French to English: Cars, Part 2

If push comes to shove and you have a very technical document to translate that the client needs yesterday, how do you cope - especially when the generous sprinkling of technical terms prevents you from understanding the document?  My suggestion:  go for "gisting." 

Gisting is a process that enables you to get a rough idea of the subject matter.  One way to do gisted translation is to submit it to machine translation.  The machine will spew out words which, when put together, provide clues on the topic.  This way, you'll be able to look up terminology in the proper context. 

I have the Systran package and while I would never use it to translate an entire document, I would use it on that rare occasion when I'm at a loss.  If, after reading the 5th paragraph, I still don't understand the source language,  I simply turn on my Systran software and let the machine do the work.  Nine times out of ten I get to discern what is being said.

Another way is to let Google help you.  While Google Translate should never be your primary tool, it does give you good gisting possibilities.

There is nothing wrong with Google Translate or machine translation - provided the document is not sent to the client as is. Human intervention is a must.  You'd have to clean it up - and clean up you will because you and I already know that machine translation - if not edited - can be atrocious.  It will make you chuckle, but I don't think your client will be very amused.

In my next post, I'll give you examples of Google translations, and then do some quality control so that the document reads intelligently.

FRENCH	ENGLISH
témoin de frein antiblocage	ABS service reminder indicator
témoins de feux de direction	turn signal indicator lights
témoin de feux de route	high beam indicator light
témoin de pression d'huile	low oil pressure warning light
témoin de frein de stationnement	parking brake
témoin lumineux du système de charge	charging system warning light
témoin et carillon de porte ouverte	door ajar warning light and alarm
témoin de bas niveau de carburant	low fuel level warning light
lampe témoin d'anomalie moteur	malfunction indicator light
signal lumineux et sonore de ceinture de sécurité	seat belt warning light and chime
témoin de température du liquide de refroidissement	engine coolant temperature warning light
témoin du système d'immobilisation	immobilizer warning light

French to English: Cars, Part 1

I'm enjoying my new car - that fresh-from-the factory smell, the way it purrs like a kitten and the smooth highway driving tell you that yes, life can be grand with a brand new machine. 

I managed to keep my old car (a Toyota Corolla) for 14 years.  In the last 2 years, however, I no longer used it for long trips, preferring to rent a car.  I was afraid that it might suddenly croak right in the middle of a busy highway.  It was running well right up to its 14th year and for sentimental reasons, I wanted to hang on to it for longer; I secretly hoped I could keep it for at least another 3 years.

But one April afternoon before attending mass, the car started to tremble and I got scared.  All I did was pray hard we'd get home safely.  We did make it home, but that was a sign from above that it was probably time to let go.  Why push my luck?

I wasn't ready for a new car, but I didn't want to face another year of expensive repairs either so I bit the bullet and went shopping.  With a pint full of dread.

I learned a lesson:  don't shop for a new car when your old one shows signs of serious trouble.  Two reasons:  (a)  out of desperation, you could settle for the first offer that comes your way, and (b)  the trade-in value is a sorry pittance.  You know that old advice to stars about making an exit from the celebrity circuit while they're still hot?  The same advice applies to cars, no doubt.

Because I was afraid that my old car would suffer another relapse and leave me with zero mobility, I hurried up the buying process instead of taking my time to compare offers from at least 2 other dealerships.  In my rush to close the first deal, I ended up with a cost that was far greater than the cost posted in the papers.  What I should have done was to do my own calculations instead of taking the salesman's word and relying on HIS computer to spew out the figures.  That was so unintelligent of me!  When I drove out of the dealership with my new car, I had this nagging suspicion that I'd been had.

As for the trade-in value, Toyota Corollas have good resale value - but only if they're in good condition.  Mine had a lot of rust on the underside.  Plus it was 14 years old!  If I had sold it on its 7th or 8th birthday, I probably would have received a higher trade-in value.

That's all behind me now.  My new car won't give me reason to worry for at least the next 5 years.  My sister once said that her own experience shows that cars start showing trouble just when their warranties expire.  My brother also told me that I should get rid of that mentality of keeping my car for as long as I can.  "Get rid of it when it's past its prime," he said.

And with the kind of Montreal winters we have, I learned another lesson:  I'll have my car rust-proofed every year.  That way its bottom belly stays well-lubricated!

FRENCH	ENGLISH
levier d'ouverture de capot	hood release lever
interrupteur de phares antibrouillard	fog light switch
bouton de commande de luminosité du tableau	panel brightness control knob
régulateur de vitesse	cruise control
klaxon	horn
sac gonflable	air bag
commutateur de lave/essuie glace	windshield wiper/washer switch
commutateur de feux de détresse	hazard warning light switch
montre à affichage numérique	digital clock
interrupteur de dégivreur de lunette	de-fogger switch
boîte à gants	glove box (compartment)
panneau de commande de chauffage/climatisation	heating/air conditioning control panel

French to English: Countries, Part 3

I've been swamped with client work, but that's no excuse to be away from my personal blog this long.  I have not posted anything since the 20th of May - mea culpa - but much as I love blogging, I gotta put food on the table as well.  Ah, the heartaches!  Wish I had two brains and one more pair of hands.  These extras would allow me to do everything I want to do in a day.  But as they say, be careful what you wish for.  I don't want to wake up one morning and see how deformed I've become!

As I complete this final series on countries, I have two bits of trivia to share with you:  there is no country that begins with the letter "X".  If you chance upon an island - unnamed and undiscovered - and you can lay claim to it, why not give it a name that starts with X?

Second bit of trivia:  did you know that there's a country called Nieu?  I shouldn't say "country", it's really an island and it's just three hours away from New Zealand.  On the official web site, it reports that are  less than 90 hotel rooms and there are times in the year where there are more whales than humans.

I have never heard of Nieu until I did research for this posting.  Nieu is not to be confused with Nieu-Bethesda which is in Africa.  The Nieu I discovered is in the South Pacific Ocean and is also known as the Rock of Polynesia. It is bordered by New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga and Cook Island.  It associates freely with New Zealand and is somewhat "governed" by New Zealand.  I think I'll put this island in my "countries to visit before I die" list.  I have always dreamed of visiting Australia and New Zealand anyway so why not do a side trip to Nieu?  Maybe it's the best place to "renew" one's energies!

Here is your final batch of French-English country names:

FRENCH	ENGLISH
Nioué	Niue
La Corée du Nord	North Korea
la Papauasie-Nouvelle-Guinée	Papua Nwe Guinea
la Pologne	Poland
la Roumanie	Romania
Sainte-Christophe-et-Nièves (masc.)	Saint Kitts-Nevis
Saint-Marin	San Marino
l'Arabie Saodite	Saudi Arabia
l'Écosse (fem)	Scotland
la Serbie	Serbia
les Seychelles (fem)	Seychelles
l'Espagne	Spain (fem)
la Suède	Sweden
la Suisse	Switzerland
les pays de Galle	Wales

If you're as curious as I am about Nieu, please visit:  http://www.niueisland.com/about/
There's a brochure and a map which you can download.

Where are you heading to this summer?

French to English: Countries, Part 2

Like other professionals, translators have their own tool kits.  I obtained the translation of this next set of countries using a simple but useful software called GT4T.  More about GT4T below.  Let's talk about CATs first.

About 75% of translators I know use computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools.  I believe the industry standard is Trados.  Other popular CATs include Wordfast, MemoQ and DivX.  These aren't machine translation software, they are called terminology memory software and they help facilitate the work of translators who have to translate documents with word counts in the thousands.  They help retain the consistency of term usage.

I once tried Wordfast years ago but gave it up after a few weeks.  Don't ask me why.  I think my discomfort had to do with the interface. 

Translators also have machine translation software programs which, we all know, don't do a perfect job.  Machine translation has not yet reached its full maturity, and leaves much to be desired.  One example of a machine translation software is Systran.  I gave it a try.  It did a so-so job, and while the user manual said that its memory can be "trained", one word I was never able to teach it was "borough."  In Montreal, we say "arrondisement" just like they do in France, but Systran kept returning the word "district" as the English translation even if I kept correcting it and sending it to the memory term base.

So translation tools, I'm afraid, have left a bitter taste on my mouth.  Maybe it's my fault for not trying hard enough to decode the configuration.  I almost bought MemoQ not too long ago but I've been reading the comments on Yahoo groups and while some of them have been charmed by it, there seems to be a lot of issues.  MemoQ, however, has excellent customer support.  Users praise their customer support staff to high heavens.  But for now I'm staying away from any translation software - whether it's a CAT or machine translation software.

Last week, I came across Dallas Cao's GT4T while I was surfing on ProZ, and it's a clever concoction, without the whistles and bells.  It is based on Google's translation base and it does a good job.  GT4T stands for "Google Translate for Translators."  It works only within Microsoft Word and the operation is fairly straightforward.  I'm actually enjoying it.  You can find out more by going to http://dallascao.com/en/gt4t/
Oh yes, it's of course limited in functionalities compared toTrados, Wordfast or MemoQ, but when you're pressed for time and don't have time to learn the intricacies of CAT tools, Dallas Cao's GT4T is excellent!  After you've translated the document using it, all you need to do is to clean it up and do the required quality control.  I used GT4T to do this next set of countries for you, but had to add the "le" or the "la" before the French name (hello Google!)

FRENCH	ENGLISH
la Hongrie	Hungary
Île Maurice (fem)	Mauritius
le Japon	Japan
la Jordanie	Jordan
le Koweït	Kuwait
la Lettonie	Latvia
la Libye	Libya
Malte (fem)	Malta
le Maroc	Morocco
la Norvège	Norway
l’Ouganda (m)	Uganda
la Nouvelle-Zélande	New Zealand

French to English: Countries, Part 1

When I was studying translation, one theory that I had down pat was NOT to translate proper nouns.  French names of associations and groups shouldn't be translated unless there was an official English equivalent. 

I never really got around to asking my professors why the French write the names of countries differently.  For example, why would the United States become les États-Unis?  What was even more intriguing was some countries were masculine and others were feminine.  An academic question gone unanswered!  I'll have to dig into my old textbooks and find the explanation.

I'd like to give you the names of some countries in French and English, but I will choose only those countries that are not so obvious owing to the different way they're spelled.
Here's the first 12:  (plus 1 bonus)

FRENCH	ENGLISH
l'Andorre (feminine)	Andora
la Barbade (fem)	Barbados
la Biélorussie	Belarus
la Birmanie	Burma
le Cap-Vert	Cape Verde Islands
le Tchad	Chad
les Comores	Comoro Islands
Chypre	Cyprus
le Danemark	Denmark
l'Équateur (fem)	Ecuador
les Fidji	Fiji Islands
la Polynésie française	French Polynesia
l'Allemagne (fem)	Germany

I've been delinquent in posting.  I have a good reason though.  I was buried in client work and in the last 30 days, I lived around pressing deadlines.  That's a good sign, don't you think?  Some of us thrive in our work.  I like the adrenaline rush when I'm racing against time.  The only downside is that I don't get to blog as consistently as I want to.

Adrenalin rush in French - une poussée d'adrénaline or une montée d'adrénaline.
downside - l'inconvénient (as in disadvantage)

French to English: Chocolate, Part 3

Did you know that you can make truffles at home?  I had no idea until I came across some truffle recipes.

This white chocolate truffles recipe is from Ghirardelli's chocolate cookbook.  I mentioned this book in my last post when I talked about Domingo Ghirardelli, an Italian who settled in San Francisco and became a successful chocolatier.


I envy people who can make homemade chocolates; next to bread, the smell of chocolates can liven up the atmosphere of any home.  Imagine a condo right in the heart of downtown giving off chocolate aromas from the 18th floor!  (That might increase the value of your real estate).


The wonderful thing about this recipe is it has only 4 ingredients and  the method for making truffles is described in less than 10 sentences!


Here is the recipe for those who want to try their luck with white chocolate truffles (from The Ghirardelli Cookbook, ISBN:  9 781580 088718):


You'll need these ingredients:
* 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
* 1 tbsp unsalted butter
* 8 ounces Ghirardelli white chocolate baking bar, chopped into small pieces
* 1 cup shredded coconut or chopped almonds


Procedure:


1.  In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer.  Add the butter and stir until melted.  Add the white chocolate.  Stir until completely melted and smooth.  Remove from the heat and pour into a shallow bowl.


2.  Cool, cover and refrigerate the mixture until firm, at least 2 hours.


3.  Using a mellon baller or small spoon, roll the mixture into 1 inch balls.  Roll each ball in the coconut or almonds.  Enjoy immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.


And voila!  That's it - straight from the Ghirardelli company.


Your final batch of chocolate words:

FRENCH	ENGLISH
enrobage	enrobing
certifié équitable	fair trade certified
chocolats fourrés	filled chocolates
framboise	raspberry
gianduja	gianduja
infusion	infusion
massepain	marzipan
poudre de cacao	cocoa powder
graine de cacao décortiquée	cocoa nib
mise en moules	panning
praline	burnt almond
pressurage de la pâte	pressing
torréfaction	roasting

I wasn't sure what gianduja meant so I looked it up.  It's a European style chocolate that's made of chocolate and nut paste.  Many use hazelnut paste, but almond paste is also popular.


What about ganache?  Think of icing, filling or glaze - the one that"crowns" pastries and cakes.  It may have started in France or Switzerland.  It is made by heating heavy cream (35% and higher) and then pouring it over semi-sweet chocolate pieces which together are blended until smooth.  Sometimes, people add liqueurs or a variety of extracts.  Chocolate experts say that to make ganache, the usual ratio is 2 parts chocolate to 1 part cream (that will of course depend on the kind of texture you want to obtain).


If your supermarket does not sell Ghirardelli chocolates, I don't see why you can't use any other white chocolate.  In fact, those white chocolate chips sold in supermarkets might be good substitutes.  Remember, though, that to make excellent chocolate, you have to spend a few extra dollars for good quality ingredients.

French to English: Chocolate, Part 2

The name Ghirardelli is Italian in origin but say that name out loud and North American chocolate lovers will tell you that it's America's premier chocolate maker.

I was lucky to have stumbled upon The Ghirardelli Chocolate Cookbook (Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, ISBN: 13: 978-1-58008-871-8) because it not only narrates the history of Ghirardelli but it also contains 80 enticing and decadent recipes, some of which are simple to follow.

Domingo Ghirardelli was initiated into the chocolate world by working as an apprentice chocolatier in a small Italian town in Rapallo, Italy.  He studied under Signor Romanengo and learned to make premium chocolate delicacies, sugar loaves and Italian fudge candies. 

Why would an 11-eleven year old boy spend his time in a chocolate factory when he could be out playing with his friends?  It probably had a lot to do with his father's travels to Sumatra and Peru.  Listening to his father's exotic tales, his fertile, chocolatey imagination sprung forth! 

Barely 20 and already married, he set out with his wife Bettina  to Uruguay and then settled in Lima, Peru where they started a small store.  But Bettina died and Domingo re-married a widow, Carmen Alvarado.  Soon the couple were friends with an American cabinet maker, James Lick, who also had that entrepreneurial bent.  Later, they decided to pack their bags and head straight for San Francisco. 

At first Domingo tried to participate in the Gold Rush which was at its fever pitch in California, but somehow he always returned to the craft he grew up with and loved most.

Ghirardelli wanted to make his own chocolate so he imported equipment from Switzerland and Peru.  It was only natural for the business to thrive:  soon, Mr. and Mrs. Ghirardelli opened stores in Oakland, Stockton and Sonora.

Domingo Ghirardelli is credited with the discovery of the Broma process in 1867 and is still used today.  This process involves leaving a bag of cocoa beans hanging in a warm room for a long time.  When the beans melt, cocoa butter drops to the floor.  The bag contains the leftover cocoa which doesn't have any trace of cocoa fat.  It now forms the base of the company's Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa.

FRENCH	ENGLISH
chocolat non-sucré	unsweetened chocolate
bain-marie (bain d'eau)	double boiler
mélange	blending
brisures de chocolate	chocolate chips
mousse au chocolate	chocolate mousse
roulé au chocolat	chocolate Swiss roll
chocolat de couverture	chocolate topping
cachuète enrobée de chocolat	chocolate covered peanut
conchage	conching
coulis	coulis
chocolat noir	dark chocolate
désodorisation	deodorization
dragée	dragee (sugar-coated candy, nut or pill)
granulés de chocolat	chocolate cake decorations