Around 30,000 people are gathering in Glasgow at this very moment for the 26th United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP26).

From 31 October to 12 November, 120 heads of state are expected to attend and some of them have already taken the floor in the first few days to raise awareness of the urgency of the climate situation and find solutions.

Politicians, activists and citizens from all over the world are listening carefully to what is happening in Glasgow.

What commitments will be made?

More than 80 countries are committing to reducing methane emissions by 30% by 2030. Although absent from the conference, India wants to be carbon neutral by 2070, announced the Indian Prime Minister.

More than 100 leaders, representing 85% of the world’s forests, are pledging to halt deforestation by 2030.

These commitments are only the beginning of a list that will continue to grow in the face of the climate emergency.

But how can these ambitions and commitments be translated?

Climate is a global concern, most countries are involved, which implies a large number of language combinations. There are as many countries participating in COP26 as there are languages to be translated. Every speech must be understood by everyone. While many speak English, translating speeches from Indian or Nigerian into Chinese or Swedish, for example, is less common.

This is where the need for professional interpreters and translators comes in.

Global warming, carbon neutrality and deforestation are sensitive and complex issues. The physical presence of interpreters who can master the vocabulary of climate and environmental issues, as well as diplomatic and geopolitical jargon, is indispensable. Translators and interpreters are the ones who will be responsible for passing messages between countries and for negotiating, and they play a vital role.

Who are these interpreters and how are they organised?

At international meetings, there are always professional and specialised interpreters. They are members of the United Nations and are responsible for the official interpreting at COP26. They participate in technical negotiations, conferences, etc.

For the conferences to run smoothly, they are meticulously prepared in advance with an order of appearance for the speakers: for example, on 2 November, the presidents spoke in a precise order so that the interpreters from each country could prepare themselves. Speakers were given a time limit of 3 minutes to speak. Statements and speeches were sent to the interpreters about 30 minutes before each speech.

Some of the conferences and meetings are held online. This was the case for the Queen of England, who was unable to attend this COP26, and who made her statement live via video conference. However, these online conferences can become an obstacle to understanding each other in international negotiations of this magnitude.

Once ended, COP26 will allow countries to negotiate and agree on key issues to fight global warming and save our planet. The main challenge for countries is to limit global warming to 1.5° by the end of the century. The language challenge for interpreters will also be over.

What is the role of translators?

Agreements will be drafted and it is the translators who will have to translate these agreements and official documents into the languages of the signatory countries.

Just as for interpreters, this COP26 is also a linguistic challenge for translators      

In the face of this urgency, let’s hope that interpreters and translators will pass on the right messages to the leaders so that they too can take up their climate challenge!

Translation problems can appear in many forms: lexical-semantic, grammatical, syntactic, rhetorical, pragmatic or cultural. Among the many issues, we have selected a few to help you understand the degree of difficulty our translators face.

1. Doing preliminary research

Before starting a translation, translators begin by getting to grips with the broad outlines of the document through initial reading and preliminary research on the subject.

2. Have specialist knowledge

For a quality translation, translators are specialised in specific fields and are used to playing with terminology. Translation requires rigour, and above all, a perfect command of one’s mother tongue and field of activity.

3. Working in collaboration with the client

We are aware that our translators need help and precise instructions from our clients. This is why we ask for reference documents whenever possible, so that the final translation is satisfactory.

4. Be available and responsive

Being available is also part of the challenge for a translator. Translation projects cannot be anticipated. The same applies to translators who cannot prepare in advance without having the document. Reactive, linguists are ready to start a translation or proofreading job.

5. Meeting deadlines

Meeting deadlines and time pressure cannot be overlooked as major challenges for our translators. Indeed, they must be fast, because some requests must be processed in a short period of time. In other words, they have to be able to deliver a first-class translation within a few days.

6. Proving yourself every day on every project

Every project is a new translation, but also a new story. We give our translators the chance to prove themselves with each translation. Translations are graded on the basis of client feedback and this encourages our translators to constantly improve their quality.

7. Challenging your work

One of the other challenges facing our translators is to question their work. It is important to be able to re-examine your work and to listen to your client. Translation is not a solitary mission and an exact science, but a collaboration.

 

It is a constant challenge to try to convey the meaning of the source language in the target language as naturally and accurately as possible. Whether it is a question of understanding the culture, speaking the language, or knowing the expressions specific to a country, this union between peoples accompanies our evolution, and this, beyond the borders.

There is an expansion of languages in the face of internationalisation. The translation of documents is becoming an essential practice for communicating and transmitting information; in this article, we will give you more details on the pricing of this service.

At SwissTranslate, we seek to respect your communication style, while following your usual terminology.

Our translation agency defines the budget for your documents according to the following criteria: language, technicality of the subject matter, desired delivery time, size of the file and type of translation.

The cost of your translation will initially depend on the source language and the language into which you wish to translate your document. In Switzerland, European languages are the most commonly requested, followed by Asian, Nordic and Oriental languages.

The technical nature of the translation will also have an impact on the cost. Each type of text and each field has its own specificities and precise terminology to be respected. Our translators are specialised in specific fields and work only into their native language.

As far as delivery times are concerned, our translators are capable of translating an average of 2,500 words per day. Given the number of words, you can estimate when you will receive your translation. However, if you would like your text to be translated within 24 or even 48 to 72 hours, this is entirely possible.

The volume must also be taken into account in the cost of the translation and different units of measurement are considered: the number of words, the number of lines and the number of pages.

In addition, our ISO 17100 and ISO 9001 certifications allow us to distinguish ourselves in terms of the quality of our translations, the skills of our professionals, and the efficiency of our processes.

The entire SwissTranslate team is looking forward to assisting you with your translation needs!

Did you know that translation has been used since Mesopotamia?

Indeed, the Sumerian poem The Epic of Gilgamesh was translated into Asian languages in as far back as the 2^nd millennium BC.  Roman poets later translated Ancient Greek texts, adapting them to create literary works.

Then the internet came along, forging the growth and expansion of translation around the world. The web has revolutionised the way we gain access to different countries, making translation an essential tool for global communication.

The digital transformation and the rapid rise in international trading has made translation an indispensable part of our lives.

Practically all the products and devices we use feature translation, such as user manuals and user interfaces.

How many times have you clicked off a website because the content wasn’t in your language and you didn’t understand? How many times have you complained about user and assembly manuals that just didn’t make sense in your language?

Translation needs have evolved over the years and are certainly more prevalent than in Ancient Greek times. Today we are facing yet another revolution: artificial intelligence, whose arrival is connecting more and more of the devices we use on a daily basis (fridges, smartphones, alarms, etc.).

They say that machines will soon outdo humans, but is this also true for translation?

In our multilingual world where exchanges are increasingly frequent, translation becomes key not only for the economy, but also for companies and, more generally, the evolution of our civilisation.

The health crisis generated by Covid-19: an unprecedented event that took the world by surprise.

According to the Federal Office of Public Health, the number of new cases, hospitalisations and deaths in Switzerland is falling daily. However, the United States is currently the most affected country. Russia is also experiencing a sharp increase in infections. In addition, some countries that had managed to control the spread of the pandemic, such as Japan and Singapore, are now facing a second wave. In this time of global health crisis, risk communication plays a key role in preventing the spread of the pandemic as much as possible.

Risk communication

Risk communication, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), is the real-time exchange of information, advice and opinions between experts, community leaders, policy makers and populations at risk.

Indeed, when a pandemic such as the current one occurs, effective risk communication enables people to learn the behaviours they need to adopt to protect themselves. It provides the authorities with the means to reduce misinformation and respond to the concerns of the population.  The illustration below is an example of risk communication in Switzerland.

Risk communication is essential, but it is not the whole story. In a global crisis situation, information sharing between countries and their institutions is an indispensable element.

Sharing information

The virus has spread from country to country as a result of infection. Thus, some countries were affected before others and, at a given moment, each country is going through a different stage of the wave of contamination. For example, when Italy experienced its peak of infections, Switzerland was still in the initial phase of the virus’ spread.

This time lag allowed the first affected countries to share information with countries not yet affected by the pandemic. Governments with clear information sharing were able to mobilise by communicating effectively about the risks.

Information sharing played a key role in managing the pandemic. It remains of major importance as countries look to the end of containment and the return to normal life. The success of this phase will depend on the implementation of the prevention guidelines issued by the authorities. These guidelines are based on all the information shared by the authorities in the different countries about the pandemic. Consistency in the terminology used in all communication will be essential to ensure effective information sharing.

Terminology

According to the encyclopaedia Universalis, terminology is the discipline that deals with scientific or technical vocabularies. Its aim is to study the way in which science and technology designate objects and phenomena.

When the first international organisations were founded, it was necessary to develop a multilingual terminology that would allow representatives of different countries to communicate clearly. The creation of multilingual glossaries allowed the establishment of a terminology that ensured concordance between the different languages. Each field obviously needs its own glossary and the current global health crisis is no exception.  In the early stages of the pandemic, information was only available in a limited number of languages, preventing entire populations from accessing vital information because they could not understand it. Translators Without Borders has therefore developed a glossary specific to the health crisis generated by Covid-19. This glossary contains twenty-three languages, including those in which information was not available.

https://glossaries.translatorswb.org/covid19/

What lessons can we learn from this situation?

We live in a globalised world, with countless multilingual exchanges. In the context of a global health crisis, information sharing can be a real life saver. The practice of information sharing includes clarity of terminology. Priority is given to the quality of translation and interpretation to prevent misunderstanding and misinformation.