Translation and Contextualization

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Translation and Contextualization v. 1.0 © 2004 – 2010 VizirLabs
Tuesday, December 14, 2010 Dear fellow scientist, English is currently the lingua franca of science. But as a growing proportion of the scientific workforce is composed of non-­‐native English speakers, the problem of communicating clearly arises naturally. While oral communication is rarely a problem in science, written communication can present a challenge for the non-­‐native English speaker. This difficulty is also compounded by the fundamentally different writing styles one uses when writing a scientific manuscript, a grant proposal, or a conference abstract. In addition to the demand for translating scientific documents into English, there will continue to be a general need for the translation of scientific documents from one language into another. Whether by law, by convention, by educational concerns, or by commercial interest, writing scientific texts in a variety of languages is in itself an important activity. This document describes in greater detail the VizirLabs philosophy regarding the translation of scientific documents, and it provides samples of our “translation” and “contextualization” solutions. I also invite you to browse the portfolio of solutions we offer (www.vizirlabs.com) and to contact us ([email protected]) for more information on how we can help you meet your productivity needs. Yours sincerely, Stéphane Rainville, PhD Senior consultant and Founder VizirLabs – Helping scientists invest in their own productivity © 2004 – 2010 VizirLabs
1. Our philosophy
In science, as in many specialized fields such as law or commerce, the quality of the translation not only requires exceptional linguistic skills but also a fundamental understanding of the subject matter itself. The problem then becomes, should one be a translator first and a scientist second, or vice versa? There are specialized translators who are spectacular at what they do, and their work should be admired. But what can even a specialized translator do when the meaning of a scientific text is implicit or undecipherable without a specific set of scientific knowledge? The ramifications of translation errors can range from the benign to the catastrophic, and there is indeed something to be said about scientists being involved in translation services. All the translation at VizirLabs is done by a multilingual scientist rather than by non-­‐scientist translators. In this way, the meaning of the text is put in context, errors of interpretation can be avoided, texts retain both their scientific and terminological accuracy, and the intent can be better reflected in the translation. 2. Our solutions
VizirLabs offers a “French-­‐to-­‐English” and “English-­‐to-­‐French” translation service for scientific documents. Samples of these translation solutions are offered in following subsections. VizirLabs also offers “contextualization” solutions for native speakers of Spanish and German who wish to write documents in English or French themselves. To be clear, we do not offer Spanish or German translation services, but we at Vizirlabs have sufficient familiarity with Spanish and German that we can offer assistance to speakers of those languages. It is perhaps best to think of this particular solution as a collaborative “editing” or “rewriting” service for English and French documents where VizirLabs consultants can refer to original Spanish or German texts to infer meaning and avoid semantic errors. This solution may appeal especially to those who prefer the upside of working on a text with a native English or French scientist rather than a translator. Samples of inferred meaning form Spanish and German scientific texts are also offered in subsections below.
3. Translation solutions
3.1. French-to-English
Original text: “L'optique adaptative permet d'observer le ciel en s'affranchissant des
perturbations liées aux turbulences de l'atmosphère. Une innovation majeure dans
ce domaine vient d'être apportée par une équipe franco-britannique, incluant des
astronomes de l'Observatoire de Paris, du CNRS et de l'Université Paris Diderot.
Cette avancée a été, pour la première fois, testée et validée en conditions réelles
au moyen du prototype CANARY installé sur un télescope de La Palma
(Espagne). Elle permet d'observer les sources astronomiques très faiblement
lumineuses dans un champ de vue beaucoup plus étendu qu'auparavant. À
l'avenir, ce système novateur pourrait être intégré dans l'un des instruments qui
équipera le télescope géant européen de l'ESO, au Chili. Il permettra d'étudier
l'Univers jeune et de mieux comprendre son évolution.”
© 2004 – 2010 VizirLabs
Translated text: Adaptive optics can observe the sky while avoiding disruption caused by
atmospheric turbulence. A major innovation in this area has been made by a
Franco-British team, including astronomers from the Observatoire de Paris, from
the CNRS, and from the Université Paris Diderot. This advance was tested and
validated for the first time under real conditions using the CANARY prototype
installed on one of the La Palma telescopes in Spain. This advance enables the
observation of very faint astronomical sources in a much wider field of view than
before. In the future, this innovative system could be integrated in one of the tools
that will equip the European Extremely Large Telescope of the ESO in Chile. It will
help study the early universe and better understand its evolution.
3.2. English-to-French
Original text: “Vanishing Optotype letters have a pseudo high-pass design so that the mean
luminance of the target is the same as the background and the letters thus ‘vanish’
soon after the resolution threshold is reached. We wished to determine the
variability of acuity measurements using these letters compared to conventional
letters, and in particular how acuity is affected by the number of alternatives
available to the subject.”
Translated text: « Les lettres ‘Optotype’ ont un design dominé par les hautes fréquences où la
figure et le fond ont la même intensité lumineuse moyenne, ce qui fait en sorte que
les lettres « disparaissent » dès que leur seuil de résolution est atteint. Nous
souhaitions déterminer la variabilité de mesures d’acuité visuelle obtenues avec
ces lettres pour la comparer avec celle obtenue à partir de lettres
conventionnelles. Nous étions particulièrement intéressés à déterminer comment
l’acuité est affectée par le nombre d’alternatives mises à la disposition de
l’observateur. »
4. Contextualization solutions
It is important to stress again that VizirLabs does not offer translation services from Spanish or German texts. However, VizirLabs has sufficient familiarity with those languages to offer Spanish and German speakers scientific and editorial input that benefits from access to the original text. Therefore, what the text samples below show is not a proposed translation of the original text but rather its inferred meaning. 4.1. Spanish
Original text: “El sistema nervioso está relacionado profundamente con el mecanismo de toma
de decisiones del insecto. Son insectos nocturnos, por lo cual sus ojos (aunque
bien desarrollados) no son la estructura básica que los orienta para encontrar al
vertebrado de sangre caliente. Lo que me propuse entonces era conocer cuáles
© 2004 – 2010 VizirLabs
eran las moléculas que intervienen en esa regulación fina y luego, con técnicas de
biología molecular, intervenir con agonistas, antagonistas, silenciamiento de
RNA.”
Inferred text: “The nervous system is profoundly related to the insect’s decision-making
mechanism. They are nocturnal insects, and so their eyes (though well developed)
are not the primary structure that guides their search for hot-blooded vertebrates.
What I proposed was to find out the molecules involved in its fine regulation and
later, using molecular biology techniques, to interfere with agonists, antagonists,
and RNA silencing.”
4.2. German
Original text: “Die Netzhaut ist die lichtempfindliche Schicht in unserem Auge. Sie ist ein Teil
des Gehirns, und durch ihre definierte Funktion, ihren klaren Aufbau und ihre gute
experimentelle Zugänglichkeit bietet sich die Netzhaut als Modellsystem für
Untersuchungen des Zentralnervensystems an. Der Arbeitsbericht beschreibt die
Kontaktstellen (Synapsen) zwischen den unterschiedlichen Nervenzellen der
Netzhaut, die das Lichtsignal durchläuft, bevor es im optischen Nerven an das
Gehirn weitergeleitet wird.”
Inferred text: “The retina is a part of the brain that composes the light-sensitive layer of the
eye. By virtue of its well-defined function, clear structure, and good experimental
accessibility, the retina lends itself well as a model for the study of the central
nervous system. This report describes the contact points (synapses) between the
different nerve cells of the retina through which light signals must pass before
being forwarded by the optical nerve to the rest of the brain.”
© 2004 – 2010 VizirLabs