translator

HRH

How have you gone about finding a competent translator for HR documents? We want to have everything translated into Spanish. Community Colleges? HR Associations? Want to get someone good.

System

We're thinking about adding Spanish subtitles to our California harassment training video, and we'd want an HR consultant to translate so they'd get the HR jargon right. We met with one named Ana (forgot her last name), [email]ana@lafuenteconsulting.com[/email] . I haven't seen any of her work so I can't vouch for her, but she seems sharp.

You also could call Margaret Morford, who used to hang out on this forum. She has a translator in her network of consultants. 615.371.8200.

Good luck.

James Sokolowski
HRhero.com

HRCalico

It is extremely difficult to tell who is "good". I have an acquaintance who does trasnlations, and I believe he has built up a decent clientele but I would never use him because he can't spell in either language and makes tons of grammar errors. I don't mean to be discouraging! I would recommend, no matter who you go with, that you try to get someone else who is fluent to double check the finished product.

Then again, I can critique a piece of writing until the cows come home and still never be done, so there is a fine line between needs work and good enough.

Also, regional nuances will throw a wrench in the works so that what may make perfect sense to a Mexican may be (ahem) Greek to a Peruvian. Are there other agencies or companies in your area who you know of that have materials in Spanish? Ask who did their translations and if they're happy with them.

CindyG

I probably went the long and tedious route, but I used [url]www.dictionary.com[/url] and copied and pasted our Employee Handbook from English to Spanish. I then had my HR Assistant at the time edit it, as she was bilingual. It didn't cost the company anything, but time basically. I'd recommending finding someone who could professionally do a final review on it, however. (There's also another site for translations, [url]www.altavista.com[/url].)

HRCalico

Did your assistant find there was a lot of editing? I have found those translations go straight across, word for word, and if you use slang or words with multiple meanings, it doesn't recognize the context. (And if it doesn't recognize the word, it just pops it out unchanged!) When I write in Spanish, I think in Spanish - I don't figure out what I'm going to say in English first. Re-writing the poicy so that it says the same thing but using words that line up the phrasing better for translation would really help.

I'm really curious, Cindy - how long did it take the two of you, start to finish? Good for you for sticking it out!

TN HR

Mi sugerencia es que debes de buscar a alguien que tenga un nivel de educacion por lo menos universitario y que tambien sea acostumbrado(a) a traducir documentos con lenguaje tecnico o legal.

Desgraciadamente, muchos "traductores" solamente hablan el idioma regional de su pais y no saben como adaptarlo en una manera que otros hispanoablantes lo entiendan.

Me encantaria ayudarte, pero mis servicios no son exactamente economicos. Un proyecto de esta magnitud te costaria alrededor de $4,000 EUD.

Gene

P.S. HRcalico can translate this for you. It will become apparent why I wrote this in Spanish once she does

HRH

Que bueno! Yo entiendo y muchas gracias. Yo buscando en la universidad local.

HRCalico

Whew - looks like I'm off the hook. I'd have had to dictionary.com a few of those words! :>) Excellent points, Gene.