Now that things are in flux because of COVID-19, my husband and I are talking a lot. He asked me what is at the core of what drives me, my passion. Developing quality language access partners. I love translating… and seeing that the organizations I translate for are really connecting with the community. I love [...]
Principios de redacción Spanish is spoken in the United States, and this e-book is my contribution to Spanish writing in the US. As I looked for resources that spoke clearly about Spanish writing and addressed the needs of my clients, my colleagues and my students, I found many elements of useful material, but not a [...]
What does a translator need to know? “Translators work with the written word, converting text from a source language into a target language. This is far more than replacing one word with another. The translator must also convey the style, tone and intent of the text, while taking into account differences of culture and dialect.” [...]
Principios de redacción del español In about 2009 I started to realize it was important to write a book about Spanish writing that was focused on the US. I started reading and collected a library of the good, the bad and the ugly. I discussed issues with colleagues of all stripes. I resisted writing it, [...]
The Spanish writing starts on September 12, 2019. Course description Registration form We had a successful cohort in 2018 and most of the participants continued with the translation course in January. Daniela Guanipa and I noticed that those who had taken the writing class were able to make quicker progress by focusing on translation issues [...]
We completed another year of translation training! Daniela Guanipa joined me as co-trainer all year. Spanish writing: 10 sessions, September to November. Preparation for the ATA Spanish translation certification exam: 17 sessions, January to May. What do the students who finished the course say? They have become much better translators over the 17 weeks of [...]
My book on Spanish writing, in draft form Getting Spanish writing right involves spelling, grammar, syntax... and plain old writing skills, just like in any other language. Except that writing in Spanish is the same as doing so English. Each language has its own rhythm, its own cadence. Tenses have different meanings in each [...]
Translation is teamwork. In the United States, I am often asked if my translations will be understandable by people from different Spanish-speaking countries. I tell them my practice is that teams include people of different nationalities. Why? In the US Spanish-speaking community, speakers are familiar with a variety of registers and variants of the language. [...]
There is a new dictionary of colloquial Spanish in the United States published by the Instituto Cervantes at Harvard University: Diccionario de anglicismos del español estadounidense. What does it say about itself, and what is my response? The prologue states that the terms come from oral Spanish. I believe Facebook and Twitter could be viewed [...]
There is more than one type of translation: Setting words to music Converting a message from one language to another In both cases, a translation must be accurate. Otherwise, it is a summary or a paraphrase. My voice teacher has frequently seen me dismiss the translations of the Spanish songs in her books! I just [...]
