French

F-1 (T, 1:30-3:00pm) - ALL
French Language Division Annual Meeting
Monique-Paule Tubb, administrator, ATA French Language Division, and owner, Advanced Communication and Translation, Inc., Chevy Chase, Maryland

[CANCELED] F-2 (T, 3:30-5:00pm) - ALL
The In's and Out's of French Typographical Conventions or: Translation Doesn't Stop at the Words
Manon Charpentier-Simon, certified translator (English-French), Toronto, Canada

You have spent time and effort translating a text into French—but is it really done? Have you followed the typographical conventions that are used in French, from using the right quotation marks, inserting unbreakable spaces where needed, abbreviating correctly and displaying decimals, symbols, and hyphenation properly? Do you know the rules for listing a bibliography and do you realize they are totally different from the English ones? You don't think it's important? Many French speakers cringe when they notice a "hybrid" typography that shows a shaky knowledge of the rules of the language. Learn hands-on what typographical pitfalls to avoid, brush up on your skills, and give your texts the finished look that will make them truly professional.

[CANCELED] F-3 (F, 10:00-10:45am) - ALL
Langage du droit, dictionnaire bilingue et corédaction. Le cas du Dictionnaire de droit privé du Québec (DDP)
Jean-Claude Gémar, Professor Emeritus, Department of Linguistics and Translation, École de Traduction et d'Interprétation, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
Presentation Language: French

A law dictionary sums up the language of the law of a country. In Canada, a law dictionary must present two legal languages based on two very different, if not opposite, systems. Before the McGill Research Centre for Private and Comparative Law initiated the DDP/PLD (1st ed. 1985, 2nd ed. 1991) project in the late 1970s, the existing law dictionaries offered Quebec lawyers and students a distorted view of their legal terminology. This view was greatly influenced by two centuries of dominant English language usage and practice. The bilingual DDP has been expanded upon by a group of "jurilinguists," composed of two distinct (French/English) drafting committees, who, at the beginning, used a classical method of lexicography to deal with a corpus of some 10,000 terms in order to produce two separate dictionaries. Over the years, their work method has evolved and is much improved. The two committees are now working together "co-drafting" the dictionary. Their joint effort is producing a book that is a stunning illustration of the word and the spirit of the Quebec language of the law.

(F, 10:45-11:30am) - ALL
Irreconcilable Differences: More Hazards of French>English Translation
Lillian Clementi, freelance French- and German-to-English translator, Washington, DC

Despite the close kinship between English and French, the two languages can present striking differences, and elegant translation between these frères ennemis can be challenging and treacherous. The third in a continuing series, this presentation will examine selected problems in comparative grammar and style. Topics will include questions of number and agreement, effective use of passive and active verbs, and differences in sentence structure and organization of ideas. Although the presenter will speak from the perspective of a French>English translator, the session s also designed to be useful for native Francophones writing in English.

F-4 (F, 1:30-2:15pm) - INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED
Challenges of Translating French Financial Terminology into English
Roxana Huhulea, president, New York Circle of Translators, and freelance translator, New York City

This presentation focuses on the difficulties of translating certain French financial terms into English. Such difficulties range from differences in the concept underlying certain terms to "false friends." Examples will be drawn from a variety of banking documents, including financial statements, credit applications, risk assessments, guaranties, and audit reports, that the presenter translated during her 12 years of working for a French bank in New York. This presentation targets the challenges of translating terms which are not only hard to grasp for the English speaker, but which can also change their meaning depending on the context. Last, but not least, the presentation will touch upon the translation of some French financial abbreviations and English terms "imported" into French, often with a slight change of meaning.

(F, 2:15-3:00pm) - ALL
Guide raisonné de l'innovation financière à l'intention des traducteurs
Léon Gwod, senior terminologist and editor, Terminology Bulletin, African Development Bank, Abidjan Côte d'Ivoire, Africa
Presentation Language: French

Financial innovation (new financial products, derivatives) is no longer a new phenomenon, but it still poses great challenges to translators. Understanding the rationale behind sophisticated transactions is key to a successful translation. This session attempts to place financial innovation in its historical context while explaining some of the most common operations and offering some French equivalents.

F-5 (F, 3:30-4:15pm) - ALL
La Traduction Scientifique/Scientific Translation
Annik Lacombe, head, Translation and Terminology Unit, National Institute for Agricultural Research, Paris, France
Presentation Language: French

This presentation is open to all attendees. It will cover additional material extending the workshop given in Preconference Seminar D, La Traduction Scientifique/Scientific Translation. Scientific translation presents many difficulties and problems. Terms and acronyms used are highly specialized, from emerging fields, and not defined within the document. Terminology research is crucial. Strict guidelines often dictate the form of the article and content of each section. The translator must at times serve as a rewriter. The presenter offers suggestions for dealing with such issues from her experience at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique in France.

(F, 4:15-5:00pm) - ALL
"Le mot juste" or "le mot injuste": Translating Culturally Sensitive Material
Cynthia Hahn, associate professor of French and chairperson, Foreign Languages Department, Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois

Translators encounter many difficulties when the cultural framework of a source text is very distant from the target culture. How does the literary translator tackle culturally sensitive material covering issues such as gender bashing, war, ethnic stereotyping, and offensive language or images for which there is no obvious equivalent? This presentation will note some problems encountered in translating North African poetry and prose of the 1970s-1990s from French to English, and through examples of this translator's work and others, will list several strategies for bridging the cultural chasm.

F-6 (S, 8:00-8:45am) - ALL
Interpretation Yesterday and Today
Christian Degueldre, program head, French Department, Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation, Monterey Institute of International Studies, Pacific Grove, California

This presentation will recount interpreting experiences at various levels over more than 23 years and five continents. Experiences include interpreting: from the paddy fields of Nigeria for the UN-Food and Agriculture Organization, for Microsoft in Seattle, from Mike Tyson's jail in Indiana for French TV, for Prime Minister Thatcher and President Nelson Mandela in Tokyo, for the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, for the Olympic Games in Seoul, from Peru to Bali and Thailand to China, for the Summit of the Americas, for many presidential and ministerial meetings, and for the Department of Education in Sacramento. It will also deal with the training of interpreters over the last 21 years.

F-7 (S, 1:30-3:00pm) - ALL
Bringing Clients into the Picture
Christine Durban, freelance translator, Paris, France

One way to foster best practice in translation is by creating opportunities for translators and customers to meet and exchange views in a semi-formal, focused setting. Yet luring even well-intentioned, semi-aware customers in is not always easy. This presentation looks at four types of initiative that have proved successful in Europe, and offers concrete suggestions on how they might be implemented into other markets. The speaker's aim is to demonstrate that client education can be profitably linked to translator education, creating a virtuous circle.

F-8 (S, 3:30-5:00pm) - ALL
Flashing Red Lights
Christine Durban, freelance translator, Paris, France

Often F>E financial translations simply do not flow, regardless of their creators' or vendors' claims. This presentation, which expands on a talk given under the same title at the ATA Financial Translation Conference in New York (May 2001), reviews a selection of typical problems and suggests how they might be resolved. Examples are drawn from business and financial documents produced in 2000/2001. The session will include hands-on input with a focus on writing skills.

F-9 (S, 3:30-5:00pm) - ALL
New Trends in the Financial Translation Market and the Implications for Translation into French
Laurence Fuchs, translator/terminologist (German/English>French), CLS Corporate Language Services AG, Basel, Switzerland

This presentation will look at the business changes brought about by globalization and the direct repercussions of these changes on the translation sector. Using various examples taken from real-life scenarios, the focus will be on examining the main difficulties presented by the translation of financial texts from English to French. One issue that will be looked at in particular is the use of "anglicismes" and "franglais."