How does this information bring our clients value? As you may have read in our last post about ASTM, this certification will elevate the industry and ensure the highest possible bar is set with regards to quality assurance, technological advances, customer service, and many more aspects of language service projects and products. The fact that the standard practice must be voted into place with a near full consensus means that those most knowledgeable about the inner workings of our industry, LSCs, translators and language service clients alike, will be working together to ensure that the standards maintain our highest priority: bringing value to and meeting the needs of clients who buy translation and interpreting–like you.

Along with LSCs, the voices of our clients and end users of translation and interpretation are, of course, highly valued in this process. If you wish to participate in the drafting of these standards, feel free to sign up here.

Within the field of education, limited research has been conducted on communication integration –specifically regarding the roles and backgrounds of school interpreters, as well as their collaborative practices with school counselors.  The majority of published literature has focused on school psychologists’ use of interpreters for conducting behavioral or psychological assessments—often to determine potential learning disabilities or psychological disturbances in students. For these assessments, interpreters are used to interpreting questions and responses orally to ease the communication barrier between the LEP student and the school psychologist. It has not been until recently that researchers have begun to explore the necessary use of interpreters in our continuously evolving school systems. The following reviews of literature in this area attempt to demonstrate how crucial interpreter training and collaboration are to enhanced communicative practices in our school systems.

In 1997, Emilia Lopez and Mary Ellen Rooney, avid researchers and experts in the exploration of the roles of interpreters, published results from a survey study where they investigated the backgrounds of individuals working as interpreters and the specific roles these interpreters fulfilled in schools.  Lopez and Rooney addressed four different research questions in their study:

1) What are the backgrounds of interpreters currently providing services to LEP students?

2) Within what grade levels do interpreters provide services?

3) With which professionals do interpreters work with in schools?

4) During which activities do interpreters provide services?

The population sample was collected from New York State, consisting of 89 total interpreters working in 29 different languages. Results from this study indicate that interpreters working for rural school systems, on average, had seven years of interpreting experience, while city interpreters had five. Researchers found 33% of interpreters had master’s level training or higher but lacked certification or degrees specifically in language interpreting. The majority of interpreters worked on a part-time basis and often had other employment in the field of education, thus possessing a more thorough understanding of the school system. Overall, interpreters provided the most services to elementary schools, followed by middle schools, then high schools and preschools.

Education professionals with whom the interpreters reported working with were classified as education evaluators, school psychologists, special education teachers, and social workers. Interpreters were used to help facilitate the conversation between the LEP student (and family) and the English speaker. All interpreting services took place on-site.

Results of this study also indicated that the bulk of interpreting services were provided in evaluations, parent/teacher/student consultations, and psychological assessments of behavior. These results allowed Lopez and Rooney to conclude that individuals who interpret for schools needed to complete a specific training or certification program and nationwide standards need to be established for school interpreters.

Another study conducted by Emilia Lopez in 2000 explores how the use of school interpreters can influence parent/teacher/student consultation in a multicultural high school setting. Consultations between parents, teachers, and students have been recommended in an effort to support academic intervention services for LEP students. In these consultations, academic problems are discussed; students, tasks, and classroom environments are evaluated; interventions are planned; and evaluations are performed. This case study examined five instructional consultations between five LEP students, their parents, consultees (three teachers and two guidance counselors), and consultants (primary investigator and research team). Data was collected over a three-academic year time span.

Results from this case study indicated delays in the consultation process due to difficulties scheduling interpreters, as well as due to the consultees’ and interpreters’ lack of training. All parties recognized and supported the need for interpreters. Overall, Lopez reported that the use of interpreters for instructional consultations was reported to contribute to a more positive communication line between LEP students, their parents, and school staff. Due to the absence of training or standards for school-based interpreters, though, some communication was distorted while being orally interpreted between the parties, thus negatively impacting the rapport between parents and consultees. For example, throughout the consultation process the interpreters would engage in long conversation with clients and parents but would only offer brief English interpretations to the consulting team. Lopez also describes another particular situation during the parent interviews where interpreters stated that they would not interpret everything said during the interview; two interpreters were quoted saying, “Translating everything said was too time consuming,” and “I can communicate the gist of the conversation accurately and that is the most important part.”  As the study progressed, this poor interpreting quality helped researchers be able to reaffirm the need for an interpreter-training program or certification, especially for working in school settings.   

Although this study helps develop a foundation to create new policy and theories regarding school interpreters,  the small sample size prevents results from being generalizable to the larger population. Specific experience levels of consultees and interpreters were not reported within the study, which hinders the representativeness of the sample and makes study replication more difficult. Researchers do offer recommendations for educators working with interpreters:

–Hire interpreters who have experience in providing interpreting services.

–If trained interpreters are not available, look to hire bilingual personnel that you can provide specific training.

–Interpreters should have a high level of proficiency in the language used for interpreting services.
–The reason for an interpreter and what will be happening during the interpreting appointment should be discussed with the interpreter prior to the beginning of the session.

–You should speak in short and simple sentences so that the interpreter is able to orally interpret everything.

In summary, collaboration between interpreters and school staff is crucial to an LEP student’s survival in an American school setting. Results from the above studies indicate the need for official training programs or certification for school interpreters to avoid skewed interpretations and miscommunication. As the US continues to see rising numbers of foreign-born students, employment of bilingual school staff and collaboration with interpreters will inevitably increase, thus creating the need for a streamlined school interpreter training program and increased communication resources to help LEP students continue enriching and strengthening the American way of life.

(Blog by Abigail Thompson, Interpreting Project Manager)

Ask yourself, do I know the ROI on my translation dollar? If you can’t track how translation is benefiting your company, then you’re either translating the wrong materials or you’re working with the wrong provider.

Here at In Every Language, we want to partner with you. We want to work together with you so that you can see what these Fortune 500′s have seen: A return on your investment. We offer free consulting to clients willing to partner and invest in what translation can do for them. We leverage technology with creativity to decrease your translation spend while increasing value. Then we provide you with customized, quarterly reports to prove the difference we’ve made.

Having your bilingual sales rep or secretary translate isn’t going to do the trick. It’s just going to keep him from doing what you hired him to do. Neither is working with a freelance translator or your average, regional provider down the street. In Every Language is globally recognized — the only American company represented on the board of GALA, the international trade association for what we do. You’re internationally competitive. Shouldn’t your translation provider be as well?

We don’t mean to be overly sales pushy. But in light of the statistics above, compiled by Common Sense Advisory, we felt like our message simply couldn’t be strong enough. Translation, when done right, isn’t a cost center. It’s a profit driver.

So how much money does your translation make you?

Compliance with this new standard that we are in the process of developing will ensure that, when you pay for translation, you receive a service that has undergone intelligent, thoughtful quality assurance processes. It will also ensure that In Every Language and other companies like ours partake in a process of continuous improvement, whereby we are constantly seeking to correct and streamline our own internal processes so that we can provide you with ever more timely and accurate translation. Once this standard has been published, purchasers of translation and other language services will be served immensely: when you choose an LSC who has proven compliance with the standard, you will know exactly what to expect. Our clients will be able to rest assured that they are buying translation from a provider that has followed all the requirements with regards to terminology usage and storage, translator hiring, proofreading and editing of translated materials, client confidentiality, and other areas of concern.

The standard will not only ensure that companies provide their clients with the highest possible quality product, it will also aid translation buyers in their partnership with us. It will inform and guide those who wish to integrate translation and localization services as a profit driver. As part of our ongoing efforts to remain on the cutting-edge of our industry, In Every Language’s Hannah Berthelot is attending tomorrow’s ASTM working group meeting at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston. Keep reading this blog for Hannah’s post-meeting report!

Role:  Office Manager

Location:  Louisville, Kentucky USA

Years of Management Experience:  10

Education:  Bachelor’s in Theater, Technical and Design; University of Louisville

Why You Love Your Job:  I’m excited about the challenges that lie ahead of me at In Every Language to foster an efficient office environment with my skill set.  Being new to the industry, I am looking forward to learning about the translation, interpretation and localization fields in a way that will best serve the business as well as our clients!  I believe that business can succeed with the right driving force and I am glad that I have a place in helping In Every Language’s clients further their goals.

So exactly how does translation memory translate into savings? In order to calculate your savings, we use software designed to analyze the documents you send us for a quote. This analysis allows us to break down your discount into three different categories: repetitions, full matches, and partial matches.

While the other discounts take time to build, you can benefit from the first level of discounting, repetition leverage, immediately – even if we’re quoting a brand new language. This is because repetitions are exactly what they sound like — words or phrases that are exactly repeated throughout the document(s) you sent us.

Full matches are also as simple as they sound like — complete matches with information from previous translations stored in your translation memory. Though the reason for the discount is different, In Every Language offers this at the same level of deep discount as repetitions.

The third level, partial matches, are incomplete matches with your translation memory, meaning that only part of the phrase matches a phrase already used. Examples could be that maybe one word in a phrase is different from what we translated before, or that different words are capitalized or that punctuation may be different. Discounts for partial matches are a bit less than discounts for repetitions or full matches, as they do require more attention from our translators because of their differences. But they are still discounted because of their similarity to other material.

Together, this means that the more material we translate for you in any language, the smaller the number of new, non-discounted words will
be compared to discounted matches with your translation memory, assuming your subject matter remains relatively consistent. In other words, the more you translate, the bigger the discounts!

I first discovered my love for beer while living in Strasbourg, France. I was twenty, studying abroad and had never been much of a beer girl before. But if there’s one thing your first true foreign travel does for you, it’s open your horizons. And one of the horizons it opened for me was beer.

Being an American, I had thought beer was the light yellow stuff my uncle drank out of a silver can. But being in France—not a beer
capital, I know, but still not the States—I started to learn more options were out there.  Heineken and Kronenburg became my brands of choice. I could see the Kro factory outside my bedroom window, so at the time drinking Kronenburg was kind of obligatory.  But I won’t really touch it or Heineken now.  As an adult, I’m a bit more grown up with my tastes, preferring a porter – and the darker the better. Guinness was my beer of choice for several years, but thanks to the vibrant microbrew scene in Louisville, Kentucky – where I now live—I’ve found even darker, thicker stouts to satisfy my tastes. We actually have bourbon barrel stouts in Kentucky – something I’ve not found elsewhere — and they make Guinness taste a little thin.

It’s not just translation for the food and drink industry (and believe you me, exports and imports in this market flow like distilling water) that
we in localization can learn from beer today. It’s the existence of the craft brew itself – that ever-developing, hipster-enthralling, growing-market phenomenon. Microbrewing is all about quality and the yellow stuff – more affectionately known as “good old fashioned American piss water” – has become a mere commodity.

Commodity.  It’s the word the American Translators Association is most afraid of.  And it’s what translation, for the most part,
has become.  There are multiple translation management systems (TMS) now that pit language service providers (LSP’s)
against one another in bidding wars as part of a client’s standard project management process. Not just government agencies, but now many private corporations make 100% of their translation purchasing decisions based off of requests for proposal or reverse auctions that take absolutely nothing into consideration but price. Where once upon a time these agencies and companies would at least pretend to look at information regarding quality and performance of deliverables, the trend is now moving toward not even bothering to ask for
it. The end result is that some translation winds up being nothing more than good old fashioned – you guessed it – piss water.

In a world, though, where quality is in the eye of the beholder, is that altogether a bad thing? Maybe if we can keep the low quality
LSP’s distracted by the dazzling lights of clients who just don’t care, that minimizes distractions for the rest of us when we compete for clients with more discriminating tastes. In the world of beer, what I call “The Lites” — Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite – all have their loyal followings. On my last birthday, a cousin of mine asked me what I even saw in “that expensive stuff” while he stood there with a Coors Light in his hand. This is the American South after all, where the drink defines the (wo)man. But there are plenty of other places in the Union where the commoditized, hoppy ale prevails. Throughout America, the Lites line gas station shelves, sit proudly on tailgates, and star in backyard barbecues. One of my best friends – a Brit, not American – likes her beer as pale as I do mine dark. It just goes to show that regardless of background, different people have different preferences and as the French would say, to each his taste (a chacun son gout).

But loyal as my cousin and others may be, 2011 sales for the stereotypical American beer were down 1.3 percent –this, according to the August/September 2012 issue of Global Trade. It’s because the US beer industry is not without its own threats.  As Mike Esterl reported to the Wall Street Journal, there’s been a fight to win the new generation of drinkers over to beer. In an internet interview, Esterl pointed out that “a lot of people have been shifting over to liquor and wine so beer’s actually been losing what you call ‘throat share’ over the last few years” (http://on.wsj.com/RgVj2Y). Not only has commoditization hurt individual sales for The Lites, but it’s hurt the industry as a whole as well, leaving room for bourbon, whiskey, and other alcohols to come in.  See, that’s what happens when you allow something to become a commodity.  When the words Bud, Miller, and Coors become interchangeable, you’re only left with a light, light world.

Indeed, the beer world knows its best interests are to course-correct.  For the first time since opening exports to the United States in 1933, Heineken — that college beer of choice and a brand with declining US sales for the last four years in a row — has changed its iconoclastic
bottle, putting a taller, sleeker model on store shelves. And they’re not the only ones trying to use packaging to stand-out lately. Miller refurbished bottles to make them resealable and Coors issued “cold-activated” cans that turn blue when the beer’s temperature changes — just like a Hypercolor t-shirt from the 1990’s. So that’s one step in the solution, and the most readily done: if you can’t keep selling the same you-know-what, just make ‘um think they’re buying something new. Or in other words, differentiation via brand marketing.

But to truly compete in a commoditized industry, it’s not just enough to say you’re different – you must actually be different.

Enter the craft beer. At the same time that many American beers have become commoditized, crafts like the bourbon barrel stout I now drink are becoming all the rage. From border-line microbreweries like Sam Adams to truer ones such as Rogue, US craft brewers are sending much higher quality beer across the pond than what America has been known for since Colonial days – and it’s both dark and light.  As quoted by Global Trade, the US Brewer’s Association reports that in 2011 the American craft brewing industry grew 13% by volume and 15% in dollars earned. 2010 saw a 12% volume increase and a 15% financial one.  When you compare this consistent double digit growth to a steady decrease in the sale of commoditized beer, I’d say there’s definitely something for our industry to learn here.

It isn’t just enough to change the can. In order to stand out, you have to brew a better beer. While I applaud our industry’s recent efforts to create differentiation through marketing, people aren’t stupid. At some point, your customers will figure out that they’re drinking the same American piss water sold by all the other lights.

Again, there’s a place for this in our industry – not everything needs to be translated at the top of the line. But those of us on my side of the game do have to decide what kind of businesses we run and what kind of market we want to compete in. Buyers have to decide what they really need and what they really want — what their tastes are, so to speak. Here’s the question for all of us, though: What kind of translation do we want at the forefront of our collective industry? A finely-crafted, bourbon barrel stout or the same Coors Lite in a fancier can?

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