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Category Archives: Doc Byrne’s Miscellany

Translators readying themselves for a revolution

One of my articles on rates of pay for translators was recently republished in the ITIA Bulletin – the monthly electronic magazine of the Irish Translators’ & Interpreters’ Association – and almost immediately afterwards I noticed a large jump in the number of people visiting my site. Naturally I was pretty pleased by this, after all you kind of hope that someone will read your articles. Two days later, however, the numbers went through the roof with hundreds of hits in just one day. What was even more unusual, I thought, was that they were all coming from various towns and cities throughout Italy. Ever the pessimist, I wracked my brains to see if there was anything in the article that could possibly have insulted an entire nation. But no, that wasn’t it. Had they found out that I love their food, their music and their culture and they were rushing to tell me that yes, they loved me too? Maybe, but that wouldn’t make so many of them visit my humble little website. Would it?

Translators to rise up against the tyranny of agencies and forums

Translators rise up against the tyranny of agencies and job forums

No. It turns out that the Italian translation community is in the midst of a proper fight against scurrilous agencies who try to impose outrageously low rates on translators and generally treat translators like glorified typists aided and abetted by race-to-the-bottom job auction sites. Now translators aren’t known for their fighting spirit. Normally we might sit and give a muffled grumble or start to write a strongly worded email but before long we turn back to our computers and get on with translating (Those 7000 words of medical reports aren’t going to translate themselves you know!). There’s no fight in us at all. In fairness, with most of us working as self-employed contractors, it does feel that there’s not much we can do. Or so you would think. Cue the Italian translators who, like modern day Gladiators under the banner of their translators association, have said “Enough is enough. The abuse of translators has to stop!”

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The Wanderer Returns

A sabre and a dodgy beard is all it takes to turn an academic into something a bit cooler (via maskworld.com)

All it takes is a sabre and dodgy hair to turn an academic into something a bit more heroic and dashing (via maskworld.com)

After what seems like ages, I’ve finally managed to get writing again. I won’t bore you with the details but, suffice it to say that, my pre-Christmas workload, combined with atrocious weather in Sheffield and Dublin over the Christmas and a car that doesn’t like icy roads so much conspired to keep me far too busy to blog.

Last week we had our annual graduation ceremony here in Sheffield where we get to see our students off, wish them well and wear ridiculous robes inspired by medieval priests. I’m almost ashamed to say it but I love the pomp and pageantry of a good graduation ceremony: the robes, the processions, the trumpets. Okay so in England I have to sit – I mean stand – through the English national anthem, something that doesn’t really sit right with an Irish person but I’m a guest in their country so I’ll respect their ways. As long as they don’t expect me to sing it. My mother once told me of various Irish patriots who, when required to take an oath of allegiance to the Crown in order to take up their seats as MPs in the British parliament, would cross their fingers so that they could avoid any crises of conscience or general feelings of dirtiness afterwards. Childish? Perhaps, but the rebel in me likes it.

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Counteracting government language policy

Inexplicable and ill-advised changes in the English education system and National Curriculum as a result of the Education Act (2002) have meant that fewer and fewer school students are learning languages at GSCE level and beyond. Where once languages were a compulsory part of the curriculum at second level, they are now an optional subject. Given that learning languages isn’t always the easiest thing in the world and given the pressure on students to achieve top grades, it’s not really surprising that there has been a fall-off in the numbers of students picking up a “hard” subject like a language. This situation hasn’t been helped by bleating from British industry who decry the lack of literacy and numeracy skills among school leavers while forgetting to recognise the importance of language. Now if you compare this to Ireland where a recent article said that one third of Irish employers wanted Chinese taught in schools, you can see the different attitudes to core skills. The fact is that speaking a foreign language is vital in this day and age and literacy shouldn’t simply be restricted to our own mother tongue.


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Intercultural awareness guide for hospitals

The Health Services Executive – the body responsible for managing public healthcare provision in Ireland – has just launched a guide for front-line healthcare staff entitled Health Services Intercultural Guide: Responding to the Needs of Diverse Religious Communities and Cultures in Healthcare Settings. According to the HSE website it is

primarily targeted at in-patient settings including acute, paediatric, maternity, hospices, residential/community units, etc. and will be of interest to a range of staff including chaplains, mortuary staff, nurses/midwives and health care assistants.

The HSE hopes that this guide will provide healthcare staff with the necessary understanding to allow them to deal sensitively with the numerous different, mainly religious, groups who are cared for in Irish hospitals. Having quickly leafed through the guide, which is available on the HSE website here, it certainly looks to be a useful resource. It outlines the basics of what makes the different groups  tick and then provides advice on how to care for them sensitively.
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Tales from Portsmouth

Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth (via Wikitravel)

Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth (via Wikitravel)

I’ve just come back from a conference in sunny Portsmouth where I gave a keynote on the subject of “the translator as writer“. Of course you can never be completely happy with your performance at conferences but overall I think my presentation went down pretty well. It was quite unnerving though that it was recorded on video so hopefully I won’t find it too painful when I get to watch it back. My topic was “Are technical translators writing themselves out of existence” and at some point over the next few days I’ll write something about it here.

The conference itself was excellent as usual with a good variety of topics presented by practitioners and academics from all over the world. The Portsmouth translation conference is, I have to admit, my favourite not just because of the topics discussed or the friendly, relaxed atmosphere but because it draws practising translators as well as researchers. For me, conferences that are solely for academics can be quite dull so to have presentations from the word-face too is quite refreshing. Sometimes academics can lose sight of what translation is about and focus on obscure issues far removed from the actual process of translation.

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