out for mistakes which a..." Read morere easy to make when we have become too accustomed to the Spanish language. Since taking this course, I have been even more conscious of the stylistic aspects of my translations, ensuring that I use natural English sentence structures. Once again, this workshop required active participation and is highly recommendable for all Spanish to English translators, regardless of how many years they have been in the business."
"It was a distinct pleasure to attend both webinars by Ms. Gwenydd Jones on Spanish to English transl..." Read moreation quality assurance; they were both very well presented and covered highly interesting subjects. The second presentation on “style” covered elements of tremendous importance that could be subject of additional presentations. Ms. Jones’ warnings and suggestions were extremely valuable and her lecture was very well researched, planned and presented. Highly worth while."
"Despite the shortness of time, Ms. Jones provided us with clear examples of stylistic problems in Sp..." Read moreanish and how English translators/editors can solve them. I also appreciated the advice she gave based on her experience as a translator.
For future webinars like this one, it would be better to have 90 minutes instead of 60 minutes. "
