Around the Web: L'Internaute.com

To discover an excellent one-stop French language and culture resource, visit L'Internaute.com. On the Encyclopédie section of this monolingual site you'll find a dictionary and databases of idioms, proverbs, quotations, family names, history and more, which can each be searched or browsed by theme. There's also a series of useful form letters for different purposes (legal, employment, healthcare etc.), plus a biography and quotation of the day. And when it's time to take a quick break from a translation, you can test your knowledge of culture, literature, geography or current events with a fun interactive quiz.

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Histoire d'un mot : « végétarien »

Tristan GRELLET

Si le végétarisme est un régime ou une philosophie multimillénaire, le terme actuellement utilisé désignant celui qui le pratique n’existe, dans sa forme anglaise (la plus ancienne), que depuis environ 170 ans. La date même de son apparition est sujette à discussion ; quant à sa définition, elle est longtemps restée floue, aussi bien en anglais qu’en français. Aujourd’hui encore, on ne sait pas toujours ce que la notion de végétarien recouvre. Tâchons de faire le point.

Des origines anglaises

La Vegetarian Society prétend avoir créé le mot vegetarian à partir du latin vegetus (« bien vivant », « vif ») en 1847, lors de sa fondation (1). En réalité, ce terme était déjà employé au début des années 1840, sa première attestation datant même, selon l’Oxford English Dictionary, de 1839. On le trouve sous la plume de Frances Anne (dite « Fanny ») Kemble, comédienne et femme de lettres britannique, dans Journal of a residence on a Georgian plantation in 1838-1839 (2). En ce qui concerne l’étymologie, vegetarian semble avoir été formé irrégulièrement à partir de vegetable (3) (« légume ») et du suffixe -arian plutôt que directement à partir de vegetus. Quoi qu’il en soit, c’est bien la Vegetarian Society qui a popularisé et officialisé vegetarian, le substituant au terme alors en vigueur de pythagorean (« pythagoricien (4) »). La première définition qu’elle en donnait laissait la possibilité à l’adepte du végétarisme de consommer ou non des produits laitiers ou des œufs (5). Cette alternative est encore présente dans la définition qu’elle propose aujourd’hui (6). Les premiers dictionnaires, de langue anglaise, à accueillir vegetarian et son dérivé, vegetarianism, se font l’écho d’une telle acception. Par exemple, The Imperial Dictionary (1854) :

« VEGETAʹRIAN, n. One who abstains from animal food, and lives exclusively on vegetables, eggs, milk, etc. — 2. One who maintains that vegetables constitute the only proper food for man. »

(« VÉGÉTARIEN, n. Celui qui s’abstient de nourriture animale et vit exclusivement de végétaux, d’œufs, de lait, etc. — 2. Celui qui soutient que les végétaux constituent la seule nourriture qui convient à l’homme. »)

Nous pouvons néanmoins constater que le fait de consommer ou non des produits laitiers ou des œufs n’est plus présenté comme une alternative au sein d’une seule définition mais fait l’objet de deux définitions, donc de deux conceptions, contradictoires. Étonnamment, c’est la seconde définition seule qui sera retenue par An American dictionary of the English language pour expliquer vegetarian, et qui restera telle quelle pendant tout le xix^e siècle. On aboutit même parfois à des paradoxes : dans le supplément à l’Imperial Dictionary, la définition de vegetarian exclut la consommation d’œufs et de produits laitiers, mais celle de vegetarianism les inclut !

L’arrivée en France

Si on ne peut dater précisément l’introduction du mot végétarien en français, il est manifeste qu’il est apparu bien avant la date généralement donnée par les dictionnaires  (7): 1873. On peut en effet le relever dès 1853 sous la plume du chimiste Anselme Payen dans Des substances alimentaires. Celui-ci, sans surprise, reprend un certain nombre de clichés de l’époque : les végétariens forment une secte, née en Angleterre, « pays des excentricités », et leur système, ne présentant que des inconvénients, n’est pas voué à un grand succès. L’auteur mentionne ainsi le fait que les Anglais sont et resteront le plus fort consommateur de viande au monde (8).

Comme le remarque Dupré dans son Encyclopédie du bon français dans l’usage contemporain : « La formation du mot végétarien est surprenante ; on attendrait végétalien ou végétaliste ; le suffixe -arien est rare en français, et réservé aux dérivés de mots en -aire (agrarien, prolétarien, unitarien). » Bref, ce terme est un calque maladroit et paresseux de l’anglais, comme l’atteste le dérivé végétarianisme, seul à figurer dans les suppléments au Dictionnaire de la langue française de Littré et au Grand Dictionnaire universel du xix^e siècle de Larousse (tous deux parus en 1877), tandis que son successeur, végétarisme, figurera à ses côtés dans le second supplément au Grand Dictionnaire universel (paru en 1890). Dans un premier temps les dictionnaires de Littré et de Larousse ne donnent que les végétaux pour toute alimentation du végétarien (« qui ne vit que de substances végétales »). Végétarien finissant par s’imposer péniblement en France au détriment de l’ambigu pythagoricien ou de l’ironique légumiste (9), la francisation de son dérivé, végétarianisme, est à l’ordre du jour. Puis, à partir des années 1890, les dictionnaires accueillent végétarisme et végétalisme (10), ce dernier terme étant le plus conforme à notre langue, mais mal relié à végétarien. Cette soudaine profusion de mots pour désigner une même réalité n’est pas sans créer de confusions. Le plus ancien (et le plus lourd), végétarianisme, va donc rapidement disparaître. Quant à végétalisme, il ne va pas détrôner végétarisme, alors solidement installé, mais va prendre le sens de ce dernier, qui lui gagnera celui que l’on connaît aujourd’hui. Bien que les premiers Petit Larousse ne fassent pas encore nettement la distinction entre les deux termes, (11) ce n’est pas le cas du Grand Dictionnaire universel, qui propose de surcroît des définitions tout à fait intéressantes : pour végétarisme, « Doctrine diététique, consistant dans l’abstention de tout aliment qui ne peut s’obtenir que par la destruction d’une vie animale » ; pour végétalisme, « Régime des personnes qui se nourrissent exclusivement de végétaux ». On peut toutefois constater que nos dictionnaires, contrairement aux dictionnaires de langue anglaise, n’évoquent que l’aspect diététique du végétarisme, en occultant le choix éthico-philosophique. Si Le Petit Larousse a remédié à cette lacune dans les dernières éditions de son dictionnaire, Le Petit Robert continue pour sa part à ne parler que de « doctrine diététique ».

Des problèmes de définition

Tous les dictionnaires en revanche proposent une définition « apophatique » de végétarisme, le définissant avant tout non par ce qu’il permet de manger, mais par ce qu’il interdit de consommer. Même si René Suzineau pensait que définir le végétarisme de façon positive le rendrait plus attrayant, on se rend vite compte des problèmes engendrés par cette solution : une imprécision si l’on se limite aux végétaux et le risque d’une liste interminable si l’on y ajoute le lait, les œufs, le miel, les champignons, les algues bleues (12)…

Une autre différence entre Petit Larousse et Petit Robert est que le premier inclut le végétalisme (aussi appelé « végétarisme pur ») dans le végétarisme, à l’instar de ce qu’a toujours préconisé la Vegetarian Society, tandis que le second oppose les deux. Dans le premier cas, il sera pertinent de parler d’ovo-, de lacto- et d’ovo-lacto-végétarien (termes apparus au début du xx^e siècle) ; mais, quel que soit le cas, parler de semi-végétarien paraît hasardeux, et totalement inapproprié dans le cadre d’un végétarisme éthique (13).

Le végétarisme éthique, justement, ne peut se satisfaire de la définition traditionnelle donnée à végétarisme, « qui exclut de l’alimentation la viande » (Le Petit Robert) ou « Système d’alimentation supprimant les viandes » (Le Petit Larousse), car, si viande peut recouvrir au sens large (et notamment lorsque le mot est mis au pluriel) la chair du poisson, il ne saurait englober la gélatine ou la présure, toutes substances qu’un végétarien « éthique » cherchera à éviter. Dans ce cas, une seconde acception du mot pourrait être, mutatis mutandis, celle que propose le Grand Dictionnaire universel, citée plus haut : « Doctrine diététique, consistant dans l’abstention de tout aliment qui ne peut s’obtenir que par la destruction d’une vie animale. » Formulé de façon plus contemporaine, cela peut aboutir à la définition suivante : « Nous appellerons végétarien toute personne qui […] s’abstient, lorsque cela est humainement évitable dans les conditions où elle se trouve, de supprimer directement ou indirectement la vie des animaux, pour quelque raison que ce soit […] » (André Méry, Les Végétariens. Raisons et sentiments). Celle-ci a le mérite de pouvoir être appliquée à un végétarien, un végétalien ou un vegan (14), encore qu’elle s’éloigne un peu des définitions couramment admises. 

Comme nous venons de le voir, le terme végétarien, ainsi que ses dérivés, a eu depuis sa naissance une histoire mouvementée et a beaucoup varié dans sa signification. Aujourd’hui encore, il suffit de faire un sondage autour de soi pour constater qu’il y a presque autant de définitions différentes de ce mot que d’individus interrogés. Si nos dictionnaires accordent une place plus importante aux mots du végétarisme et en peaufinent la définition, force est de constater que la définition idéale reste à inventer…

Tristan GRELLET

www.lesmotsduvegetarisme.fr

Passionné de français et intéressé par les langues en général, Tristan Grellet est correcteur pour différentes maisons d’édition (Larousse, Gallimard…). Il suit également des études de lettres classiques.

(1) www.vegsoc.org/news/2000/canapes.html.

(2) « The sight and smell of raw meat are especially odious to me, and I have often thought that if I had had to be my own cook, I should inevitably become a vegetarian, probably, indeed, return entirely to my green and salad days » (« La vue et l’odeur de la viande crue me sont particulièrement désagréables, et j’ai souvent pensé que si j’avais dû être ma propre cuisinière, je serais inévitablement devenue végétarienne et probablement, en fait, retournée totalement à ma verte jeunesse »).

(3) Vegetable vient de l’ancien français vegetable, lui-même issu du latin vegetabilis, « vivifiant », qui a pour origine vegetare, « animer », celui-ci étant tiré de vegetus. Nous voyons donc que, quelle que soit l’hypothèse étymologique privilégiée, vegetarian vient bien de vegetus, même si dans ce cas c’est par un lointain cheminement.

(4) Du nom de Pythagore, philosophe et mathématicien grec qui aurait été végétarien.

(5) Ce qui se traduit dans les repas mêmes confectionnés à l’occasion des réunions de la Vegetarian Society, où sont proposés indifféremment plats végétariens et végétaliens.

(6) « A vegetarian is someone living on a diet of grains, pulses, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits with or without the use of dairy products and eggs » (« Un végétarien est quelqu’un qui vit d’un régime de céréales, de légumineuses, de noix, de graines, de légumes et de fruits avec ou sans l’utilisation de produits laitiers et d’œufs ») http://www.vegsoc.org/info/definitions.html.

(7) Grand Larousse de la langue française, Le Grand Robert de la langue française et Trésor de la langue française informatisé.

(8) Cette observation a déjà été faite quelques années auparavant par Jean-Antoine Gleizes (ou Gleïzès, nom qu’il adopta à partir des années 1820), auteur français de la fin du xviii^e siècle et du xix^e qui publia plusieurs ouvrages historiques et de réflexion sur le végétarisme. Ce dernier se réjouissait ainsi de ce que le peuple français consommait moins de viande que le peuple anglais, « preuve la plus évidente de son perfectionnement ».

(9) Dupré y voit une « création heureuse et logique, mais qui n’a pas eu de succès ». Quoique employé par des gens bien intentionnés, légumiste, dont l’acception première est « Jardinier qui se consacre à la culture des légumes », a probablement dû être appliqué aux végétariens de façon péjorative. Nous en voulons pour preuve le fait qu’il restreigne l’alimentation des végétariens aux seuls légumes et qu’on le retrouve très souvent dans le syntagme secte des légumistes.

(10) Curieusement, végétalien ne fera son apparition dans Le Petit Larousse (qui propose également végétaliste) qu’à la fin du xx^e siècle. Le Petit Robert, quant à lui, n’a intégré ce mot qu’en 2007 !

(11) « végétarisme (ris-me) ou végétalisme (lis-me) n. m. (de végétal). Système d’alimentation dans lequel on supprime toutes les espèces de viande ou même tous les produits d’origine animale, dans un but soit prophylactique, soit curatif » (Petit Larousse illustré, 1913).

(12) On considère aujourd’hui les champignons comme un règne à part entière, ne faisant plus partie des végétaux. Les algues bleues sont des bactéries.

(13) On ne saurait non plus, comme le fait le Larousse gastronomique, parler de « pesco-végétarisme » (régime végétarien admettant le poisson). Ce terme, outre qu’il est absurde, est un barbarisme. Il faudrait parler de pisco- ou de pisci-végétarisme. « Le terme pesco-végétarien, calqué sur l’anglais qui l’a sans doute lui-même emprunté à une autre langue, est formé à partir de l’élément pesco-, inexistant en français. L’élément français correspondant au mot poisson est pisci-, du latin piscis, dont sont d’ailleurs tirés certains mots français comme pisciculture » (Le Grand Dictionnaire terminologique). Il en va de même du « pollo-végétarisme » (régime végétarien admettant la volaille)…

(14) Le Grand Dictionnaire terminologique le définit par « Adepte fervent du végétalisme qui n’utilise dans la vie courante aucun produit d’origine animale » et le traduit par « végétalien intégral », « hypervégétalien » ou « végintégriste ». Ces traductions ne nous satisfaisant pas vraiment, nous préférons conserver le mot anglais.

Sources

A supplement to the Imperial Dictionary, sous la dir. de John Ogilvie, Blackie and son, 1855.

Dupré (Paul), Encyclopédie du bon français dans l’usage contemporain, 3 vol., Éditions de Trévise, 1972.

Ernout (Alfred) et Meillet (Antoine), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine, Charles Klincksieck, 1951.

Esquiros (Alphonse), « M. Gleïzès. — Le régime des herbes », dans Revue des Deux Mondes, Revue des Deux Mondes, 1846 ; vol. XV, p. 837 à 857.

Gleïzès (Jean-Antoine), Thalysie, ou la Nouvelle Existence, 3 vol., Louis Desessart, 1840-1842.

Grand Larousse de la langue française, sous la dir. de Louis Guilbert, René Lagane et Georges Niobey, 7 vol., Larousse, 1989.

Grand Robert de la langue française (Le) [en ligne, ressource payante], Le Robert, 2005-2008. http://gr.bvdep.com/ (page consultée le 25 avril 2010).

Harper (Douglas), Online Etymology Dictionary [en ligne]. http://www.etymonline.com/ (page consultée le 25 avril 2010). 

Imperial Dictionary (The), sous la dir. de John Ogilvie, 3 vol., Blackie and son, 1854.

Kemble (Frances Ann), Journal of a residence on a Georgian plantation in 1838-1839, Harper and brothers, 1864.

Larousse (Pierre), Grand Dictionnaire universel du xix^e siècle, Administration du Grand Dictionnaire universel, 1877 et [1890] ; vol. XVI et XVII (suppléments).

Larousse gastronomique, Larousse-Bordas, 1997.

Littré (Émile), Dictionnaire de la langue française. Supplément, Hachette, 1886.

Méry (André), Les Végétariens. Raisons et sentiments, La Plage éditeur, 1998.

Office québécois de la langue française, Grand Dictionnaire terminologique (Le) [en ligne], Gouvernement du Québec, 2002. http://www.granddictionnaire.com/ (page consultée le 25 avril 2010).

Oxford English Dictionary [en ligne, ressource payante], Oxford University Press, 2010. http://dictionary.oed.com/ (page consultée le 25 avril 2010).

Payen (Anselme), Des substances alimentaires, Louis Hachette, 1853.

Petit Robert (Le), Dictionnaires Le Robert, 2007.

Petit Larousse (Le), Larousse, 2010.

Petit Larousse illustré, sous la dir. de Claude Augé, Larousse, 1913.

Spencer (Colin), The Heretic’s Feast : a history of vegetarianism, University Press of New England, 1996.

Suzineau (René), Le Végétarisme, Seghers, 1977.

Trésor de la langue française informatisé (Le) [en ligne], CNRS, Atilf, 2002. http://atilf.atilf.fr/ (page consultée le 25 avril 2010).

« Vegetarian Society », dans Scientific American, Munn and Company, 6 janvier 1849.

Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom (The), Vegetarian Society [en ligne]. http://www.vegsoc.org/ (page consultée le 25 avril 2010).

Webster (Noah), An American dictionary of the English language, G. et C. Merriam, 1865.

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Language resource apps for the iPad

Bruce D. Popp

I have an iPad (which I use a lot and like enormously; I never got an iPhone) and I've been looking at French-English language resource apps. Here's my review of what I've seen, including one bright spot and starting with my conditions.

In looking at apps I want iPad apps; iPhone apps work on an iPad but don't look any better than they do on an iPhone---they still use a small window and tiny keyboard, which are the two leading reasons (I have more) that I never got an iPhone.

For bilingual dictionaries, my standard references are my two workhorses: The Collins-Robert Electronic French Dictionary which says it has "over one million translations and includes some 120,000 entries" and the paper Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary, Third Edition which says it has "over 900,000 words, phrases, and translations," and in another place on the dust jacket "over 360,000 words and phrases, and 550,000 translations." In practical use, I haven't seen much difference in the extent or comprehensiveness of the coverage. Obviously comparing and making sense of these numbers is ambiguous. I would like an iPad app of comparable coverage.

Finally I'm looking at apps on the US iTunes store. (To make iTunes purchases, the billing address for your credit/debit card must be in the country corresponding to the store.  There is a France iTunes store, but I am unable to make purchases there.)

So here goes:

Monolingual French

Here's the bright spot:

The app name is Dictionnaire, the icon is a book with a brown cover, yellow "D" on the cover and a "bleu, blanc et rouge" bookmark sticking out between the pages. The very modest icon goes well with a very modest price of $1.99. But under the modest cover, this is the Trésor de la langue française informatisé in full.  I've only looked up about a half-dozen words, but I've been pleased.  Most other dictionaries have prices closer to book prices, so this price can't be beat. Worth a special trip to the app store.

Le Robert has Dixel for $11.99 but no Nouveau Petit Robert (or Grand Robert). I haven't considered buying it.

Larousse and others have iPhone apps, but I haven't looked at those for the reasons given above.

Monolingual English

I have the paper and PC versions of The American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth Edition. It is available as an iPhone app, but not an iPad app. While writing this review, I sent the publisher an e-mail asking if they had a release date for an iPad version, and they replied that it was in testing. The iPhone app price is $29.95. I'm waiting for an iPad version of this one.

Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged is available in a "designed for both iPhone and iPad" version. The price is $59.99 which seems expensive. I've heard that this edition of Webster's (paper version) is dated and overdue for an update. I'm not going to purchase this one.

(For completeness, I should note that Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition is available as an iPad app for $24.99. This is an abridged dictionary with substantially fewer entries than either the American Heritage or Webster's. I'm not going to purchase this one either.)

For people who work with that other language with the same name but spoken on the other side of the Atlantic, Chambers has an iPad dictionary but Oxford only has iPhone versions.

Bilingual Dictionaries

Collins Pro French-English Translation Dictionary, iPhone $24.99. It says it has "84,000 fully developed definitions for 45,000 headwords". Clearly this doesn't come close to measuring up to my two workhorses (above) and it's an iPhone app.

Larousse English/French Dictionary, iPhone $5.95. It says it has 250,000 words and phrases and 400,000 translations. This is better than the Collins app, but still not up to the workhorses and it too is an iPhone app. The price seems surprisingly low.

Oxford Hachette French Dictionary, iPhone $24.95. It says "over 360,000 words and phrases and 550,000 translations" just like my paper third edition (but without the "Oxford comma"). This meets the standard for coverage, but it is not an iPad app. Again, while writing this review, I sent the publisher an e-mail asking if they had a release date for an iPad version, and they replied, "At the moment we do not have available version for iPad because Oxford University Press has still not licensed rights to publish on iPad to any software publisher."

French-English Translation Dictionary by UltraLingua, iPad $19.99.  I don't know anything about Ultralingua. They say they have "over 85,000 headwords and 270,000 definitions". Numerically better and cheaper than Collins and it is an iPad app, but it falls short of Larousse, Oxford Hachette, and my expectations.

Harrap's Unabridged English <-> French Dictionary, iPad $29.99. It says its dictionary database has over 137,000 entries. So, this too seems to fall short of my expectations.

Summary

If you like iPhone apps, you have good options. On the iPad the TLFi is a bright spot; otherwise, I'm waiting for better options to become available.

Interviews with Karen: Ann Wiles

Ann Wiles

An interview by contributor Karen Tkaczyk.
 
For those readers who don't know you, can you tell us a little about your personal and educational background?

It took me longer than most to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. The School of Music at the University of Michigan was my first stop on a long journey. My next choice for my college major was German, but I didn't think there was any way to make a living with a language major, so I transferred to the School of Nursing out of a strong interest in anything medical. After receiving my undergraduate degree, I worked as a registered nurse (RN) in public health for four years. I then began work on a Master of Public Health at the University of Michigan but switched to the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at Oakland University, which would give me broader opportunities to be involved in business management.

I returned to hospital work as the Department Manager of Management Systems. After being promoted to Assistant Hospital Director at one of the largest hospitals in the country, I was responsible for managing large budgets, multiple departments, large groups of people, and several outpatient facilities. After 10 years in hospital administration, I had tired of the stress of a high-powered job, so I decided to take one more stab at the perfect career. Through a series of lucky coincidences, I became hooked on French and learned that there was a profession called "translation." I needed the time and freedom of mind to acquire the necessary expertise in both French and translation, so I became a Certified Coding Specialist (CCS). Coders read and analyze medical records and then assign the proper diagnosis and procedure codes. This provided me with unexpected benefits in translation later on.
 
How or why did you get started in T&I?
 
The United Nations was a favorite destination for school trips when I was growing up. The buildings were impressive, but I was the most fascinated by the simultaneous interpreters. I never wanted to be an interpreter and didn't discover until many, many years later that there was such a thing as a translator. I found out through my umpteenth version of "What Color is Your Parachute?" and a particularly good career skills test that led me to the codes in the U.S. government's "Dictionary of Occupational Titles" that best suited me. One of those occupations was translator, and I knew immediately that I had found my career.
When I was finally ready to take the plunge, I decided that I wanted an official credential in translation, but no programs were available locally. I couldn't even find a translation course until I realized (duh!) that where I lived in Michigan was right next door to a country with French as one of its official languages. My first course in translation was at the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The Windsor course helped me get admitted to the translation program at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The Georgetown program was exactly what I needed to learn translation (French to English specifically), translation business practices, and knowledge in both languages of a broad range of subject areas. I commuted from Detroit to Washington for two semesters while working full time as a coder. I had a ball and even got to see the cherry blossoms that year. In 2001, I received a Certificate of Proficiency in French to English Translation, which was a great help in becoming ATA certified very early in my translation career.
 
Do you have a good early story about your business?

Given my productivity and MBA background, I never had problems with such things as estimating how long a project would take or getting paid. Early on, however, I found it difficult to resist the temptation to translate too "literally" for editors who seemed to prefer it. I had one very painful experience with taking a job I shouldn't have taken because it required a style very different from my technical writing style. I compounded the mistake by translating too "literally" and not the way I was trained. The job was sent back to me for a redo. I was crushed and terrified, but I used everything I had been taught and desperately called on skills I didn't know I had to rewrite the translation. The agency loved it and was enthusiastic about how much their end-client would love it. I learned my lesson and never received a redo again.
 
Do you have a typical customer?

I have been translating mostly for agencies in the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe. Recently, I started adding direct clients for medical records translations with a good response so far.

What is unusual or unique about your practice in comparison to your competitors?

• I have real-life, professional (non-translation) experience related to most of the translations that I take, from operative reports to human resource management to standard operating procedures to deciphering physician handwriting. My clients sense the difference in my translations, which stems from the fact that I have personally worked in an operating room, managed people in a large corporation, and written procedures in a business environment.

• I track quantitative indicators for my translation business. The greatest benefit is knowing ahead of time how long a project will take, since I have a strong aversion to staying up all night working on a translation (or anything else). Although I generally charge by the word, I track how much I make per hour, which assists me in determining, for example, if a certain payment "discount" makes sense. Surprisingly, it often does.

• I get much of my continuing education alongside physicians through the University of Michigan Medical School and receive credits approved by the American Medical Association.

Do you have a customer experience or feedback that you are most proud of?

A number of years ago, a new agency client asked me to translate large volumes of handwritten physician progress notes. Their medically related end-client was quite concerned about translation quality as the result of previous bad experiences elsewhere. I had a tough time with the first few pages, which they wanted up front as a sample, but they gave me the go-ahead. After I submitted the 90 or so pages, the agency owner called to tell me that their end-client was "drooling" over the translation.

Does your business have an online presence?

My Web site is www.awiles.net. Having developed it mostly for informational purposes, I was very surprised when my most recent new client told me she found me through a general Google search. My listing in the ATA directory has been a great source of work. As for more popular avenues such as Facebook, their signal-to-noise ratio still seems less than optimal to me, but I am investigating LinkedIn.

Do you do any non-profit work related to T&I?

I have been translating as a volunteer for Traducteurs Sans Frontières/Médecins Sans Frontières in Paris for many years.

Do you have an interesting story about a customer interaction you had?

Yes, but it's not printable. I have a good one, though, about searching for terminology. Medical records are notorious for their abbreviations and symbols. I can usually figure out symbols from the context, but nursing notes from France have arrows (some up, some down, some on the diagonal, etc.) that I couldn't figure out even after one 200-page job. I keep a list with me when I travel in case I find someone who can help. I came down with a minor illness that nevertheless needed immediate treatment while I was on what happened to be a French cruise ship in the Antarctic. The doctor was ashore visiting the penguins (I had already had my turn), so I struck up a conversation with the French nurse while waiting for him to get back. She had the answer to my question and was thrilled to be having a conversation in French. It turns out that no matter what direction the arrows are pointing, it always means the same thing, and it is true across hospitals in France. It refers to stopping or removing something such as a catheter, an IV, oxygen, etc. According to her, there is no symbol at all for starting a treatment. No wonder I was confused.

What are some of your greatest challenges in your business?

• Dealing with too much work.

• Dealing with not enough work.

Ann may be reached at ann@awiles.net or +1 734-347-8183.

Call for nominations

The nominating committee has received a great nomination for Administrator. Only one, so at this point the election will be uncontested.

Before the beginning of July we need a nomination for Assistant Administrator. We are telling members that we have a candidate for Administrator in the hope that this will inspire one or more of you to offer to help him run the FLD. Yes, him! The FLD will have a man in charge after a long time, unless of course other nominations for Administrator come in before the deadline and we hold an election.

The call for Nominations is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/listeFLD/files/FLD_Call%20for%20nominations.pdf. It has lots more information and the link for the nomination form. Please contact any of the nominating committee (me, Julie Porter, Alan Dages and Patrice Vanhyle) for further information. We will publish the slate of candidates in early July.

Karen Tkaczyk (Nominating Committee Chair)

Interviews with Karen: Eric Bullington

Eric Bullington

An interview by contributor Karen Tkaczyk.

For those readers who don’t know you, can you tell us a little about your personal and educational background?

I spent the 1990s traveling and living in Europe and North Africa and studying in the US.  In 1997, I was awarded a bachelor’s degree in French by the College of Charleston, as well as a university specialization in the Classics (Greek, Latin, and classical civilization) called the Artium Baccalaureatus degree.  I was introduced to the world of medicine and health in the late-1990s when I underwent training as an emergency medical technician; during training I completed over 200 hours of coursework in emergency medicine and worked alongside nurses and physicians both in the field and in hospitals.  In 1999, I went to New Orleans to study public health at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and decided to specialize in international health, which was a natural progression for me.  While at Tulane, I also had the opportunity to take coursework in epidemiology as well as clinical classes in tropical medicine.  I soon switched to part-time status at Tulane as a result of an opportunity that I was given to work as a contract interpreter and translator for Catholic Charities Office of Refugee Resettlement in New Orleans.  For several ensuing years, I worked as an interpreter and studied public health part-time at Tulane (I received my Master of Public Health degree from Tulane in 2003).  In 2002, I went to Baltimore for a summer and completed 12 hours of graduate coursework in epidemiology and biostatistics from Johns Hopkins University. I subsequently spent one year working as a public health researcher and statistician.  During this same time, I also started working as a part-time freelance translator specializing in medical and pharmaceutical translations and in 2004 I began translating full-time.  I now work exclusively with documentation from the fields of medicine, public health, international development, and the pharmaceutical industry.  I maintain my ties to public health and medicine by volunteering with my local branch of the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). I serve on the branch’s steering committee and frequently participate in training in disaster medicine and public health preparedness.  Last year, I represented the MRC on the South Carolina Pandemic Influenza Ethics Task Force, which drafted a white paper to serve as an ethical framework for South Carolina's response to an influenza pandemic (which came in handy during the H1N1 pandemic).

How or why did you get started in T&I?

It’s an interesting story.  I was already fluent in French and Bosnian before I started my studies in public health at Tulane University in New Orleans.  During the winter break of my first year at the program, I did a short volunteer stint in post-war Kosovo helping to do structural assessments for a small non-governmental organization.  Upon my return, I noted an article in the local paper about a group of refugee families that were being re-settled in New Orleans by Catholic Charities of New Orleans.  None of the Kosovar Albanian refugees spoke English.  I called Catholic Charities to volunteer my services as a speaker of the language(s) referred to as “Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian” by the United Nations, which is spoken fluently by many Albanians from Kosovo.  They called me in and after watching me interact with the refugees, offered me a job as a translator and interpreter.  So my on-the-job training started immediately, and within weeks I was doing consecutive interpreting at job seminars and other events held for refugees from both Kosovo and Bosnia, as well as doing a great deal of community interpreting.  I stopped interpreting in 2002, but I continued to translate as a freelancer, eventually making freelance translating my full-time job in 2004.

Do you have a good early story about your business?

If we are honest, I suspect that most translators have terrible yet revealing stories from their early years in the business, ones in which they end up pounding out 10,000 words of translation over a 24-hour period.  Although intensively unpleasant at the time, these incidents do at times result in good stories (or at least interesting ones) and I certainly have my share of them.  During my first year or two, I sometimes misjudged project deadlines and then stayed up all night to finish in time.  Fortunately, those of us who stick with freelance translation live and learn; now, after ten years of full- and part-time work in the translation industry, I’m happy to have achieved a level of consistency and quality that is no longer conducive to that type of “good” story.  An ideal project for me is an uneventful project where everything goes according to plan, even though such projects rarely lead to a good story.

Do you have a typical customer?

My typical agency client is one specializing in medical, or at the very least scientific, translations.  And because of my background in international health and development, I’m picking up more and more direct clients in that area, many of whom are connected with the United Nations system or the United States Agency for International Development.

What is unusual or unique about your practice, in comparison to your competitors?

I’m quick to learn new computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools  –or translation environment tools (TEnTs), if you prefer – and am happy to learn proprietary software for my clients, as long as I’m allowed to leverage my existing translation memories and terminology bases on the new software.  However, I generally do not offer “translation-memory discounts” or “fuzzy match rates.”

Do you have a customer experience or feedback that you are most proud of?

My most recent direct client has both subject area expertise in the area of my translation, as well as fluency in both the source and target language, and she was very pleased with my work.  It’s very rewarding for me to receive compliments directly from the end users of my translations, particularly when they are subject area experts.

Does your business have an online presence? A website, blog or a profile on social web spaces like Linked In, Facebook, MySpace or YouTube?

My main website is in a blog format (I use WordPress), and I feature my Twitter feed on my website’s home page (www.clinicaltranslations.com).  I’ve been on LinkedIn since its beginning, and although not every interaction I’ve had has led to work, I have been able to connect with colleagues and potential clients, which has benefited my business in the end.

Do you do any non-profit work related to T&I?

Yes, I do frequent volunteer work for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).  I contribute a great deal of unpaid work to MSF-USA, mostly in the form of translations but also some project management skills, such as earlier this year when I coordinated their translator response to the earthquake in Haiti.  I also occasionally accept paid contracts from MSF-USA when they’ve specifically budgeted for a translation.  This arrangement recently gave me the opportunity to translate a chapter from an MSF book on humanitarian assistance in Niger called A Not-so Natural Disaster: Niger ’05, edited by Xavier Crombé and Jean-Hervé Jézéquel and published by Columbia University Press in 2009.  I donate my time and expertise to MSF because I strongly believe in their mission, but without question, this collaboration has been mutually beneficial.  I’ve learned a lot from the projects I’ve done for them and met some very knowledgeable colleagues along the way.

Do you have an interesting story about a customer interaction you had?

Unfortunately, the most interesting customer interactions I’ve had are all bound by confidentiality agreements, so I can’t share them.  But I can say that I had the opportunity to translate some interesting material in Bosnian relating to national security back when I did translations outside of the medical and pharmaceutical fields.  And I’ve had a chance to translate the medical records of a world leader.  But for me, every informed consent form or journal article that I translate is interesting – I genuinely enjoy what I do.

What are some of your greatest challenges in your business? Has the recession affected you in any way? If so, how so?

The greatest I challenge I have now is finding enough time to continue to conduct marketing for my business.  I have enough client demand now that I could spend all of my time translating.  Unfortunately, that type of monolithic business strategy will likely leave me with the same revenue in five years that I earn now.  So I need to force myself to do whatever it takes – including turning down jobs – to make time to market my services to higher-paying clients. 

I’m very fortunate not to have been affected by the recession.  Over the past year, my income has risen by as much as it rose in the years preceding the recession.

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Concours pour le recrutement d'interprètes de langue française

Chers collègues,

J'ai le grand plaisir de vous annoncer qu'en juin 2010, le Secrétariat de l'Organisation des Nations Unies organisera un concours pour le recrutement d'interprètes de langue française. Le concours aura lieu normalement le 29 juin 2010. Les dossiers de candidature doivent être reçus le 14 mai 2010 au plus tard.

Veuillez trouver à l'adresse internet ci-dessous l'annonce contenant les détails concernant ce concours.

http://www.un.org/french/Depts/OHRM/examin/fexam.htm

Bonne chance!
Virginia

Virginia K. Fox, CT
FLD Administrator