Vol/51 No/4 2012AUGUST/SEPTEMBERTheLinguist21CREATIVE TRANSLATIONissue: a client with strong views on whatconstitutes business English.Dealing with these issues is an exercise indiplomacy. The client had a good standard ofEnglish, but it wasn't their first language. Myusual gambit ('How well you know yourmarket! What wonderful ideas you have! May Ijust suggest - in order to optimise your ideas -a couple of tweaks?') didn't work. 'So what?'you might ask; the client is entitled to havewhat they want. But this is BMW, with well-established brand values. The agency was onmy side: they wanted to get it right but didn'twant to fight. So I introduced a number oflow-key tweaks. The client was happy andapproved the final copy. A compromise, yes,but a face-saving, pragmatic one that meantthe final result was written in proper English. Tempting as it is to be precious about one'screative work - especially after spending hoursstruggling with ideas - it is much better to bepragmatic. Since then, I have done a numberof jobs for the same client. Predictably, theyno longer make changes to my copybecause they have learned to trust me.A little while ago, I translated a brochure onmergers and acquisitions for Ernst & Young(E&Y) Deutschland. This was a good exampleof 'trickle-briefing'. First I was sent the bodycopy for the brochure, which was reasonablystraightforward - clear intention, clearmessaging, clear target audience. No explicitbrief was included or, apparently, required.Then came the headlines (chapter headings).These were somewhat trickier, with someodd turns of phrase. What was going on? I returned my translation with severalproposals for each headline and anauthoritative commentary suggesting that,with more context, I could pinpoint the idealheadline in each case. There was a pause.Then they sent me the visuals and all wasrevealed. The images were humorous,involving chickens and eggs in various statesof distress (a theme only obliquely reflectedin the copy). After a discussion with theagency, I was able to produce amendedheadlines that played on this humour. Corporate speakEvery large corporation tends to develop astrong corporate culture - a kind of group-think based on the company's priorities andgoals, often expressed in a specific corporateshorthand ('idiolect', paceBellos).2When thisstarts to infect corporate communicationsthey have a problem. Effectively, their writersstart to assume that not only existingcustomers but even prospective customersshare the company's priorities and concerns -and even the language used to express them. Both assumptions are horribly flawed, andresult in concepts and copy that are bothdifficult to read and tangential to customers'real-world interests. As a trusted outsider, Ihave been able to remind corporatemarketing departments that they should beinterested in their customers' preoccupations,not their own. Again, the extent to which theyhave been willing to listen has depended onthe professionalism with which I haveconveyed my very carefully expressed critique.Creative translators work for thecommunications industry. We have to be goodcommunicators not only in our work, but alsoin the way we liaise with clients. This can betime-consuming, and this should be reflectedin our pricing, but without communication, youcan't produce creative translation.I'll admit I get things wrong too. I once losta Dutch client as a result of defending somecreative work too vigorously. I fell into a simplebut seductive trap: I had come up with what Ithought were some really good ideas, I wasupset when the client didn't like them andunimpressed by their counter-suggestions. Iforgot all the lessons I had learnt over 25 yearsof working in the industry. I went in hard andsounded arrogant. We patched together asolution but we never worked together again.Much of the intellectual labour of creativetranslation goes into communicating with yourclient. Do it well, and you'll build long-lastingrelationships. Neglect it, or do it badly, andyou'll lose them very quickly indeed.Notes1 Bellos, D, 2011, Penguin, 1952Ibid, 288money - is difficult, time-consuming andfraught with risk. We've all read about viralcampaigns that have gone horribly wrong.The diplomatAs a translator, I usually work out of German. Irecently worked on a newsletter for a clientwho decided to use the German conceptAnstandas the theme for the publication.Anstandcan mean an enormous variety ofthings, including propriety, decorum, decency,respectability and good manners. There's nosingle English word that encapsulates it.Rather than wrestle single-handedly withthe problem, I included the client in mydeliberations. We discussed the way Anstandis approached in each article; the mainmessages of the newsletter, which is aimedprimarily at managers; and the lessons thenewsletter is trying - often quite subtly - toteach. We even discussed whether to includea separate English explanation of the termfor interested readers. These interactions didnot damage the client's respect for my work.In fact, the client was extremely appreciative,I learnt more about their specific concerns,and our relationship developed.Last year, a marketing firm asked me totranslate a variety of materials for a BMWcampaign, including a website and severalemailers. The campaign targeted businessbuyers; the language was serious butseductive. The client provided me with lots ofreference material and was responsive to myqueries. But then we ran into a fairly commonCreative directors areconfronted by a vastrange of media. Makingthe right choices isfraught with risk

22 TheLinguistAUGUST/SEPTEMBER www.iol.org.ukFEATURESMiranda Moorelooks at the MA modules that takestudents from ab initio to translation level in just one yearIn these difficult economic times, it is moreimportant than ever to stand out from thecompetition. Clients and employers will askthemselves why they should choose you oversomeone with similar experience andqualifications, and for translators the answermay well be an additional language. With thisin mind, some MA Translation courses offer abinitiomodules focused entirely on translation. It is an ambitious idea, aiming to getstudents to a level at which they can translatenon-specialist texts written in a 'new'language after just one year. It is hardlysurprising, therefore, that such modules areoffered at just two universities: Westminsterand Surrey.1Daniel Tomozeiu, who teachesthe ab initio Romanian module atWestminster, explains the benefits forstudents: 'Adding a particular language totheir portfolio -a niche language inparticular -makes them stand out and makestheir CV a lot more attractive.'This kind of ab initiomodule wasintroduced at the university four years ago, aspart of a wider drive aimed at making surethat Westminster graduates would stand outfrom the crowd in the jobs market. 'We havea lot of our students going to work for theEuropean institutions and it's highlycompetitive,' explains Dr Tomozeiu. Armingstudents with one of the smaller EUlanguages gives them a competitive edge. At Surrey, such modules have been runningfor more than 20 years. Professor MargaretRogers, Director of its Centre for TranslationStudies, was involved in establishing anddesigning the courses. 'One of the firstmotivations was to give a chance to becomeprofessional translators to people who onlyhad an A and a B language,' she explains.Starting from scratchAs at Westminster, which currently offersRomanian, Portuguese, Dutch and Italian, thefocus has been on niche languages, including,in the past, Dutch, Polish and Greek.Norwegian and Portuguese are available tothis year's cohort. 'We wanted to add a rarityvalue,' says Rogers. This ties in with the aim ofthe National Network for Translation to boostthe number of English speakers translatingfrom less widely spoken languages.Ab initio modules are available atuniversities up and down the country, but thedifference with these particular MA modulesis that the sole focus is on translation.Students do not practise speaking orlistening, and don't even need to know howthe language sounds -although, in practice,both universities teach some communicationskills, mainly for 'motivational reasons'. 'The course focuses on comprehension -that's the main aim,' says Tomozeiu. 'We startby looking at very basic forms of grammar -nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs -and howthey are used in a text.' Grammar rules arerepeated and applied to various texts untilthe students are able 'to identify not only thegrammar we are learning but also the overallstructure of phrases'. Helene Grinsted took both the Romanianand Portuguese options while studying for anMA in Technical and Specialised Translationat Westminster. 'It's amazing how quickly wewere able to derive translations,' she says.'We were dropped right in at the deep end.'They began translating from Portuguese inthe very first lesson. A different approachThe courses are run on a slightly differentbasis at each university, with Westminsterlimiting the modules to native Englishspeakers and Surrey allowing an open choice.For Dr Tomozeiu, 'learning the new languageis enough of a challenge without addinganything demanding on the target language.'In addition, Westminster students areencouraged to choose a language that iscognate with one they already speak. 'Romanian was identified quite early on asa potential candidate because of thesimilarities to other Romance languages andthe increased demand because of thecountry's accession to the European Union,'he explains. Prof Rogers agrees that offeringmodules on a cognate language basis wouldStudents do notpractise speaking orlistening, and don'teven need to know howthe language sounds