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Summer Promotion from Talk Russian

We are pleased to let you know that Talk Russian is running a promotion this summer which allows you to save 5% on your translation or interpreting orders. If you would like to take advantage of this offer until the end of August, please quote “Summer” at the time of placing your project with us. The only exclusions are for minimum charge orders, solicitor’s fees for sworn translations and special delivery postage charges.

If you need a document translating from or into Russian, or require a Russian interpreter in the UK or Moscow, please get in touch with by email: enquiry@talkrussian.com or call us on 01205 365108 / 0207 0436940.

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By admin – July 29, 2010

More Demand for Certified Translations from Russian

From our experience at Talk Russian, certified translations of Russian documents are mostly required for the UK’s Home Office applications. They are also often requested by officials at British banks, register offices, universities, schools and foreign consulates in the UK. The documents we frequently translate include marriage certificates, birth certificates, adoption certificates, divorce certificates, bank statements, tax letters and diplomas.

Earlier this year the British Embassies in Russia through their visa centres introduced a new rule that all supporting documents for visa applications are to be not only translated into English, but also certified. A certified translation shouldn’t be confused with notarisation, there is no need to go to a notary. When a translation is certified, it means:

• there is a written signed confirmation from a professional Russian translator that it is an accurate translation of the original document,
• the translation is dated,
• the translator’s full name and contact details are given.

This is exactly what we do. Scanned copies are normally sufficient and we deal with customers both in the UK and Russia. For more information on our services in Russian, please visit our website: http://www.talkrussian.com/russian.htm

Yelena McCafferty, Certified Russian Translator at Talk Russian

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By admin – July 19, 2010

Russian Interpreters Meet in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire

The location for this year’s networking event of UK-based Russian interpreters, organised by Talk Russian, was Peterborough.

Eleven of us, Russian linguists, members of the Chartered Institute of Linguists or registered Public Service Interpreters, gathered for lunch earlier this month to discuss the interpreting industry and how we can ensure that high interpreting standards are maintained in both the public and commercial sectors.

We talked about job opportunities within government departments, such as the NHS and local authorities, and the increasing demand for professional Russian translation in the corporate market, with trade between Russia and the UK developing further every year.

It was a great chance for us to exchange ideas, regardless of where we are in the UK, my colleagues came from Leeds, Halifax, Nottingham, Sheffield, Bourne, Milton Keynes, and our local interpreters from Peterborough and March shared their experience of the language market in Cambridgeshire.

A special subject of our discussion was the issue of bilingualism and theories and reality of language acquisition by bilingual children. We also talked about how the language environment determines the dominant language of an interpreter.

This was certainly a productive and enjoyable meeting and we will, no doubt, do another one again soon.

Yelena McCafferty, Talk Russian, Boston, Lincolnshire, UK

Our networking lunch in Prezzo, Peterborough. Present: Irina Moore, Marina Bussey, Yelena McCafferty, Tatiana Anderton, Maria Savelieva, Julia Shaw, Anna Ibrahim, Ben Hooson, Mikhail Zhabin, Yulia Ravenhill, Daria Dimova

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By admin – May 9, 2010

Would you care for Monseigneur the Chicken?

My friend once said: “I can pick up Russian so easily, I can become a translator.” He said that after using an online machine translation tool. Little did he know how useless most of them are. Even though they are getting better and better, they are no substitute for a human brain which carefully selects the correct word out of millions and puts it in the correct form in the right order.

A few people use machine translators with caution. Mostly because of bad personal experience. And yet it amazes me how much people, and especially organisations and companies, underestimate the benefits of hiring a professional interpreter or translator. I spent a few days in France this month where people worship their language. Yet where they do care to translate their marketing materials, signs and menus, they appear to have done it on the cheap. It surprises me how a café in the world-famous Versailles refers to the chicken as “he” and calls espresso “express coffee”. The Paris sightseeing bus displays a caution sign where “anything” is divided into two words. It may make a happy and jolly English tourist laugh, but it made me, a Russian linguist, think. How can such respectable companies afford turning themselves into a laughing stock? Or does it show their true Parisian attitude I happened to experience, which clearly reveals their dislike of tourists? You-don’t-speak-to-me-in-French-so-I-don’t-care type of thing… Remember he laughs who laughs last?

Yelena McCafferty, Talk Russian Translation and Interpreting

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By admin – April 17, 2010

Why a Washing Machine Turns into a Car or on Linguistic Interference

The original idea for my next blog was to write about false friends of Russian interpreters. I meant to write about words which sound very similar to some English words and have a totally different meaning. A professional Russian interpreter would know the differences, but in the spur of the moment in a very stressful situation in which we may often find ourselves when interpreting, those words are almost spat out of our mouths. The English word “Dutch” sounds very much like Russian датский (Danish) and the Russian word pronounced “dekada” (декада) means only 10 days in Russian. But then I thought that writing about false friends of Russian language learners would be much more exciting.

I pick up these funny examples from my son who will hopefully grow up bilingual. When his dad tells him about a magazine, he means a journal, but when I say «magazin» (магазин), I mean a shop. Poor little soul must be getting even more confused when I call a toothpaste pasta (паста) in Russian and yet when I talk to his dad about pasta, I mean spaghetti or fusilli. A cravat is something you wear in English and кровать sounds exactly the same in Russian and actually means a bed.

My son calls a washing machine a car only because he thinks that machina (машина) is a car in Russian so must be the washer too. The little brain has transferred the word and is experiencing interference, the term they use in linguistics.  A meek stranger in the street might get puzzled as to why our little boy shouts out дядя (dyadya), he is not his daddy! But the little one only meant to call him a man…

Russian speaking migrants living in the UK are beginning to confuse things too. Local councils are referred to by them as Consulates. So a council house becomes a consular house. Different things, I am sure, you’ll agree, even though both mean some kind of authority.

It’s catching and as long as my little son learns to speak both languages without mixing them and we, as Russian interpreters, do not use English words where there are perfectly good Russian equivalents, I think we are going to be all right and both languages will survive without too much littering.

Yelena McCafferty, Russian interpreter, Talk Russian

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By admin – March 20, 2010

From Tsars to Oligarchs

A language is a living thing. It changes, modifies itself and moves on. Like a sponge, it grasps all of the innovations and finds ways of expressing them. This often happens through borrowing.

In no way can Russian compare to German or French which have deep roots in the English language. Nevertheless, there are quite a few words of Russian origin in English.

Take matreshka (a Russian doll) or samovar (a sort of kettle). They were cloned in English because these words denote traditional Russian things which didn’t exist in the English-speaking countries. Balalaika is a Russian national musical instrument.

Very often words of Russian origin end up in English due to political changes or phenomena. Perestroika in the mid eighties, Bolsheviks earlier in the 20th century, or tsars in the imperial times… Another example is intelligentsia, the intellectual elite of the Russian society.

Everyone knows which country vodka comes from and interestingly, on the topic of food and drink, Pavlova, a popular dessert here in England, is named after a Russian ballet-dancer, Anna Pavlova.

Soviet space exploration brought cosmonaut and sputnik into the English language and the recent changes in the Russian society gave us business oligarchs.

Those who happened to visit Russia for leisure rarely forget the banya (sauna) experience at a private dacha (summer-house). Steaming up in a Russian bath-house beaten up by birch twigs and then jumping into a cold river is both enjoyable and refreshing.

The Russians now living in London or in the vicinity call it Londongrad. Hopefully, London will stay London though, as changing the name of the British capital would be going a bit too far…

Yelena McCafferty, Russian Translator, Talk Russian, UK

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By admin – February 4, 2010

Christmas over, back to Business

The long Russian Christmas holidays are finally over, and the country should gradually return to business as usual. The difference is, of course, the fact that Russian festivities start on New Year’s Eve and Christmas follows on January 7th. Unlike the Anglican or Catholic Churches, which switched to the Gregorian calendar centuries ago, the Russian Orthodox Church still uses the old Julian Calendar which runs 14 days behind. 14th January is still informally celebrated as the “old” New Year’s Day… If the real Christmas tree survives until then, it would be fair to say it has served its purpose and can finally retire…

Russia has a number of other public holidays when many businesses close. Here is a list of them for 2010.

23rd February – Defender of the Motherland Day. This year it falls on a Tuesday so the government made a decision to make 22nd February – the Monday before – a day off too to make it a 4-day long weekend. Instead Saturday 27th February will be a normal working day.

8th March – International Women’s Day.

4th April – Orthodox Easter.

1st May – Spring and Labour Day. In 2010 it falls on a Saturday so Monday 3rd May is also a day off.

9th May – Victory Day. As it conveniently falls on a Sunday, 10th May is a day off in lieu.

12th June – Russia Day and as it will be a Saturday, Monday 14th June will be an extra day off.

4th November – National Unity Day. 5th of November will also be a day off to make up a long weekend, with Saturday 13th November a normal working day in lieu.

All this weekday shifting can be quite confusing for someone who does business with Russia, so hopefully this guide will bring some more sense to the unique Russian working patterns.

Yelena McCafferty
Talk Russian Translations

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By admin – January 10, 2010

A Christmas Present to our Facebook Fans

Talk Russian has now got a page on Facebook, a popular social networking website. And we are pleased to offer everyone who joined our Facebook group an exclusive 5% discount on any order they place with us until 25th December, 2009. This is a kind of Christmas gift to all of our registered fans.

If you are our fan on Facebook and would like to get something translated from English into Russian or from Russian into English or if you need a Russian interpreter, all you need is to quote FACEBOOK at the time of ordering to get your discount.

Find us on Facebook by clicking here:

See you there!

For a quote, please contact us through our website: http://www.talkrussian.com

Yelena McCafferty, Translation and Interpreting Manager

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By admin – November 16, 2009

Follow the Moskva, down to Gorky Park, Listening to the Wind of Change…

The famous line from the Wind of Change by the Scorpions… Yes, Russia has changed and so has Moscow…

Russia is now UK’s 12th largest export market. Sounds very impressive, and we at Talk Russian noticed the rise in the trade between the two countries not only by the scope of documents we translate for our clients, but also by the number of interpreting assignments we handle in Moscow these days. In a way, Moscow is not Russia, Moscow is like a separate state within a country. It’s even different from other large Russian cities, not to mention the provinces.

On the other hand, Moscow is the accumulation of the country’s wealth and it represents a huge chunk of international transactions. It may not have the natural resources of the largest country in the world, but it certainly has the infrastructure, be it telecoms, finance, retail or construction. The retail market is spectacular, you find most of world’s known brands on the streets of Moscow, including Versace, Armani, IKEA, it even has the icon of the British High Street shop – Marks and Spencer. Russia is now the 8th largest retail market in the world.

Dealing with Russia involves a lot of bureaucracy. You need to notarise so much paperwork, do product certification, deal with Customs clearance… And all this needs to be done in a language which even has a different alphabet from English. You land in Russia, you expect most people to understand you at least a bit, like everywhere else you go on holiday, but they don’t. Not always.

Hence the demand for professional Russian interpreters in Moscow is huge. Attending a trade show or an exhibition – you need an interpreter to push your products and sales literature. Agreeing a contract – it’s very important to talk through all of the intricacies. Resolving a payment dispute – not much chance of finding a solution if you can’t express yourself.

I love being an interpreter. You feel you help people… It’s fun.

Yelena McCafferty, Talk Russian Translation and Interpreting

Read our guide on Russian interpreting:

http://www.talkrussian.com/russianinterpreting.htm

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By admin – November 6, 2009

The Apostrophe Saga or how a Single Comma Can Ruin a Translation

Thank Goodness Russian doesn’t have apostrophes. There is such misuse of them in English, some examples are so appalling, they look funny. The sad thing is they appear or, for that matter, are missing from prominent public signs. An odd typo in a letter can be forgiven, but if something like a shop sign goes through many hands until it’s finally placed where it should, it’s surprising no one should spot the error before it becomes part of us.

Apostrophes are, in fact, so easy to use. They denote a possession and are used with after an “-s” in a noun in the singular and following an “-s” in a noun in the plural. If a noun forms the plural as an exception, i.e. without an “-s”, then the first rule applies (e.g. children’s toys). The pronouns which stand out here are its and theirs. They denote a possession but have no apostrophe. Where you see “it’s”, the apostrophe is used to show a grammatical contracted form of “it has” or “it is”.

You don’t need to fight with apostrophes in Russian – they don’t exist. However, that doesn’t make Russian punctuation any easier. In fact, Russian punctuation has very strict rules. So strict that a student who misses out a comma in his essay will struggle to get an A mark for his work. That’s why we, Russian translators, need to be so careful when we type up a translation. If we happened to miss out a comma or a semicolon, the Russians reading their client’s translation would strike it off as careless or poor. Certainly not something we are trying to achieve.

And certain different punctuation rules should be noted in Russian, too. Where there are no quotation marks in book titles or company names in English (e.g. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, BBC), rather than italicising them, Russians use quotation marks (e.g. «Джейн Эйр» Шарлотты Бронте, «Би-Би-Си»).  We have to remember this rule when we translate documents from Russian into English and remove the quotation marks (e.g. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Russian Railways) so they don’t stand out as odd.

I guess rules are made to be broken but why bother when someone made an effort to create them? Rules are there for a reason. They are designed to lessen the confusion and there is already plenty of it about!

Yelena McCafferty, Certified Russian Translator, Talk Russian, http://www.talkrussian.com

Some infamous examples
Some examples

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By admin – September 26, 2009