Chur and whenua among latest additions to Oxford Dictionary - 1News - Dictionary

Te reo Māori words and Kiwi slang like chur will now be added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) as a part of a ‘Kiwi update’ totalling 47 words.

The words being added include a number of te reo phases, as well as some classic New Zealand-English slang.

It comes as linguists at the OED notice how te reo and English become more and more intertwined through conversations in Aotearoa.

The words were decided on after editors scoured newspapers, political speeches and even Twitter.

Phrases like chur, flat stick (to do something quickly), Kiwiness, hooning and korero will all be featured in the dictionary this year - placing New Zealand’s mark in the pages of the language.

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While some words are a Kiwi spin on English ones, the vast majority are of Māori origin and are used by Kiwis in everyday conversation.

Words that relate to belonging, like whenua (which will be the oldest te reo word added), rohe, kaupapa and iwi, will be added to the dictionary - joining the list of te reo words already in there.

Several phrases that relate to Māori sovereignty have also been included, including rangatiratanga (self-determination and the right of Māori people to rule themselves), tino rangatiratanga (right to self-governance and to political control by Māori people over Māori affairs) and kaitiaki (guardian or steward, especially of the natural resources of an environment or place).

Traditional Māori practices have also received the nod, such as rāhui, moko kauae, pōwhiri, and koha.

They're being included in the English dictionary is because the vast majority are used interchangeably with other English language phrases, giving Aotearoa a unique lexicon compared to the rest of the world.

“It is clear that te reo has had a profound and lasting impact on English in New Zealand,” OED executive editor Danica Salazar said.

“The OED will record even more Māori contributions to the lexicon as it continues to monitor the evolution of English in this part of the world.”

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You can see the full list of added words here.

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Chur - te reo Māori words now official and included in the new Oxford English Dictionary - New Zealand Herald - Dictionary

Te Reo is featuring more in everyday New Zealand life. Photo / Bevan Conley

Māori words like chur and e hoa have been included in the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.

A batch of 47 New Zealand English words and phrases including expressions such as after-ball (a noun referring to an event, especially a party, that takes place after a ball), chur (an interjection similar to ‘cheers!’, used colloquially to express good wishes on meeting or departing), and Kiwiness (a noun signifying the quality or fact of being from New Zealand and to characteristics regarded as typical of New Zealand or New Zealanders).

Most of the words in the update are Māori – or te reo – one of New Zealand’s official languages. The Māori renaissance that began in the 1970s has moved Māori language and culture to the centre of national life in New Zealand.

This is reflected in the substantial number of Māori words that have become part of the vocabulary of both Māori and Pākehā (non-Māori) English speakers, many of which are making it into the OED for the first time.

Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson told the Herald while the normalisation of the Māori language was a natural progression, not all Māori or Pakeha would be overjoyed.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing and the reality is, like society, everything evolves,” Jackson said.

Willie Jackson Labour party MP and Minister for Broadcasting. Photo / TVNZ

“The language is changing and more Pākehā are using te reo in everyday use.

“Mahi, kai and moe are just simple words that everyday Kiwis use and that’s fantastic for Māori as the language develops.”

Jackson said the word chur used to drive him crazy.

“When I was involved with Māori music, the likes of Sir Howard Morrison and Māori musos used chur all the time. It drove me crazy,” Jackson said.

The oldest word, according to the Oxford Dictionary write-up of Māori origins in the update is whenua (land, or piece of land, especially a Māori person’s native land). Its use in English can be traced to the 18th century and first attested in Captain James Cook’s journals in 1770. Several other words in the update are used in Māori contexts to speak about the land, such as turangawaewae, meaning a place where one belongs or has established a right of residence.

A responsibility of care guides the way Māori relate to the land and environment and the word kaitiaki is a great example. It is used in English to refer to a guardian or steward of the natural resources of an environment or place. In this same category, rahui denotes a formal or ritualised prohibition against entering an area or undertaking an activity, typically enacted to protect a resource.

OED editors have scoured the archives, novels, newspapers and even Twitter for examples of the words to illustrate their use and development in English. The earliest example of koha (a gift or offering) in English, for example, was found in Keri Hulmes’ 1984 novel The Bone People, a text famous for its liberal use of Māori words.

Another citation was found in an edition of the Wellington Evening Post in 1995 without italics or an accompanying definition, indicating that it was of sufficient currency among the paper’s readership to be widely understood 10 or so years later. A quote from the New Zealand Herald that accompanies the word e hoa (an address for a friend or mate) cites a note from Finance Minister Grant Robertson to Labour MP Kiri Allan in 2021 using borrowings for Māori liberally: “Kia ora e hoa, we are missing you here today but I can feel your wairua and aroha from here.”

Danica Salazar, executive editor for World Englishes for the Oxford English Dictionary, says, “It is clear that the Māori language has had a profound and lasting impact on English in New Zealand. The OED continues to record and add Māori contributions as it monitors the evolution of English globally.”

The OED acknowledged Professor John Macalister of Victoria University for his work as the dictionary’s consultant on the etymology of Māori words used in NZ English.

He says: “The language is a window into our changing nation. It’s fascinating to see how quickly people respond to – or resist – social change through the language they use.”

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HISD third graders define success with massive donation of ... - News Blog - Dictionary

Beginning in 2016 with only five schools, the Rotary Club of Houston’s Dictionary Project has been dedicated to providing reading resources to HISD third graders. The number of recipient schools has grown every year, and this year, thanks to the generosity of individual donor Kandy Kaye Horn, every third grader in every HISD elementary school was given their own dictionary.

2023’s Dictionary Project was celebrated at Franklin Elementary where members of the Rotary Club enjoyed presentations from students, a performance by the Austin High School band and Edison Middle School dance team, and a thank-you breakfast for the Rotarians prepared by the Milby High School Culinary Program. 

“Literacy is the foundation of a society,” said Horn, whose passion for education motivated her generous donation. “Language is very important. The more they love to read, the more they will continue to read as adults.”

The donated dictionaries come with all of the bells and whistles, including atlases, a sign language alphabet, and a section of encyclopedic trivia. The students’ elementary education has readied them for the third grade, the first year that they will participate in standardized testing, and their new dictionaries will be an invaluable tool as they are an approved resource for use on the STAAR test.

“If a student has a dictionary and knows how to use it, they have a life skill and they have a resource that they can use to take charge of their own learning,” said Education Technology Specialist Michele Herod. “It speaks to the community commitment to HISD, saying ‘Hey, we believe in you and your education, so let’s see how we can support you to do bigger and better things.’”

The Franklin third graders were joined virtually by students from Wainwright Elementary and Bonham Elementary who participated in a lightning round of dictionary trivia. The students looked up definitions and information in their new dictionaries and volunteered to let their special guests know what they’d be doing with these useful books, including looking up difficult words and learning English as a second language.

The Dictionary Project is a national initiative sponsored and carried out by countless volunteer organizations including Rotary Clubs. To learn more about the project’s vision, visit their website. 

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Don’t be an ‘ick’: Tinder’s dating dictionary aims to clear the flirty confusion - KXAN.com - Dictionary

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Don’t be an ‘ick’: Tinder’s dating dictionary aims to clear the flirty confusion  KXAN.com

Lost in translation: 4 perfect words that have no English equivalent - MPR News - Translation

Who doesn't enjoy "soubhiyé" from time to time?

blackred/Getty Images

Sometimes they describe an attribute. Or a moment. Or maybe just a vibe.

These are the words from other languages that don't have a direct equivalent in English, and yet carry so much meaning.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary set out recently to gather some of these words on Twitter, and was flooded with responses from people offering their own.

Everything from "jugaad" in India (a flexible approach to problem-solving that uses limited resources) to "tsujigiri" in Japan (trying out your newly-acquired sword by decapitating a random passerby) was put forward.

What does that mean? The news, analysis and community conversation found here is funded by donations from individuals. Make a gift of any amount today to support this resource for everyone.

So we asked four people to tell us more about their favorite non-English words, and how they personally try to translate them.

Débrouillard

Submitted by Julie Cafley — Ottawa, Canada

Débrouillard, if you literally translate it, means somebody who removes the fog. The closest thing in English would be the idea of somebody who is resourceful, who's creative, figures a way through the fog or through the confusion and just gets to results, is efficient. It's a quality that I love in people, and it's something that I'm always trying to say in English. And frankly, the word doesn't exist.

Estrenar

Submitted by Rafa Martínez-Avial — San Francisco, California

Estrenar is a Spanish word that ... could mean to break something in, but it doesn't have to be something you wear. So it could be a new car, a new pair of shoes, or even a new partner that you're bringing to a party or a social gathering with you for the first time. In general though, there isn't a general translation, which is funny because I feel like usually I have this problem in the opposite direction where English has so many words that sometimes it's just very hard to find a Spanish word that conveys the same nuance or the same connotations that an English word.

Haa shagóon

Submitted by Kyle Wark (Tlingit names are X'ulteen and L'aakaw Éesh) — Anchorage, Alaska.

It means our ancestors. But because the Tlingit believe in reincarnation, it's also our descendants — the ancestors who will come back to us. But it also means a lot more than that, too. It means the history of our ancestors codified in places, stories, songs, names, art, customs, etcetera that guide our lives. The concept of haa shagóon is also related to haa kusteeyix, which means our way of life or our culture.

Soubhiyé

Submitted by Stephanie Thompson — San Diego, California.

In Lebanese Arabic ... soubhiyé refers to that period of time in the morning when no one else is awake but you, and you can either have some quiet time to yourself before the household is awake, or you can invite a friend or neighbor to join you for coffee and tea and you have some catch-up time together before the day get started. My mother often used to have a soubhiyé by herself or with one of my aunts or friends. And now that I am a mom of two myself and I don't sleep in anymore, I really value that time when you can just gather your thoughts and have that moment to yourself.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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How do you say 'asset' in Innu? It's complicated but this new Quebec dictionary does its best - Yahoo News Canada - Dictionary

Hélène St-Onge, Adélina Bacon, Julie Maltais and Louise Canapé were the four women who created a French- Innu dictionary for students at Cégep de Baie-Comeau. (Submitted by Julie Maltais - image credit)

The first time Julie Maltais flipped through the newly printed dictionary — full of 1,350 words translated from French into Innu — she felt a rush of pride.

Maltais, an educational consultant specialized in French language with the Cégep de Baie-Comeau, worked on the project — she calls it her baby — for nearly four years.

When Maltais came to Baie-Comeau five years ago, new to the job, she says she tried to identify barriers in the classroom and figure out how to support Innu students. She realized language was a big barrier.

"I was talking with teachers and they were pointing [out] that the vocabulary is hard to understand because they don't really have those words in their language," said Maltais.

"So that was the first idea … To make the French words become more accessible to the Innu students."

About 60 Innu students enrol in the post-secondary institution every year, says Maltais. The team was able to identify where the need was and, alongside teachers, choose every word to be translated into Innu.

As of this month, the lexicon is available online and in print for students and the public. It translates technical words used in nursing, social science, early childhood education or policing into Innu and includes recorded pronunciations.

Two-thirds of the terms 'don't exist in Innu'

Submitted by Julie Maltais

When Maltais first discussed the possibility of the project, she said she could see in the team's eyes that this kind of resource could change things for students.

One of the three Innu translators who worked on the project with Maltais, Hélène St-Onge, shared how she wished she had the resource when she was in school.

"She went to university and she had to struggle with many specific words," said Maltais.

St-Onge is a project manager for language and culture with the Innu Band Council of Pessamit, located south of Baie-Comeau.

She said part of what made the job of translating these technical terms difficult is the descriptive nature of the Innu language.

"Innu is a language of tangibles, so abstract terms are hard to translate, we have to paraphrase those terms," said St-Onge. "It took a lot of time on our part, for our team. But I saw the potential for this project, for Indigenous students and their success in school."

Working on the translations up to three times per week, St-Onge says the project was labour intensive. She verified every word and consulted elders on their thoughts on the translations.

She says most of the translations in Innu describe the definition of a French word, rather than the word itself.

"There are so many terms … that don't exist in Innu. Probably two-thirds of the terms we translated don't exist in Innu. So we have to do a lot of research to have the best possible translation and to explain the term," said St-Onge.

"For the word 'asset' in the program of social sciences the definition is tangible or intangible property that has a financial value. So how we translated it was, eshpitelitakuanlit eshi-kanuelitak auen … Essentially what we did was we translated more the definition instead of the actual word."

Submitted by Julie Maltais

Looking back at the work she and fellow Innu translators Adélina Bacon and Louise Canapé put in, she says she is incredibly proud and hopes the dictionary can inspire other nations to do the same.

"We work toward conserving our language. And this is one of the tools we can use," said St-Onge.

Non-Indigenous students 'can benefit from this too'

Maltais notes that other students who are not Innu can also benefit from this tool.

"They are talking to me about it and they're like 'I'm so happy … I can see how beautiful this language is' and they are really curious about it," said Maltais. "They can benefit from this too."

Although other universities and CEGEPs have tools for Indigenous students, Maltais says the dictionary they developed is unique. She spent time touring the province to introduce schools to this free tool that could improve students' learning.

"We want the Innu students to know that they have their place here and their language has a value and of course we want to put as many words [in] as we can so this language can just keep going and transmit from one generation to another," said Maltais.

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How Fast Should You Post-edit Machine Translation? Here's What the EU Thinks - Slator - Translation

The Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (a.k.a. the Translation Centre) is putting a number on it — how many pages translators and post-editors should produce per day.

(Post-editing machine translation, referred to variously as PEMT and MTPE, has become the industry standard and a skill in its own right.) 

In a new, EUR 2.8m call for tenders, the Translation Centre establishes multiple framework contracts for translation and post-editing services provided by freelancers “working on their own equipment, but connected to the Centre’s IT environment.”

Due to the confidentiality of the documents to be translated and post-edited, only the translators named in the contract will be permitted to handle the work.

According to the call for tenders, “as a rule, each project will always be processed through Trados Studio by the Centre.”

Contractors will receive a package containing a bilingual file with MT proposals and any relevant translation memory suggestions. Their assignments include verifying “each and every segment, regardless of its status, and mak[ing] the necessary changes.”

The RFP distinguishes between light post-editing, which does not entail stylistic corrections, and full post-editing, which requires attention to detail in terminology and register.

All final deliverables must be usable as received, “without any further revision or correction by the Translation Centre’s services.”

Tenderers can propose a maximum of two translators for each lot and must demonstrate their individual experience translating and post-editing in the language combination.

Just how much experience does the Centre want? At least 500 pages on topics related to European affairs or public administration matters. 

Translators Crunch the Numbers

The RFP states that a linguist working full-time should be able to translate 500 “standard” pages, or post-edit 800 pages, within six months. (The Centre estimates a standard page to include 1,500 characters, excluding spaces, in the source language.)

For the work handled through these framework agreements, the Centre “generally expects” one contractor to translate up to 10 pages daily; full post-edit up to 15 pages per day; or light post-edit up to 20 pages.

Slator Machine Translation Expert-in-the-Loop Report

60-page report on the interaction between human experts and AI in translation production, including AI-enabled workflows, adoption rates, postediting, pricing models.

Speaking with Slator, postediting trainer Enrico Antonio Mion pinned his own hourly output at 700 words for full post-edit and 1,000 words for light post-edit for a total of 5,600 or 8,000 words daily, respectively.

Bidders are required to submit a price offer, in Euros, per eight-hour workday for each lot — an interesting requirement considering the Centre’s estimates for services sought. With multiple units to consider, calculating rates can quickly become complex, and linguists turn to colleagues for advice. 

In a January 2023 forum on translation marketplace ProZ, Belgium-based French – Dutch translator Lieven Malaise wrote, “I apply a MTPE discount of 30-40% and that still allows for my hourly income of 35 euros. I don’t lose money by practicing MTPE.”

Jo Macdonald, an Italian – English translator in Spain, said he was uninterested in “PEMT jobs paid at your hourly rate calculating 10,000 words/hour.”

English – Swedish translator Thomas Johansson wrote that in his three years of working “with EU translations,” PEMT jobs have increasingly replaced translation. “Linguists are expected to accept a 30% discount on their rates for such jobs,” he explained, adding that “in effect, my hourly income often came out to about 40% of what it should have been.”

In an April 2021 thread about hourly rates for PEMT, Spanish – English translator William Bowley recommended working backwards: “If you’re working with agencies, they’ll often have their own expectations of x words per hour, upon which you can then base your quote.”

Hourly rates for translation and editing, including PEMT, are a departure from the traditional per-word rate, which Japanese – English financial translator Matt Stanton identifies in his advice to freelancers as crucial to success.

“Never forget that you’re paid by the word – not by the hour,” he wrote in a 2021 LinkedIn post. “This gives you immense power, as your hourly income is in your hands.”

But English – Dutch translator Gerard de Noord neatly summed up the paradox in a comment in the April 2021 ProZ discussion. 

“When you’re being paid per hour and your client tells you how many units you have to churn per hour, you’re not being paid per hour, you’re being paid per unit.”

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