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"The Interpreter" Movie Has a Big Heart

InterpretAmerica has partnered with a nonprofit to help raise money for a new movie.

"The Interpreter" focuses on the tragic, dangerous situation of interpreters left behind by Western armed forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. The nonprofit No One Left Behind is dedicated to getting the interpreters out before they get killed.

InterpretAmerica is now supporting a Kickstarter campaign to make the movie. You can also read an interview with the film's director.

Which other interpreting or translation profession involves such a deadly risk to one's life? Consider donating. And pass the word on!

Google T & I App Jumps Forward

Of course there is no substitute for a human translator or interpreter. But recent updates to the Google Translate app may be of interest to many. Significant improvements include:

20 more languages (27 in all) will now allow you to perform visual translation in real time. (In other words, tap the camera icon in the app, point your phone at the sign or text, e.g., a menu, and perform translation on the spot.)
You could already "translate" conversations in 32 languages but now the process is faster and smoother.

August 14, 2015

IN THIS ISSUE

"The Interpreter" Movie Has a Big Heart

Google T & I App Jumps Forward

Book(s) of the Week

On the Calendar

The Ties That Bind Us All: New Language Universals?

CCC Corner

Culture & Language Press

QUICK LINKS

CCC News and Events

The Voice of Love

Intersect Back Issues

CONTACT US

Address:
Cross-Cultural Communications
10015 Old Columbia Road
Suite B-215
Columbia, MD 21046

Phone: 410.312.5599

Email: Click here

BOOK(S) OF THE WEEK

Intuitive Interpreting: A Spanish Medical Dictionary Mastered for the Professional Interpreter

Annalisa Nash Fernandez

Ethnic Ethos Books, June 2015

Here's an unusual resource indeed: a 104 page "abridged" medical dictionary for Spanish interpreters. It claims to include only the special terminology that medical interpreters really need--1000 words in all. It will be interesting to see if interpreters find it useful (although its advertising literature shows errors in English editing and grammar...). From the publisher:

A medical dictionary reengineered for quick reference of highly technical terms! The only interpreter's dictionary that leverages Spanish fluency and language intuition with a functional approach that excludes the bulk of familiar lexicon and adds technical terms found only in voluminous dictionaries.

Intuitive Interpreting is a specialized technical medical resource - not an interpreter training guide or manual for health care providers multitasking as interpreters. The abridged format excludes cognate forms of words such as "infection-infecci�n", and common terms such as "cough" or "hot". Instead it is abridged to include only a shortlist of terms such as "whooping cough - tos ferina" and "hot flashes - sofocos," and even highly technical terminology not found in modern medical dictionaries. This highly functional format is targeted to the experienced interpreter in need of only technically specific and esoteric lexicon.

Intuitive Interpreting is the only dictionary that is practical on-the-job, where digital applications may be blocked, and complete medical dictionaries are too cumbersome. Attach it to your clipboard and handle obscure medical terminology discreetly and efficiently.

ON THE CALENDAR

NCIHC Home for Trainers Offers New Resources

Take a look at the latest resources from the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care (NCIHC). NCIHC features, on its website's Home for Trainers project(part of the Standards and Training Committee) resources to help medical interpreter trainers everywhere.

These particular resources are in a database for teaching interpreters who speak languages of limited diffusion (LLDs). (And the joke here in the U.S. is that, not counting English, languages of limited diffusion are "anything but Spanish."

NOTE: use the zoom function to zero in on the resource of your interest

The Ties That Bind Us All: New Language Universals?

The latest news on language comes from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). In a nutshell, the research claims that all languages tend to cluster related concepts very closely in sentences, presumably to make them easier to understand.

The whole concept of "language universals" is controversial. Every time researchers find one, or think they do, it later gets disputed. Just as with humans, there is extraordinary diversity in language, from the linguistic structure of each sentence down to the kinds of speech sounds we make.

Is this clustering really a new "universal" or will it be debunked soon? Stay tuned...

CCC CORNER

Same CCC URL -- New Look!

In case you've missed it -- CCC's website has a new look. We've adopted a snazzier website with an easier to access userface.

New features include:
- News and Events section (See where Marjory has been all week!)
- Look Inside feature for our publications (found under each item's ISBN)
- Coming Soon: Online book ordering for our Licensed Trainers

NEW Publication - The Community Interpreter: An International Workbook

Summer 2015 has definitely been busy for us at CCC. This week we launched our second new publication of the season - the companion workbook to The Community Interpreter: An International Textbook.

The workbook has numerous interactive, skills-building activities, with a special focus on medical interpreting. Included are over 30 role plays, many of them in English/English and Spanish/English formats.

CULTURE & LANGUAGE PRESS

For a LOOK INSIDE all our publications visit our sister website: thecommunityinterpreter.com and go to Books and Products.

For more information about Cross-Cultural Communications, please go to our website at: www.cultureandlanguage.net

For more information about The Community Interpreter�, please go to our website at: www.thecommunityinterpreter.com

Sincerely,

Marjory A. Bancroft

Marjory A. Bancroft, Director

Cross-Cultural Communications, LLC

10015 Old Columbia Road, Suite B-215

Columbia, MD 21046

Phone: 410.312.5599, Fax: 410.750.0332

www.cultureandlanguage.net