PLData oct 2000 electronic version

PLD ata
Volume IX
Issue 2
October 2000
Newsletter of the Portuguese Language Division of the American Translators Association - ATA
PUTTING TRANSLATORS ON THE MAP
Tereza Braga
[email protected]
Our British colleagues don’t have ATA, but they have the ITI
– the Institute of Translation and Interpreting. At their 14th annual
conference last April, in London, one of the presenters was our
very own João Roque Dias. You can learn about his session on
technical translation in last June’s Chronicle, page 23.
“For translators, says Hendzel, the impact of
misinformation goes beyond irritation to poor working
conditions and lost revenue (…)”
And just like our Chronicle, ITI also has a magazine, the ITI
Bulletin, which has a column that I love called The Onionskin,
edited by Chris Durban and dedicated to client education issues. I met Chris at my very first ATA Conference, in Nashville, and have been a fan since then. She had to miss Orlando
but she helped bring us a great session last year in St. Louis,
with a celebrity speaker - former White House press secretary
Dee Dee Myers. Albeit very late, I now bring you Chris’ own
summary of what happened then, reprinted with permission
from The Onionskin:
“I don’t think you have a negative public image, you just
don’t have an image,” was Dee Dee Myers’ assessment of the
dilemma facing professional translators and interpreters in a
public forum on Translators & the Media.
“Myers was speaking to a 350-strong standing room only
crowd at the ATA’s 40th annual conference. Drawing on her experience at the very top level of U.S. diplomacy, the former
White House press secretary discussed how language services
are used – and sometimes mis-used – in fields ranging from
disarmament to the war in Kosovo.
“In the U.S., widespread monolingualism is a handicap for
both the public and private sectors, said Myers, noting that no
U.S. president this century has been fluent in a foreign language.
Their foreign counterparts generally do better: she cited Yassir
Arafat’s correction of an interpreter’s rendering of a phrase on
the Wye Accords just a few days earlier in Oslo. “We hope that
the Wye Accords are implemented completely – “, began the interpreter, when the Palestinian leader, who does not use English
in public, interrupted – “are implemented honestly.”
“(…) Panel member Kevin Hendzel of ASET reminded the
audience that the U.S. language industry has grown from an
estimated US$ 25 million in 1965 (when it was driven largely
by government orders linked to the Cold War) to a hefty US$
11 billion in 1999. Worldwide, the market is estimated at some
US$ 17 billion, with demand growing rapidly. The European
Union spends over 40% of its administration budget on language services, according to the University of Westminster’s
Janet Fraser, MITI, and the figure will rise as new members
join. Against this backdrop, the industry has seen a string of
mergers and acquisitions in the past 18 months, fueled by investors convinced that they are on to a good thing. Unfortunately, best practice can get a rough ride as venture capitalists
hype stocks with marvel-of-technology prose and savings-ofscale claims that even business-oriented linguists admit, in private, are wildly exaggerated. As moderator Neil Inglis noted,
the typical cocktail-party question translators once faced –
“how many languages do you speak?”- has been replaced by
“oh, doesn’t software do that these days”?”
“For translators, says Hendzel, the impact of misinformation goes beyond irritation to poor working conditions and lost
revenue, as clients scramble to produce huge documents overnight or – once they discover the real cost of professional
translation – opt for cheap alternatives (the nephew with two
semesters of college French) or no translation at all.
Continua na pág. 9
Nesta edição:
ATA Orlando 2000: Articles and Photos ........ 4-11
Divagações ...................................................... 12
Projeto de lei sobre estrangeirismos ................ 13
Assuntos da Associação .................................. 14
Bug Alert .......................................................... 15
PLData gets the scoop ..................................... 16
Conquering the Fear ........................................ 19
“Got Milk?’ ........................................................ 20
Events ......................................................... 21-23
PL Data
Volume IX
Issue 2
October, 2000
Administrator
Vera Abreu
Tel: (408) 266-5832 Fax: (408) 266-5892
[email protected]
Assistant Administrator
Regina Cardoso da Silva
Tel: (305) 824-0145 Fax: (305) 824-0310
[email protected]
Treasurer
Margarete Marchetti
Tel: (954) 430-9429 Fax: (954) 430-4247
[email protected]
Secretary
Kátia Iole
Tel: (954) 349-4085 Fax: (954) 349-4021
[email protected]
PL Data
Editors
Vera Abreu
Tereza Braga
Heather Murchison
Design
Galina Raff
Final proof
Tereza Braga
PL Data is a quarterly publication with editions in:
March, June, September and December.
Opinions expressed in this Newsletter are solely
those of their authors.
Articles submitted become the property
of PLData and are subject to editing.
Submissions for publications are invited and may
be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to the editor.
Members of the Portuguese Language Division
receive this newsletter for free. Non-members:
US$10.00/year.
Portuguese Language Division is a non-profit
organization and a division
of the American Translators Association
225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 590
Alexandria, VA 22314
Tel: (703) 683-6100
Fax: (703) 683-6122
http://www.atanet.org
Rates for Ads:
Full page (7.5 pol. x 9.75 pol.) = US$100
Half page (7.5 pol. x 4.87 pol.) = US$75
¼ page (4.75 pol. x 4.87 pol.) = US$50
Business card (9 pol. x 6 pol.) = US$12
PLData
Nova equipe no PL-Data - a união faz a força
Heather Murchison
[email protected]
This year’s ATA conference in Orlando was a wonderful opportunity for all of
us to renew old friendships and form new ones, to step forward and make things
happen, and to make a difference for the future. Tereza Braga and I decided to
take a deep breath together and accept the position of PL-Data Editor that Vera
offered during the division meeting. Truth be told, both of us were hesitant to
take it up alone, so we formed what we hope will be a long-lasting and productive partnership! Luckily for us, Vera graciously offered to help us through this
first issue, and so you are now reading the first effort this team has put together.
Thank you to all who contributed to this edition. We offer a special thanks to
Gabe Bokor and Donna Sandin, who graciously provided us with splendid photographs of everything that happened in Orlando.Thanks also to our DTP expert
Galina Raff for putting everything together so well.
I invite all of you to also step forward and join us! Your ideas, articles, tips, letters, pictures, and advertisements are all welcome. The PLData is your publication, so let us know what you would like! I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with PL
Division members in Orlando and am looking forward to attending my first
spring meeting this year. As my Brazilian mother always said, entre com o pé
direito! - when taking your first step into something, always step with your right
foot first. That’s what I hope we did. Let us know what you think. Thank you and
enjoy!
PLWeb
Have a look at this great article entitled
“Portuguese Into English: Seven survival
tools for translating Brazilian Portuguese
into English”. Care to test your translation
skills? Give the Translation Journal’s First World
Translation Contest a try! Both were contributed to the October issue of
Translation Journal by Danilo Nogueira. Translation Journal is an online
magazine for translators that can be found at http://www.accurapid.com/journal/
14into.htm.
What was the hot topic in Orlando (besides the weather)? SDLX, SDL
International’s memory tool, rumored to cost a mere $US 50.00. Is it any good?
Sound too good to be true? Find out and then let us know. The SDL site can be
found at http://www.sdlintl.com.
The Center for Luso-Brasilian Literature Studies is now on the web at:
www.mariana.com.br/cellb.
Localization Specialist
at Discreet, a division of Autodesk in San Francisco, CA
Position Summary - Assist in the production of localized product documentation
and online help (French, German, Spanish and Italian). Maintain and update
glossaries and translation memories. Ensure that production tools meet
localization requirements.
Requirements - 2 years or more experience in software localization, experience
with desktop publishing and graphics, experience with FrameMaker, HTML
and HTML Help, experience with Trados or other CAT tools, and
familiarity with macros and scripting languages.
Contact - Jane Benedict, recruiter, [email protected].
Page 2
October 2000
The Administrator’s
Corner
Aprendendo em Orlando
Vera Abreu
[email protected]
te brasileira – queria dançar no ritmo do Nordeste brasileiro a
O congresso da ATA em Orlando trouxe muitas emoções
todo custo! A festa acabou às 2 da manhã e ficamos com gosto
para nós. Reencontros e desencontros, abraços e despedidas.
de final de baile de Carnaval na boca.
Como administradora, assisti à confraternização entre nossos
membros com muita alegria. Há sempre muito entusiasmo e
Ufa!
coleguismo entre nós. Muita coisa boa aconteceu por lá. VaAgora é tocar para frente...
mos por partes:
Nossa próxima atração é a Reunião da Primavera de 2001.
Foram 8 palestras dedicadas à língua portuguesa, cobrindo
Você será avisado assim que tivermos data e local definidos.
os mais variados assuntos, todas interessantes e com um públi- Agora fica o pedido para que você se olhe no espelho e se
co dedicado. A maioria ocorreu no último dia, sábado, trazen- imagine lá na frente da sala de reunião dando uma palestra.
do uma diversidade de informações valiosas e troca de conhe- Que tal compartilhar conhecimentos com colegas numa atmoscimentos. Obrigada aos apresentadores: Alexandra
fera amigável e aconchegante? Pense bem: pode ser o instruRussell-Bitting, Tim Yuan, Cliff Landers, Arlene Kelly, Regimento de marketing que você precisa; afinal, ficar conhecido
na Alfarano, Catarina Edinger, John Rock, George Ottoni e
entre colegas significa um acesso rápido a clientes desejados.
Paulo Lopes. Esperamos ter um time desse calibre no ano que
Trabalhamos num setor em que indicações e referências são
vem em Los Angeles.
importantes, não é mesmo? Aproveite esta chance. Entre em
Nosso jantar foi muito gostoso. Parecíamos um grupo de
contato conosco. Qualquer assunto relativo à tradução/interuniversitários em excursão, rindo e falando alto no ônibus. O
pretação/língua portuguesa é válido.
restaurante era aconchegante, com uma deliciosa comida típica
Um último recado: lembre-se sempre de que Divisão de
italiana. Cinqüenta e dois membros se deliciaram. Nossos sin- Português é nossa. Ela abarca todo mundo, essa é sua função.
ceros agradecimentos a Tony Zahra por nos ter dado a dica e
Alguns membros têm uma passagem efêmera por ela; outros
ajudado na coordenação do evento. Aos participantes, valeu!
não, ficam, participam e se transformam em personagens hisNossa reunião teve novidades e despedidas. Vejam a ata na
tóricos da Divisão. Esse é o intuito de uma organização desse
seção Assuntos da Associação. Uma novidade é a mudança in- tipo: estar aberta à participação dos membros. Aprendi em Orterna no PLData. Despedi-me (em parte) do cargo de Editora
lando que nosso papel como Administradoras é o de tentar
deste boletim, que ocupo há 2 anos. Acho que está na hora de
sempre promover justiça e oportunidades para todos. Não tepassar a bola para frente. Afinal, só o Garrincha conseguia dri- mos preferências: quem quiser e puder se voluntariar em tareblar sozinho até o fim e marcar o gol. Chegou o momento de
fas é sempre bem-vindo. Um dos problemas com os quais nos
passar o boletim para outros pés, digo, mãos – na verdade,
deparamos desta vez foi a falta de “convite”. É muito difícil
quatro. Heather Murchison e Tereza Braga estarão co-editando conseguirmos “convidar” pessoalmente os membros sempre.
o PLData de outubro. Será uma experiência muito rica para
Não há tempo nem pessoas suficientes para tal empreendimennós, leitores, porque as duas trazem muito amor, entusiasmo e to. Precisamos, sim, de uma atitude ativa dos membros: preciorganização – aspectos fundamentais para se editar um bom
samos que você se “convide”. Quer organizar algo? Quer dar
veículo de comunicação. Sinto-me feliz por tê-las a bordo da
um recado? Quer participar na promoção de alguma coisa?
nossa Administração. Ajudarei na parte operacional de impres- Não gostou do que foi feito e tem uma idéia melhor? Convidesão e distribuição.
se, avise-nos e venha conosco. Precisamos de ajuda, de volunOutra novidade é a gentil oferta de João Roque Dias. Ele se tários, de gente boa, de gente entusiasmada, pronta para arregaçar as mangas. Participe! Há lugar para todo mundo.
voluntariou para fazer a manutenção de nosso site na Web,
principalmente da página de links, que será atualizada periodiUm abraço,
camente. Se você tiver algum site que interesse à comunidade
Vera
de tradução e interpretação portuguesa e/ou brasileira, entre
em contato com o João em [email protected].
Maria Augusta Laporte
Acabamos de entrar e já é hora de sair! 2001 é ano de eleiDICAS DE GRAMÁTICA
ções para os cargos da administração de sua Divisão. Pois
bem, o primeiro passo foi criar um Comitê de Eleições. Temos
Lembrem-se de que as expressões
a grata satisfação de ter as colegas Edna Ditaranto, Donna
que vêm aos pares não levam crase.
Sandin e Teresa Figueira nesse comitê. Vejam o anúncio sobre
Exemplo: cara a cara, uma a uma, gota a gota, face a face.
a eleição nesta e nas próximas edições do PLData.
Abreviatura de televisão? Fica a seu critério.
A festa latina organizada pela nossa Divisão juntamente
Pode TV ou tevê. E por falar em TV ou tevê, ela é “em cores”
com a Divisão de Espanhol e a FLATA foi linda, vibrante. Alzi
e “em preto e branco.”
Platts fez um trabalho organizado e sofisticado. Os dançarinos
Ainda falando sobre abreviaturas,
de tango abafaram, os de música brasileira estavam com a cornada de dois pontos para a abreviatura de horas.
da toda, a iluminação era super pop e o DJ Jeff dançando com
Então temos: 4h, 4h20, 4h15min40. E não inventem plural!
todo mundo foi demais – parecia que a Bahia inteira estava lá,
É isso aí.
de salto alto e meia de seda. As músicas variavam entre merengue, salsa e axé, mas a torcida do axé – não necessariamenPLData
Page 3
October 2000
Portuguese Sessions in Orlando:
Brief Impressions,
Lasting Quality
Heather Murchison, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Dr. Regina Alfarano, who speaks eloquently and smiles
engagingly.
Tim Yuan presenting - looking quite
relaxed!
The Portuguese Language Division presented a rich selection of sessions at this year’s ATA annual conference in Orlando. In an attempt to provide those who could not attend with
the flavor of these sessions, we have prepared a short description of each along with our impressions.
Alexandra Russell-Bitting, from the Inter-American Development Bank, presented “International Economics for Portuguese Translators”. As always, she provided lots of information on the tricky language often encountered in government
texts and generously handed out a list of terms in both Portuguese and English.
Timothy Yuan, former administrator of the PL Division and
now an ATA board member, presented “Financial Terminology
- US/Brazil”. Tim claimed to be nervous but he gave a smooth,
nicely organized and informative presentation on the basic
meaning of common terms encountered in financial documents
in English, providing the equivalent terms in Portuguese.
George Ottoni’s presentation was scheduled for a difficult
time slot – early Saturday morning, following one of the best
“bailes” ATA ever had. Nevertheless, his presentation, “An
Overview of Jet Engine Concepts and Terminology”, was inventive and illuminating. His use of audience members to construct a jet engine was a delightful and clever way to engage
the audience and get complicated points across at the same
time. Not only did he explain the inner workings of jet engines
but George also treated us to tales of testing these engines by throwing various
substances into them- frozen chickens,
trash cans full of ice and the like! As a bonus, beautiful and very detailed color
drawings of the jet engines were provided
for attendees to keep. It was wonderful to
be able to learn so much about jet engines
from someone who not only is an expert
on the subject but also loves to share his
expertise.
Drs. Regina Alfarano and Catarina
Edinger paid homage to professor and
colleague Paulo Vizioli, who translated
many great works of the English language
into Portuguese. The session began with a
tribute toVizioli, one of the “immortal
members” of the Academia Paulista de
Letras in Brazil, an honor he earned in
great part due to the quality of his translation work. The bulk
of the session was devoted to an examination of several of his
translations of classic English poetry. The original and the
translated versions of several texts were read aloud and then
compared. While all of the translated texts were beautifully
rendered, each capturing a specific meter and rhythm, not all
of the translated texts were able to capture the rhythm of the
original work. The session demonstrated how extremely difficult it is to skillfully translate works of poetry; clearly Paulo
Vizioli was a master. The session left one feeling as if a new
term for the translation of poetry should be invented - “rhythmification”, or perhaps “versification”?
In the same literary vein, Clifford E. Landers, gave a presentation on “Translating Jô Soares: Does Comedy Transfer
Across Cultures?”. In short, the answer to the question would
have to be “yes”! Dr. Landers gave a wonderful introduction to
his work translating the novel O Homem Que Matou Getúlio
Vargas. Several of the problems faced by the translator were
described and solutions offered. For example, one passage in
the book features a very poor translation of someone’s diary
from English into Portuguese. The quote is replete with mistranslations designed for comic effect. The challenge Dr.
Landers faced (and successfully met) was providing a backtranslation while maintaining the humorous effect. The session
Continua na pág. 5
A well attended Portuguese Language session.
PLData
Page 4
October 2000
Portuguese Sessions in Orlando
Continuação da pág. 4
was a rare opportunity to peek into the craft of a master in literary translation. As a bonus, Dr. Landers distributed copies
of a short excerpt from his upcoming book entitled “Literary
Translation: A Practical Guide”, to be published in 2001 by
Multilingual Matters Ltd.
One of the most intriguing sessions was presented by Dr.
John Rock, entitled “Influence of the South American Indian
Languages on Brazilian Portuguese: A Journey of Discovery,
Beauty and Passion”. The session opened with an overview of
Brazilian history, emphasizing the events that resulted in the
destruction of the native peoples. Through careful and methodical research into Portuguese dictionaries and filtering of
European and African terminology, Dr. Rock was able to
compile fascinating lists of words that are likely of native origin. As the natives lived in harmony with their natural world,
many of the words that survive today are those that describe
nature - many names of animals, plants, rivers and fish turn
out to be of Guarani and Tupi origin. Unlike their North
American counterparts, the early Portuguese colonists felt no
need to rename the parts of the natural world that already had
beautiful names. The session made it clear that the rich and
melodious nature of Brazilian Portuguese owes a huge debt to
the languages of Brazil’s native peoples.
Dr. Arlene M. Kelly, who presented “Breast of Judge and
Costumed Morals: Exploring Available Sources for Legal Terminology (E/P)”, has been working hard for years compiling
and updating legal terminology as a result of her efforts as a
translator and a teacher of translation. Her review of several
leading legal dictionaries indicates a clear need for a more updated, comprehensive legal text from which translators can
safely work. The title of the session is reflective of some of
the entries that Dr. Kelly encountered while searching through
some of the most widely used legal dictionaries. What started
out as a personal compilation of archaic and correct terminology has turned into a true lexicographic work that will hopefully be published in the near future!
Last, but not least, Paulo Lopes gave a presentation entitled
“A Visual Approach to Technical Terms for Translators and
Interpreters”. Mr. Lopes is one of those rare presenters who
take full advantage of modern technology to enhance his presentation. We didn’t get just pictures, but also action and music! All of this led to a very lively and entertaining presentation that covered a myriad of technical terms from many
different fields. The strong visuals provided the audience with
a fun way to understand and memorize some very tricky technical terminology.
Congratulations and thanks to all our Orlando presenters
and we hope that many more will be encouraged to come to
Los Angeles in 2001!
Heather Murchison has a Ph.D. in chemistry, has worked for
many years in biotechnology and is now working as a full-time
freelance translator. She is ATA accredited from Portuguese into
English and specializes in scientific and medical translations.
PUTTING TRANSLATORS ON THE MAP
Continuação da pág. 1
“Panelists agreed that a concerted effort to educate the general public and business users of translation services would
help both clients and translators. With this in mind, they distributed a tips & clips handout describing hands-on initiatives
for individuals and regional groups keen to raise their profile.
“Dee Dee Myers, now a political commentator on CNBC’s
Equal Time and political editor at Vanity Fair magazine, also
had some practical suggestions. “The U.S. public doesn’t really understand the contribution of translators and interpreters to
our prosperity, well-being and security,” she said, urging translators to “link the service you provide to the real lives of people in ways that make it more meaningful, more concrete.”
“Articles that give language skills a human face are one
way to do this. In the spring of 1993, Bill Clinton attended his
first international summit on arms control with Boris Yeltsin in
Vancouver, British Columbia. Aside from permanent State Department staff, says Myers, the most seasoned diplomat on
hand was… interpreter Peter Afanasenko. “Peter has a fascinating story,” she pointed out, “and plays a much bigger role
than simply telling Bill Clinton what Boris Yeltsin just said
and how sober he is at the moment.” Stories like Afanasenko’s, or profiles of translators and interpreters at the Olympics,
a major trade summit or a business deal like the Daimler/
Chrysler tie-up would all make good copy, she insisted, and
give the general public a taste of what translators and interpreters do.”
Well, our own president Ann Macfarlane gave us a good example by blowing the whistle last January and writing to the
White House, following the President’s ill-thought remarks
during his State of the Union address, for the whole world to
watch. I was thrilled to read his response. Let’s join in and
help give translation a sharper image.
PLNotes
PÃO DE QUEIJO BEM FÁCIL
contribuição de Regina Sternberg
[email protected]
Ingredientes:
1 xícara de água
¾ xícara de leite
¾ xícara de óleo
15 oz de polvilho doce (nos EUA, “tapioca starch”)
4 ovos
2 xícaras de queijo parmesão ralado
Modo de fazer:
Numa panela ponha para ferver a água, o leite e o óleo. Jogue quente em cima do polvilho e mexa com uma colher. Deixe
esfriar. Quando frio, adicione os ovos, um por um, e o queijo parmesão. Faça bolinhas e asse no forno a uma temperatura de
425 o até que estejam bem douradinhas. Sirva quente e bom proveito!
Nota: Aqui na Califórnia, eu compro o polvilho no mercado vietnamita.
PLData
Page 5
October 2000
Gabe Bokor and the Alexander Gode Medal
Tereza Braga
(with contributions from Eric McMillan, Courtney Searls-Ridge and Donna Sandin)
“We translators computerized
our operations before lawyers,
doctors and even most large
corporations did.”
Gabe Bokor, this year’s
Alexander Gode Medal winner.
The Alexander Gode Medal,
named in honor of ATA’s first President (1960-63) is awarded
to a person, organization or program for overall contributions
to the fields of translation and interpretation. Nominations for
the Medal are solicited annually from past laureates, past presidents and the membership at large; nominees need not be
members of the ATA. Nominations, with supporting materials,
are examined and ranked by the ATA Honors and Awards
Committee; the Committee’s recommendations must be approved by a two-thirds majority vote of the ATA Board of Directors.
This year in Orlando, the Gode Medal was awarded to our
very own PLD member, friend, colleague and mentor Gabe
Bokor. Among his accomplishments, the committee members
cited the following: Gabe Bokor pioneered the use of electronic word processing in the translation industry in the late 70s
and the use of electronic data communications in the 80s. He
served two terms on the ATA Board of Directors, served as administrator of the Sci-Tech Division of the ATA, editor of the
Sci-Tech Translation Journal, current editor of the Translation
Journal online, generously sharing his experience and knowledge even with competing translation companies. Gabe also
serves as chair of the ATA Ethics Committee. Forced at times
to take a stand on various issues, Gabe was always able to do
it with firmness tempered by patience and diplomacy. In summary, Gabe has made an “invaluable contribution to the practice of translation and to translators’ practices”.
Gabe was born in Hungary and has moved around quite a
bit in the world. He settled in Brazil in 1956, where he obtained a degree in chemical engineering from the Escola
Politécnica of the University of São Paulo and an MBA from
the Fundação Getúlio Vargas. Following a technical career
with many multinationals, he decided to settle in the U.S. in
1978, with his wife Cathy and son David. In Poughkeepsie,
New York, where they live, he and Cathy opened Accurapid
Translations. Gabe is a life member of ATA, has three language accreditations and is the editor and webmaster of the
Translation Journal, an online magazine featuring many excellent articles and columns. Here are excerpts from Gabe’s
acceptance speech in Orlando:
“I am more than honored – I’m awed by this award, and I
accept it with a deep sense of humility in a representative capacity for all those whose talent and hard work have advanced
the profession of translation, helped improve the lives of its
practitioners, and strengthened our Association. Indeed, I
PLData
stand on the shoulders of giants, some of whom are still with
us today. They include the founders of this Association, its
past officers, and all those whose dedication and hard work at
the national, chapter, and division levels make the gears of this
Association turn day in day out. To them we all owe a huge
debt of gratitude.
“We translators computerized our operations before lawyers, doctors and even most large corporations did. We did
desktop publishing before the word for it was invented and we
sent our work via modems long before anybody heard of ecommerce. We also created an international on-line community of translators on the Foreign Language Forum of CompuServe, known as FLEFO.
“Technology has changed all aspects of our profession. By
searching the World-Wide Web, we can now find a term that
was coined yesterday and won’t show up in any dictionary for
months to come. We can advertise our services on the WorldWide Web for nothing or close to nothing. We can network
with colleagues all over the world, profit from their experience
and share ours to mutual benefit. We can research our markets
and learn about our competitors and potential clients without
leaving our desks.
“On the downside, we are competing with every translator
under the sun from Albania to Zimbabwe and we’re expected
to produce at electronic speed. Our clients are shopping
around on the Internet and not always for the best quality
translations. They can e-mail an inquiry to hundreds of potential translation providers with the push of a button and send
them scrambling to bid on a project that often turns out to be a
pie in the sky. We must go out of our way to fine-tune our marketing strategies to stay competitive and continue to do business in a marketplace that all too often resembles an oriental
bazaar.
“Computer-aided translation may allow us never to translate the same sentence twice, but some translation users expect
to reap all the financial benefit from our investment in software, hardware, and time to learn how to use them. Machine
translation continues to make progress. Let us have no illusions about it: if and to the degree machine translation can do
the job translation users expect it to do, it will be used. While
we can and should refute exaggerated claims by MT software
enthusiasts, we cannot and should not fight or ignore actual
progress in this field. Machine translation will eventually take
over most of today’s repetitive and tedious tasks. While many
thousands of new jobs will be create in the fields of writing,
fine-tuning and running translation software, as well as pre-editing and post-editing machine translations, skilled human
translators will be given the most challenging assignments,
those that require adaptation and creative writing, rather than
simple translation. I do not think that our generation has to
worry about machines replacing us in those areas.
Continua na pág. 9
Page 6
October 2000
American Translators Association
41st Annual Conference
Orlando, Florida
Ines Bojlesen
[email protected]
ference attendees, fulfilled by ATA’s enThe 41st ATA Conference held in
deavor to join efforts, promote developOrlando, Florida had much more in
ment and expose its members to cutting
common with the 2000 Olympiad,
edge technology. Ann Macfarlane, in
taking place thousands of miles
her Welcome Address spoke about ATA
away, than with the actual site where
having matured both in reaching out for
it was held, Disney World.
new ideas and looking inward to conOne of the highlights, and a restantly evaluate the objectives and goals
minder that this was the make-believe
of the organization.
world we all became so fond of since
It was interesting to note that semiour childhood days, was the short but
nars of educational content were as well
heart-warming appearance of Mickey
attended as those pertaining to ancillary
Mouse during the Opening Ceremony. Nancomputer technology. The glitter of newness attached to CAT
cy Luetzow added to the local theme with her beautiful rendition of a Small World After All and other unforgettable Disney tools, machine translations and web management devices
songs. While the theme park could be seen from the top floors seems to be wearing off. The days of anxiety and dreading are
of the hotel, little time was available to actually tour the facili- practically gone. These tools are now looked upon as accessories and not replacements. They have been adequately integratties.
ed into the day-to-day activities of Translators. Session topics
Over 1,500 members representing five geographic areas
were eclectic in nature and rich in content.
made it to the venue, overcoming Nature’s forces, hustling
Good accommodations, services and excellent conference
through airports, boarding and exiting airplanes, without a
rooms were provided by Wyndham Palace Resort, justifying
chance to get used to a different time zone or enjoy the balmy
the rather high rates paid for the rooms. As an alternative to
breeze outside the freezing premises of the hotel. To participate in the Conference each and every attendee had to excel in having lunch at the trendy restaurants within the resort area,
sandwiches, salads and cookies were conveniently sold next to
at least five major athletic events.
Participants dashed from one room to the other, sprinting to the conference rooms, at very reasonable prices. Both the Welcome Reception and the Closing Banquet were well organized,
the restrooms if they wanted to make it back in time for the
with food and beverages being served by a very polite staff.
next session. All hurdles were easily negotiated. While mid
The Portuguese Division dinner was scheduled to avoid
distance track events were run by those staying in adjacent hoconflict with the main ATA events, offering an excellent optels, weight lifting had the best turnout of all. Every single
member participated, diligently carrying tons of papers, books, portunity for informal chats with friends and making acquaintance with the new members. Keeping to its tradition, the Divilaptops, and the usual paraphernalia of the trade, in a show of
sion promoted a fun evening of dance lessons and dancing to
muscle power and body control.
According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the En- the beat of salsa, merengue, and of course, samba, together
with the Spanish Language Division. All Portuguese related
glish Language, “gymnastics means physical exercises desessions were well attended, many by translators of other lansigned to develop and display strength, balance, and agility”.
guages as well.
Recognize yourself displaying strength, balance and agility to
The prevailing feeling at the end of the Conference was that
market your skills to agency representatives? Not to be over3-4 days are about as much as one can productively deal with;
looked is the mental gymnastics performed in assimilating all
intense networking with fellow members, clients, and prosthe information downloaded into our mortal brains.
pects, sitting through the sessions and absorbing all the inforSynchronized swimming took place in complete unison.
mation, while at the same time trying to squeeze in excursions
Participants swam through all events with cadence and graceful motions, never finding themselves out of breath before sub- to the theme park or maybe even a mall. This exact feeling reflects the success of the Conference! The hard work in putting
merging for one more lecture.
it together, individual and joined efforts to make it to the ConThe Olympic games were created in 1896 as a result of efference resulted in renewed relationships, enrichment and acforts by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator, to procomplishment. All ATA members, from organizers to attendmote interest in education and culture and to foster better inees, earned a gold medal!
ternational understanding. ATA shares all of these goals. What
Ines Bojlesen was born in Brazil and started her career as a
activity nurtures the pursuit of knowledge and understanding
translator in 1968, becoming an Official Translator for the State of
between cultures more intensely that than that of Interpreters
São Paulo in 1979. She moved to Oregon in 1998 where she conand Translators?
tinues to work as a freelance translator. Writing is her favorite hoThe quest for acquiring knowledge, information, and up to
bby, having published a children’s book in Brazil.
date professional expertise was the primary motivation of ConPLData
Page 7
October 2000
O que se aprende nos congressos anuais da ATA
Tamara Barile
[email protected]
Como tradutora autônoma, costumo acompanhar o que está
acontecendo em nosso setor, como todo mundo faz: revistas,
listas de discussão, contatos com outros colegas no mesmo
país e no exterior, etc. Mas o que me interessa a
cada ano, nesse congresso anual da ATA, é ter a
possibilidade de ver tudo, em um mesmo lugar, ao
mesmo tempo: quem está fazendo o quê e de que
forma, e para onde estamos evoluindo (ou regredindo).
Neste ano, em Orlando, o congresso atendeu
exatamente a essas minhas expectativas: um pouquinho de terminologia, um tantinho de “savoir
faire” (nossa atividade é de contato com cliente e
alguns colegas se esquecem disso), pinceladas de
notícias dos mecanismos de memória de tradução
(de tradução automática nem ouvi falar) e, principalmente, contatos e trocas de idéias com colegas de vários
idiomas e com base em vários países diferentes.
Que beleza essa “troca de figurinhas” que nos é propiciada
pela ATA e que bom que essa oportunidade existe! É realmente uma caixinha mágica de amostras de tudo o que está sendo
feito em nosso campo de atividades.
“…as laranjas estão lentamente se acomodando
no caminhão: mercados e nichos diferentes irão
exigir formas diversas de organização
e de atuação dos tradutores.”
Na parte de informação dirigida, achei ótimo participar do
seminário do professor Jean-Claude Gémar sobre problemas e
métodos relativos a tradução jurídica. Gostei muito também de
assistir à sessão do Dr. Leland D. Wright, Jr. e constatar como
realmente temos muito a aprender com os colegas de espanhol.
A proximidade entre o espanhol e o português não deve dar
ilusões ao tradutor de que conhece o outro idioma perfeitamente, mas mesmo assim as soluções encontradas em um dos
idiomas podem, com freqüência, ser aproveitadas no outro.
Não pude assistir às sessões da Alexandra Russell-Bitting, mas
já tinha participado do seu seminário no ano passado e anotado suas dicas. Arlene M. Kelly dissecou com muita ousadia os
dois únicos dicionários bilingües que temos na área jurídica
(inglês/português do Brasil), terminando por apontar como
eles são falhos em muitos pontos.
Saindo um pouco do bitolamento técnico, que delícia poder
participar das trocas de idéias oferecidas pelo Clifford Landers, Alexis Levitin, Regina Alfarano e Catarina Edinger durante suas respectivas apresentações literárias e das pontes que
construiram entre as poesias e literaturas em diferentes idiomas. Aliás, nessa esfera literária, acho imperdível o “After
Hours Café”, promovido todo ano pela Divisão Literária da
ATA – que bom poder ter contato com a poesia de tantas partes diferentes do mundo, transposta pela magia dos tradutores.
Foi uma revelação ouvir o Jonathan T. Hine, Jr. na palestra
“Taking Care of Business” e descobrir o óbvio: o autônomo
não tem 52 semanas de cinco dias por ano para trabalhar. DePLData
pois de descontadas as semanas de férias, o resfriado bravo do
começo do inverno, a pata quebrada do cachorro e a visita daqueles parentes, só no tempo que sobra é que iremos ganhar
aqueles milhares de [coloque aqui sua moeda preferida] que queremos ganhar a cada ano. E foi
bom ouvir a Marie Martien, cuja palestra quase
deixei passar por causa do título totalmente vago
(“To go where no one has gone before”): segundo ela, o tradutor é, mais do que tudo, e cada vez
mais, um comunicador e um embaixador global.
Ela ressaltou tudo aquilo que fazemos “por instinto” mas que devemos manter e aperfeiçoar: a
forma da interface com o cliente é por vezes fator
decisório para o nosso sucesso profissional.
Quanto ao anunciado “armageddon” entre tradutores autônomos e agências, parte do embate já
existente nos Estados Unidos e Europa e prenunciado com cores sombrias para o Brasil, a impressão que eu tive é que as laranjas estão lentamente se acomodando no caminhão: mercados e nichos diferentes irão exigir formas diversas de
organização e de atuação dos tradutores.
Aliás, nesse sentido, a palestra do John Rock foi bem ilustrativa. Sob o título “Does the Freelance Translator Need a
New Model?”, ele afirmou que o autônomo, contanto que bem
equipado do ponto de vista tecnológico, tem condições de atuar no mercado de hoje em termos de igualdade ou até de superioridade em relação às grandes agências (evidentemente, para
escalas de produção e dimensões de trabalho mais reduzidas).
E aproveitou para ventilar algumas possibilidades para que o
autônomo se organize com outros colegas, inclusive como cooperativa, por exemplo.
Por falar em John Rock, foi incrível ver o trabalho de coleta
que ele fez de nomes indígenas durante sua outra apresentação, “A Journey of Discovery, Beauty and Passion”. Os indígenas foram destruídos no Brasil, constata ele, mas o idioma
permaneceu em todos os nomes de acidentes geográficos, indicações urbanas, nomes de frutas e animais. Louvável que um
estrangeiro tenha tido esse carinho com as coisas brasileiras.
Adorei a apresentação do Paulo Roberto (Paulo Lopes, para
vocês nos EUA) sobre termos técnicos. Foi uma das melhores
apresentações em Power Point que já vi feitas na ATA, e com
informações extremamente úteis. Foi bom ver um colega brasileiro levar algo tecnicamente tão bem feito para a terra da tecnologia.
Na parte de memória de tradução, compareci brevemente a
uma apresentação mas, como já sei mais ou menos do que se
trata, preferi ver as demonstrações de alguns programas nos
estandes da feira paralela do congresso. Só tenho a dizer o seguinte sobre software de memória de tradução: você ainda vai
ter um, ou vai estar ganhando menos dinheiro do que poderia.
Nem cheguei perto das apresentações sobre medicina e web
sites, e pretendo manter distância delas enquanto puder.
Continua na pág. 9
Page 8
October 2000
O que se aprende nos congressos anuais
Gabe Bokor and the Alexander Gode Medal
Continuação da pág. 8
Continuação da pág. 6
Será que vi tudo? Claro que não. Mas num evento tão multifacetado, só mesmo isso é possível: ver uma parte do jogo de
espelhos, analisar os reflexos e tentar prever o que haverá lá
no ano que vem. Nos vemos em Los Angeles, combinado?
Um abraço da Cidade de São Paulo.
Tamara Barile é tradutora autônoma em São Paulo, juramentada para o inglês, francês e português. Formada em Economia, já
morou nos EUA e na Europa e estudou na Alumni e na Alliance
Française. Especializada nas áreas comercial, jurídica e promocional, com ênfase em privatizações, consolidações e aquisições.
Tamara é assídua freqüentadora e colaboradora nos nossos
eventos profissionais nos EUA.
“Like it or not, for better or worse, technology is here to
stay. In the new century it will continue to pose new challenges to us translators and our professional organizations. While
ATA’s mission as set forth in Art. 2 of the Bylaws (which I’m
sure you all know by heart) has not substantially changed in
the past 40 years, ATA now has, more than ever, the human,
technological and financial resources to rise to the challenges
of the new era and fulfill that mission. All in all, we translators
have profited from the first stage of the computer revolution. I
believe most of us will prosper in the years to come, as long as
we continue to be receptive to innovation and harness technology, as we did in the past, to our service.”
We are extremely happy for you, Gabe. Your generosity of
spirit shows every time our Division gets together and we love
you. We also love Accurapid’s website – what a wonderful site
to visit! - and the excellent Translation Journal! Thanks for being the special friend you are. Cheers and sincere congratulations!
IT’S REALLY NOT TOO EARLY….
to think about the elections for PLD officers, which will be held next Fall, at the ATA Conference in Los
Angeles. (Members will also be able to vote by mail, during the preceding month).
All four offices – Administrator, Assistant Administrator, Secretary and Treasurer are open for
nomination, to be filled for two-year terms. Candidates must be “active” members of the ATA. All the
incumbents are eligible for re-election, since each has served only one two-year term (the limit is three
two-year terms).
So, start thinking about whether you or someone else might like to serve the Division in this way. A
Nominating Committee is now being formed. Donna Sandin has agreed to chair it and is ready to hear
from any of you at [email protected].
Mark Your Calendars!!!!
American Translators Association Financial Translation Conference May 18-20, 2001. Hosted by New York
University’s SCPS Translation Studies Program.
Friday we will offer financial translation background sessions in English. Saturday and Sunday, financial
translation specialists will present language-specific sessions.
Participants will be asked to sign up for a specific language pair, but will be free to attend sessions in other
languages. Languages offered will be based on early registration figures (mid-February cutoff) as well as
availability of speakers specializing in financial translation.
Please send suggestions for speakers (any language pair) and offers to serve on the organizing
committee in any function (we need HELP), and sponsorship offers/ideas to: [email protected]
PLData
Page 9
October 2000
Images
from
Orlando
1
3
2
4
1. Attending a Portuguese session: Front (left to
right): Donna Sandin, Vanira Souza, Heather Murchison, Joao Vicente Paulo, Jr. Back: Gabe Bokor. Photograph by Tamara Barile (thank you!).
2. PLD members from Brazil: Lucia Singer (left),
Liane Lazoski and Tamara Barile (right).
3. More great smiles from Regina C. da Silva (left)
and Katia Iole (right) at the Division meeting.
4. What wonderful smiles! Front, left to right: Paulo
Lopes, Tereza Braga, and Maria Augusta Laporte;
Back, left to right:George Ottoni, Henrique Levin, and
Vera Abreu.
5. A division united! From left to right: Hank Phillips,
Clotilde Mesquita, Tereza Braga, Joao Roque Dias and
Vera Abreu.
5
We thank Gabe Bokor and Donna Sandin
for graciously sharing their photographs.
PLData
Page 10
October 2000
6
7
9
8
11
10
6. PLD dinner. From left to right:Catarina Edinger, Edith O'Connor,
Albert Bork, Regina Alfarano, Joao Vicente Paulo Jr., Tereza Braga,
Jales da Rocha Filho, Donna Sandin and Ana Vianna.
7. And from Brasilia…Joao Vicente Paulo, Jr. (left), Vanira
Souza and Jales da Rocha Filho (right).
8. Gabe Bokor and Lucia Singer.
9. Our hardworking PLD officers, left to right:
Katia Iole, Regina C. da Silva and Vera Abreu.
10. Paulo Lopes presents!
11. Edna Ditarano and Tim Yuan.
PLData
Page 11
October 2000
Divagações de uma testadora de software no Vale do Silício
Vera Abreu
[email protected]
Não é interessante? Isso levanta uma questão importante sobre os valores que atribuímos ao nosso trabalho...
“Vejo um pouco dos dois mundos
Voltemos ao meu primeiro cliente. A eficiência impera. Os
e tento ficar sempre com a parte engenheiros trabalham intensamente e de longe dá para ouvir
boa dos dois.
o entusiasmo nas conversas com fortes sotaques estrangeiros.
Acho que essa é a melhor faceta Sigo meu roteiro e começo a brincar com o aplicativo, na tentativa de colocar em prática tudo o que o Peter me ensinou. E
do trabalho autônomo”
então começa um desfile de engenheiros e engenheiras que se
revezam na cadeira ao meu lado. Enquanto percorrem o software todinho em inglês, sigo no português, anotando no relatório as falhas lingüísticas e operacionais encontradas com
Toda sexta-feira há um belo almoço de graça para os funci- screenshots, descrição do bug e do caminho de chegada ao loonários de um cliente meu em San Jose, Califórnia. Por coinci- cal. Fico uma hora com cada engenheiro. Um processo intenso
dência e sorte minha, fui chamada justamente numa sexta para e rápido, com perguntas e dúvidas respondidas na hora. De vez
fazer o QA (teste para verificar e relatar a qualidade operacio- em quando a secretária vem verificar se estou com a pessoa
nal do produto localizado) de um software lá. Trata-se de uma correta. No final da tarde sinto-me exausta! Produzi um arquidessas empresas “pontocom” da nova economia, que acaba de vo enorme, com quase 200 itens. Termino às 6, pronta para
voltar para meu home office e abraçar meus filhos.
ganhar o financiamento sonhado. O clima era de euforia e reSerá que amamos o nosso trabalho dessa maneira? Os seus
manejamento de mobília por todo o lado. Muitos micros em
olhos brilham de empolgamento ao entender como funciona o
mesas ainda vazias e muitos indianos, chineses e russos espaprocesso descrito na sua tradução? Seu coração dispara ao falhados pelo salão no meio dos americanos. De brasileira, só
zer uma interpretação? Se você trabalha numa empresa, ela
eu.
Quem me recebe é o diretor de localização. Desta vez, Peter oferece uma sala para sonecas também? Talvez não, mas não
faz mal...
me dá uma aula sobre o aplicativo de software que tenho que
Trabalho é trabalho. Não adianta. Não é lazer nem prazer.
testar. Peter é PhD em engenharia, totalmente apaixonado e
entusiasmado pelo software. Bonito de se ver. Um dia inteiro
Seja qual for o tipo ou calibre da empresa, mesmo no Vale
de explicações aprofundadas sobre o trabalho que tiveram para do Silício, a filosofia é a mesma: longas, intensas horas de tracriar o software, o código, o processo de internacionalização, a balho, cansaço e tensão inevitáveis. Nesse trabalho, como QA
beleza escondida por trás de cada botão e comando que o usu- Tester, visito clientes e aprendo com eles sem precisar absorário emite. Os olhos e o sorriso do Peter emitem um prazer e
ver a tensão e os prazos apertados com que eles têm que concontentamento invejáveis. O treinamento custa a terminar mas viver. A pressão do trabalho existe – vou, executo e volto para
finalmente estou pronta para trabalhar. Mas antes, um pequeno casa para cuidar das minhas traduções e dos meus prazos pescomercial sobre o recrutamento dessas empresas aqui na terra
soais. Vejo um pouco dos dois mundos e tento ficar sempre
da alta tecnologia.
com a parte boa dos dois. Acho que essa é a melhor faceta do
trabalho autônomo. E, de vez em quando, até dou sorte e me
Muitas empresas no Vale do Silício estão tentando atrair
mão-de-obra inteligente e eficiente com um recrutamento mo- deleito com um delicioso capuccino numa tarde de inverno lá
no meu cliente...
derno e sedutor. Numa visita a outro cliente em Santa Clara,
descobri que toda sexta-feira à tarde tem chope de graça, serviVera Abreu was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and earned a B.A. in
do do barril mesmo! Outro, em Walnut Creek - o mais moder- English Language and Literature from PUC-SP, and also studied
no e interessante - oferece às terças-feiras café e capuccino di- for 2 years at USP’s Law School. She has worked as a freelance
Portuguese translator for 9 years. After moving to the Silicon Valreto da máquina, servido por um barman exclusivo da
ley, she became envolved with software localization, telecommuniStarbucks. Nas quintas, suco fresquinho do JambaJuice, tamcation and other commercial translation and interpreting. She is
bém com um barman que bate as frutas na hora, como numa
the current Administrator of the Portuguese Division of the ATA
daquelas casas de sucos de São Paulo (isso, para quem não
and former PLData Editor.
sabe, é uma raridade aqui nos States, mesmo na Califórnia).
Um colega me confidenciou que em Redwood City há uma
Chegou!
empresa ma-ra-vi-lho-sa que serve almoço gratuito todos os
dias para os funcionários – comida mesmo, aquela que nós
Sites para todo mundo!!!
chamamos de “almoço” e os gringos chamam de gourmet Visite sempre o site da Divisão de Português e
nada de pizza ou cachorro quente. E nessa mesma empresa há
uma sala com umas barraquinhas de camping para os funcioconfira a nova página de links
nários tirarem uma soneca de 20 minutos à tarde (com direito
em
ao despertador ligado, é claro)! Fora a sala de jogos com mehttp://www.ata-divisions.org/PLD/PLDlink.htm
sas de pingue-pongue e jogos de montar para adultos...
PLData
Page 12
October 2000
Projeto de lei sobre estrangeirismos – o bom senso on sale
Tereza Braga
(artigo contribuído por Rosana Manço)
A VEJA de 30 de agosto de 2000 trouxe uma delícia de artigo, de autoria de João Gabriel de Lima, chamado “O bom
senso está on sale - algumas observações sobre o projeto de lei
que proíbe o uso de palavras estrangeiras”.
O negócio é o seguinte: o deputado Aldo Rebelo, do PC do
B de São Paulo, encaminhou ao Congresso o projeto de lei número 1676 que proibiria os brasileiros de usar termos em outras línguas na comunicação oficial, na mídia escrita, radiofônica e televisiva, na publicidade e no comércio. Rebelo propôs
até uma multa para quem insistir nos estrangeirismos.
João Gabriel imagina uma personagem de novela da tevê se
despedindo de um amigo:
“Preciso correr agora porque combinei com amigos de ir a
um espetáculo de canto metralhado.”
Se você não entendeu nada, aí está a tradução: “canto metralhado” é “rap”.
O projeto é fruto de uma idéia fora do lugar (mais uma), segundo o autor do artigo, “a de que o português falado no Brasil estaria ameaçado de extinção, assim como o mico-leão-dourado ou a arara-azul (…) a invasão do inglês resultaria na
derrocada da nossa inculta e bela língua. Para ilustrar essa
tese, seus defensores sempre utilizam o mesmo e surrado
exemplo dos cartazes de lojas de shopping centers (oops, centros comerciais). Está certo que os abusos beiram o ridículo,
entre eles estampar nas vitrines “sale” e “50% off”, em vez de
“liquidação” e “50% de desconto”. No entanto, multar um lojista por uma caipirice que depõe unicamente contra ele próprio é um exagero. Seria mais ou menos como cobrar uma
pena pecuniária (gostou dessa, Rebelo?) de pagodeiros a cada
erro de gramática que cometem.”
E o autor continua:
“Para os especialistas, o projeto mostra total ignorância do
fenômeno linguístico. Um idioma evolui quando entra em contato com outros, e só alguém que não entende nada do assunto
pode achar que é possível bloquear esse intercâmbio, diz o
professor John Robert Schmitz, americano naturalizado brasileiro, que leciona linguística aplicada na Universidade de
Campinas. É normal que uma língua se nutra de outras. Também é comum e fato antigo – que os vocábulos a atravessar
fronteiras venham, em geral, de uma cultura dominante. Até o
início do século XX, era o francês o responsável pela maior
parte das palavras ditas internacionais. Agora, essa primazia
pertence ao inglês. A tal ponto que nem os esforços da Academia Francesa de Letras impediram que os conterrâneos de
Gustave Flaubert adotassem o termo “weekend” para fim de
semana.
Já se tentou, explica o artigo, banir anglicismos, galicismos
e outras palavras originárias de outras línguas no Brasil. Se as
idéias do latinista carioca do século XIX Antônio de Castro
Lopes fossem adotadas, hoje em dia Romário jogaria ludopédio, e não futebol. No frio, as pessoas usariam focale, e não
cachecol. E, antes de dormir, acenderiam o lucivelo, nunca um
abajur.
PLData
Os paulistanos não iriam mais correr no Ibirapuera,
e sim exercitar-se no “Parque Madeira Podre”.
E o ipanemense Vinicius de Moraes teria como musa
uma certa “garota da Água Ruim”.
“Um cenário radical como esse daria trabalho. Para evitar
graves prejuízos financeiros, os jornalistas se veriam obrigados a instalar em seus computadores chips (oooops!) que apitassem sempre que um estrangeirismo fosse digitado. Façamos
um teste. Não apenas repórteres (péin! Anglicismo) padeceriam, mas também os empresários (péin! A palavra vem do italiano) de comunicação, porque para estes últimos as multas envolveriam algarismos (péin! Origem persa) ainda mais
elevados. Articulistas de grande bagagem (péin! Galicismo)
cultural (péin! Germanismo) teriam de renegar a erudição de
alfarrábio (péin! Origem árabe), apesar de sua ojeriza (péin!
Espanholismo) a palavras de uso vulgar.
“Pensando bem, é melhor desligar o chip. Ele não pararia
de tocar. (…) Hoje, a última flor do Lácio tem pelo menos
20% de termos emprestados de línguas estrangeiras. Se fossem
bloqueadas na origem, o português atual seria sem dúvida
mais pobre. Faça-se o seguinte exercício: como falaríamos
hoje se na esquadra de Cabral houvesse um Aldo Rebelo que
proibisse a utilização de termos em tupi-guarani? Em vez de
batizar bairros e cidades com belos e sonoros nomes de origem
indígena, os brasileiros teriam de traduzi-los para o português.
Os paulistanos não iriam mais correr no Ibirapuera, e sim exercitar-se no “Parque Madeira Podre”. E o ipanemense Vinicius
de Moraes teria como musa uma certa “garota da Água Ruim”.
Vale a pena ler o artigo na íntegra (www.veja.com.br, na internet). O olhem só alguns exemplos de “contrabando verbal”
que o autor tirou do Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa, de Antenor Nascentes:
Açougue (árabe)
Buldogue (inglês)
Estopim (catalão)
Galera (italiano)
Chá (chinês)
Crocodilo (egípcio)
Pandeiro (espanhol)
Burocracia (francês)
Comunista (francês)
Calouro (grego moderno)
Biombo (japonês)
Berinjela (persa)
Edredão (sueco)
Abacaxi (tupi-guarani)
Sandália (turco)
Escorbuto (russo)
Page 13
October 2000
Assuntos da Associação
Treasurer’s Report
By Margarete Marchetti
By August 31st, 2000, the Portuguese Language Division
The Spring Meeting in San Antonio had a cost of US$
had received US$ 5,210 in membership dues. As per informa3,200 and the revenue covered the expenses. The Grammar
tion received from the ATA on September 5th, the Division
Seminar held in New York on June 2-4, 2000 was a hit and
now has 397 members.
generated a profit of US$ 1,140 for the Division.
Total expenses for the quarter were US$166 – a low figure
because PLData, which is our biggest expense, was not published during this quarter. We have a remaining balance of
US$ 3,117, which can be used to cover any deficits. The budget for 2000 forecasts a deficit of US$ 1,290.
Minutes of the Portuguese Language Division Meeting
held in Orlando during the ATA Conference, 2000
The meeting was convened at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, September 22nd, at the Wyndham Palace Resort and Spa, in Orlando,
site of the annual ATA Conference and was presided over by
Vera Abreu, Administrator. Regina da Silva, Assistant Administrator, and Kátia P. Iole, Secretary, were also present. Margaret Marchetti, Treasurer could not be present.
Vera introduced the officers to all new division members
and reported that the Division is progressing well, with 397
members to date. These are the official numbers disclosed by
ATA.
In an addition to the Treasurer’s report [see above], Vera
stated that the division can further cut costs by delivering the
PLData to its members electronically by e-mail, therefore cutting printing costs. The file is sent as a .pdf file that can be
opened with Adobe’s free Acrobat Reader software. For those
who do not have Acrobat Reader, it may be downloaded for
free via the Internet.
PLDATA
Vera once again stated how important it is for everyone to
participate in the publication of the PLData. Anyone is welcome to send in articles, or any information that is of interest
and benefit to all participants.
Vera is currently seeking volunteers for the PLData. It is a
very rewarding opportunity in terms of personal recognition. A
nominal fee of US$ 200 is paid to the editor for each issue.
The editor need not have experience, just lots of dedication.
Vera thanked Joana Nogueira, Heather Murchison, Maria
Augusta Laporte, Andre Moscowitz and Galina Raff for all
their support.
Our next PLData will be a double edition. Gabe Bokor and
Donna Sandin, as official photographers, will be providing
wonderful pictures for our issue.
DIVISION LOGO
The Division officers expressed the need to change the current logo and requested the Logo Committee, comprised of
Henrique Levin and Regina Firmignac, to select a replacement
from several possibilities. As each member selected a different
replacement, the Officers will make the final decision.
ELECTIONS IN 2001
During the next annual meeting of the ATA, in Los Angeles, we will hold elections for new officers of the Portuguese
Language Division.
An Election Committee will be formed and will be responsible for handling the entire election process. The Committee
will provide all information pertinent to the positions, bylaws
and the process of the elections and will tally the votes.
All are welcome to participate and volunteer for the positions of Administrator, Vice-administrator, Treasurer and Secretary.
THE CHRONICLE
The Chronicle, ATA’s monthly publication, had Portuguese
as the featured language in the August issue, and it was indeed
a very interesting one. We encourage everyone to continue
submitting articles.
SPRING MEETING – 2001
Discussions were held concerning the location for our next
Spring meeting 2001. Kátia P. Iole presented information on a
cruise, explaining that during a traditional meeting it would be
difficult to coordinate sessions and gather everyone together at
the same time. The officers will be looking into cities that are
easily accessible, cost efficient, and with centrally located hotels. Several cities were mentioned and the Division will be
studying the possibilities later this year.
WEB PAGE
Our previous site was very difficult to manage and was not
functional for a period of time. The site has been revamped by
Caitlin Walsh, the webmistress, and is ready to go.
Vera requested a volunteer to update the links page of the
site, both for Continental and Brazilian Portuguese and João
Roque generously agreed to the job. The site will also feature
a page with pictures.
PLData
REGIONAL WORKSHOPS
Vera requested that anyone wishing to present a workshop
or seminar at a regional session to please contact her. The Division has some ideas in mind and will let the members know
of any upcoming regional events.
Respectfully submitted,
Kátia P. Iole
Secretary
Page 14
October 2000
BUG ALERT:
If you open MS Word files from Internet Explorer 5.0,
you may be headed for trouble.
Lúcia R. Daza
[email protected]
There is a new way to sneak malicious codes onto your
computer. This problem occurs when you do something that
most of us do countless times – double-click a Microsoft Word
document from within Internet Explorer 5.0 (IE 5.0). Through
the wonderful function of file association, selecting a Microsoft Word document in this way causes Word to open and then
load the selected document.
Bulgarian security consultant Georgi Guninski, who
publishes all of his results on his website
http://www.guninski.com/, discovered a potential vulnerability
in using MS Word from IE 5.0. If you double-click an MS
Word 2000 document, Windows needs to access a particular
DLL file, RICHED20.DLL. This file is usually found in the
SYSTEM32 subfolder of your Windows directory. However,
Windows begins to search for the DLL in the folder where
your double-clicked document resides. If it does not find it
there, guess what happens? It starts looking along the environment path. As Guninski points out, if someone writes a Trojan
DLL with that name, and manages to store it in the same folder, opening this Word document from IE 5.0 will run the fake
program instead. All manner of nasty headaches can arise if
this happens!
“I had 38 contaminated files,
all of them MS Word files”.
How did I become aware of this problem? I contracted two
awful viruses on my computer. Worse still, I only discovered I
had them after a client called me and told me that I had sent
them a file with a virus. What an embarrassing situation! It did
not stop there. I spent a whole day checking 10 computers at
the office with Norton Rescue 2001 and guess what? I had 38
contaminated files, all of them MS Word files. In the midst of
all this headache, I thought, “I need to report this to all my colleagues”! To avoid this awful fate, only open MS Word attachments from within Word itself; DO NOT double click on attachments from within IE 5.0!
Lúcia R. Daza holds a BSW and has post graduate training in
the field of Industry. She is fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish and specializes in terminology for the marine industry. Ms.
Daza is the founder and owner of International Technical Translators, Inc., established in 1985.
Editor’s Note: To find out more about viruses and ways to protect yourself from them, visit these websites. the editors of
the PLData in no way endorses any of these sites; we provide them for your information only.
Here are some sites that describe viruses and how to circumvent them.
http://www.metro.ch/avpve/
http://www.virus.com/
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/
Here is a site that deals specifically with Macs - there are two articles that precede this one so be sure to visit the “Previous
Features” link at the end of the article.
http://macsupport.about.com/library/weekly/aa101998.htm?iam=dpile&terms=%2Bcomputer+%2Bviruses+%2Bprotection
This site is very comprehensive, containing links to all sorts of other sites that provide information about viruses, how to
protect yourself from them, etc.
http://windows2000.about.com/compute/windows2000/cs/virusinformation/
index.htm?iam=dpile&terms=%2Bcomputer+%2Bviruses+%2Bprotection
Let’s Save Money, Let’s Save the Earth...
If you receive a hardcopy of PLData and would like to help us conserve
energy for the planet (and for the Division...),
please switch to the electronic delivery method.
If you select this option, the electronic version may be delivered
via e-mail or downloaded from the PLData website
(address will be provided).
The PLData may then be viewed on-screen or printed, if you choose.
Please help!
Let us know that you want to switch from the hardcopy version
to the electronic version by sending an e-mail to
Vera Abreu, [email protected].
Thanks!
PLData
Page 15
October 2000
PLData gets the scoop:
An interview with Maria Eugênia Farré, founder of GlossPost,
one of the hottest new lists on the Internet
Heather Murchison
[email protected]
PLData: Thank you for agreeing to answer some questions,
Maria Eugênia. When did you first start the GlossPost list?
MEF: GlossPost was founded on the morning of February
7, 2000. It really wasn’t something I had planned for; it was an
impulse.
PLData: What made you decide to start it?
MEF: The night before I had been searching the Internet
for Portuguese glossaries and I had found tons of interesting
links. Then I thought to myself, “ok, here I have these great
URLs and what am I going to do with them”? I felt that it
wouldn’t be right to send them all to trad-prt@egroups because there were so many. So it struck me, “What if there was
a list dedicated exclusively to the exchange of glossary
URLs”? I had been to the X-rated newsgroups where people
post only URLs to pictures and videos and one thing you have
to say for them: they are efficient. No long messages, no untargeted content, just thousands and thousands of URLs. So basically the dynamics behind GlossPost are the same as those of
the picture posts. I have to confess that I lay awake in bed for a
couple of hours that night just thinking about the idea. One
thing I knew right from the start is that the Online Glossary
Post, as I first dubbed it, had an international vocation. After
all, the bulk of the Web is written in English and the monolingual English hardware glossary that helps a Brazilian translator may come in very handy for a French translator. So the
next day, while I was drinking my morning coffee I hopped
onto eGroups, created the group and sent a note to Trad-Prt.
People caught on to the idea immediately. By the end of the
first week we had about 100 subscribers.
PLData: When did GlossPost really take off ?
MEF: It was around April. I had put a small announcement
about the creation of the list at Aquarius.net, and had noticed
that two or three subscribers from countries other than Brazil
and Portugal had joined. It was like a snowball, it started rolling slowly. Then I received a message from Michael McCann,
owner of Jobs-Trans, offering to send an announcement to
Lantra, which I gladly accepted. And that was the big boom. I
was totally unprepared. The list had around 200 people then
and the FAQ was really limited. To make things worse I was
out of São Paulo, working from my laptop, on the day of the
avalanche. When I logged on later that day, almost 300 new
subscriber notifications were waiting for me. It was chaos, because nobody knew exactly how GlossPost worked; the whole
concept was new and the FAQ left people in the dark. There
was an unbelievable surge of chatty messages, message volume was unbearably high and everybody was getting annoyed.
So I mustered up all my courage and set the list to “All messages require approval” and wrote a very long FAQ. This was
the only thing I could do to save the list (and my sanity!). And
this is how it’s been since then, because it’s the most efficient
way of running it.
PLData
“GlossPost is a hit because while the Internet is the
biggest encyclopedia any translator could ever hope
for, it is an encyclopedia with the index ripped out.”
PLData: How may people interested in subscribing sign
up?
MEF: It’s very simple. Just send a blank message to [email protected]. You may also sign up by going
to www.egroups.com and searching for GlossPost. Follow the
instructions on the site for signing up, selecting delivery methods, etc.
PLData: How can people contribute links and information
to the list?
MEF: There are many ways to contribute. Suppose you
have developed a killer glossary and you want to offer it to the
greater good, as Brian Howells did with his PT>EN coatings
glossary. Just write to [email protected] and I’ll take
care of the arrangements (no need to say that we only accept
material that is not subject to any copyrights other than the
glossary sender’s). If you have built a compilation of glossary
URLs on any subject or language, we’d also be thrilled to display it at our Files section. For the daily exchange of URLs,
you have to be a member and (at least try to) comply with our
FAQ and our policies on subject lines, language codes and
other details.
PLData: What types of information do you accept for submission to the list?
MEF: We accept glossary, dictionary and database URLs.
Search engine URLs are also encouraged and the odd announcement on subjects that are relevant to translators. Chat
and thank-you notes are not permitted.
PLData: Do you check all of the links yourself before posting them?
MEF: That depends on how pressing my deadlines are! But
I certainly edit 99 percent of the messages to make sure they
use the correct ISO language codes and URL posting syntax,
which is basically:
url:
lang:
kwd:
cmt:
***
This is necessary to be able to extract the information for
storage in the database.
PLData: How is the information that you receive stored?
MEF: All links exchanged via the list go straight into the
eGroups GlossPost archive, which can be searched or
Page 16
Continua na pág. 17
October 2000
Internet Resources for Legal Translations
Joan M. Nogueira
[email protected].
These links were gathered while doing research for a legal translation project.
http://www.lawguru.com A great site with numerous
links to state, federal and general resources for several (if
not all) states. Over 500 legal search engines and an internet law library. It is a great site for extensive legal research.
http://law.com This site contains an average amount of
links and a variety of resources, such as news, a self-help
Law Guide, and a bookstore. The information is updated
daily. The site also operates 11 regional websites, each one
with local legal news, court info., etc.
Some state-specific sites:
California: www.callaw.com
Delaware: www.delawnet.com
Florida: www.floridabiz.com
Georgia www.dailyreportonline.com
Illinois: www.law.com/il/
Massachusetts: www.law.com/ma
Biblioteca
New Jersey: www.njlawjournal.com
New York: www.nylj.com
Pennsylvania: www.palawnet.com
Texas: www.texlaw.com
Washington, DC: www.legaltimes.com
For California-Statutes on the Internet visit http://
www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html.
California Law is comprised of 29 codes covering various subjects, the State Constitution and Statutes.
http://freeadvice.com. This site is mostly used by consumers
and small businesses. The homepage has a familiar look, and covers over 100 legal topics. It should not to be used as substitute for
personal legal advice from an attorney.
Joan M. Nogueira is a freelance translator in Portuguese>English
and a vocational teacher in the Los Angeles area. Her areas of expertise are business, real estate, tourism, legal, education, subtitling and
music. She may be contacted at: [email protected].
GlossPost Continuação da pág. 16
browsed. In addition to this, we have Language Administrators
for the most frequently posted languages: Spanish, English,
Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Czech and Slovak. The
Language Administrators are wonderful people who volunteer
their time to compile all URLs that include the language they
manage into a .rtf or .htm. These compilations are posted bimontly and simply can’t be missed. For this edition of the PLData, we are offering the whole caboodle of PT links collected
by Iara Regina Brazil, our PT Language Administrator. We are
working on the automation of this painstaking process and we
hope to be able to launch the glosspost.com website soon, with
the over 2,500 glossary URLs posted so far to the list, advanced searching features and other goodies.
PLData: How do people gain access to the archives?
MEF: Archives are for members only, so you have to join
the list. The URL for searching or browsing the archives is
http://www.egroups.com/messages/GlossPost.
PLData: Can you describe some practical ways for people
to search the archives? What are the best search terms to use to
search, for example, on glossaries that might contain information on medical terms in Portuguese?
MEF: Since the contents of the archives are so focused, the
relevancy of the results is much higher than any search engine
you’ve ever come across. It’s a good idea to type the name of
the language in full, as in Portuguese, because that is how the
early links were pinned down. If you type just PT you may get
pterodactyl, so use PT>PT if you’re going for the abbreviated
form.
PLData: How many list members are there to date?
MEF: At last count there were 1365 (current growth rate is
approximately 10 per cent a month). The list is bigger than
other popular lists such as Lantra, Payment Practices and Tjopps. No small feat for a list that is only nine months old.
PLData: Why do you think your list is so popular?
MEF: GlossPost is a hit because while the Internet is the
biggest encyclopedia any translator could ever hope for, it is
an encyclopedia with the index ripped out. So what we do is
point people to the right pages, sometimes even before they
know they’ll need them. I also think people like the clean feel
of GlossPost messages, where everything is standardized: subject lines, language codes, posting syntax and the fact that all
messages are written in English, so there is no “Tower of Babel” effect.
PLData: On a more personal note, what problems to you
encounter as the administrator of the list?
MEF: GlossPosters are great! I get lots of positive feedback
and zero complaint level. Running the list is a lot of work, I
have to admit it, but very rewarding too. The only thing that
drives me crazy is my sometimes lame Internet connection.
PLData: Thank you very much for talking with us and
good luck to you!
MEF: My pleasure!
Maria Eugênia Farré lives in São Paulo, where she has been a
translator and interpreter for the past eight years. Her fields of
specialization are software localization, legal and journalism. She
is an active participant at several Portuguese translation groups
and has a knack for finding online glossaries. Visit her website at
http://www.freeagent.com/mefarre.
Continua na pág. 18
PLData
Page 17
October 2000
GlossPost Continuação da pág. 17
Selected Links
This is an excerpt from a list that was compiled and organized by Maria Eugênia Farré, list-owner, and Iara Regina
Brazil, Portuguese Language Administrator at GlossPost, the
mailing list of glossary URLs for translators. The entire list
contains 187 links to monolingual, bilingual and multilingual
online glossaries that include Portuguese as one of the languages. The list can be downloaded by members of the GlossL an g u ag e
C ode
Post list by visiting http://www.egroups.com/files/GlossPost/
Bookmarks/ and downloading the following file:
GlossPost_PT_URLs_uptoOct092000.zip. We will also be
providing a downloadable version on the PLDivision website,
found at http://www.ata-divisions.org/PLD/index.htm.
Site
Description
PT>PT
http://www.oslo.sintef.no/portug/lex_esp.html
PT>PT
http://www.priberam.pt/DLPO/
PT>PT
http://www.dct.fct.unl.pt/GGeo/GGabc.html
EN>PT
http://www.videobook.com.br/
PT>PT
http://ogersepol.cjb.net/
PT>PT
http://www.ibape-sp.com.br/norma/norma.htm
EN>PT
http://www.plastico.com.br/revista/index.htm
PT>PT
http://support.euro.dell.com/docs/ACC/0396P/Bp/glossary.htm
PT>PT
http://bombeiros.netropolis.pt/glossario.htm
PT>EN
www.geocities.com/WallStreet/3701/glossary/glossary.htm
MULTI
http://eurodic.ip.lu/cgi-bin/edicbin/EuroDicWWW.pl
PT>EN,
PT>FR
http://www.almg.gov.br/gloss/menu.htm
PT>PT
http://www.furnas.com.br/portug/qualid/glossari.htm
PT>PT
http://www.autoesporte.com.br/
Eletromechanical terms. Large and
very technical. Recommended.
All language combinations of the 15
European Union (EU) Member States.
36 individual subjects.
Parliamentary terms. Each entry is
defined in Portuguese, and then follows
the translation into one of the 3 other
languages (English, French or
Spanish). Very useful link, contains also
a list of commonly used acronyms
Total Quality Management glossary in
Portuguese spotted at the web site of
major Brazilian power company.
****
****
***
****
****
****
****
Automotive glossary in monolingual
Portuguese.
Diagnostic imaging, radiology,
echography, ultrasound, X-rays
vocabulary. Trilingual.
October 2000
****
****
EN>ES>PT http://www.di-america-latina.com/glosario.htm
PLData
List of some interesting general
dictionaries available online.
Portuguese (Brazilian and European).
Useful Portuguese dictionary. More
than 95,000 entries. Spellchecker
available online. Monolingual
Portuguese (European).
Geology terms glossary in Portuguese
(European). Monolingual. Short, but useful
Extremely useful to those of you who
translate movie related texts. Searchable
database of movie titles available for
sale/rent in Brazil. About 21,000 movies
are listed. Includes original titles, titles in
Portuguese and brief reviews.
Film Making terms. Extensive.
Recommended
Very complete appraisal engineering
glossary in monolingual Portuguese
(Brazil). Downloadable as a .doc file.
Plastics magazine article database. You
can search for keywords in EN, SP or PT
and read through the articles published
by this specialized magazine.
Computer audio terms defined in
monolingual Portuguese. Lots of
acronyms.
Continental PT. Emerg. Serv. Fire dept.
Quite complete.
Rating
Page 18
Conquering the Fear - Adventures in Telecommunications
Charles James Williams Landini
Are dictionaries a transla- have never seen. The correct translation is the word the technitor’s best friends? Only
cians will understand. That is why it is very important to get
when they manage to proacquainted with the jargon. If the customer wants you to transvide the right word at that
late band as “banda” and not “faixa”, as it should be, it’s okay.
right moment! And what
He understands “banda” and if you change it, he will get conhappens if they cannot
fused.
solve our problems? Then
I remember my first assignment in this area. I was with a
we have to figure some
colleague in the interpreters’ booth, trying to do my best to
way out! This is almost al- convey the message. All of a sudden I heard “by the piston”…
ways the case with telecom- I was shocked! How did a piston appear in my context? What
munications. Channel banks, was I going to do? It didn’t make sense at all. Well, after a few
span lines, handoffs, blank
endless milliseconds of despair I translated piston into
and burst - so many words
“pistão”, just like the auto part. I couldn’t be more wrong!
and expressions without
“Piston” was actually the way the speaker pronounced PSTN –
translation into Portuguese, sometimes because of different
the public switched telephone network!!! Another enlightened
technologies or systems and other times simply because of a
moment in this assignment was when the speaker said “followhasty technician who did not bother to look up the word.
ing a blank and burst”… Well, I was prepared for this one and
Anyhow, translation in the telecommunications field is not
I translated “seguido por hiatos e rajadas…” Beautiful, I
an easy task. Tens of thousands of acronyms, one after the oth- thought. But nobody understood a word! I asked the audience
er, in a long and meaningless line. Ah, yes, acronyms!… how
later and they said: “ah, …blanqui e bursti!!”, in the best Brato write a single sentence without making a mistake? In Enzilian accent. Now, can you believe that?! Fortunately, the auglish they’re so easy: BSC, CBSC, PSTN… But in Portudience was very understanding and sympathetic and we all
guese, you have to decide the gender and consequently the ar- laughed about it. But these situations do appear and will apticle (o) or (a). If the device is masculine, the is (o), otherwise
pear, and we have to be prepared for them. In written translathe is (a). And how can you decide that if you don’t know
tion we can stop and research, but in interpretation it is not
what the acronym stands for? Where is the dictionary that can
that easy.
help you now?
“Therefore, don’t be afraid to ask and don’t be afraid
Only experience can help you, or a good technician. So, instead of buying expensive dictionaries, find an expert and with
to use a word that you frankly would never even utter.
his/her help, build the largest and most encompassing glossary
If they like it, please them!”
you can build.
Translators are always interested in the source: where did
Good glossaries, experts, dictionaries, they all help. And
you
find this translation? What dictionary? What glossary?
sometimes a good imagination also helps. There is no magic
How
skilled is the author of the glossary? Well, this approach
wand here, unfortunately, but you have to be aware of everydoes
not
work very well in telecom. I believe that the interpretthing new being introduced in the market.
er’s
approach
works best: is this how the technicians say it? Is
Telecommunications is just like IT, something new is being
this
the
word
they’ll
understand? So be it!
created every day to improve existing systems. And with every
This way, everyone will be happy: the technician reading
new technology come piles of new nouns, adjectives, verbs.
the manual, because he will know exactly what you are talking
Ah, the verbs!… They are a task for a giant. We cannot create
about; the translation company, because the client will be hapverbs in Portuguese like we do in English. We have to cope
with them all, find their best translation and do it quick, other- py; and you, because your work will be praised and more work
will come knocking at your door, or should I say, at your comwise the first technician or engineer to see the new word in
puter.
English will invent a word for it in Portuguese. Of course it
will be a bad translation, but that is how we came up with “forTherefore, don’t be afraid to ask and don’t be afraid to use a
ró”, “nocaute”, “goleiro”, “bonde” and many other words in
word that you frankly would never even utter. If they like it,
Portuguese. Examples in the telecommunications field are
please them!
“handofi” for handoff, “estrapeamento” for strapping, and so
When we started to use PC’s in the late 80’s, I thought commany others.
puters would do everything. I was wrong. Nothing can be
Nevertheless, it is the fastest growing industry of our time.
achieved without communications. Good communications
Technology develops at the speed of light and this means new
mean a good network and a good network needs telephone serworking opportunities for all of us. If you are patient, learn to
vices. Everyday we see something new coming out in this
take your time and embrace this field without fear, you will see field, just like the mainframes in IT. First they were big and
that in a short time you will understand all the different acroheavy and now we have very thin and light laptops. First the
nyms and even a little bit of the systems themselves. And you
handsets were bulky, with a huge battery that would last only
will discover that yes, you can do a good job! But remember Continua na pág. 23
a good job is not finding a fancy translation for a word you
PLData
Page 19
October 2000
‘Got Milk?’
The amazing English language
Tereza Braga
[email protected]
Num calmo domingo há meses atrás, passei os olhos numa
deliciosa entrevista com Richard Lederer no meu Dallas Morning News. Como de costume, guardei pedaços da coisa numa
desorganizada pastinha chamada “idéias para artigos”. Finalmente venho dividir esses pedaços com voces no nosso querido PL-Data.
Já foi dito que Richard Lederer é para a língua americana
(nem digo inglesa) o que Julia Child é para a culinária deste
país. Eu confesso que não sabia nada sobre ele antes de ler a
tal entrevista. Definido como “a scholar, a humorist and a
guardian of the English language”, Richard tem 14 livros publicados, um programa de rádio, uma coluna jornalística e um
website muito popular. Seus livros, de acordo com o entrevistador do DMN, Ira J. Hadnot, são como deliciosas receitas,
cheias de novos ingredientes para todos os amantes das palavras. “Anguished English” é considerado um clássico e o mais
recente tem o curioso nome de “Sleeping Dogs Don’t Lay* –
Practical Advice for the Grammatically Challenged (*and
that’s no lie)”.
Sem precisar falar muito, aqui vão trechos da saborosa entrevista:
“All of us were put on this planet for a reason. Some people
just feel right on a golf course. I just feel right hanging around
words. (…) I am a recovering law school dropout. At 42, I was
getting a Ph.D. in linguistics. The experience was: “My God,
now I know why I am here”. I want everyone to experience the
beauty of this language, the oddity, the history. I personally
feel English is the linguistic monument of the modern world. I
can take any sentence and give the etymology [origin] of each
word, even diagram the sentence as you are speaking it. …
“When you speak English, you are speaking about 100
different languages.Only 25 percent of what is spoken
today is from the original Anglo-Saxon wordstock”.
Some days I am amazed that I get to make a living off this
wonderful treasure of our tongue.
“English descended from … a group of Germanic people
who settled in Englaland [now called England]. It dates to
A.D. 449. It is the most universal language, even more so than
Latin. It just so happened that those people who spoke English
– which really took off during the Renaissance – were from
successful nations with military and economic might … the
United Kingdom and the United States.
“Commercial, scientific and economic clout are needed to
spread and encourage use of a specific language. If you want
to prosper in this world, you have to know English. It doesn’t
have to be your mother tongue, but you need to know it. Believe it or not, English is a relatively simple language. You
don’t have to worry about gender. It has a flexible sound system - try saying baseball in Japanese. And it is the most cheerfully democratic and hospitable language that ever existed.
PLData
“When you speak English,
you are speaking about 100
different languages. Only 25
percent of what is spoken today is from the original Anglo-Saxon wordstock. Its structure
is still Anglo-Saxon, but 75 percent of the language is borrowed from Latin, French, Greek, African tribes and so forth.
A foreigner learning our language would find some of his or
her own language in English.
“I am going to make you an offer you can’t refuse… Show
me the money… Hasta la vista, baby! One of the effects of
popular culture is that we have (…) these instantly manufactured expressions. People spend more time in front of a TV
than they ever spend in a college classroom. When our language was strictly influenced by trades, you had such expressions as “stay the course” [from shipping] and “iron in the
fire”[from blacksmithing]. But television and film have a more
immediately recognizable influence. Now technology is introducing new words, rapidly changing the meaning of others and
overall making the language spare, pragmatic and in lower
case. Only 7 percent of all postage is personal letters. We have
old marks of punctuation used in new ways. In a computer address, we call a period a dot. The @ sign no longer means at
the rate of.
“Language is as eccentric as we are, constantly changing
and adapting to history and culture. It is also entertaining and
it can be downright loopy. There are many bloopers and pun
groups out there. The International Save the Pun Foundation
honored me with its Atilla the Pun [punster of the year] award.
“People’s fascination, I believe, is sustained by the fact that
there are 2 million words in the English language, giving it the
largest vocabulary. We’re much more likely to get puns and
palindromes [words or sentences spelled the same way backward or forward] from all the choices we have. The Russian
language has 130,000 words; French and Spanish, 100,00
each; and German, 185,000.
“Politicians are the group that mangles the language the
most. Advertisers do mess up, but when they are working over
the language, it is usually for a marketing reason. You get the
point. Healthy Choice really should be Healthful Choice. But
that doesn’t have much punch, does it? Winston tastes good
like a cigarette should; ‘like’ is better than ‘as’ if you want a
memorable slogan. ‘Got Milk?’ or the blander ‘Do you have
milk?”
“Politicians get the award for great weirdo statements. I
grew up in Philadelphia with the late Frank Rizzo, a police
chief and mayor, who said: “The streets of Philadelphia are
perfectly safe. It is the people who make them unsafe.” Now
what do you do with a statement like that?
Continua na pág. 23
Page 20
October 2000
Events
Suggestions?
Events you want
to post?
E-mail them to me at
[email protected]
October 2000
18th-22nd: San Francisco, CA, USA. American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) 2000 Annual Conference. See
www.utdallas.edu/research/cts/Calander%20of%20events for
the updated schedule.
19-21st: Madison, WI, USA. Second International Congress of
American Portuguese Studies Association (APSA) will convene at the University of Wisconsin. For more information see
www.people.virginia.edu/~dth/apsa.html.
23rd-26th, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. IX Encontro de Tradutores e
Intérpretes. Informações: (0xx11) 3067-2911 e 3067-2912,
com Penita ou Lilian;. e-mail: [email protected].
25-28th, Maringá, PR, Brasil. O CELLIP realizará seu XIV
Seminário na Universidade Estadual de Maringá. A temática
do evento neste seu 14º ano será: BRASIL 500 ANOS - Língua, Literatura, Cultura e Arte. Informações: Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Centro de Ciências Humanas, Letras e
Artes (CCH), Departamento de Letras (DLE), Fone/Fax:
0xx44-2614289, e-mail: [email protected].
26th-28th. Lisbon, Portugal. ExpoLingua Portugal. For more
details on Expolingua, Contact: Gonçalo Borges de Sousa;
phone: + 351 21 396 60 89, fax: +351 21 396 62 23, or email on [email protected] or [email protected]. Visit their
Web site at http://www.expolingua.pt.
November 2000
2-4th, Kansas City, MS, USA. Midwest Modern Language Association Congress, will include a Luso-Brazilian Literature
and Culture panel. Contact Steven F. Butterman, Department
of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
1018 Van Hise Hall - 1220 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706,
e-mail: [email protected].
6th-11th. Washington, D.C., USA. The Portuguese American
Leadership Council of the United States, in conjunction with
the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America
and Lisbon University School of Law, will conduct a Judicial/
Legal Conference to take place at the Catholic University Law
School, Washington, D.C. For more information visit
www.palcus.com/memb/confer.html.
9th-11th. Albuquerque, NM, USA. The University of New Mexico will be hosting a conference on regional integration among
the European Union, North America and Latin America, entitled “The European Union and the Americas: Trade, Politics
and Culture”. Program information and a registration form are
posted on the UNM Latin American and Iberian Institute website, at www.unm.edu/~laiinfo. For more information call the
Latin American and Iberian Institute at (505) 277-2961, or email them at [email protected].
14-17th, Lisbon, Portugal. RITERM: VII Simposio Iberoamericano de Terminología. Instituto de Linguística Teórica e Computacional, Terminología e Industrias de la Lengua. Contact:
Dra. Carla Sacadura, Cabral ILTEC, Rua Conde de Redondo,
74-6º, 1150 Lisboa - Portugal, phone: +351-1-356 30 82, fax:
+351-1-352 81 12, e-mail: [email protected], Website: http://
www.unilat.org/
16th-17th, Curitiba, PR, Brasil. IV ENCONTRO DO CÍRCULO
DE ESTUDOS LINGÜÍSTICOS DO SUL (CELSUL)O Círculo de Estudos Lingüísticos do Sul (CELSUL) fará realizar
em Curitiba, na Universidade Federal do Paraná seu IV Encontro. O CelSul é uma sociedade científica voltada aos estudos da linguagem (semrestrição de abordagem ou de delimitação de objeto) e tem os países daAmérica do Sul (em
especial, do cone sul) como área de atuação. Além de uma
conferência de abertura, o Encontro incluirá mesas-redondas,
comunicações coordenadas, grupos de trabalho e comunicações individuais. Maiores informações sobre o CelSul e seu
IV Encontro podem ser obtidas no endereço http://
www.ufpr.br/eventos/celsul.
16th-17th, London, UK. Translating and the Computer 22,
Conference and Exhibition. One Great George Street,
Westminster, London SW1. For further information please
contact: ASLIB, The Association for Information Management, Staple Hall, Stone House Court, London EC3A 7PB or
call + 44 (0)20 7903 0000 or visit www.aslib.com/conferences.
16th-18th, Salamanca, Spain. Conference: Translation Studies:
3rd-4th, Bertinoro, Italy. Corpus Use and Learning to Translate. Recent Theories and Applications, University of Salamanca.
The aim of the conference is to explore the current state of
Aims and Topics. CULT 2000 follows up the 2-day InternaTranslation Studies. Special attention will be devoted to the
tional Workshop organized by the School for Interpreters and
most recent approaches developed in the field and to their imTranslators of Bologna University in Forlì in November 1997
plications, both from a theoretical and a practical point of
(http://www.sslmit.unibo.it/cult.htm). The aim of the Conferview. Enrolment procedure: Registration can be carried out exence is to bring together practitioners and theorists sharing an
clusively via Internet on the website of Cursos Extraordinarios
interest in the design and use of corpora in translation-related
areas, with special reference to translator and interpreter train- (University of Salamanca): http://www.usal.es/precurext. This
ing. Address for correspondence: SSLMIT - CULT 2000, Cor- activity is listed under the abridged title Estudios de Traducción (Code number 00087-1). For further administrative inforso della Repubblica 136, 47100 Forli, Italy; phone: +39 0543
mation, please contact: Cursos Extraordinarios, Universidad
450 307/304; fax: +39 0543 450 306; e-mail:
de Salamanca, Tel.: 923 294 400, ext. 1174; e-mail:
[email protected]; or visit http://www.sslmit.unibo.it/
Continua na pág. 22
cult2k/.
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Page 21
October 2000
Events Continuação da pág. 21
Cartas do leitor
[email protected], http://www.usal.es/precurext. For
further general or academic information, please contact
(preferably via fax or e-mail): Prof. Román Álvarez,
Universidad de Salamanca, Dpto. de Filología Inglesa,
Calle Placentinos, 18, 37008 Salamanca (Spain); Tel:
923 294 467; Fax: 923 294 518; e-mail:
[email protected].
Translating Linguistic Particularities, Translating Gender, Theory and
Practice: Creativity in Translation, The Dilemmas of a Translator:
Truth in Fiction, Negotiation for Fidelity, An Appropriate English for
Translating Oral/Dalit/Adivasi Literatures
January 2001
rd
19-22nd, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Automatic Processing of
Written & Spoken Portuguese Language. Contact: Lucia Helena Machado Rino, Dept Compu, Ctr Tech, U
Fed Sao Carlos, Caixa Postal 676, 13565-905 Sao Carlos, SP, Brazil; 016-260-8232; fax: 016-260-8233; http:/
/www.dc.ufscar.br/~lucia.
23rd-25th. International Association Language and Business, XXVIth Annual Conference: Language Technologies for Dynamic Business in the Age of the Media,
University of Applied Sciences Cologne in co-operation
with: Institute for Information Management (IIM), Cologne Institute for Business Research - HA 1. For more
information Contact: Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dirk Schmitz;;
Fachhochschule Köln – Fachbereich Sprachen Mainzer
Str. 5 – D-50678 Köln (Cologne), Germany. Tel.: ++49
221 8275-3272, e-mail: mailto:[email protected], fax: ++49 221 8275-3991 or visit http://
appling.kent.edu/WhatsNew/
First%20Announcement2.htm.
29th. Mountain View, CA, US. Introduction to Localization and its Impact on the Development Cycle, a workshop given by SimulTrans. Visit http://
www.simultrans.com/seminars/courses.htm for more information. Reach them by phone, +1-650-969-3500 or
e-mail, [email protected].
December 2000
th
th
12 -15 . Philadelphia, PA, US. Web-Based Language
Documentation and Description. See http://
www.ldc.upenn.edu/exploration/ for more information.
This workshop will lay the foundation of an open, webbased infrastructure for collecting, storing and disseminating the primary materials which document and describe human languages, including wordlists, lexicons,
annotated signals, interlinear texts, paradigms, field
notes, and linguistic descriptions, as well as the metadata which indexes and classifies these materials. The infrastructure will support the modeling, creation, archiving and access of these materials, using centralized
repositories of metadata, data, best practice guidelines,
and open software tools.
16th-22nd, Sanskriti, New Delhi, India. Words into
Worlds u Worlds into Words, Katha Utsav, 2000. An international interdisciplinary conference on the Short
Story. email: [email protected], phone: 91-11-686-8193;
652-1752; fax: 91-11-651-4373; mailing address:
Katha, a3 Sarvodaya Enclave, New Delhi 110 017. Topics that might interest translators: In Translating the
Short Story: Language, Culture, Translation: The Making of a Translated Story, The Politics of Translation,
PLData
th
3 -6 . San Diego, CA, US. Translation in Context: translation of ancient drama at the American Philological Association’s annual meeting. San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina. Please visit http://
www.hfac.uh.edu/transcontext/ for more information.
23rd-26th. Santiago, Cuba. Seventh International Symposium on Social Communication. Center of Applied Linguistics. Please visit the
conference site for more information (in Spanish): http://
parlevink.cs.utwente.nl/Cuba/index.html.
February 2001
th
th
15 -20 . San Francisco, CA, US. Annual Meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science. Section Z: Linguistics
and the Language Sciences should have some sessions of interest.
Please visit http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2001/index.htm for more
information.
24th-27th. St. Louis, MO, US. American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) Annual Conference, Applied Linguistics for the 21st
Century. Contact Information: phone: +1-952-953-0805; fax:+1-952431-8404; postal address: PO Box 21686, Eagan, MN 55121-0686,
USA; e-mail: [email protected]; conference website: http://
www.mrhassoc.com/aaal2001/.
March 2001
7th-10th, Madrid, Spain. Third Conference on Training and Career Development in Translation and Interpreting. Organized by Universidad
Europea. Updated information on the Conference will be available at:
http://www.uem.es/ or directly at http://www.uem.es/facultad/
circula1.html. Organizer: Dpto. de Traducción e Interpretación. Universidad Europea de Madrid, Villaviciosa de Odón. 28670 Madrid;
Tel.: (91) 616 78 00; Fax: (91) 616 82 65; E-mail: [email protected].
May 2001
th
th
14 -17 São Paulo, SP, Brasil. O Centro Universitário Ibero-Americano - UNIBERO - estará promovendo o II Congresso Ibero-americano de Tradução e Interpretação - II CIATI, enfocando o tema
“2001: uma odisséia na tradução”. UNIBERO: Centro Universitário
Ibero-Americano, Av. Brigadeiro Luís Antônio, 871 - Bela Vista CEP 01317-001 - São Paulo, SP - Brasil, Tel. (+ 55.11) 3188-6727;
Fax: (+ 55.11) 3188-6743; http://www.unibero.br; e-mail:
[email protected].
26th-28th, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Conference: Translation and
Censorship. Visit http://www.uottawa.ca/associations/act-cats/
congress.htm for more information or contact: Denise Merkle, Université de Moncton Département de traduction et des langues Casier
30, Faculté des arts Moncton (Nouveau-Brunswick) E1C 5E6 Telephone : (506) 858-4214 Fax: (506) 858-4166 [email protected].
Continua na pág. 23
Page 22
October 2000
Events Continuação da pág. 21
22nd-26th. Montreal, Canada. Critical Link 2001: Third International Conference on Interpreting in Legal, Health
and Social Services: Interpreters in The Community.
Please visit the conference site for more information: http://
www.rrsss06.gouv.qc.ca/english/colloque/index2.html. Contact: Diana Abraham. Tel: + 1 416 314 7543, e-mail:
[email protected]
May 31st-June1st. Newark, NJ. USA. The Conference of the
30th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations will be hosted at the Robeson
Campus Center in the Newark Campus of Rutgers, the State
University of New Jersey. Individual papers or sessions focusing on lusophone literatures and cultures would be welcome.
For more information please consult their site at: http://
tecn.rutgers.edu/ISCSC/iscsc.
July 2001
th
th
5 -9 . San Francisco, USA. Call for papers: for the regular
session “Portuguese and Portuguese African Literature” for
the American Association for Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Abstracts
excepted until December 31, 2000. For more information contact Thomas M. Stephens, PhD, Department of Spanish and
Portuguese, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 105
George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1414 USA. email:
[email protected]; phone: 732.932.9412x24; fax:
732.932.9837; http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~tstephns/
23-27th: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. ABRAPT (the Brazilian
Association of Translation Researchers) and the Federal University of Minas Gerais are pleased to announce the 8th National Translation Forum and the 2nd Brazilian International
Translation Forum. Translating the New Millennium: Corpora,
Cognition and Culture. For further information please contact:
VIII Encontro Nacional / II Encontro Internacional de Tradutores, PosLin - Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras: Estudos Lingüísticos, FALE - 4. andar, Av Antônio Carlos, 6627,
Campus UFMG - Pampulha, Belo Horizonte - MG - Brazil,
31270-901. Homepage for the conference:
www.letras.ufmg.br/entrad.
The amazing English Continuação da pág. 20
Alguém sabe por aí como é que fica a nossa flor do Lácio
nesse ranking de quantidade de palavras? Gostaria também de
saber se os livros de Richard Lederer já foram traduzidos para
o português.
Para finalizar, informo que Richard Lederer reuniu 2.500
gafes e deslizes gramaticais, os populares “bloopers”, em seu
livro “Anguished English”, e gosta muito de contribuições.
Além disso, mantém papos linguísticos online no seu divertidíssimo website, http://www.pobox.com/~Verbivore, onde
você será recebido com um “Welcome to the web site woven
for wordaholics, logolepts, and verbivores”. Verifiquem!
Tereza d’Avila Braga is a carioca who freelances in Dallas.
ATA-accredited, M.A. in international management, English proficiency certificates from Cambridge and Michigan, contract interpreter with U.S. Dept. of State, former trade promotion officer with the
Consulate of Brazil in Dallas. Loves translating, writing, philosophy and ballroom dancing.
PLData
PLNotes
LABOR UNION OFFERS CERTIFICATION
TO FREELANCE TRANSLATORS AND
INTERPRETERS
The Translators and Interpreters Guild (TTIG), the only nationwide labor union for freelance language professionals, has launched a certification program for translators and interpreters.
Applicants, who must be Guild members in good standing, are
certified by the union only after passing through a rigorous screening process that requires client and peer references as well as a
work sample or other proof of work experience. Certification status is reviewed by a screening committee every five years.
TTIG’s certification program is an outgrowth of the Referral
Service for translators and interpreters that the union has operated since 1992.
“We felt that people who qualified for Referral Service membership were entitled to formal recognition of their abilities,” said
TTIG president Alan Gleason. “There is no official licensing for
translators or interpreters in this country. Guild certification is therefore one way translators and interpreters can demonstrate to clients that they are professionals.”
“Quality is the primary concern of clients who call the service,”
said Referral Service Coordinator Barb Irwin. “Clients appreciate
knowing they can rely on the work of any Referral Service member we refer them to.”
A nationwide local of The Newspaper Guild/Communications
Workers of America (AFL-CIO), TTIG offers the benefits of participation in the labor movement to the growing ranks of translators
and interpreters in this country, most of whom are self-employed. A
key program of TTIG from the outset, the Referral Service functions
as a non-profit cooperative run by its members, putting language
professionals in direct contact with potential clients and allowing
them to bypass conventional translation or interpretation agencies.
For more information contact:
Barb Irwin, Coordinator 703-522-0881
TTIG Web site: www.ttig.org
E-mail: [email protected]
Alan Gleason, President 510-428-0565
E-mail: [email protected]
Conquering the Fear Continuação da pág. 19
for a few hours. Now they are tiny and use a battery that can
stand by for four days. Amazing.
And what about surfing the Web using your cell phone?
Isn’t that brilliant? It doesn’t matter where you are, you can
have access to your email, bank account, any site in the internet; everything on the tip of your fingers, in the tiny display of
your mobile phone.
The world of telecommunications is big and it’s growing.
Don’t let it pass you by. It is new, it is thrilling and it is not
threatening. It’s science fiction coming true right in front of us
and we can all enjoy it.
Charles J. W. Landini is a certified translator and conference interpreter based in artistic Embu, 10 km from São Paulo, Brazil. He
has degrees in linguistics and agronomy, is a graduate of Alumni
and also trained as a simultaneous interpreter at MIIS, in Monterey, CA. He loves dogs, the theater, travel and folk music. In 1997
Charles was awarded Motorola’s Technical Education and Documentation prize for his translation services. Charles is very involved in organizing training programs for Brazilian translators and interpreters. There’s a professional conference planned for February
2001 in São Paulo. Comments? Questions?
[email protected]
Page 23
October 2000
Fiquem atentos!
Reunião da Primavera –Divisão de Português 2001
Breve estaremos anunciando local e datas!
Você gosta do que faz? Qual o seu nicho de mercado?
Gostaria de obter uma perspectiva mais ampla,
expandir seu horizonte,
trocar idéias para maior eficiência no trabalho?
Faça uma apresentação na Reunião da Primavera.
Qualquer assunto relacionado à tradução/interpretação/
linguística /finanças para freelancers/home office/como
equilibrar a vida e trabalho autônomo ... vale quase tudo!!
Mais informações: Vera Abreu, Administradora ([email protected])
PLD ata
Heather Murchison
PO Box 241
Clinton, WA 98236
FIRST CLASS MAIL