Vol/51 No/2 2012APRIL/MAYTheLinguist17FEATUREStell you to do when you're learning alanguage at university, I actually do.' Macdonald takes an academic approach.In the early stages of her career, she askedher employers to pay for an evening coursein French for business. More recently, she hashired a tutor herself. 'We've done one-to-onesessions and tailored those toward my job,'she explains. 'Sometimes we have debatesbecause my tutor will know the "correct"words, but I'll know the colloquialisms. Once,we went through one of my documents andchanged every reference to packaging fromle packaging, which I had used, to the Frenchword she recommended [encapsulation]. Itcame back from the French office withlepackagingput back in.' There is something inherent in the processof language learning that benefits a career insales and marketing. Leaf puts it succinctly: 'Ifyou're able to speak more than onelanguage, chances are you're a goodlistener.' Britt's experience backs this up: 'Ifyou start learning a language at school at 11,as I did, and you go through the academicprocess, you have to watch and listen andattempt to understand how other people arecommunicating. I spent my whole academiccareer doing that. It deepens yourunderstanding of human behaviour.' That is akey skill, and one that indicates a crucialinterest in people. According to Britt, a language degree isher biggest professional asset. Her office ismultilingual. 'It's like a mini world inWimbledon!' she says. 'We have peopleworking in every language.' As for her role: 'Iwould recommend having a languagedegree. As the world develops, Japaneseand Chinese are increasingly useful - andSpanish means you can work across a hugenumber of countries and emerging markets -but any language is useful.' Macdonald goesfurther: 'I probably wouldn't shortlistsomeone applying for this type of role if theydidn't have a language,' she says. Perhaps most importantly, language skillscan increase job satisfaction. 'This is the firsttime I've really enjoyed speaking French',Macdonald admits, 'and I think it's becauseI've been getting positive feedback. Throughschool and university, the focus seemed to beon getting everything 100 percent correct,which meant I always focused on what I wasdoing wrong. Professionally, I am now able tocommunicate and build relationships withlicensees, and even though I'm sure I makelittle mistakes on the way, they appreciate thatI'm making the effort, and ultimately they'regetting the information they need. So while Imay need to work on my accent at times, thebigger picture is more important.'For Britt, using her French and Spanish is'one of the things I love about this job themost. It's very exciting. And in every job I'veever done', she concludes, 'the fact that I'vehad language on my CV has opened a door.'Sales and marketing industries arebecoming increasingly global. In PR, 'languagecan be extremely important', says Bob Leaf, aFellow of the Chartered Institute of PublicRelations [CIPR] and Chairman of Robert SLeaf Consultants. 'People with languages arein demand. The opportunity for people whoknow more than one language hasdramatically expanded in recent years.' As the former International Chairman ofBurson-Marsteller, at a time when it was theworld's largest PR firm, Leaf set up offices in anumber of countries. He knows the value ofemploying people with language skills. 'Ifyou're in a PR role within a global company,or within a company that has aspirations togo international, you're going to be moreproductive if you speak the language of morethan one of those countries. Languages createan enhanced role for you.' They can fast-tracka career, too: 'Let's say you're working for aPR firm and all of a sudden they get a hugeaccount in Germany. If you're the only personin the office that speaks German, youbecome a huge asset.' Language skills caneven render you suitable for roles you maynot have considered otherwise, Leaf notes.'Say a senior job then comes up in that newoffice - who's going to be put up for that?'Mastering the jargonVocabulary can be very specialised,depending on the sector, but priorknowledge isn't essential, says Macdonald. 'I used to work for a children's publishingcompany and there's loads of language to dowith the production of books which I nowknow in French but would never have knownotherwise. I didn't even know it in English.' To help, she used a bilingual publishingdictionary. Britt agrees: 'Computer games isquite an informal industry, but it is an industryof jargon. We talk about things like "firstperson shooter" - phrases that mean verylittle to people outside the industry.' She has to master this jargon in threelanguages; it's a constant learning curve. 'Idownload podcasts from the radio, readnovels in other languages as often as possible,watch foreign language films, keep abreast ofinternational news, and just chat to people tokeep an ear in,' says Britt. 'All the things theyQualifications: For international roles insales, marketing and PR, language degreesare valuable. Britt studied French andSpanish; Macdonald, History and French. Personal qualities: To be successful,candidates should be confident, articulate,adaptable, diplomatic and vivacious. Where to start: A junior marketing/salesrole is a good place to launch a career.Macdonald started as a Rights andContracts Assistant at a publishingcompany; Britt testing foreign-languagecomputer games. Both say a personalpassion for your sector is desirable.Useful websites: www.cipd.co.uk(Chartered Institute for Public Relations);www.cim.co.uk (Chartered Institute forMarketing); www.ismm.co.uk (Institute ofSales and Marketing Management);www.marketingweek.co.uk; andwww.prweek.co.uk.'I probably wouldn'tshortlist anyone forthis type of role if theydidn't have a language'Getting started

18 TheLinguistAPRIL/MAYwww.iol.org.ukFEATURESAamna Kaul,Mariam PashaandZaibun Pasha on translatingThe Taming of the Shrewinto UrduThe problem of marrying off one's children,particularly daughters, and most particularlyolder ones, is a common theme insubcontinental storytelling. So when facedwith translating and adapting The Taming ofthe Shrewfrom Shakespearean English toUrdu, we quickly realised that the basicpremise of the play was entirely concordantwith Pakistani culture. Katherina is wilful andher father, Baptista, despairs of ever marryingher off; Bianca is pretty and has many suitors:the tension of the play is established whenBaptista decides Bianca cannot marry beforeher older sister. We decided to transport the play fromPadua, Italy to Lahore, Pakistan, and to set itin a relatively modern time, given thatPakistan only came into being 64 years ago.We imagined the action unfolding in the1980s, a time when there was a dictatorshipand women were particular targets forrepression, as appears to be the case for thefemale characters in this play. However, wereplaced them with more general figures. So,for instance, Minerva becomes a more vague'goddess of wisdom'. In this way we wantedto avoid making the text too obscure for amodern audience. This is not to say that wedenuded our translation of metaphor; wherethe modern feel of the text could besustained we attempted to either translateShakespearean imagery as is or give it a pop-culture twist. An example of the latter occurs in Act IIIwhen a servant informs Baptista thatKatherina's suitor, Petruccio, is about to arrive.The servant goes on to describe the state ofPetruccio in highly comic terms: he is shabbilydressed and riding a horse that is riddled withdiseases and wearing a strap 'which hath twoletters for her name fairly set down'. In ourversion the 'horse' is a very old car with variousproblems, on the back of which the numberplate is replaced by a couplet of the kindfound on the backs of Lahore rickshaws.These couplets are so popular that there areseveral internet sites dedicated to themunder the banner 'rickshaw poetry'. One suchcouplet, which proved perfect for this play, is (rani, zid na kar,raja ap bara zidi hai). It can be looselytranslated as:'Princess, don't be stubborn,The Prince also is very stubborn'These two lines convey the essentialsameness of Petruccio and Katherina, andhighlight the fact that Katherina is not theonly 'shrew' referred to in the title. This is inkeeping with what Shakespeare shows usabout Petruccio in the course of the play. It should be noted that, although audienceswill be familiar with Shakespeare's original title,Translating the Barddid not want to be too specific andstraitjacket the play into this decade. So weavoided using references that would date thescript too narrowly and tried to make itflexible enough to be adapted to any of therecent decades.Given the modernity of the setting weaimed to translate Shakespeare into modernUrdu, and also to make it relativelyaccessible. In order to achieve this we had toedit or adapt some of the metaphors,particularly those that were myth-based. Inthe first act one of Bianca's suitors says to hisfaithful servant: 'Thou art to me as secret and as dearAs Anna to the Queen of Carthage was'We removed the mythological reference inthis line, partly because we could not come upwith a popular equivalent in Pakistani cultureand partly because myth is not a part of themodern imagination to the extent that it wasin Shakespeare's England. In other instanceswhere mythical figures were referenced, weIt would have beenblasphemous toreplace the Bible withthe Quran. Instead weused the nikah namaON STAGEThe Taming of the Shrewwill beperformed in Urdu at The Globe (left).During rehearsals (below), Omair Rana(Petruccio) is pictured with HamzaKamal (Sifarish Khan/Grumio) and (l)Nadia Jamil (Katherina) ?0/ >('& 2=< ;: 5921 876 53 ('& © JOHNTRAMPER