STAR TS Translation Services Blog

Bad Polish to English Translation?
We read a very interesting article today on a letter the Polish Ambassador in Ireland wrote about a recently published press article about a Polish woman on the dole here in Ireland. The article published yesterday portrayed the lady as having a very easy life on the dole in Ireland, describing her life as a “Hawaiian Massage”. However “Magda” the lady in question was actually studying “Hawaiian massage”, a very different meaning and context. A minor political storm has blown up over the issue today with the Polish Ambassador to Ireland Marcin Nawrot having to step in to clarify the situation.

Apparently the original article was published in the magazine Wysokie Obcasy to the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza of Jan 29. The Irish Independent’s article was probably a reworked translation from the original. We wonder if they Machine Translated it?

For the full article and letter from Polish Ambassador to newspaper about “Bad Translation” visit thejournal.Ie

http://www.thejournal.ie/polish-ambassador-responds-to-irish-independents-magda-dole-article-343386-Feb2012/

There is a growing  level  of demand on translation agencies to deliver quality public sector translation services in Ireland. Translation for government departments both takes place in-house and is outsourced to translation agencies who offer public sector translation services.

According to an article at http://www.nccri.ie/pdf/Interpreting%20and%20Translating%20Services.pdf,

the increasing diversity in languages spoken in the country today means that the provision of interpreting and translating services has become a pressing need if people with low proficiency in English are to experience equality of access and outcomes in their interaction with key government services such as health, justice, education and housing.

The 2006 Census illustrates the diversity that exists among Ireland’s non-Irish population.  Immigrants numbering over 10,000 without mother tongue English come from Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Nigeria, Latvia and China and  there are between 1000-10,000 immigrants from each of the following countries: Czech Republic, Estonia,  Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Russia and Ukraine. While there are some remarkable similarities among the different groups there are also areas of strong dissimilarity e.g. while many Polish people are primarily here to work, Chinese people often come here to study.

Graph and figures from Census 2006

According to Paula MaGovern at http://careeradvice.loadzajobs.ie/industry-insight/multilingual/multilingual-jobs-in-ireland-irish-translation-942, over recent years there has been a particularly sharp increase in demand for the translation of English into Irish, not least because from 1 January 2007 Irish became an official language of the EU. This means that all key EU legislation must be translated into Irish. At http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/3828/government/public-bodies-get-lost-in-translation/ John Kennedy states that the introduction of various pieces of legislation means that every document produced will have to be done in both languages, ranging from an information notice to a press release.

A major challenge for public sector translation services in general, and for translation for government departments in particular, is producing health care, education, and legal service documents that are sensitive to cultural differences. According to a Garda spokesman at http://thetranslatorscafe.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/ireland-garda-siochana-spent-almost-e3-million-on-interpreters-last-year/ the Garda Siochána spends almost €3 million on interpreters per year,  and deals with over 200 languages and dialects on a regular basis.  The contracts to translate for the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Courts Service and the Garda are the biggest public sector translation contracts in the country. In 2007,  these three bodies had an annual bill of about €5.75 million.  The HSE spent €750,000 on interpreting in 2007 and uses a list of preferred providers that it issues to hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The Courts Service spent more than €2 million on interpreting  in 2008, and expected to spend €2.5 million  in 2009.  According to Ivana Bacik  in her article The Language Barrier: Access to Justice in the New Ireland

http://www.jsijournal.ie/html/Volume%207%20No.%202/2007%5B2%5D_Bacik_Breaking%20the%20Language%20Barrier.pdf,

the most frequently used languages in court are Cantonese, Mandarin, French, Romanian and Russian.

Dublin, Feb 20, 2009

In a classic case of mistaken identity the case of the infamous Polish Driver Prawo Jazdy has been solved.

Lost in translation Inc.- have idenitified the driver in question.

Over the last few years the named Polish driver had been stopped and issued with several driving offences. However each time he gave a different address. Recorded in 2007 the driver had more than 50 driving offences and the Gardai where keen to catch up with him.

The Garda Pulse system was working overtime trying to identify him .

The case was solved when a member of the garda traffice division checked the name in the Polish-English dictionary.

“Prawo Jazdy is actually the Polish for driving licence and not the drivers name”

The error occured as this appears at the top of all Polish licenses and would appear to someone who does not speak the language that it is the drivers name. It is only under this are the texts for first and surname.

A Garda source has reported that steps have been taken in the case and the issue is now resolved.

Need Polish Translation? – Call STAR Translation Services Now 01-8365614

With the June elections drawing nearer, political parties are showing more interest than ever in harnessing immigrants’ potential, as both candidates and voters.

The Four main parties – Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens have selected candidates to stand.

Together they have selected some 16 immigrants to stand.

The battle for a share of foreign nationals’ votes is being fought with the aid of Polish websites, multilingual leaflets and full-time migrant organisers.

In Mulhuddart,  north Dublin, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have each selected a Nigerian candidate.

Adeola Ogunsina is a petrol station manager in Mulhuddart and joined Fine Gael four years ago. He was drawn to the Fine Gael based on the party’s support of enterprise and small businesses.

Another candidate is and fellow rival from Fianna Fáil is Idowu Sulyman Olafimihan, who lives in nearby Clonee and runs his own security company.

Other candidates include:

 Elena Secas – Labour
Anna Banko – Fianna Fáil
Tendai Madondo –  Green Party

Need Translation? We can help visit STAR Translation For Government

A new weekly paper is available for Polish people in Ireland.

On the Web : wizard-media.eu

The number of Polish people living in the Ireland according to statistics has reached 250,000 and the major part of them living in Dublin, Cork and Limerick. Nasz Glos is helps Polish people in Ireland getting the right job, improve their qualifications, start their own business, finding comfortable accommodation and with assimilating themselves to Ireland.

Unofficially there are almost 300,000 Polish people in Ireland. This year a large number of them will be able to vote in Ireland.

If you are new to Ireland some useful Polish resources for you are.

The Polish Embassy:  www.polishembassy.ie

www.PolishCentre.ie

www.PolskiDublin.com

www.Gazeta.ie

www.IrlandiaOnline.pl