Workshop: Iberoromanische Texte

Am 20. und 21. Januar findet am Romansichen Seminar ein Literarischer Workshop mit Vorträgen auf Spanisch, Galicisch und Portugiesisch statt. Alle Studierenden und andere Interessenten sind eingeladen, am Workshop teilzunehmen. Er ist in 4 Themenblöcke eingeteilt und beinhaltet einen theoretischen und einen praktischen Teil mit Textanalysen.
Auf Wunsch kann für die Studierenden eine Teilnahmebescheinigung ausgestellt werden.
Der Workshop ist eine Veranstaltung des Galicein-Zentrums und des Iberoamerika-Zentrums.

Danke an Rosa Rodrigues, M.A.
Instituto Camões/ Universität Heidelberg
Seminar für Übersetzen und Dolmetschen (SÜD) für die Information .

However, people still think about translators as bibliophiles, bookworms, sitting at their desks with dusty leather-bound dictionaries piling up around them. Au contraire, translation has developed into a highly computerized, digital endeavour. Not only in the software localisation business translators use various numbers of digital or web-based resources and interact with experts and colleagues online.

Still, there are some surprisingly traditional things going on in the industry. Example 1: I just received a message from the federal association of interpreters and translators  in Germany (BDÜ) promoting a newly published specialist dictionary for banking supervision / Basel III terminology. It’s available as a P-R-I-N-T dictionary only! No CD, no e-book, nothing else than paper.

From my understanding, the BDÜ is concerned with making life easier for translators. And it is a common understanding that researching terminology and background information consumes up to 75% of the translation process. In the translation business, compensation is very low and translators have to be really quick in order to obtain a decent time-remuneration-ratio. So why is it that such valuable resources like this dictionary (I know Mr. Nespral quite well from my studies at the University of Heidelberg and he is very professional and has a alot of expertise in this field) is made availabe in form that is very time consuming and not state-of-the-art anymore by a publisher like the BDÜ, that considers itself as on the translator’s side?

Another example is this recruiting video from the Government of New Brunswick, Canada. It’s a lovely and congenial video and after wathcing it, I would love to work with them, but it creates a totally wrong image of the job (i.e. the translator’s job) they are recruiting for. Watch this video and try to find the little (computer) mouse. It’s not there. It’s only books, paper and pencil.

It’s high time to change the public image of translators and translation as a job.

Auszüge aus dem Einladungstext: “Das Symposion hat nicht wie in den vergangenen Jahren genau einen fachlich ausgerichteten Themenschwerpunkt. Dieses Mal wird am ersten Tag das ganzheitliche Terminologiemanagement im Unternehmen, von der Entstehung von Begriffen und Benennungen über die Technische Redaktion bis hin zur Übersetzung und Lokalisierung thematisiert.

Am zweiten Tag werden neuere Entwicklungen im Bereich der terminologiebezogenen Sprachtechnologie vorgestellt. Die Hauptvorträge behandeln folgende Themenbereiche:

- Terminologiemanagement im Unternehmen
- Prozesse und Workflow bei der Terminologiearbeit
- Terminologiezirkel
- Kooperative Terminologiearbeit
- Webbasierte Terminologiedatenbanken
- Terminologieextraktion
- Terminologiekontrolle
- Neuere Ansätze bei Terminologieverwaltungssystemen

Neben den Hauptvorträgen werden am Vortag auch Tutorials angeboten, die sich über die Thematik des Symposions hinaus mit weiteren interessanten Aspekten der Terminologiearbeit beschäftigen:

- TBX – Modellierung, Auszeichnung und Austausch terminologischer Daten (für Einsteiger)
- Grundlagen der Terminologiearbeit mit Bezug auf die aktuellsten DIN-Normen
- Kernfunktionalitäten von Terminologiesystemen: Ein praxisorientierter Vergleich

Das Symposion bietet eine praktische Orientierung für alle, die sich mit terminologischen Fragestellungen befassen. Es richtet sich vorwiegend an Terminologen, Übersetzer und Technische Redakteure, aber auch an alle Fachleute, die sich mit der Definition, Ordnung und Benennung von Wissen und Information in ihren Disziplinen beschäftigen. Eine Informationsbörse und eine Ausstellung, auf der Fachliteratur und Software für Terminologen, Übersetzer und Technische Redakteure präsentiert werden, runden das Programm ab. Nähere Informationen zum Programm, zu den Anmeldungsformalitäten, zum Sponsoring und zu den Ausstellungsmöglichkeiten entnehmen Sie bitte dem Anhang oder besuchen Sie einfach unsere Webseite www.dttev.org.”

Wird bestimmt interessant.

-> picture credits: nerdigurumi.com

One of my New Year’s resolutions (besides advancing my Angry Birds skills …) is to learn how to crochet Amugurumi patterns. I got myself an Amigurumi book for Christmas and I am now in the phase of chosing my first pattern.

I learned how to knit and crochet a couple of years ago by watching videos which were recorded and shared on Youtube by experienced knitters and crocheters. (Check out Stricken & Häkeln mit elizzza, she is great!) Based on this great and very successful learning experience, now that I want to learn something new in this field, I am again turning to blogs and videos, this time of Amigurumi pros.

I have just come across a very well-done, yet simple video of how to crochet Amigurumi the right way and I think we can learn a lot more than just stitches from it: There is a lot of discussion going on in the KM and Learning/Education community about whether or how videos can be helpful tools for knowledge sharing and learning. Without going deeper into the theoretical discussion, I would like to share this video with you as an example of a simple, yet great learning video and then explain why it is so insightful and helpful.

0. Keep it Short:  The video is short and simple, and it comes straight to the point.

1. Tell a Story: The presenter tells a story about her own experience, her frustrations and how she came to learn about crocheting the right way. She starts from where the learner is and illustrates her own struggles. So, the learners will not have to go through this struggle and make the same mistakes themselves.

2. Use Illustrative Material: The presenter prepared three different examples of crocheted balls to use them as illustrative material. With these, she is able to demonstrate the difference between the three approaches she is discussing in the video. Thanks to these visual aids, the learners can easily understand what she is referring to.

3. Create a Vision: By showing the correct example, i.e. the perfect ball, she creates a vision for the learners of what they will achieve with the right approach. They get an idea of the outcome of their actions and are most likely to follow the promising procedure.

For all KM’ers out there I guess I don’t have to outline how important a powerful search tool, concise metadata, and, and… are so people will find the information they’re looking for and are able to make informed decisions.

Well, in e-commerce a powerful search tool can be just as valuable…

…as my “Treat of the Day” suggests:

(search terms: “Sessel weiß” [EN: armchair white])

During the first couple of months when I was a newbie facebook user, I liked to fool around with my friends, showed off a little bit and asked the lucky guinea pig or the magic gummibear what my future will be like.

After a while, and also after increasing media coverage of facebook spying on their users, collecting data and trying to manipulate consumer behaviour, I started lying to facebook… I told facebook that I was married to one of my friends, that my other friend was my grandpa, and that I liked Bounty with milk chocolate (remember, the blue one) when in fact I didn’t.

          -> picture credits: Facepunch – Benjamin Rein (mutzurwut.de)

A few months later, having also read Die Datenfresser (an eye-opening book by Constanze Kurz and Frank Rieger), I decided I don’t need facebook, I don’t like it anymore and I could as well delete my account… Which, in fact, I did not yet. Why? Well, I like the concept of online social networks. I love the idea of sharing ideas and messages with my friends and getting some likes for a link I posted. It’s so easy and comfortable. Still, I do not want my data to disappear in some obscure and unavowed databases, which are sold to other companies and then used for creating my personal psychological consumer profile. I was actually waiting for Diaspora (-> I blogged about Diaspora some time ago…). But after the Diaspora team was really successful with fundraising, there was a very long time of… nothing. So I kept waiting, checked their website, and googled ‘Diaspora’ from time to time.

Today, there finally was an e-mail in my inbox saying: “You’ve been invited to join Diaspora!”

                 -> picture credits: Diaspora

I was excited. And happy. I went immediately to their website to create an account. And then…

-> picture credits: joindiaspora.com

After entering a user name and a password, it tells you that things will be much faster if you connect your facebook account with diaspora. It will load your name and your picture, so you can share content on facebook.

Huh!?

I wanted diaspora, a social network which let’s ME decide who I share my data with. A social network that allows ME to keep my seed on my computer.

The weird thing is that I was talking with one of my friends about diaspora teh other day and I said that you don’t here anything from them anymore and that I was wondering why. And I made a joke saying that their idea was just too good and they probably got purchased by one of the big players…

Now, what is this facebook symbiosis all about?

Hi Marie-luise.gross,

Are you leveraging your friend network to get the inside connections to jobs, referrals or leads?

Our friends are much more likely to help us than random acquaintances.

Talent.me is the professional networking app on Facebook that helps you tap into the power of your friend network.

Now, doesn’t this make you think? Reconsider this sentence:

“Our friends are much more likely to help us than random acquaintances.”

“…to get the inside connections to jobs…”

Oh boy, if just anyone in their marketing department read ANYTHING, if only a short Wikipedia article, on Social Networks.

Dear friends at talent.me Marketing: I would like to recommend you read Granovetter’s study “Changing Jobs.” or his famous paper “The strength of weak ties.” The essence of these texts is the following:

“When asked whether a friend had told them about their current job, the most frequent answer was “not a friend, an acquaintance.” The conclusion from this study is that weak ties are an important resource in occupational mobility.” (cf. Wikipedia; Interpersonal Ties)

What they are telling you in this invite is simply not true! This is not a case of saying something very nicely in order to attract consumers’ attention. They are telling the exact opposite of the truth!

So, why are they circulating the porky pie of your friends network being the best ressource for career advancement? Well, maybe Facebook is not only interested in the data you generate in your private lives, but also wants your professional profiles! In your professional lives, during a normal working week, you will behave differently compared to, say, a Saturday evening. You will book different flights, buy and wear different clothing and equipment. Or, to put it in marketing speak: You belong to a different target group!

So, the invite text should actually read as follows:

Hi Marie-luise.gross,

Are you leveraging your facebook account to get the inside consumer news on products you need in your daily business life? (These could be status symbols to show off at work or products that help you emphasize your dynamic, business-oriented attitude…)

If you share your data with us, we can support you here.

Talent.me is the professional data kraken app on Facebook that helps you tap into the Facebook trap.

I am wondering what is included in these guidelines. However, I think this is a very smart move and it could be of great value for all faculty and members of the FU. The biggest mistake organizations make when it comes to multi-language communication is to let anyone translate as they wish. Not anyone who has a dictionary at hand and knows a second language makes a good translator …

For the past 8 weeks, my friend and I have been working on a simplification plan for our dissertation projects while we were pursuing a slightly adapted version of the 16 week challenge. Both of us work in a large company to earn our livings, both of us have to squeeze the research and writing in between of work, household stuff and our social lives, which is not always easy. So, we have been looking into how we can make our lives really simple and be more productive in writing and doing research without neglecting other things.

So, I would like to share our findings so far… 5 really great tips to simplify your dissertation project:

1. Have a social life. Spending an evening with your friends and having fun can be a lot more inspiring than staying at home, desperately trying to get that one more page written.Plan at least one per week.

2. Plan minimum goals. Nothing is more frustrating than planning too much into your day. We, in our situation, found that sparing 1 hour a day for writing (at best, this is the first thing you do in the morning; cf. ->) is achievable. This is our minimum goal. Reaching it (almost) every day makes us feel a lot better than aiming at the stars, to no avail.

3. Learn to say no. (#5 on Tom’s list) …and I would like to add a quote from  Tom’s site to that: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” This is particularly true for working doctoral students.

4. Plan your week ahead. (#6 on Tom’s list) My friend and I both found planning and goal setting very helpful. Each week, we sit down together and have a look at what we achieved, talk about what went wrong, why, and how we will do better in the future. Then we commit ourselves to minimum goals we want to achieve until the next week. However, don’t make the mistake and over-plan. We found that staying flexible and being able to move appointments and to dos around makes us feel a lot better than sticking to strict time tables. It can always happen that you wanted to write the end of a chapter, but, somehow, your head is awefully empty. As soon as you realize this, go and do something else. Excercise, have an Aperol Sprizz with your friends, or knit yourself a beanie. Don’t use this as an excuse, though. It’s rather an emergency plan that should prevent you from falling into depression.

5. Enjoy the process of writing and be proud of yourself.

Die Leitfragen der Veranstaltung orientieren sich an den “unterschiedlichen Aspekten von Wissen, seiner sprachlichen Verankerung und seiner Verfügbarkeit.”

Ein Auszug aus der Kongress-Ankündigung:
“Die Halbwertszeit von Wissen nimmt ab; Wörter kommen und gehen, nicht immer ist ihre Bedeutung scharf umrissen. Welche Auswirkungen hat das auf Kommunikation? Wie fassen wir Wissen sprachlich? Und wie machen wir Wissen zugänglich? Wie bewahren und wie erweitern wir Wortschätze? Wie machen wir Wissen und Wörter erreichbar, wie machen wir sie nachschlagbar? Welche Systeme stehen für diese Aufgaben zur Verfügung? Und wie stellen wir sicher, ob ein Wissenstransfer erfolgreich ist? – Mit diesen Fragen ist das Rahmenthema skizziert, dem wir uns auf dem GAL-Kongress 2012 in Erlangen widmen möchten.”

Vorschläge für Symposien können bis 01.12.2011 bei der GAL-Geschäftsstelle (geschaeftsstelle@gal-ev.de) eingereicht werden.
Danach erfolgt ein Call for Papers, in dessen Rahmen Vorschläge für Einzelvorträge bis 29.03.2012 bei der Geschäftsstelle eingereicht werden können.

Mehr dazu soll man auf der Event-Webseite nachlesen können, diese scheint jedoch noch nicht verfügbar zu sein. Also findet Ihr bis auf Weiteres die wichtigsten Informationen hier.