RTP - PORTUGUESE NATIONAL RADIO BROADCAST feat. LUIS ARRUDA aka TRANSLATION WITH COLOUR

It's been quite a while from my previous post... Truth is that I've been quite busy with different projects and other job related chores (I want to much to post about these!). But I could not let go without posting about the live interview i had today from RTP, the Portuguese national radio, on my work assignment as an expatriate translator-interpreter in Barbados.

You may listen to the interview (very short: a bit over 2 minutes) right here.

The interview is in Portuguese language...

Don't trip on acronyms!...

One of the best known traps in translation process is the treatment of acronyms: the way the language mediator interprets and manages a row of letters referring to a company, institution, technological process, entity, country, product, measuring units, etc, etc, etc. I'm telling nothing new here, of course, but the fact is that when you trade between languages, when you translate acronyms you can stumble upon fowl language or rather coarse slang in all possible shades...
One of the last assignments I had dealt with Private Institutions for Social Solidarity, which is the English counterpart for the Portuguese Instituições Particulares de Solidariedade Social (IPSS)... now figure the English acronym for this. But this is nothing compared to other "fine" examples I don't dare jot about here... exposure would be the best word to describe it...
So, keep an open eye for those naughty acronyms, if you don't want to get exposed.

Translation with Colour® brings value into environmental project

Another great translation project into the English language by Translation with Colour® was finally launched. The subject area was not new but the scope and audience are definitely global. The project consisted in translating the Portuguese language website dedicated to the largest freshwater lake in the Iberian Peninsula, aka Pateira de Fermentelos, into English. The website was promoted by the local authorities and it is available in Portuguese and English.

January 20 was the date chosen by the Mayor of Águeda to present the website and the local and regional media were there. Our previous project concerning this lake had also caught the attention of both the local and national media and the online buzzing stations.

As you can see below, the message about the new multilingual website has gone beyond the local boundaries, which means the website had a good reception by the audience. Please don't hesitate in reaching us if you have any other clipping about this project or if either you or your organisation is interested in receiving more details about either this website, its mentors or translator. Simply write to translationwithcolour@gmail.com

Assignment for the Portuguese One-Stop Shop Business Portal

Today I have finished translating into English a series of texts for the Portuguese Administration online One-Stop Shop for Businesses. In order not to escape terminological consistency I had to research quite a bit, e.g. the English translation already in use of the names of different government agencies and services, especially related with taxes, gambling, permits and licenses. 
What is really interesting in all this process is that there is not a single place where one may find a public resource outlining nomenclatures and other linguistic data which might help harmonise translation and terminology in the universe of Portuguese public administration. But why should one be surprised? After all Portugal is one of the few countries in European Union (and beyond) which has not granted translators their legal rights. For instance, in Portugal one will not find sworn translators, which indicates the translator's work is not respected as one can not legally certify his/her own work, which can only be made according to law by a notary, a lawyer, chambers of commerce... Technological and cultural leaps forward require recognised linguistic mediators.