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Saturday, December 11, 2021
Spotlight on Translation: December Edition - lareviewofbooks - Translation
Friday, December 10, 2021
The Legal Tech-To-English Dictionary: Legal Research - Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event - Above the Law - Dictionary
Ed. note: This is the latest installment of The Legal Tech-to-English Dictionary, part of our Non-Event for Tech-Perplexed Lawyers. Jared Correia is the host of the Non-Eventcast.
There’s a term for when attorneys use Latin and other arcane languages to describe legal processes to consumers: “legalese.”
But there’s no similar term for when vendors use technical and other arcane languages to describe their legal software operations to lawyers.
True, this dynamic may seem unfair. But now we have The Legal Tech-to-English Dictionary to help us cope.
Read on for the latest installment, where we translate legal research-related topics to plain English.
And for more commentary on legal tech, check out the Non-Event for Tech Perplexed Lawyers.
Boolean Search
- A query technique combining keywords or phrases through the use of operators ‘and,’ ‘or’ and ‘not’.
- A search methodology invented by English mathematician George Boole, making modern information technologies possible.
- The search option you try before inevitably giving up in favor of natural language search.
Lawyer 1: Hey, Bill, can I use an ‘and’ and an ‘or’ together in Boolean search?
Lawyer 2: Oh, for fuck’s sake, Alan. Just type in real words.
Lawyer 1: Both ‘and’ and ‘or’ are real words.
Lawyer 2: Get the hell out of my office.
Shepardizing
- The rigorous training method by which one formally becomes a shepherd. No, wait . . . Really? Not that? Well, I’ll be damned.
- A citation system for determining the subsequent treatment of a legal decision by later cases that reference it.
- The process for determining whether a subject case remains ‘good law.’
Lawyer 1: Hey, everybody. I’ll be at the law library if you need me. I have my giant CamelBak water bottle, so I should be good for most of the day.
Lawyer 2: Wait, John! Just use our Westlaw account, and stay here.
Lawyer 1: Oh, Terry. Simple, simple Terry.
Cf. Frank Shepard, a legal publisher who invented Shepardizing in the late 19th Century by applying sticky annotations to cases, with single-letter codes to show further treatment of the case by later court decisions.
Precedent
- A rule established in a prior legal case that directly controls (or is at least persuasive in determining) the decision in the instant case.
- A prior reported opinion of an appeals court that establishes a rule of law for future cases.
Cf. The Latin term stare decisis (“to stand by things decided”) is the process by which a lower court applies precedent to a case before it.
Research Trail
- Generally speaking, an explanation of how a stated position has been sourced.
- In legal research, the research history for a particular search session.
- In legal research software, the clickable files that open research history for archived sessions.
Lawyer 1: Wait, you’re doing it wrong. You don’t rest the keyboard on the research book. You *open* the research book. Here, like this.
Lawyer 2: Um, thanks.
Lawyer 1: No problem
Lawyer 1: See you at lunch. We’re going to Chuck E. Cheese!
Lawyer 2: Great.
Lawyer 2: (silently closes book)
Cf. It’s a hell of a hike.
Secondary Sources
- Various types of (usually print) materials that summarize, review and/or analyze the law.
Lawyer 1: But, what about the tertiary sources, Melvin.
Lawyer 1: What about the tertiary sources!
Cf. ‘Primary’ sources are ‘the law,’ including caselaw, statutes and regulations.
Cf. Online fan communities, like those for the ‘Star Wars’ universe.
Jared Correia, a consultant and legal technology expert, is the host of the Non-Eventcast, the featured podcast of the Above the Law Non-Event for Tech-Perplexed Lawyers.
Thursday, December 9, 2021
Found in translation: Jiun Ho's latest collection celebrates Japan - Business of Home - Translation
Jiun Ho may have been born in Malaysia and have lived in the U.S. for decades, but his spiritual home has always been Japan. The designer last visited the country in February 2020, just before the pandemic brought globe-trotting travel to an unceremonious halt. “I came back to San Francisco and the door shut behind me,” he says.
The very first time he went to Japan, he was all of 9 years old. “My parents promised that if I got straight As in school, they’d take me,” recalls Ho. Memorably, the family’s arrival dovetailed with the 1983 opening day of Tokyo Disneyland—a candy-colored dream come true for most kids. But his interests, even then, skewed less ephemeral pop, more enduring craft. “I was fascinated by the culture, the history, the attention to detail, the aesthetic,” he recalls. “It changed my entire world, and planted the seeds that would lead to me becoming a designer.”
Ho launched his eponymous design firm in 2000. To mark the company’s recent 20th anniversary, he turned again to his first love, Japan. The designer’s current collection of furniture, textiles and lighting, JHVI, draws inspiration from five Japanese regions near and dear to his heart: the “art island” of Naoshima; the picturesque fishing villages of Ise-Shima, where pearls are plucked from the sea; Kanazawa, known for its lacquerware, ceramics, historic gardens, and samurai and geisha districts; Kyoto, which he describes as the “mecca of traditional Japanese culture”; and, in neon contrast, Tokyo, the ultramodern metropolis offering surprises on every street corner.
“These are the places I gravitate to again and again,” says Ho. “They’re where I feel most at peace.”
The JHVI collection promises to bring that same serenity, balance, and style—along with a touch of wabi-sabi—into any designer’s project. The many asymmetrical handles on the strikingly graphic facade of the Omote cabinet, for example, subtly reference the artworks of Isamu Noguchi. The Horai coffee tables, meanwhile, feature a curvaceous, natural-edged top made from 12 layers of organic lacquer set on a base carved from a single piece of black marble. “It’s from natural tree sap,” Ho says of the lacquer. “The meticulous layering process results in a sheen that’s between a matte and a gloss—it’s almost like a satin finish.” The longer the piece is in use, the more the patina builds up.
The Horai coffee tables by Jiun HoCourtesy of Jiun Ho
The Kiyomizu dining table, inspired by a Kyoto temple with intricate woodwork utilizing almost no nails, “has a really small finger-joint detail,” says Ho. “The end product looks so simple, but it’s quite complicated to manufacture.” Another table, the Torii, tips its hat to an iconic motif found throughout Japan: the gateways marking the passage from the mundane to the sacred at Shinto shrines. And the Omikuji coffee table takes its name from the fortunes written on strips of paper, then knotted around the branches of trees at Shinto shrines. An angular abstraction of these paper wishes forms the top of the table, while the glass base—echoing Hiroshi Sugimoto’s ethereal staircase at the Go'o Shrine in Naoshima—mimics the tactile, translucent surface of glacier ice.
The tables are among the designer’s personal favorites, but the collection also features a clean-lined sectional sofa, a bed in homage to acclaimed Japanese architect Tadao Ando, a pendant light that brings to mind a burst of flowers, and contemporary lamps that evoke traditional Buddhist temple lanterns. All the pieces in the collection combine the practicality of furniture with the pure beauty of sculpture. “Art shouldn’t just be a painting that hangs on the wall,” says Ho. “People should be able to interact with it every day.”
Considering the craftsmanship that infuses each item, these are investment pieces. The collection’s accompanying textiles celebrate the same qualities at a much more accessible cost. Materials range from nubby cottons and bouclé blends to organza-ensconced linens and fuzzy mohair wools, all rendered in complex yet subdued palettes. The color names alone conjure up Japanese imagery: Bonsai, Daikon, Mochi and Jade. The soft yellows and oranges of the Geisha Sakura embroidered jacquard delicately convey the flowering of cherry blossoms. “Some are performance fabrics; some are reversible,” says Ho. All are readily available stateside.
“Obviously, our industry is going through major supply chain problems right now,” the designer says. “But the good news is, in addition to our fabric inventory, we can fulfill most orders for furniture in the standard sizes and finishes.” Custom items, made to order in Japan, will understandably take a little longer.
Future collections will continue to reinterpret the richness of Japanese culture for modern decor. Ho hints that he’s collaborating with a local Bay Area artisan to create new designs that will incorporate the heavy glaze and textural imperfections of raku ceramics. And as soon as possible, he plans to return to the source of so much of his inspiration. Fingers crossed, he’ll be back in his beloved Japan this January.
This story is a paid promotion and was created in partnership with Jiun Ho.
Homepage photo: The Ando Bed by Jiun Ho | Courtesy of Jiun Ho
New Translated Study Reveals 'Hyper-Localization' of Languages Will Be Key for Global E-commerce Success in 2022 and Beyond - Valdosta Daily Times - Translation
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New Translated Study Reveals 'Hyper-Localization' of Languages Will Be Key for Global E-commerce Success in 2022 and Beyond Valdosta Daily TimesWednesday, December 8, 2021
Choice Words : A sprawling new dictionary preserves mountain language - wncmagazine.com - Dictionary
Eighty-five years of research come to fruition in the newly published Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English. Ringing in at 12 pounds, with 1,225 pages and around 10,000 entries, this comprehensive lexicon is a marvel to hold, not to mention peruse. From Georgia to the Carolinas to West Virginia, mountain folk of all walks may recognize some words but find themselves gaping at others. The origins of some of the entries stretch back to the Civil War era, with words rooted in the vast variety of Appalachian communities.
From the dictionary:
- Christmas Poke: Formerly, a small bag of treats that schoolchildren would exchange for Christmas.
- Ice Tide: An excessive flow of water in rivers and streams, occurring in early spring and containing chunks of ice from higher elevations.
- New Year’s Ever Gift (also New Year’s Gift): Happy New Year! Used as a greeting on New Year’s Day, often in a ritual wherein a person attempts to say it before others.
Researched, written, and edited by Michael B. Montgomery and Jennifer K. N. Heinmiller, the work, published by University of North Carolina Press, is an expanded version of Montgomery’s 2005 Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English. Montgomery, who passed away in 2019, was a professor of English and linguistics at the University of South Carolina, where he met Heinmiller, a graduate student at the time, who went on to complete the project.
That’s hardly Heinmiller’s only labor, however: even as she co-wrote and -edited the dictionary for over a decade, she worked full time. Currently an Asheville resident, she’s a translator with a passion for minority languages. Her devotion to the topic is evidenced not only in this hulking volume but in her ongoing podcast, Appalachian Words.
Cairo initiates Hebrew translation of Quran - Al-Monitor - Translation
CAIRO — Egyptian Minister of Endowments (Awqaf) Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa announced on Dec. 1 the start of the Quran’s translation into Hebrew to counter misinterpretations and mistranslations. He said academic professors and specialized translators, whom he did not name, will be involved in accurate translations that befit meanings in the Quran.
“The ministry is working to translate the meanings of the Quran into foreign languages through the translation of a book called al-Muntakhab that includes an interpretation of the Quran verses,” Abdullah Hassan, spokesperson for the ministry, told Al-Monitor by phone. He said the translation is not about the Quran itself.
"The Quranic verses will remain as are in Arabic, but the interpretation of the verses is the one that will be translated into different languages,” he added. “Over the past years, the interpretation of the Holy Quran was translated into a number of foreign languages, especially English, French, Chinese, Russian and Indonesian."
He noted that the ministry “will be finalizing the translation and interpretation of the Quran into the Greek language over the next two weeks, before starting to translate the interpretation of the Quran into the Hebrew language to make it available to everyone willing to study and have a deeper and accurate understanding of the Quran in Hebrew.”
Commenting on the misinterpretations in previous translations of the Quran, the official said, “There are Orientalists (specialists who learn languages and cultures of Southeast and East Asia ) who inaccurately translated the Holy Quran, especially into the Hebrew language. The goal behind this translation is to have a correct text based on a moderate enlightened thinking, free of any mistranslation, misinterpretations or extremist interpretation.”
Speaking to TEN satellite channel on Dec. 1, the minister said, “The goal behind translating the meaning of the Quran into Hebrew is to correct the wrongs made over the past years. … Following a discussion with a number of intellectuals from different countries, we found out that the Hebrew translation of the meanings of the Quran by some Orientalists was marred by major mistakes, which could be intentional or due to inaccuracy.”
Al-Roeya newspaper reported on Oct. 15, 2020, “Over the past centuries, there were several initiatives to translate the meanings of the Holy Quran into Hebrew in the Jewish arena. According to specialists, they varied in terms of accuracy and linguistic and stylistic skills in conveying the meanings of the Quran to Hebrew readers.”
Ahmed al-Bahansi, an Egyptian researcher focusing on Jewish studies, explained in a report published in mid-October 2018 that “Jewish scholars, translators and Orientalists took the lead in translating into Hebrew the meanings of the Holy Quran, either partially or completely, for mainly religious and political reasons so as to debate with Muslims about religion and fight them intellectually and politically.”
In October 2017, Raseef 22 wrote that “the first translation [of the Quran] was done by Jacob ben Israel ha-Lev. It was not a direct translation from Arabic but rather from an Italian version that is, in turn, a translation of the meaning of the Quran from Latin.”
The rapporteur of the language, translation and civilization dialogue committee at the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Saeed Attia, told Al-Monitor by phone, “The committee monitored seven Hebrew translations of the Quran’s interpretations, all made by groups and individuals in Israel. But the Israeli translator is not fully familiar with the Arabic language, which made the translation inaccurate.”
He added, “I submitted to the [Egyptian] endowment minister a proposal to translate “al-Muntakhab fi Tafseer al-Quran” into Hebrew, after translating it into several languages including the Greek language most recently. The Greek text is being finalized.”
He noted there are several objectives behind translating the interpretation of the Quran into foreign languages. It mainly seeks to enable an exchange of information and transfer of Islamic knowledge and culture from Arab countries to abroad.”
Attia said of the translation of the interpretation of the Quran into Hebrew, “Translation takes time, and it may take us about two years to complete the Hebrew text.”
Abdul Karim Saleh, head of the Quranic interpretation committee at Al-Azhar Islamic Research Academy, told Al-Monitor, “The decision to translate the interpretation of the Quran into more than one language helps spread the correct concept of the Islamic religion and to communicate it to the West.”
Saleh explained that “some translations of the interpretation of the Quran are inaccurate. Hence, translations into foreign languages consist of a proactive step to prevent any mistranslation or misinterpretation."
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
German literature professor wins top prize at LTI Korea Translation Award - The Korea Herald - Translation
The Literature Translation Institute of Korea on Tuesday awarded 13 translators for excellence in the translation of Korean literature into foreign languages, with the top prize going to Park In-won for her German translation of Kim Young-ha’s 2013 bestselling novel “Diary of a Murderer.”
Park, a German literature professor at Ewha Womans University, won the top prize and 20 million won ($16,900) in prize money for her translation of the novella into “Aufzeichnungen Eines Serienmorders.” The German edition was published by Cass Publisher in 2020 in Germany and ranked third for the German Prize for Crime Fiction’s international category.
“The book received more attention from the German public than I expected. I think the story of a serial killer who has lost his memory appealed to the German readers who love thrillers,” Park told reporters during a press conference Tuesday. The book has gone into its third printing in Germany, with an audiobook version also having been published.
Nguyen Ngoc Que, a Korean literature scholar, received the second prize and 10 million won for translating the second part of the approximately 1,000-page “Samguk Sagi,” a historical record of the Three Kingdoms period on the Korean Peninsula, into Vietnamese.
“As a scholar, I’m very interested in classical Korean literature, which I find has many similar features with Vietnamese culture. I want to continue to translate Korea’s classical literature into Vietnamese,” he said. He previously translated several Korean literary works with a focus on classics such as the “Tale of Shim Chong,” “The Biography of Hong Gildong” and the first part of “Samguk Sagi.”
The annual award also acknowledged nine up-and-rising translators. Among the nine recipients of the LTI Korea Award for Aspiring Translator this year, Park Ji-hye, who translated “The Story of a Dream on Ganghwa Island” into English, was the only Korean. Translating the same short story, Jasmin Kevin (French), Cao Jiayi (Chinese), Miwa Birch (Japanese) and Nguyen Ngoc Mai Thi (Vietnamese) were selected. Four translators, Denise Gebhart (German), Ana Gonzalez (Spanish), Evgeniia Dambaeva (Russian) and Salma Mohamed Ahmed Hassanein (Arabic) received the award for translating Choi Eun-mi’s 2021 novel “Here, We Are Face to Face.”
Peter H. Lee, a renowned Korean studies scholar, and Kim Chung-hee, a longtime educator who taught at LTI Academy from 2012 to 2021, were recognized for their lifetime achievement and given the LTI Korea Outstanding Service Award.
The annual Korean Literature Translation Award began in 1993 to honor translators who contributed to the communication of Korean and international literature. The winners this year were selected from 136 works in 24 languages.
During a press conference Tuesday, the award winners had the chance to discuss the difficulty of being a professional translator and the emergence of artificial intelligence.
“Some say that AI might take up the jobs of translators, and I think it could happen within a few years. But even before that, being a professional translator is realistically difficult because it is impossible to make ends meet,” Park Ji-hye said.
“When my pupils said they want to be a professional translator, I tried to talk them out of the idea for the same reason,” Park In-won noted.
(gypark@heraldcorp.com)
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