What does an interpreter do?

Original article by Neil Payne | Adapted by David V. Appleyard

Many people get confused as to the difference between an interpreter and a translator. There is a common tendency to think translators interpret, or that interpreters translate. In fact, these are two separate jobs requiring rather different skills. To illustrate who and what an interpreter is, as opposed to a translator, I shall here set out the main differences between them.

On a basic level it would appear that there is little difference between an interpreter and a translator. One translates spoken words and the other written words. However, there are differences in how the jobs are carried out, the skills and talents required and the pressures involved.

A translator must be able to write well and be able to express words, phrases, innuendos and other linguistic nuances on paper. He or she has the luxury of time, access to resources such as dictionaries and other reference materials, as well as the freedom to take a break when needed. The pressures they face are relatively limited.

Translators only work into their native languages to assure accuracy in both linguistic and cultural senses. It could therefore be argued that they are not completely bilingual. They may be able to deal effectively with written sources, but when it comes to oral translation different types of skill are called for.

Translators are said to have a one-dimensional aspect to their work. They deal with written words and language that come from paper and return to paper.

Interpreters, on the other hand, have to be able to translate spoken words in two directions. They do this using no resources or reference materials bar their own knowledge and expertise.

An interpreter is required to find linguistic solutions to problems on the spot. The pressure can be quite intense.

In addition to interpreting, the interpreter must act as a bridge between people, relaying tone, intentions and emotions. In cases where interpreters are caught up in crossfire they need to demonstrate great professionalism and diplomacy. Their role is complex as they have to deal with both language and people.

There are two ways of interpreting: consecutive and simultaneous. Simultaneous interpreting involves interpreting in ‘real time’. Many will have seen an interpreter sitting in a booth wearing a pair of headphones and speaking into a microphone at a conference or large diplomatic gathering, such as the EU or UN. A simultaneous interpreter has the unenviable task of quickly digesting what one person is saying before immediately translating it for others. One of the key skills simultaneous interpreters must acquire is decisiveness. They must think quickly and remain on their feet.

Consecutive interpreting is carried out in face to face meetings, in speeches or court cases. A speaker will usually stop at regular junctures — say every few sentences — and then have the interpreter translate, before proceeding. A key skill involved in consecutive interpreting is the ability to remember what has been said.

So what do you need, a translator or an interpreter?

In short, if you want someone to translate something that is written, you need the services of a translator. And if you want someone to translate the spoken word, you should hire an interpreter.

Neil Payne is Director of Kwintessential, a London-based consultancy
providing a range of cross-cultural service, including interpreters.

Suicidal poets "leave behind clues in their writing"

by David V. Appleyard

American researchers have discovered that the words of poets who later commit suicide show a clear tendency toward disengagement from others. This is apparently exemplified in a marked preference in their writing for self-references, such as first person singular forms (I, me, and my). In contrast, it seems non-suicidal poets tend to make greater use of the first person plural (we, us and our), as well as communication words, such as talk, share and listen. As one might expect, they also include fewer death-related words than their suicidal counterparts.

The study, which was conducted by Shannon Wiltsey Stirman of the University of Pennsylvania and James W. Pennebaker of the University of Texas in Austin, was first presented back in 2001 in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine under the title "Word Use in the Poetry of Suicidal and Non-suicidal Poets".

The researchers point out that although, of course, most poets do not take their own lives, they appear to do so much more often than other categories of writer or, for that matter, the public as a whole. Less surprisingly, there is frequently a history of mental depression, signs of which can now be identified in the individual poet's writing.

British, American and Russian poets were selected for the survey, with suicidal and non-suicidal poets being paired off as closely as possible by nationality, educational background and gender.

John Berryman, Hart Crane, Sergei Esenin, Adam L. Gordon, Randall Jarrell, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and Sarah Teasdale were chosen as examples of suicidal poets. These were matched with the non-suicidal poets Matthew Arnold, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alfred Joyce Kilmer, Denise Levertov, Robert Lowell, Osip Mandelstam, Boris Pasternak, Adrienne Rich and Edna St Vincent Millay.

How to write compelling articles

by Marcus Pore

Writing articles that relate to the content of your website can be a terrific way to advance your search engine rankings and expand traffic. Unfortunately, poorly written articles end up buried in the article directory junkyards getting limited visibility. On the other hand, compelling articles retain visibility longer, boost your online visibility and drastically strengthen your back-link popularity. Read on to learn how you can write more motivating articles.

Article promotion is perhaps one of the best Internet marketing tactics created in the past decade. Article marketing is so effective, it has become one of the core traffic-building tactics used by top Internet marketers and webmasters. Article marketing has risen to the forefront because it is an inexpensive and extremely effective way to get your message out in front of your niche. As an author, your article and a link to your web site gets distributed to content publishers, newsletter editors, email lists and news groups within in your target market. Not only does this produce visitors who are interested in your products or services, you automatically build back-links to your web site. These back-links help to raise your website's page rank and prominence in the search engines.

No matter what your article is about, as a writer you must immerse the reader. Remember, you are publishing articles online to socialize your website and get one-way back-links. With a poorly written article you’ll get back-links from the article repositories you submit to, but you’ll miss out on the key goal of publishing articles. The key motivation is to get publishers and webmasters to use your content; not just to get your articles listed in the directories. You want your articles to proliferate. Only then, will your embedded links get maximum exposure.

The Style — How do you compel others to use your articles? First and foremost, the article has to be well written. If you think diagramming a sentence is simply drawing a box around it, you may want to spend some time researching creative writing techniques. Nothing turns off a reader more than poor grammar or sentence structure. On the other hand, good copy-writers take advantage of short or incomplete sentences to create emphasis and vary rhythm. Optimize your rhythm. Irregular rhythm encourages your reader to pause and reflect. Be conversational. It makes the article personal. To help your writing technique, read more. As you do, pay notable attention to writing style. Learn from good authors and adapt.

The Hook — The title is the most important part of any article. Why? Because its purpose is to hook the reader in seven words or less, turning a casual browser into an interested reader. A compelling article needs a persuasive title. Lure the reader into your article with a catchy headline that peaks their curiosity. Sink the hook if you please their self interests at the same time. Titles can be provocative, but be cautious not to offend. Finally, use words that pull on emotional strings. It goes without saying that your title must align with the content of your article and include at least one relevant keyword phrase from your website.

The Angle — Select a topic you are passionate about that relates to your website. Your intensity for the topic will show through in the content. Develop an idea around the topic, but with a different spin. Lead off with this angle. Charm the reader. Once you have his/her attention, expand on your angle. Explain how your angle benefits the reader or solves a problem they face. Loosely speaking, this is your value proposition. Identify how your article is different than other articles on the topic. This entices people to read the second paragraph. Use the remainder of the article to expand your key points.

The Close — Your closing paragraph should spotlight what the reader should do after reading your article. This is your call to action. Remember the importance of the resource box at the end of your article. This is usually the only place you can place a link to your website. Show your proficiency on the article topic. Include your name, web address and any actions you want the reader to take related to the article.

Articles that stress the benefits of promotion articles are a dime a dozen. The angle in this article is to encourage you to focus on writing truly compelling content. Webmasters and online publishers search feverously for good content. The better your content, the more it will get published. Your links will appear in more places than just the article repositories. Readers will also be more apt to add your article to their favorite social bookmarking service. The call to action in this article is to encourage you to spend the extra time it takes to write truly compelling articles. Think about it. It will maximize your efforts and keep your articles from getting buried in the article directory junkyard.

Marcus Pore is a search engine optimization expert. More of his articles can be found at www.articlegarden.com.

Work-at-home scams — and seven important questions to ask

1. How much money do you have to spend in order to begin the program?
This includes any fees, equipment and materials. Get an itemized list that shows a total required expenditure. Beware of plans that require you to shell out significant amounts of money for specialized equipment, materials or permits.

2. What exact duties must you fulfill in order to get paid?
Get specific requirements in writing, from materials acquisition through submitting finished work through passing quality-assurance testing. In addition, find out whether you will be paid by salary, per completed units of work, or by commission.

3. Who pays you, how is your pay delivered, and how often will you be paid?
Make sure these answers are solid. For example, is the company that cuts your check different from the one supplying you with materials? Why? Do you have a phone number and address for the payroll department? Do they check out?

4. Is the product useful, and the profit logical?
Search the Internet for articles, information and bulletin boards that discuss the product. Ask yourself: Is there much demand for this product? Would you ever buy it? Would anyone pay enough for it to warrant the profit the company is promising you?

5. Is this a pyramid scheme?
Does someone besides the company get a cut of the profits you create by your work? Does your pay depend on your getting others to join the work-at-home plan? If so, be extremely cautious: Your financial success will depend on your persuading others to follow you into the scheme, and you’ll always have to fork over a portion of your earnings to the person who brought you into the plan. In addition, pyramid schemes are illegal in many places.

6. Do you actually want to do the work?
Do you really want to raise mice for research laboratories? Make “cold” sales calls to people's homes? If your reaction is "bleah," don’t waste your money. Find a different work-at-home plan, a job-retraining program at the local community college or finish your university degree.

7. What is the company's standing with the Better Business Bureau?
Don’t trust the company. Find out yourself from your local BBB chapter.

The Rosetta Project

1,500 languages in safekeeping for 10,000 years

by David V. Appleyard

Carved in 196 BC in Egyptian and Greek using hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek scripts, the Rosetta Stone has helped the modern world unlock some of the mysteries of ancient Egypt.

It was named after the village of Rosetta (or Rashid), where it was first discovered by French soldiers in 1799, and its inscriptions are the tributes of a council of priests to a 13-year-old pharaoh, Ptolemy V Epiphanes.

After years of arduous study and careful comparison with other surviving samples of Egyptian writing, French researcher Jean-François Champollion finally managed to decipher the hieroglyphs in 1822. The language of one of the great ancient civilizations was thereby saved for posterity.

Now, however, our modern-day researchers are warning that anything between 50 and 90 per cent of the world's 6,800 or so remaining languages could die out within the next century. A decade ago a growing sense of urgency led The Long Now Foundation to embark on an ambitious new project to safeguard basic documentation of as many of today's languages as possible for a period of 10,000 years into the future. This it aimed to achieve by recording sufficient data for, at the very least, minimum representation of each language on an "extreme longevity nickel disk" to be mounted in a robust but aesthetically pleasing spherical container. It was envisaged that a large number of these "Rosetta Disks" would eventually be held by key institutions and project members around the world, and apparently anyone else willing to look after a copy.

According to information previously gathered, the Rosetta Project is to be complemented by a "single-volume monumental reference book," as well as an online database into which the public is invited to submit the following seven items deemed by the foundation to be of greatest value to future researchers:

Detailed language descriptions (incl. origin, number of speakers, distribution, etc.)
Translations of chapters 1-3 of the Book of Genesis (because these are thought to be the most widely and carefully translated texts in the world)
Culturally specific glossed vernacular texts with grammar analysis
Orthography and pronunciation guides
Core vocabulary lists
Phoneme inventories
Audio files

The Rosetta Project has been conspicuously successful with its online database, which now purports to be the largest collection of linguistic data on the Internet, providing lasting documentation of some 1,500 languages.

Around the world, around the clock...