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Exploring the Crucial Role of Translation Services in Crisis Management

Photograph of a lady wearing a rain poncho and standing in the rain in the middle of a flooded road.

 

2022 was a tough year for everyone living in Australia.

From floods to fires to storms to public health crises, disasters have hit across the country at a rate that shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. As a widely multicultural, yet primarily English-speaking country, Australia’s many recent disasters have revealed one major crack in our emergency response systems: it is catered to English-speaking individuals.

A good number of Australians don’t speak English at home, making preparation and response to disasters much harder for them. While community groups often do life-saving work in these situations, they are typically lacking in funding, poorly equipped, and not properly trained to handle disasters. So what can be done in terms of crisis management? And what should authorities put their focus towards for best results? Let’s discuss.

 

Recognising and Addressing Language Barriers

Around 23% of Australians surveyed in the 2021 census speak a primary language other than English in their homes. Most have some capacity for English (reading, writing, speaking, or listening), but fluency isn’t always common in their communities. For these people, navigating an English-speaking world is difficult enough during their normal day-to-day life — imagine what it could be like during a catastrophic flood or damaging hailstorm.

Adapting the Messaging

Public transport is one clear example. Many non-English speakers navigate public transport by memorising signs, symbols, or landmarks, rather than reading maps or listening to announcements. For this reason, many high-traffic public transport hubs in Australia, like central bus or train stations, have upgraded to digital signage that cycles through languages as a way to keep all passengers informed. This is a fantastic development in community awareness over the last few years, and we applaud it. During a crisis situation, however, these communications can be left by the wayside — potentially endangering lives. Many transport authorities (indeed, authorities of any kind) are likely to release English-only emergency communications that won’t register to those who aren’t fluent.

A Slow Read During Urgent Times

Imagine trying to understand this cyclone advice graphic if it was in a language you didn’t read fluently:

Image of a tropical cyclone warning explainer by the Bureau of Meteorology featuring two levels, Watch and Warning.

That’s a complex image for fluent English speakers, let alone English-as-a-second-language speakers. Between uncommon words like “onset”, “gales”, and “occurring”, and the non-linear formatting, it takes effort to decipher the exact meaning — effort that, in the middle of a disaster, cannot be afforded. 

This is what most non-English speakers have to face during disasters, and it can be extremely stressful trying to organise your own translation from the community or family members, in order to know what to do. One of the first steps that authorities who publish disaster warnings can take to help non-English readers is to use the simplest, clearest English and formatting possible. This drastically reduces translation times and also any stress placed on non-English-speaking locals.

 

Disaster Preparedness

To mitigate the effects of emergency situations before they happen, non-English speakers and their community groups can encourage local councils to include them in disaster preparations. Forecasts predict that the current pace of weather and health crises will not  slow down, so getting ahead of things can make a world of difference. Both local and federal government websites across Australia offer natural disaster preparedness guides and some local councils already understand the need for translation. For instance, we worked with local councils in Queensland to translate their Disaster Management leaflets in a wide range of languages, including preparing multilingual voice-overs for radio ads and website voice alerts. However, many councils still have no solution for acute life-threatening disaster response for their culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Translation software might be available on the users’ end (think Google Translate), but it relies on infrastructure like an internet connection that may not be available in the midst of a natural disaster. If possible, community groups should advocate for their governments to engage language professionals for their urgent disaster response communications and plans and let their community know where to access them.

Leveraging the Media

Speaking of plans, one action that governments can take to help prevent unnecessary harm during disasters is to work alongside the media outlets that already service the minority communities in their area. Whether that’s a small TV or radio station (Radio 4EB, in Brisbane, is an example) a newspaper, a text message alert service, a WhatsApp group, or a social media channel, every community has its ways of using media to keep up-to-date with current events. The people working with these media often already have a great deal of experience taking English information and distributing it to their non-English-speaking community. Minority-run media channels are a great resource for governments and disaster response organisations to utilise when preparing for catastrophic events. They have a lot of expertise to offer outside of disaster scenarios too.

With the summer forecasted to be hot and dry and with bushfires, flash floods, and powerful storms all on the docket, Australian authorities can learn from the past year’s disasters and make sure language services are available to all. Translators, both human and digital, are great resources in general, and more so in moments of crisis, but can’t be everywhere at once. Crisis Management is about being proactive and prepared. That’s why preparedness is the number one goal for disaster response, and translation, as well as other language services like voice-over, should be central to that goal in order to protect everyone during times of crisis — no matter which language they speak.

Creative Translation: When Creativity Alone Is Not Enough

Once a word is printed or appears on a screen, it is open to interpretation.

Choosing the right word is a creative act, because writing is subjective and there are many word choices to pick from to convey the right message. Understanding the impact of these words on the other hand, is a more logical and rational process. Who will be reading them? What is their cultural background? How would they understand these words?

It is common knowledge that we use the left side of our brains to make creative decisions – and many of these decisions are put out there for the world to judge. An artist paints a picture, a writer pens an article, or a musician composes a tune. All of these artistic acts take place with an audience in mind, but it is rare that they are specifically tailored towards being interpreted in a certain way. In these types of creative activity, the left brain rules.

When reason has to shape the path of your creativity, things get decidedly trickier. You might even ask whether creativity in a straightjacket can be called creativity anymore?

Translation is one industry where initial creativity has to be tempered with sound logic.

The logical right part of our brain has to keep the left brain in check, but for the best possible translations, it cannot snuff out the creative part of the brain altogether.

Especially when transcreating for an international purpose, you have to consider the logical conclusion of how a piece of writing will be understood. Translation software can come up with some fantastic creative choices (yes, robots can be creative too), but actually it is only the native translator who will read through a passage and ask:

Does this make sense? Will the audience understand what we want them to understand?

Great translation starts with creativity and finishes with logic.

Conveying a message to a Chinese audience in China requires different idioms in your message than conveying the same message to a Chinese audience in Australia. You come up with a creative solution, but at the end of every piece of work you have to ask that simple question. How will my intended audience understand these words? If you can’t come up with an objective and informed answer, you will have to go back to the drawing board.

As an owner of an international translation agency, I need to stay close to my clients so that I understand what their intentions are and what they want their words to achieve. In a way, I have to become an extension of my clients and pick translation teams that my clients would trust.

The reason is simple: our international teams of translators and revisers are entrusted with the most important task of all, and that is to translate and revise to the best of their ability and to make the logical decision of whether a translation will be suitable for its intended audience.

This is a key consideration when we talk to clients – we have to understand their audience and how they want them to be impacted. Without this understanding, we will be translating in the dark – our left brains might enjoy it, but our right brains won’t have a clue what is going on.

At the end of the day, logic is what ensures that a translation is as good as it can be.

Veerle Vanderplasschen

Chabuduo. Or is it?

If I am an Australian consumer of a Chinese product, do I care that the accompanying literature is written in broken English?

“It must have been hard to translate. I understand the basic gist. No worries.”

But then someone else might wonder why a producer does not make a bigger effort, if they could positively influence their export success?

In a world where brand loyalty and storytelling are intimately connected, what was a compelling story in the original language, can easily become uninspiring drivel if the same care isn’t taken with the translation. The consumer will simply move on to another brand whose story is more carefully crafted.

There is no place for shoddy translations ruining corporate stories anymore. Well, not for the brands that care about their customers, anyway.

Your audience

I have written before about the difference between translation and transcreation, and the essence is found in this thought: a transcreation must make the target audience feel the same way as the original article made the original audience feel.

Let’s take an advertisement. The purpose of an advertisement is to attract the attention of people towards a product or service, and to ultimately move those people to purchase that product or service.

An advert that leaves you feeling amused, should also leave a new audience feeling amused, if translated. Different cultures demand different approaches and if a literal, word for word translation won’t achieve the desired customer response, then a transcreation method should be adopted.

It’s all about your market and your audience. Who are they, what moves them, and how can you capture their attention?

If you are exporting, you must translate your content properly, with due regard to your audience, or you don’t do it at all.

An “okay” result risks turning off a vast swathe of your consumers who are used to being wooed.

Chàbuduō

In China, there is the concept of something being “close enough is good enough.” They even have a word for it: chàbuduō. But whenever I read an inadequate piece of writing I somehow feel that a precious moment in my life has been wasted. Why should I spend more time trying to work out what they are trying to say? If they want to attract my attention, should they not make more of an effort?

Inelegant messaging and clumsy language might suggest a deeper malaise.

And yes, it might be a translation, but there is no excuse for it not to make sense.

Apple are held up as a shining example in many respects, and their corporate messaging is no exception. Their customers might read their literature in hundreds of different languages, but they all come away feeling the same things. Apple know that each individual translation has a life of its own – it is the end customer and not the original writer who holds the key to the success of any piece of translated content.

When a company puts a piece of writing (or any other kind of content) out into the world, they do so in the full knowledge that it will be judged.

Why wouldn’t you want to write it as well as possible?

By Veerle Vanderplasschen

How to Boost Migrants’ Quality of Life with Language

Photo of a family featuring a mother, father and daughter, illustrating Absolute Translation's blog on language technology and its positive impact for migrants

When people move away from their place of birth and into a country where they don’t speak the national language, integrating into that new society can be a real struggle. The language barrier can cause migrants to lose out on employment opportunities, have their access to social groups restricted, and even endanger their lives in the event of a natural disaster or a medical emergency. While most governments provide language learning options for incoming migrants, the providers of those services can be inflexible in their accessibility. So how can authorities lower the language barrier and prove their countries to be a safe and welcoming new home for migrants in the modern day?

Access to the Community

Integration is a multifaceted and inter-directional process, but language is one of the biggest barriers hampering a migrant’s access to their desired communities. While many migrants gravitate towards communities where their own native language is spoken, such as expatriate clubs or similar social groups, social acceptance in the broader society of the region they’ve migrated to requires a working knowledge of the local language. 

In a 2020 study of non-European immigrants to Sweden, the study participants felt that learning Swedish was important for them in understanding Swedish culture, and in being socially accepted by native Swedes. Their sense of belonging within Swedish society was directly tied to their fluency with the Swedish language. When they spoke their native languages (mostly English, which is also widely spoken by native Swedes), they felt that they were judged as ‘outsiders’ — unless an immigrant can speak the language of their new home, they won’t be accepted into native speakers’ social circles. Instead, they will gravitate towards other immigrants who speak their preferred language.

One large benefit of immigrants learning the language of their host country is representation.  Through fluency, immigrant groups are able to properly advocate for their legal, social, and cultural rights, which allows them to maintain their own identities while still integrating into their host country. This leads to greater strengths in cultural diversity, anti-discrimination policies, and the social image of migrant groups.

Access to Employment

In a 2019 interview with Caritas Europa, Migration Policy Institute associate policy analyst Aliyyah Ahad said “Language is tied to employment and to the quality of that employment; the better the language skill the more likely a newcomer will have access to good jobs…”

Migrants are often under pressure to get employed, due to a number of reasons ranging from covering their living costs, to sending money to family back home, to displaying a willingness to contribute to their host society.

Although many migrants are highly skilled, if they are unable to confidently communicate their knowledge, those skills will go to waste.

Ahad emphasises care in allowing newcomers to learn until fluency, rather than forcing the quickest entry into employment — this is not just to the immigrant’s benefit, but also to the host country’s. “Gains to the GDP will be the most obvious [benefit], as a result of increasing the productivity of the country by making use of the talents and skills that are within the territory,” Ahad states.

In a 2011 report on using specific language instruction styles to boost immigrants’ employment prospects, the Migration Policy Institute recommended that policymakers:

  • Expand language instruction that is contextualised for workplace use.
  • Combine language and skills training.
  • Encourage partnerships and work with employees.
  • Encourage workplace-based instructions.
  • Take into account the needs of nontraditional students.
  • Evaluate programs and share and support effective practices.

Access to Care

As many medical procedural TV series have shown us, one of the most dangerous places to find a language barrier is in a hospital. If a patient and medical professional can’t adequately communicate, it can lead to misdiagnosis or extended delays in treatment, and subsequently severe complications to the patient’s health. This has been accentuated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as border closures and rapid changes to procedure caused miscommunications even among those who share a native language.

Similarly, as we in eastern Australia have recently learned, information dissemination during times of natural disaster relies on language fluency. If an immigrant is not aware of their host country’s channels for reporting local disasters — or if their fluency is too low to properly understand — they can be in very real danger of harm, or worse.

In these instances, technological innovations are often the quickest (if not the cleanest) solution. By applying foreign language subtitles to television broadcasts, hosts and migrants can be on the same page in the event of a disaster. Similarly, personal real-time translators like those offered by companies like Timekettle or Pocketalk can be a boon when translation is needed instantly, like in medical contexts, though they will still miss out on some nuance. In order to get the clearest translations, we believe having an in-person, trained interpreter is the best choice.

Fluency of a host country’s language is often the first step on the road to integration for a new immigrant, and for many it can be a hard hill to climb. When information is lost in translation, it can put people’s lives at risk. There are many communities of migrants in our modern, multicultural societies, and fluency can’t be expected to be equal amongst all of them. Instead, we need to have policies, technologies, and trained professionals which allow for adequate communication between peoples and authorities, and all the different levels of education and social integration seen among them.

How to Manage Cultural Differences in Translation

Portrait of a lady in Cinco de Mayo makeup.When translating text from one language to another, it is important to be aware of cultural differences. Cultural differences can affect the meaning of words, phrases, and even entire sentences. If these differences are not considered, the translation can be inaccurate or even offensive.

Here are some tips for managing cultural differences in translation:

  • Do your research. Before you start translating, it is important to do some research on the target culture. This will help you to understand the cultural context of the text and to identify any potential areas of difficulty.
  • Work with a native speaker. If possible, it is always best to work with a native speaker of the target language when translating. This will help to ensure that the translation is accurate and culturally appropriate.
  • Be aware of idioms and metaphors. Idioms and metaphors can be tricky to translate, as they often have different meanings in different cultures. If you are unsure about the meaning of an idiom or metaphor, it is best to consult a dictionary or a native speaker.
  • Be sensitive to humour. Humour can be another tricky area to translate, as what is funny in one culture may not be funny in another. If you are unsure about whether or not a joke will translate well, it is best to leave it out.
  • Be aware of taboos. Every culture has its own taboos, and it is important to be aware of these when translating. For example, in some cultures, it is considered taboo to talk about death or money. If you are unsure about whether or not a topic is taboo, it is best to err on the side of caution and avoid it.

By following these tips, you can help to ensure that your translations are accurate, culturally appropriate, and free of errors.

Here are some additional tips to keep in mind when managing cultural differences in translation:

  • Be aware of the target audience. Who are you translating for? What are their expectations? Keep the target audience in mind when making translation decisions.
  • Be flexible. Don’t be afraid to adapt your translation style to the target culture. Sometimes, a literal translation will not work. In these cases, it may be necessary to use a more creative approach.
  • Be open to feedback. Ask for feedback from native speakers of the target language. This will help you identify areas where the translation could be improved.

By following these tips, you can help to ensure that your translations are accurate, culturally appropriate, and effective.

Ultimately, make sure to work with trusted individuals or agencies so that you can avoid issues and ensure a professional result.

Talk to us, at Absolute Translations, for information backed by two decades of providing businesses with professional language services.

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