Hello Janet:
 
I've been following with interest the many excellent comments you've  
received in reply to your question about national translation standards.
 
The recent note by Aracely Rosales, whose services I have employed, and  
recommend, for Spanish-language programs, provides an excellent summary of the  
many factors to consider when developing materials in another language.
 
In addition to what you have learned, some comments on using vendors to  
develop projects may be helpful. Based on my experiences in one of my prior  lives 
as founder and President of Transcultural Communications, a health  care 
advertising agency specializing in primarily  Spanish-language health care 
communications, I'd suggest you also consider  the following:
 
1) Always check a vendors references with at least two clients. 
 
2) Ensure the vendor uses American Translation Association (ATA)  certified 
translators and insist on being given a copy of their credentials  (which you 
can then verify are current on the ATA Web site).
 
3) For medical/legal reasons, we insisted all projects have at least one  
ATA-certified translator involved in creating the master translation.  
Proofreaders and others working on a project may have had other credentials,  such as 
Certified Court Translator in Spanish to English or English to Spanish,  but in 
the end all projects were certified in writing as medically accurate and  
culturally sensitive by an ATA translator. 
 
4) All "adapted" English to Spanish projects, which is the majority of  
projects, were always field tested with patients representative of the  major 
Hispanic sub-groups in America (Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban). 
 
5) As for translators, you would be incorrect (as I was) if you assumed  that 
we would automatically insist on using an ATA-certified translator of  
Mexican American descent to lead all projects. Although Mexicans and Mexican  
Americans constitute the vast majority of Hispanics living in the  continental US, 
and sensitivity to the Mexican idiom is essential for any  good translation, as 
in any other field, not all translators are the same.  After much trial and 
error, we finally selected a chief translator from  Puerto Rico, whom I still 
have the pleasure of working with in  my charity work.  
 
If you need Spanish-language translation work of any kind, I would  highly 
recommend you contact Ms. Eva Ibarzabel in Puerto Rico at 
_ibarzabal_eva at yahoo.com_ (mailto:ibarzabael_eva at yahoo.com)  . 
 
As a final comment, please keep the word "adapted" in mind as you try to  
respond to the occasional demand that a word or phrase be changed in a  
Spanish-language project (and many other languages). Because of regional  variations in 
word-usage, non-translators often request changes in a document.  Often, the 
more educated (in general) the person is, the more demanding they can  be 
about change requests.  Unless two translators agree that a proposed  change in a 
translated document "improves" the intended message, leave it  alone!  Even 
with these precautionary steps, expect not to be loved at  times after all your 
hard work. 
 
Best of luck.
 
Paul Tracey
Learning About Diabetes, Inc.
_www.learningaboutdiabetes.org_ (http://www.learningaboutdiabetes.org)   
 



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