Elia Together Conference

Barcelona extended a warm welcome to the first Elia Together Conference last week. It was the first European conference bringing freelance translators and Language Service Providers together. Over 350 participants gathered at the World Trade Center from 39 different countries.

Bringing everyone together in such numbers for a new initiative was an achievement. Difficult subjects were broached and discussed openly. The atmosphere remained pleasant and constructive to a previously unprecedented degree.

Some may argue that only the converted attended. Maybe so, but word travels fast in the translation industry.  Freelancers’ voices from the end of the “food chain” have been heard. The food chain collapses if plankton die out. The human translation chain risks dying out if conditions become too “acidic” for freelancers.

The planning committee chaired by Arancha Caballero and Manuele Vecchi put on an interesting series of presentations to address current challenges. The conference had three tracks: 

1. Relationships - moderated by Jost Zetzsche
2. Growth - moderated by Iwan Davies, ITI's Chair
3. Technology - moderated by José Blanco Pérez

The conference team was also supported by Danilo Monaco.

For the most part, I attended the Relationships track. Regular reports kept us informed about key points discussed in other tracks.

In the keynote address, Stephen Lank drew our attention to some incredible ironies in the translation world:

1. We facilitate communication for clients yet the translation industry has internal communication problems.
2. Communicating across cultures is our job – yet we have a cultural communication problem. Most communications are not in a native language. We fail to make the same allowances as we would for clients in similar interactions.

The various presentations will be available on the Elia Together website shortly, so I will not summarise them all here. I felt that there was a new atmosphere and a new energy at Elia Together. It is for us to shape our industry. At the end of the day, all sides desire the same: professional respect and trust.

This two-day conference promises to transform our maturing industry. Bullying is out for example. Whether by LSP or freelancer, it will be no longer be tolerated.

Elia already has a series of dates in the calendar to drive the discussions and strategy forward. Project managers were described as the stress sponges for all sides. The December dates devoted to them seem a particularly welcome initiative.

Elia Together will reconvene in Berlin in 2017. See you there?

Future Elia Events:

21-22 April - ND Focus, Elia's Networking Days for Executives, Mallorca/Majorca, Spain

October 2016 - Elia's Networking Days, Brussels, Belgium (exact dates to be confirmed)

December 2016 - ND Focus, Elia's Networking Days for Project Managers, Barcelona, Spain (exact dates to be confirmed shortly)

February 2017 - Elia Together, 2nd Conference, Berlin Germany (call for papers and exact dates to follow)

More about Elia

Prisoners of Geography

Travelling provides an excellent opportunity to catch up on some reading. Tim Marshall’s Prisoners of Geography provided absorbing material for my recent Eurostar trip to Brussels.

Brexit seemed to be on the minds and tongues of everyone I met in Brussels – from the European Parliament to the EU Studies Fair, as well as on all newsstands and points in between. Questions and what ifs abounded. It was interesting to hear and read views on our island nation from outside our borders.

Britain has been blessed by its geography unlike many countries described in Tim Marshall’s book. It has been our fortune to be

“close enough to the European Continent to trade

and yet protected by dint of being an island race” (p91).

Our geography has shaped our independent spirit. We are also seen as being

“at one remove from living with the historical collective memory

of frequent invasions and border change” (p91).

Thanks to our geography we have grown accustomed to punching above our size and weight globally. As the sole Brit, I was outnumbered by youthful representatives from the other 27 member states on the European Parliament tour. There were also young visitors from candidate countries.

I couldn’t help wondering how Britain’s future generations would feel about being outside the “club” whatever its faults. The Union Jack seemed to be on the way out already. Then, I realised that its position at the end of the line was probably due to the diplomatic use of alphabetical order.

Our excellent Latvian guide was very open in discussing both the good and bad aspects of the European Parliament. He mentioned the financial wastefulness of the Strasbourg Parliament. (It is still maintained due to the ongoing vetoes of France and Luxembourg). He shared the difficulties of progressing any legislation without Germany’s support. He mentioned the frustrations of smaller nations and parties in getting their voices truly heard.

Human rights were seen as a strong area for the EU. For example, the EU can criticise China’s human rights’ record and invite the Dalai Lama to speak to the Parliament without fear of trade reprisals. The 2015 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought went to the Saudi Arabian blogger, Raif Badawi. Europe enjoys peace and freedom of expression under the EU’s watchful eye.

Prisoners of Geography is particularly strong in explaining how geography shapes Russia and China. It invites the reader to picture Putin ruing the absence of mountains and watching as the EU encroaches ever closer through the former Soviet bloc. Ukraine was “the red line”. As Tim Marshall concludes:

“It doesn’t matter if the ideology of those in control is tsarist,

Communist or crony capitalist – the ports still freeze,

and the North European Plain is still flat” (p25).

The world’s flashpoints are all enlightened with reference to their geography. The Arctic features at the end of the book. The melting ice cap is changing geography. Climate change is creating new tensions. 80% of Bangladesh is on a flood plain and it cannot relocate. The Maldives will disappear.

In conclusion, the author casts our eyes upwards away from the land. He refers to spy satellites and international cooperation in space. He speculates whether we will learn to meet the challenges ahead as “representatives of humanity” rather than as of a particular nationality. The road ahead seems to require even greater cooperation, rather than a self-interested retreat within our own borders.

Tim Marshall ends on a pessimistic note:

“... we are still imprisoned in our own minds,

confined by our suspicion of the ‘other’,

and thus our primal competition for resources.

There is a long way to go. (p240).”

I hope history will prove that he should have been more optimistic. It is an eye-opener to discover how much world tension is based on geography rather than our neighbours’ actual actions.

Book review details:

Tim Marshall: Prisoners of Geography. Ten maps that tell you everything you need to know about global politics. Published by Elliott & Thompson, 2015.

Ordinary Europeans for Nobel Peace Prize?

Ordinary Europeans have shown extraordinary courage and selflessness towards the many refugees who have arrived in their lands. When others turned them away with barbed wire and troops, the Greeks and Germans welcomed them with true humanity.

Greece is not a rich country. We are all aware that the Greek people have suffered the most in the economic crisis under Austerity. Still they remind us of what is important in life: our common humanity.

A nomination is currently doing the rounds for the Greek islanders to be nominated for a Nobel Peace prize. They helped those in need and mortal danger without any expectation of reward. A smile was enough.

The German people also extended an extraordinary hand of welcome. Integration will not be easy. There are already and will be many problems. A Nobel Peace Prize will be a source of inspiration. When the difficulties ahead cause some to doubt, it will continue to encourage.

The Greeks and Germans do not have the easiest relationship in Europe. Shouldn't both peoples be recognised for their part in handling the refugee crisis?

The nomination is in our hands. Yes, we could nominate a high profile figure. Doesn't it give a better message to the world when ordinary people are nominated? Together the Greek and German peoples showed us the more compassionate Europe and World that we would all like to live in.

For such leadership, without hope of recognition, the Greek and German peoples should be recognised together.


Link to the Greek Islanders nomination:
Avaaz


Related stories:

Common dreams on Greece

Guardian on Greece

Germany welcomes refugees

German bilingual translation efforts to make families feel welcome and settle more easily

Dancing on ice

Somerset House's ice rink in a purple/blue light

It is much easier it is to explain or bring an idea life by using images from another field. Innovation on ice leads to reflections on translation innovations.

I grew up watching British ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. No Brit could forget their artistic performance or their perfect scores at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics. The British gold medallists were highly innovative in their day.

Judged against my past experiences, the young Canadian ice skaters of Le Patin Libre caught me by surprise. There were no lifts. Few jumps. No fancy costumes. Few artistic flourishes.

The four skaters stayed largely upright as in their Vertical title. They looked like four pillars dancing separately in formation.

The music and light seemed stark. You could hear the sound of their blades cutting into the ice.It formed a deliberate and integral part of their performance.

Some of the movements were decidedly angular and unorthodox. They even dug their exposed blades into the ice at diagonals.

The ice dance rulebook had been thrown away. What would the traditional Olympic ice dance judges make of this?

And yet... my eyes focused on the movement of the skates. I traced their weaving and circular patterns on the ice. I marvelled at the technical mastery.

No star
There was no star. All four skated as a group. There was the occasional solo. It was not an opportunity to show off. Not a cameo. Each solo remained part of, and in keeping with, the group performance.

Even the female member of the group was not there to be pretty on the eye. She was dressed in the same casual, street dance style as the men. She had earned her place in the team as a technical and athletic equal.

Technical mastery
I watched the performance as transfixed as I had Torvill and Dean in the past. It was different. Innovative. It seemed raw at first. On closer inspection, it was masterful. Or, as one member of the the audience remarked: awesome.

Somerset House trailer for Le Patin Libre:

Translation innovation
When something new bursts onto the scene, we naturally tend to judge it by past experiences, rulebooks and standards. Technology is disrupting the translation industry in a similar way. Tomorrow's translators can expect to work together as a group on large projects. The edges may look raw at first sight. On closer inspection and with greater familiarity, we recognise a new form of professional mastery.

French inspire Lumière London

London lit up...

... both with lights and smiling faces. 

London's first light festival fascinated both tourists and Londoners alike. The French-inspired Lumière London had everyone marvelling at light displays across the city. Even Sunday's early morning snow and a cold winter's night couldn't keep them off the streets.

I started my walk between light displays at Oxford Circus. It was great to be able to walk around Central London unimpeded by traffic. Sometimes progress was slow due to the sheer numbers out on the street - despite having all the road and pavements to walk on.

Normally if you lay down on your back in the middle of Oxford Circus, you can expect to be flattened by one or more double decker buses. Some spectators braved the cold road surface to get right underneath 1.8 London by Janet Echelman. The changing colours were glorious from any angle.

Light display hanging over Oxford Circus

Heading down Regent Street, I found my favourite musical light display, Keyframes. I loved the moving light figures on the front of Liberty House. This display was originally created by Groupe LAPS for the famous Fête des Lumières in Lyon, France.

Another Lyon creation appeared further down Regent Street and in Piccadilly. I found it fascinating to watch the movements of  Les Luminéoles. The fish floated and swooped above our heads, gradually changing colour. It was spectacular sight against the night sky in a very familiar street.

Further on down, there was another surprise... an enormous, noisy elephant. You could even see Catherine Garret's Elephantastic from the rear in Piccadilly. Eros and the lights in Piccadilly Circus aren't used to being upstaged by an elephant.

I struggled to make out the pictures on the more usual type of son et lumière in Piccadilly. When I reached St James Square, my smartphone went on strike. It refused point blank to take any more photos in front of Chatham House. It would not be coaxed back into action.

Sea of plastic in Trafalgar Square fountain

                                                                         

By Trafalgar Square, I realised that I could use my iPad camera instead. There were plastic bottles floating in the fountains. I preferred my native city's illustration of the perils of plastic in our oceans. I saw the Bristol Whales lit up at night last year. By 2050, the seas will contain more plastic than fish.

Bristol Whales at night

Highlighting plastic in our oceans

 

The Neon Dogs on The Strand were so popular that it took quite a while to get to the front. The brightly-lit dogs even had a few neon bones.

A longer walk took me to Westminster. It was amazing to see the familiar façade of Westminster Abbey displayed so differently. The lights picked out all the statues really well. 

Spectacularly lit Westminster Abbey

Next stop was Leicester Square. Here I found Shakespeare surrounded by a garden of light. 2016 marks the 400th Anniversary of his death. 

Shakespeare's statue in the middle of Leicester Square, London

The cinemas in front and to his left displayed Star Wars and The Hateful Eight. I wondered what he would have thought of such modern entertainments.

Shakespeare's view of Star Wars in Leicester Square

My last stop was in front a brightly-lit ballgown. As one bystander commented, it was a bit see-through to actually be worn.

Brightly lit ballgown with changing colours

It was well short of midnight. After such a fairytale night, this Cinderella's feet were aching. So she headed home. By tube, not pumpkin. 

Translators are like glue

 

Applying the glue behind the visual c. Patryk Kosmider

Professional translators are like glue... invisible glue. 

The aim is to make the join between two cultures as seamless as possible. 

It is easy to underestimate the value of a wordsmith's contribution to a marketing campaign. You don't see all the deliberations over the right term, tone or phrasing. Yet, without a translator's considered input, even the most brilliantly creative visuals can fall flat... or worse.

A pharmaceutical crisis
The importance of the glue reminds me of my first job at the UK sales agency of French glass manufacturers' Saint-Gobain Desjonquères. I worked for the pharmaceutical bottle division. 

One day, a buyer at one of our major pharmaceutical customers called urgently. Labels would not stick to our competitors' bottles. They had changed the coating specification.

It was a nightmarish situation for our customer. The production line was down and wasting money. Product was ready, but without viable containers. Orders were stacking up.

I arranged for the urgent delivery of all our existing factory stock. I also booked urgent new production runs with my French colleagues. 

I don't remember the exact figures now. I do remember dispatching millions of extra bottles to a very grateful customer that year.

The crisis came about because of poor bonding between the coating, glue and label.

Tales of woe  
The internet is littered with tales of woe because someone has cut corners with translation. Some brand-damaging stories are still shared decades later (as my old story above). Social media spreads these tales faster than ever before.

Choose the best
Many translators love to share these stories as examples of what can happen without their professional services. Personally, I prefer to try and demonstrate the positive. However, it isn't easy to see the glue when the bond is good. It is easy to think an alternative, cheaper solution might work ... until a crisis strikes.

Don't come unstuck. Stick with a professional translator.

Ice and the Sky Review

The cinema was as desolate as the Antarctic wastes in the film. Apparently, London’s expat French community had already headed home for Christmas. I had come to see the Luc Jacquet’s stunning Ice and the Sky at the French Institute’s Ciné Lumière. The quiet cinema only served to heighten my appreciation of the often lonely figure of Claude Lorius on screen.

COP21 release

This film was released to coincide with COP21, the 2015 United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Paris. The French glaciologist, Claude Lorius spent over 10 years of his life in extreme conditions. He went on 22 polar expeditions between 1957 and 1985.

The film's French name is La Glace et le Ciel 

Lorius at all ages

Ice and Sky tells the story of his life and groundbreaking climate research. It combines old film footage with beautiful shots of Antarctica. We see Claude Lorius as an enthusiastic young adventurer. We see teams of scientists drilling into the ice and carefully packing the ice samples for later analysis. We see staged shots of the reflective old man, now aged 82/3.

Eureka

A scientist’s eureka moment is often mundane. An apple fell on Newton’s head. Hawking got his head stuck in a jumper. For Lorius, it was a piece of Antarctic ice dropped into a glass of whiskey. He realised that the air bubbles released might tell a tale. 

Evidence

So it proved. There was evidence of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Evidence of man’s adverse effect on the planet could even be found in Antarctica’s virgin territory. He went on to sound the alarm on global warming and expose Man’s devastating impact on the world’s climate.

Painstaking accuracy

We hear of the scientist’s concern to record his findings accurately even in the bitterest cold. Removing your gloves to write is a painful experience in Antarctica.

Bitter pill

The old man on screen seemed sad and forlorn. His life’s work has been climatic in more ways than one. He has won prestigious awards for his research. And yet, the call for climate action has been hard. Awards become a bitter pill, if your research is not taken seriously.

Lost voice

In the film, he has no voice. His words are narrated or captured in old footage. A voice taken away as his findings were denied for so many years.

Critics

Film critics have slated Jacquet’s shot of Lorius up to his knees in water as manipulative. People only really understand research implications when they are presented visually. I’m sure those who had to wade through flood waters in Britain this Christmas get the picture.

Retrospective

At the end of 2014, I wrote my ambitious hopes for the world in Climate Change: seeking an impossible solution.  I also wrote about the Paris launch in COP21 World's Last Chance. My impression is that the UN climate talks delivered an agreement that was better than anticipated at this time last year.

Beauty and thought

Ice and Sky is a thought-provoking film. It has certainly provoked my thinking. Its cinematography was perhaps too beautifully French for its serious global message.

Epilogue?

The film deserves an epilogue. We should hear from Claude Lorius on camera, and in his own voice, how he feels about his life’s work following COP21 – and hopefully see him smile.