Workforce Language Services

A new study released by the Chicago-based research firm Technomic argues that, in order to drive traffic from the Latino audience, restaurants must embrace a mission to make their food as authentic as possible and to create a family-friendly environment. To help food industry professionals better understand Latino consumer behavior and attitudes, the company has created a Foodservice Consumer Trend Report. Some of their findings include:

• More than a third of Latino consumers (35%) report a high level of brand loyalty, reporting that they prefer to visit familiar restaurants when they go out to eat.

•   Seventy five percent of Latino consumers purchase prepared foods at grocery stores regularly, a third of those doing so at least once a week.

Statistics such as these, as well as reports like the Hispanic Foodservice Consumer Trend Report, can help your food establishment cater to new audiences and to meet the needs of the Latino community. To read the complete article, click here.

It only takes one quick Google search to understand that the Internet can be unforgiving when it comes to bad translations. However, no mistranslation has a legacy quite as long as the 19th Century Portuguese-English phrase book, O Novo Guia da Conversação em Portuguez e Inglez, em Duas Partes, or as it is known more conventionally, English As She is Spoke.

In 1855, Pedro Carolino intended to create an English phrasebook for Portuguese students. Not only did he not speak English, he didn’t even have a proper tools to write an English textbook. He had a Portuguese-to-French phrasebook and a French-to-English dictionary. Having taken this linguistic scenic route, many of the translations are unintentionally humorous. The section Idiotismos, somewhat aptly, is translated to “idiotisms” rather than the correct idioms. Here is one gem, an exchange from the section whose theme is games and sports, called“The gaming ”:

• I don’t like the play. / Não gósto dê jôgo. Só jógo para passár ô têmpo.
• Every one has played, except you. / Tôdos pozérão, exépto Vm.
• True. I had not seen it I am very unhappy alwes I lose. / É verdáde, não tínha reparado. Sôu bêm infelíz, sêmpre pérco!
• We do ought. / Devêmos.

While they provide many of us with a quick laugh, mistranslations like these can be an embarrassing oversight, and often, a non-professional translator (or computer program) is responsible for that mistake. English As She is Spoke fails in the most spectacular way. It’s worth a read. You can find it online, free, here on Google Books. The new edition edited by Paul Collins and published through McSweeney’s provides the original Portuguese, which you can find on Amazon here.

Bank of America has taken over billboards across Chicago with its current advertising campaign. The campaign boasts the ease of accessing Bank of America, whether at a branch or online, and the ads are tightly integrated with their locations. An ad at a train station, for instance, shows a person holding a smartphone next to the caption, “I bank on the train.”

The campaign strategically targets both English and Spanish speakers. On Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square, a billboard on the side of a building reads, “Norte, sur, este, oeste, o este, o este. Un ATM donde lo necesitas. ” The man in the ad points to his left – east—where there is an ATM just around the corner.

In Spanish oeste and o este are homonyms. The ad is a perfect example of a clever pun that strategically markets to the Latino market, but the pun doesn’t translate into English. In English the ad would read “North, south, east, west, or east, or east. An ATM where you need it.” The ad loses its cleverness and thus its impact.

The ad demonstrates an effective use of its location and highlights the ubiquity of Bank of America ATMs. It also shows sensitivity to the surrounding population, a vital quality for any effective advertising campaign. The majority of the population in the Logan Square and Avondale neighborhoods (home to Workforce Language Services) is Hispanic. The Spanish language arm of the campaign is clever, strategic, and essential in the campaign’s success.

Have you ever wished your Limited English Proficient (LEP) employees could learn the functional English they need to do their jobs more safely, efficiently and comprehensively? That you could cross-train your LEP employees, putting them on the path to promotion?

 Investing in your workforce is a crucial business practice.  Employee Training Investment Program (ETIP) funds are a great way to subsidize on-site vocational language training. To procure ETIP funds, you must be in a funding-eligible category and pay a percentage of all training costs, including books, instruction, materials and wage reimbursement.

 In addition to vocational, technical or remedial skills training, ETIP providers are a great source of free training for innovative technology best practices, embracing lean principles, expanding into new markets and preparing for ownership or management succession.

 For more information about ETIP funding in Illinois or your home state, please contact Hilary Hodge, Director of Programs, at hilary@workforcelang.com.

The Gershwin brothers likely never imagined that “You like tomato, I like  tomahto” would appear in a New York Times article on Spanish orthographic changes, but apparently the Royal Spanish Academy’s (RSA) decision to eliminate two letters from the Spanish alphabet has prompted folks to don their roller skates like Fred and Ginger and burst into song.  The explanation for this change, among other spelling updates, can be found in an 800-page document that has sparked significant controversy for imposing change from above, though not unilaterally, as the author notes:

“To its credit, the academy takes pains to emphasize that it works collaboratively with its associated academies in 21 other Spanish-speaking countries, including in the United States.”

The decisions of the Madrid-based RSA (founded in 1713) influence Spanish grammar across the globe, though the world’s 450 million Spanish-speaker may choose not to pay attention - citing George and Ira Gershwin or other reasons. It’s no easy task to oversee a language spoken by so many - and even rule changes that would ultimately simplify the language may be rejected.  A language in the mouths of its speakers is a living, changing thing that often prefers to follow its own path than align itself with the rules established across the ocean.

What’s the easiest way to prevent citation and penalties during an OSHA worksite inspection? According to OSHA, in fiscal year 2010, the ten most commonly cited standards were improperly implemented:

1. Scaffolding

2. Fall Protection

3. Hazard Communication

4. Respiratory Protection

5. Ladder Use

6. Lockout/ Tagout Procedures

7. Electrical and Wiring Methods

8. Powered Industrial Trucks

9. General Electrical Requirements

10. Machine Guarding

Far too many preventable injuries occur due to the failure to properly implement these standards.  A great way to avoid these infractions is to translate your employee manuals and safety materials into the languages most commonly spoken in your worksite. You can also bring an on-site language trainer to go over the OSHA procedures in a simplified English training for your Limited English Proficient (LEP) employees.

Workforce Language Services offers translations in 50+ languages as well as on-site English and Spanish vocational training. Contact Hilary Hodge, Director or Programs, for more information hilary@workforcelang.com.

Sometimes a small business owner gets to enjoy a relaxing Saturday morning. And sometimes she doesn’t. This, unfortunately, is the latter kind of morning.

For the last six years, Workforce Language Services has provided translation services in over 50 languages for clients of all sizes and industries.  We pride ourselves on our quality services and the trust our clients place in us.  But we also pride ourselves on the relationships we foster with our translators across the world.  Since 2006, 83 translators we’ve worked with have left feedback on our profile on proz.com – all 5 out of 5 based on our excellent communication and speedy payment.

We recently completed a large multilingual translation project involving 50 translators. Unfortunately, we were made aware that one of the translators we hired to proofread a small Korean portion of the project has been in the scamming business for years now in Tianjin China.  Here’s how it works:

• He presents himself as a qualified translator/proofreader in response to a project bid and is hired by the client (in this case, my company). 
• He then falsely presents himself as a project manager for a legitimate translation agency (using a fake email address) and hires translators to complete the work. 
• He delivers the translation (or in this case, the proofread files), his client pays him, and he keeps the money – never paying the translators he hired. 
• When his translators contact the translation agency they think they’re working for regarding compensation, the agency, rightfully so, denies knowing anything about the project, and the translator is out hundreds or thousands of dollars. 

Click here for just one example of this clever (and unfortunately successful) scam, but rest assured that there are many, many more that he can take credit for – all under various aliases and companies that have since been banned for proz.com and other translation community sites.

We initiated a wire transfer to his bank in China before we understood the extent of his fraud, but his bank returned the funds to us due to other suspicious activity associated with his account.  Now, given that the translators that actually proofread the documents have come forward, we’ve decided to pay them directly rather than reward this man for his deceit.  Last week he sent a list of the many ways he would smear my company and coworkers online if we didn’t pay him, and to further intimidate us even included our photos from our linkedin profiles.  As of last night, his smear campaign has begun.  At the time of this post, he has sent an email with the subject “An American transalation (sic) agency “Workforce Language Services” is a cheating company” to some 60 translation agencies, in which he attempts to gain sympathy by referencing his tireless efforts to provide for his young motherless daughter and aging parents.

He has said that he will stop smearing me if we pay him:

I worked for WLS and WLS should pay me! If they don’t pay me, I will ruin their business. If they pay me, I will stop, it is simply.

Not surprisingly, as of today, his company’s website has disappeared, but thankfully, we have domain registry records. We have hired a lawyer, and in an effort to protect/defend our reputation – as well as to protect others from falling for this scam – I wanted to share this information.  I hope that the feedback from 83 independent translators will speak more loudly than the lies of one man, and I apologize for anyone that has to waste another minute or dollar in the face of such unethical actions.

-Jill K. Bishop, PhD - Founder & President of Workforce Language Services

——————-

UPDATE 1/31/11

The scam artist claims to have sent the email to some 500 American translation agencies, as well as my former employers (he cc’d us on many of them - but we’ve lost count).   He blasted all of our company email addresses with multiple 9MB attachments to clog up our server.  He claims to have contacted our client and has stated that he will continue sharing our contact information, as well as our personal photos, with more companies.  He closed his final email to our lawyer with the following words:

Finally, If Jill has parents, I hope they have cancer soon. If Jill has a husband, I hope he has cancer soon. If Jill has a child, I hope the child has cancer soon.

We are in contact with the proofreaders who worked on this project, and we will be processing payment to them this week.

If anyone has questions about this, please feel free to contact me directly: jill(at)workforcelang.com.

 ——————-

UPDATE 2/5/11

He’s sending fewer emails than before but still sending them - now to universities my project managers and I attended and special interest groups we are associated with - with subjects like “Please note Jill Kushner Bishop, PhD from Workforce Language Services is a Scam Artist” or comments about a project manager including “please keep away from the cheating bitch”.  And always closing with his night and day struggle to feed his family (recall his multiple cancer wishes for mine)…

In a further breach of ethics, he’s begun sending emails around, purportedly to other healthcare companies, with the subject “Free Healthcare educational materials”.  He writes:

After discussed with our lawyer, we decided to distribute the materials to Internet and send the materials to other companies, you can use it freely for any purposes :-)

 I’ve now spent just about as much in legal fees as I would have had I decided to pay him, not to mention significant lost productivity, and we will also be paying the two editors that completed the work.  I still stand by my decision to withhold payment to him and not reward him for his continued scam and complete lack of ethics, and I am continuing to share information regarding his background and the way he works to help prevent agencies and freelancers from falling into his trap.

Workforce Language Services, LLC is dedicated to providing the highest quality translations, transcriptions and interpretations, flexible service and competitive rates.

Technorati test post - wdapn9c2ij

Any Spanish speaker, native or non-native, knows that certain words in the language mean very different things depending on the country one is from.  Someting that is used in every day speech in Mexico might deeply offend someone from the Dominican Republic and vice verse. 

An article in the Yuma Sun describes one such incident that riled people up at a high school soccer game:

This case here, coach is yelling out to his players, players are hearing it left and right, nothing is done about it because it’s in Spanish. That’s a huge issue and an issue I want to speak up about.”

Nicewander said the injury was the turning point in the game. It happened at the 6:23 mark with his team up 2-0. Exactly two minutes later, Yuma High had its first goal, and with 1:46 left the Criminals tied the game.

“When you have a coach on the sidelines yelling ‘break them,’ ‘chocalo,’ smash into them, then you see a player go down an get carted off in an ambulance, it’s natural for a player to say ‘Wow, I’m not being protected, so if I come in on this guy, and he throws an elbow at me and I get hurt, what’s going to come out of it?’” Nicewander said.

This is a good example of people being overly sensitive to language use and looking for an offense where there was just a misunderstanding.  Rather than make it about lack of sportsmanship, it could have been about increasing understanding about word connotations and being more careful. 

To read the article, click here.

A recent Diversity Spectrum article provides a comprehensive overview of the changes in workplace hiring brought on by aggressive raids across various industries.  The article details Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stepping up of actions taken against companies who fail to comply with immigration laws when hiring. 

Companies are now operating in a climate of fear at being targeted by ICE and currently have to choose between being compliant and being non-discriminatory.  Compliance is winning out:

There is a growing concern that companies may become so compliance-oriented with respect to immigration law that they risk discriminatory conduct, according to Lopez. To prevent this, HR executives must ensure that they are not being overly aggressive in their immigration compliance activities.”Sometimes the choice has to be made between immigration compliance and potentially discriminatory conduct,” Lopez says. “Companies should err on the side of lower liability, which now means risking a discrimination charge to ensure immigration compliance. But this must be a fact-based decision grounded in the specific workforce and the business line.”

If companies have to choose which gray area they will occupy, they will go with discrimination, Lopez says.

“Five years ago, they would have risked noncompliance on immigration issues to avoid any risk of discrimination charges,” he says. “Now, the opposite is true.”

However, if companies become so compliance-oriented that the workplace becomes hostile, those who are targeted may take action against the company.