Multinacionales de traducción: el coordinador o gestor de proyectos

6 octubre, 2016 OmidSV TraducciónGestor de proyectos, Gestor de proyectos de traducción, project manager de traducción, Traducción

Las empresas grandes (multinacionales, compañías de gran envergadura con millones de trabajadores, etc.) necesitan y solicitan servicios a escala mundial. Así, cualquier relación entre empresas multinacionales va acompañada de una serie de requisitos y exigencias que solamente ciertas empresas pueden cumplir. Ya sea como proveedores de materias primas, tecnologías industria o servicios, las multinacionales poseen la capacidad de satisfacer las necesidades de otras multinacionales. En este caso, las multinacionales de traducción no son una excepción.

Desde hace unos meses, tengo la oportunidad de pertenecer a una de estas multinacionales como coordinador de proyectos, y soy testigo de su sistema de trabajo. Por respeto profesional, no daré el nombre de la empresa para la que trabajo, ni nombres de clientes con los que trato. Me limitaré a dar una descripción general de cómo se trabaja en estos ambientes y a dar mi opinión al respecto e invito a que los lectores aporten su experiencia e ideas con comentarios una vez hayan leído este artículo.

Las empresas grandes necesitan y solicitan servicios a escala mundial. Las multinacionales de traducción no son una excepción.

Como sucede en las grandes empresas y multinacionales, el trabajo debe ser organizado y eficiente para asegurar una mejor producción y productividad. Ahora bien, dependiendo de la agencia, el rol del coordinador de proyecto puede tener mayor o menor implicación en la producción de las traducciones. A saber, cuanto mayor sea la agencia, “menor” será la implicación del coordinador o gestor de proyectos. Cuando hablo de implicación, me refiero a ciertas tareas que en agencias más pequeñas recaen en la figura del gestor de proyectos. Por ejemplo, todo lo referente a números (presupuestos, tarifas, facturación) se lleva a cabo por un departamento en concreto que es el que recibe los encargos y los evalúa, y entrega las versiones finales de las traducciones. En consecuencia, todo contacto (directo) con el cliente queda fuera de del alcance del coordinador de proyectos. Esto, que puede sonar escandaloso de buenas a primeras, tiene sus ventajas:

• Permite al coordinador/gestor de proyectos centrarse en el producto: el texto a traducir.
• Permite un análisis óptimo de las necesidades del texto dependiendo del formato en el que nos lo hayan entregado: .pdf, .doc, .xls, .ppt, .txt, etc.
• Escoger las herramientas de traducción que mejor le convengan y/o procesar el texto mediante otros departamentos si es necesario. Por ejemplo, extraer el texto de una imagen si nos han pedido traducirlo para el proyecto.
• Mayor tiempo para la búsqueda de los lingüistas que vayan a participar en el proyecto. Aunque, dependiendo del cliente, puede que ya se cuente con un equipo de profesionales previo (esto podemos comentarlo en otro artículo).
• El flujo de dudas entre proyecto-lingüistas-cliente pasa por más intermediarios, pero permite un mayor control de los mismos.
• A la hora de la entrega, el coordinador de proyectos se ha de centrar que el formato del documento final coincida con el de origen.

Estas son solo algunas de las de las tareas que los coordinadores/gestores de proyectos deben realizar. Como he dicho antes, cuanto mayor sea la agencia de traducción, “menores” serán las tareas que deba llevar a cabo. Es una verdad a medias, ya que también han de llevar a cabo tareas que dependan de otros departamentos a los que se está conectado, como por ejemplo: las hojas de seguimiento. Hojas de seguimiento para todo: para llevar un control de los proyectos durante un mes para un cliente en concreto, a cuántos idiomas se traduce, cálculo de palabras (nuevas y coincidentes), entre otras características. Afortunadamente, para estas hojas de seguimiento, los sistemas TAO (Traducción Asistida por Ordenador) ofrecen funciones que nos permiten filtrar y extraer trabajos por números de asignación, nombre de cliente, entre otras características. Este seguimiento es vital para llevar un control de todos los proyectos que se realicen para un cliente.

Esto es solo un pequeño boceto de lo que se puede llegar a hacer como gestor de proyectos en una multinacional de traducción. Si bien es cierto, cada empresa es distinta; y tanto organización de sus profesionales como el enfoque comercial también es distinto. Para cualquier profesional que quiera ampliar sus habilidades dentro del mundo de la traducción es altamente recomendable empezar en agencias de este tipo porque su flujo y cantidad de trabajo es enorme y se aprende a estar preparado para cualquier situación del mercado.

En futuros artículos intentaré explicar otros roles profesionales, tipos de clientes (aún por definir), alguna que otra anécdota. Esto es todo amigos, espero que este primer artículo os guste. Hasta la próxima, y que tengáis encargos de traducción con fechas de entrega razonables y tarifas justas.

Omid Saheb

¿Ley del Traductor Jurado o Autorizado en Guatemala?

Este es el Decreto 251 de fecha 22 de noviembre de 1879, Ley del Traductor Autorizado vigente en Guatemala, el cual en sus artículos 1o. y 6o. cita al "traductor autorizado". --------- Si observamos, en ninguna parte del texto se lee, TRADUCTOR JURADO. Hasta la fecha, ignoro de dónde o cómo se formó tal frase. Una posibilidad es que en el proceso de convertirse en Traductor con fe pública y validez legal, se exige al candidato que aprueba su examen oficial, que "bajo juramento" realice todas las traducciones que se le encomienden; posiblemente de ahí surja tal confusión. ------ Además, en el artículo 37o. de la Ley del Organismo Judicial se consigna: "traductor autorizado" y no "Traductor Jurado"; otro argumento para afirmar que esta última denominación no es la técnicamente correcta en Guatemala. ------ Quizás por la influencia de España, donde sí existe el Traductor Jurado, acá en Guatemala, también se le denomine así.----- Definitivamente, este es un punto de investigación científica que una tesina o tesis de las ciencias lingüísticas podría desarrollar para confirmar o descartar lo anterior.

Le invitamos a conocer nuestra página en Facebook: CENTRO DE CAPACITACIÓN PROFESIONAL TRADPROF

When Your Miranda Rights Get Lost in Translation

By Paul DeBenedetto

August 24, 2016

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Photo by Flickr user Elvert Barnes

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This year marks the 50th anniversary of Miranda v. Arizona, the landmark US Supreme Court case that required law enforcement officials to read you your rights upon every arrest. Since that case, any statement made to law enforcement is inadmissible if the defendant was not first informed of his or her Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights—the right against self-incrimination and the right to consult with an attorney before answering any questions.

Even if you've never been arrested, you've seen enough movies and television police procedurals to know the familiar refrain: You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you, and so on.

But for primarily Spanish-speaking people in the United States—which has become the world's second-largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico—those rights can easily get lost in translation. In countless cases across the US, Spanish-speaking defendants have been read incorrect or mistranslated versions of their rights, where butchering words like "free" and "right" can cost someone their best shot in court.

Now that could all change: The American Bar Association (ABA), at its annual conference earlier this month, voted unanimously to create a uniform Spanish-language Miranda warning and urged law enforcement agencies to adopt such a warning for defendants who do not speak English well or at all.

"As we looked into it, we discovered that too often Miranda is mistranslated, and that shouldn't happen," Alexander Acosta, who chairs the ABA's Special Committee on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities, told VICE. "This is something that should be very straightforward."

Related: Why Do So Many People Confess to Crimes They Didn't Commit?

Every year, law enforcement across the country use Spanish-language Miranda warnings in 874,000 arrests, according to a report from the committee. In many of those instances, inaccurate translations that could potentially violate a person's civil rights can lead to excluded statements in court. But countless other incidents slip through the cracks, where a person did not understand their rights and their incriminating statements are used anyway.

"Even if there is a one-in-1,000 error rate, you can imagine how significant that would be nationally," Acosta said.

The problem is not uncommon: The committee's report lists dozens of instances of bad translations, including the use of Spanglish, and completely made-up Spanish words like "silento." (The Spanish word for silent is "silencio.") In other instances, words were found to be mistranslated, according to the ABA Hispanic committee's report: One Ohio case used the word for right-hand side, instead of a legal right. In a few different cases, defendants were told they had the right to "apuntar un abogado"—to "point at" a lawyer, rather than to appoint one.

In other situations, bad translations can lead to complete inaccuracy as to what rights the Fifth and Sixth Amendments even afford you. In Minnesota, a defendant was told of a right "not to say nothing." Others were told of a "right to answer questions."

One high-profile case in 2013 led to some clarification on the issue of Miranda translation. That case stemmed from a 2008 incident in which defendant Jeronimo Botello-Rosales and four others were arrested and charged with conspiracy to manufacture more than 1,000 marijuana plants. Botello was also charged with illegal possession of a firearm, according to court records.

Upon arrest, Botello-Rosales was read his rights, first in English, and then in Spanish. Officers said he waived those rights and proceeded to spout off a number of incriminating statements, including his alleged connection to a marijuana operation and about his immigration status, according to a brief.

Botello-Rosales's lawyer, Michael R. Levine, filed a motion to suppress his client's post-arrest statements, something not uncommon for such a case. Here, though, Levine had the court interpreter listen to the Spanish-language warning read by the arresting detective on the stand.

"He finished, and then I turned to the interpreter who was in the back, and I said, 'Well, how did it go?' And she said, 'Well, actually, he made a couple of mistakes,'" Levine told VICE. "And I immediately perked up and said, 'What do you mean mistakes?'"

It turned out that, in his warning, the detective garbled the translation and misinterpreted the word "free," as in "without payment." According to court documents, the detective informed Botello-Rosales, "If you don't have the money to pay for a lawyer, you have the right. One who is free could be given to you." But the version of "free" he used was the Spanish word "libre," which would be interpreted as "available," or "at liberty" to provide service. The Spanish word for "could" instead of "would" was also in dispute, as it is the government's obligation to provide a free attorney, not a choice.

The detective later admitted that he didn't always deliver the Miranda warnings the same way, but added that he always used the word "libre" in that way, according to court documents.

"He'd been doing it wrong for 25 years," Levine said. "He thought, honestly, that the word 'libre' in Spanish meant 'at no cost,' which it doesn't."

The district court nonetheless denied the motion to throw out his post-arrest statements, finding that Botello-Rosales probably understood the English Miranda warning. He pleaded guilty, on the condition that he could appeal the judge's order denying the motion to suppress.

On appeal, the Ninth Circuit panel reversed the lower court's decision. The panel's opinion effectively said that Miranda rights must be translated correctly in order for them to be valid—reciting them properly in English is not enough. The case was remanded, and Botello-Rosales took a plea deal for a lesser sentence, according to Levine.

"This is something that's given probably thousands and thousands of times every year, to a myriad of defendants, and there's no reason to assume that they're not getting it wrong," Levine told VICE.

That case and others illustrate the need for a standard of some kind. Once the ABA commission puts together an official translation with help from law enforcement experts, it will look to promulgate the translation out through state attorneys general and local bar associations, according to Acosta.

"I think at the end of the day, if the American Bar Association says, 'This is one that we have vetted and we support,' I think many law enforcement agencies would certainly use that," Acosta told VICE. "Because it provides them a safeguard."

Of course, even a consistent Spanish-language warning is not a cure-all solution. For example, while the warning may be uniform, the Spanish language itself is not. The committee is working on trying to address regional or dialectal differences in its implementation to help mitigate this. And of course, there's human error: In some cases cited by the commission, even printed-out Spanish-language Miranda cards contained errors.

But the ABA's vote this month was a promising first step that could lead to translations not just in Spanish, but ideally in other languages—and a decision that defendants, attorneys, and judges could benefit from. During remarks to the commission ahead of the vote, Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Bernice Donald talked about her stint as a federal judge and said she hopes that her time on the bench was not marred by mistranslations.

"We have an opportunity with the passage of this resolution to make certain that Miranda is more than words," Donald said, echoing the theme of this year's ABA conference. "I spent 15-and-a-half years as a judge on the United States District Court, where I heard cases, and we had one Spanish-language interpreter. I hope that we were not one of the courts that engaged in any of those mistranslations. But this is serious."

Follow Paul DeBenedetto on Twitter.

Past Perfect tense.

Ser maestro es...

Simple Past of Present Perfect?

Difference between GATE and DOOR:

GATE, DOOR:

La primera es "puerta" (en un espacio abierto). La segunda 

significa "puerta" (en un lugar techado).

Diccionario de Dudas inglés - español, José Merino, 2a. edición corregida, 1978.

Formal, non-formal and longlife learning

Formal education. Education that is institutionalized, intentional and planned through public organizations and recognized private bodies and, in their totality, make up the formal education system of a country. Formal education programmes are thus recognized as such by the relevant national educational authorities or equivalent, e.g. any other institution in co-operation with the national or sub-national educational authorities. Formal education consists mostly of initial education. Vocational education, special needs education and some parts of adult education are often recognized as being part of the formal education system.

Non-formal education. Education that is institutionalized, intentional and planned by an education provider. The defining characteristic of non-formal education is that it is an addition, alternative and/or a complement to formal education within the process of the lifelong learning of individuals. It is often provided to guarantee the right of access to education for all. It caters for people of all ages, but does not necessarily apply a continuous pathway-structure; it may be short in duration and/or low intensity, and it is typically provided in the form of short courses, workshops or seminars. Non-formal education mostly leads to qualifications that are not recognized as formal qualifications by the relevant national educational authorities or to no qualifications at all. Non-formal education can cover programmes contributing to adult and youth literacy and education for out-of-school children, as well as programmes on life skills, work skills, and social or cultural development.

Informal learning. Forms of learning that are intentional or deliberate but are not institutionalized. They are less organized and structured than either formal or non-formal education. Informal learning may include learning activities that occur in the family, in the work place, in the local community, and in daily life, on a self-directed, family-directed or socially-directed basis.

Incidental or random learning. Various forms of learning that are not organized or that involve communication not designed to bring about learning. Incidental or random learning may occur as a by-product of day-to-day activities, events or communication that are not designed as deliberate educational or learning activities. Examples may include learning that takes place during the course of a meeting, whilst listening to a radio programme, or watching a television broadcast that is not designed as an education programme.

Source: Glossary, International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011

We start with official ISCED (UNESCO) definitions since there are many miconceptions and confusions with the terms formal education, non-formal education and informal learning (learning that takes place in formal, non-formal and informal contexts).

Many people mention formal education and non-formal education, and forget about informal learning. Others skip non-formal education. Many speak of informal education, which does not exist. It is very common to associate non-formal education with adult education and to think that adult education can only be non-formal. Some people consider that Lifelong Learning and informal learning are equivalent. And so on. 

There are little or no problems with formal education, another name for education that takes place within the school system. However, people tend to think that the school system does not include higher education. 

There are more problems with non-formal education. The very limits and differences between formal and non-formal education are often unclear. There is teaching in both of them; there may be evaluation and certificates in non-formal education.The main difference is that the latter is less structured and more flexible, and that it can be provided by multiple agents, governmental and non-governmental. Non-formal education serves people of all ages and at all education levels. 

The biggest conceptual problems relate to informal learning, which is "intentional or deliberate but not institutionalized." ISCED classification refers to formal education, non-formaleducation and informal learning, because there is no teaching involved in informal learning; it is autonomous learning. ISCED adds another category, incidental or random learning, defined as "various forms of learning that are not organized or that involve communication not designed to bring about learning." I prefer to include it within informal learning. What matters is that it is learning (intentional or not) that is not mediated by teaching. 

Formal, non-formal and informal qualify the context and the mode in which education and learning take place. These three variants do not run separately; they are intertwined, not parallel lines. There are many commonalities between formal and non-formal education. There is informal learning in formal and non-formal contexts (playing, reading, talking with classmates or teachers outside the classroom, using the internet, etc.). 

Formal education occupies a relatively short period in life, generally during childhood, adolescence and youth, although it may also take place in adulthood. Those with masters or doctoral studies may spend 20 years or more in classrooms. There are also those who have no or little schooling, and whose learning experience comes mostly from informal learning. 
 
Non-formal education (courses, workshops, seminars, conferences, etc.) can occur along formal education, and also before and after it is completed. Many people end up having more non-formal education than formal education. The Internet has contributed to expand and diversify non-formal education. 

Informal learning takes place throughout life, from birth to death. Most of what we learn in life comes from informal learning, although very often we are not aware that we are learning. Some of the most important information, knowledge and skills are developed in an informal manner, in the family, in the community, in the school system, at work, while practicing sports, talking, reading and writing, in contact with nature, with mass media, with the arts, with internet, etc.

Lifelong Learning integrates these three types of learning: formal, non-formal and informal. Every person has a specific combination of them and specific life learning trajectories. Some have a lot of formal and non-formal education. Everyone benefits from informal learning, which is essential for life, for work, and for living together.

To learn more
» Council Recommendation on the validation of non-formal and informal learning, Official Journal of the European Union, 22 Dec. 2012.