Avoiding Eight Translation Traps:Planning Multilingual

Communication for Your District

Welcome

1. Introductions2. Culture in the Classroom 3. Avoiding the Eight Traps4. Tips, Tools and Resources5. Q & A

AgendaAgendaAgendaAgenda

Lillian A. Tsai, President, TsaiCommsLillian Tsai is founder and president of TsaiComms, LLC, a cross-cultural consulting firm based in Portland, Oregon, that specializes in bridging cultural gaps across differences.

Prakalpa Bastianpillai, VP Operations, viaLanguageClient services management including K12 Business unit14 years experience in Operations Management with Quality and Continuous Improvement focus

Presenters Presenters Presenters Presenters

Leslie Iburg , Moderator, viaLanguageFocus in marketing communications for the K12 and Healthcare Business Units at K12Translate and viaLanguage. Previous experience working directly with ESL/ELL students and adults.

Multicultural KMulticultural KMulticultural KMulticultural K----12 Communication 12 Communication 12 Communication 12 Communication (Leslie) 6

Meeting the challenges…

• Effective communication in changing classrooms

• Minimize cost and time

• Increase parental involvement

Planning Your Multicultural CommunicationsPlanning Your Multicultural CommunicationsPlanning Your Multicultural CommunicationsPlanning Your Multicultural Communications

¡Hola! ��م

!hall� Hello!

zdravo

שלום

heihujambo merhaba

Trap 1:Trap 1:Trap 1:Trap 1:

- Shift in faces and voices in America’s schools over last 30 years• Religious practices • Parental involvement

- Solution• Develop closer relationships with children

and parents

Failure to Recognize Cultural Norms &Differences in the Classroom

Trap 2:Trap 2:Trap 2:Trap 2: Literacy Levels and Readability (Lillian) �

- An increase in diversity of language and differences in cultural values and beliefs• Student vs. parent literacy• Multi-generational differences• Cultural norms affect active involvement

Trap 3:Trap 3:Trap 3:Trap 3: Plan for Content and Languages (Prakalpa)�

- Is my content translation ready?• Write content that can be used by multiple teams and easily

updated.• Avoid jargon, slang and cultural references that won’t translate

well.• Keep content simple to limit the cost of future edits/changes.

- Is this the right language? • Essential to understand the linguist preference and regional

nuance of your audience.• Use terminology and style of a specific culture or region.

Trap 4:Trap 4:Trap 4:Trap 4: Translation Oversight (Lillian) �

- It’s not just about words…• Cultural nuances, context, fonts, non-

Romanized languages, compound words, dialects and other influences.

• Technology

Trap 5:Trap 5:Trap 5:Trap 5: Empty Toolbox Thinking (Prakalpa)�

Set yourself up for success Create and leverage your AssetTrioAssetTrio– Style Guide– Glossary– Translation Memory

Translation Memory-What is it? (Prakalpa)�

– Bi-directional tool – Needs upfront time and investment– Stores segments that are previously translated– Compares new segments against the Memory– Drives consistency

Translation Memory (TM) is a database tool that allows you to save translations and recycle previously translated segments for future use.

TMTMTMTranslation

Memory

Documents

Trap 6:Trap 6:Trap 6:Trap 6: Quality Control (Prakalpa)�

– Work with experienced, native speaking translators that understand US education system

– Create Asset Trio: Style Guide, Glossary, TM

– Involve community reviewers

Trap 7:Trap 7:Trap 7:Trap 7: Plan Ahead and Save Plan Ahead and Save Plan Ahead and Save Plan Ahead and Save (Prakalpa)�

– Translations are ad hoc and not well-planned– Prioritize the most spoken languages– Different documents add up and cost time and money– Incorporate compliance documents in your annual budget

For instance, in a parent letter, instead of writing: ----------------------------- Dear Mrs. Lopez, I am writing to let you know that on September 1st, Jose will begin Academically Gifted classes. ----------------------------- You could phrase the sentence: ----------------------------- Dear Parent, I am writing to let you know that on DD/MM/YYYY, your child will begin classes through the XXXX Program.

Bundle TranslationsBundle TranslationsBundle TranslationsBundle Translations (Prakalpa)�

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Trap 8: Share, Reuse and Recycle Share, Reuse and Recycle Share, Reuse and Recycle Share, Reuse and Recycle (Prakalpa)�

You are not alone…– Work with your Language Service

Provider to archive past projects for later use

– Reuse and share translations within your school district

– Centralize Translation Memory – sharing across the district

SummarySummarySummarySummary (Leslie)�

� Recognize cultural impact � Plan, plan, plan� Utilize the right tools, technology and teams

ResourcesResourcesResourcesResources (Leslie) �

– TsaiComms• www.tsaicomms.com

– The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools• www.healthinschools.org

– National Center on Immigration Integration Policy –• http://www.migrationinformation.org/integration/language_portal

– US Department of Education• http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml

– Office of Refugee Resettlement• http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/

Thank You!Thank You!Thank You!Thank You! (Leslie) �

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