New Translation

      With help from my translator tutor - who is a French native - I have completed a translation. As it is from English into French, it needed a French 'touch' to ensure that it is as natural as possible... Enjoy!

French quit cuisine because of long hours

         Young French men and women are leaving once highly regarded traditional industries because of long hours. Bakers, Butchers, Fishmongers, Chefs, Restaurateurs and Hoteliers are all affected.

Despite unemployment of 2.5million, there are 800,000 posts to fill in these traditional trades. The French government says that these typical French roles are not considered as attractive by the population.

Following the dot com revolution and its promise of easy money, many young French people refused to accept traditional jobs. Alan Jecks, director of the National Employment Agency, said that there were no problems in the areas of communication and new technologies.

The main lack of employees came from the traditional trades. He believes that this was due to long hours and low salaries. Bruno Manciaux, who runs seven restaurants in the capital, even offers staff a £50 bonus if they recruit a friend who is capable of lasting the whole of the trial period.

Les Français abandonnent la cuisine à cause des heures pénibles

         À cause des heures pénibles, les jeunes français et françaises abandonnent les industries traditionnelles qui étaient précédemment très tenues en grande estime. Boulangers, bouchers, poissonniers, cuisiniers, restaurateurs et hôteliers sont tous affectés.

Malgré un taux de chômage qui atteint 2,5 millions, il existe 800 000 postes à pourvoir dans ces métiers traditionnels. D’après le gouvernement français ces professions françaises typiques ne sont pas considérés si attirantes par la population.

Suite à la révolution <<dot com>>* et sa promesse de l’argent facile a gagner, beaucoup de gens jeunes français refusèrent d’accepter les métiers traditionnels. Selon Alan Jecks, le directeur de l’ANPE (agence nationale pour l’emploi) ce type de problème n'existe pas dans le secteur tertiaire de l'information et des nouvelles technologies.

Ce sont les métiers traditionnels qui souffrent d'un manque de personnel. Toujours d'après Alan Jecks ceci est dû aux heures pénibles et aux bas salaires. Bruno Manciaux, gérant de sept restaurants dans la capitale offre même au personnel  une prime de 50 livres (60 Euros) lorsqu’un employé trouve un ami capable de survivre la totalité de la période d'essai.

* La révolution <<dotcom>> se rapporte à la révolution de l’utilisation des choses en ligne. 

New Module

        

      Last week, my language course at the University of Salford started a new module which consisted of Foreign Films - called 'Europe on Screen'. The purpose of the course is to gain an insight into the history and also the contemporary society of France, Germany, Italy and Spain through the medium of contemporary films.

The films for the French aspect of the course are 'La Haine' (Hate) and 'Amelie' - both giving an interesting insight into the French society as it is now, both from very different angles. 'La Haine' portrays society in France to be very segregated, the struggle for integration in a suburban area between ethnic groups. 'Amelie' however conveys society in a very eccentric style through the rather eccentric character of Amelie. Personally, as I have seen both these films, I must conclude that I much prefer La Haine, the portrayal of suburban racial disturbances and certain groups' struggle for integration and acceptance really interests me. 

For German however, both films focus on the years following the Second World War, the period in which the Berlin Wall stood. The first, 'Das Leben der Anderen' focuses on the 'lives of others' being that of the people in the East and West Germany having an insight into one another's cultures. As is fairly well known, life in the GDR (East Germany) shadowed by the government of the SED (Sozialistiche Einheitspartei Deutschlands) - or Social Unity Party, and that of West Germany. 'Goodbye Lenin' focuses much on the lifestyles of those living on either side, and the effect the 'Deutsche Wiedervereinigung (Reunification of Germany) had on its inhabitants. 

As for the Italian films however, I haven't seen either 'Stanno tutti bene' or 'Cinema Paradiso', so little comment can be made thus far, although I am very much looking forward to watching and studying them. Similarly with the Spanish film, 'Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios' - Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown - I haven't seen it, although I have been informed that it focuses on the shift in the role of  women in Spain and their reaction to this.

I am very much looking forward to the rest of this course and will of course continue to give you readers an update weekly!!

French Estate Agent Translation Customer Review

''Property purchase in France is filled with all sorts of catches you are just not aware of, especially if you are only armed with a 14 year old’s knowledge of French (too many years ago to mention!)

Brad’s explanation of the latest document was just what I needed and with the offer of help to back it up was useful.  We are only at the first stage, so no doubt things will become more complicated.  Even every day phrases can sometimes be misconstrued.  Thank you Brad, we will visit your translation service again in the not too distant future!''

Mrs Jean Stone - Norfolk, United Kingdom

NewUSB

      As part of my girlfriend's course at University, studying Journalism, she was required a few months ago to complete a News Piece - compiling video clips into a two minute feature. The catch however was that she had to find her own story, nothing that had previously been covered or printed! 

     As a result of her internet research, she came across an online radio station, NewUSB, which prides itself on only airing music from un-signed bands from all over the world. My girlfriend found that this would be a fantastic feature to do, seeing as she could also potentially tie it in with one of her friend's bands, The Articles, and form her video feature. 

     Upon interviewing the owner of NewUSB, Raymond Rowe, she discovered that he has many bands who send him music from all over the world! On hearing that I was a linguist studying at the University of Salford, and also that I did pieces of translation, he explained that he had many bands in France and Germany. Since then, the relationship between us and the station has grown, in such a way that they would like us to do further things with them! So stay tuned with the blog to hear updates about that!

    However, more importantly I really must stress that firstly, my girlfriend also publishes a blog on Blogspot, as part of her effort to become a freelance journalist, whilst both working and studying at MediaCity UK. There are some really interesting pieces on there, really worth a look at:  http://newsreviewsbrews.blogspot.com/ or on Twitter @lornakellett .
   

 Secondly, the radio station NewUSB is simply amazing, their efforts for un-signed bands in unparalleled - please take a moment to check out their site and listen to their fantastic show at: http://www.newusb.co.uk/ or on Facebook and Twitter

   
 Finally, as above mentioned, there are an un-signed band out there who really are deserving of so much support - really amazing music, playing in many venues... Visit The Articles either on Twitter or MySpace...

To think about...

      

     On reading an article on a blog recently, I came across a point which interested me. Take the scenario for example that a gentleman goes into a shop and says ''I will give you £2.50 for these socks''. The price of the socks originally is £3.50. Evidently the gentleman does not purchase these socks at £2.50 and consequently pays the full price. 

     The blogger's point concerning this example was that; ''why should translators have to work within a business where on portals for translation work, the price for this work is offered to them by potential clients?''

    

    Surely then, similar to other trades it should be the Translator who proposes a price at which they will work, as opposed to a price being offered to them by the client?? 

     I was very much interested by this point as by speaking to translators who I've met, some my University Lecturers, I've heard that the pressures of finding work within the field results in this being the situation that Translators are left in - considering the recession for example - having to accept the terms set to them by their potential clients. 

Another translation...

Just a little update on a piece of translation given to me to do:

        

 Just received an email from a lady asking me to look over a letter from a French estate agent concerning certain aspects of a property. She required me to just give her the gist of this correspondence - much easier than a thorough word-for-word translation! Two translations in two days; at least I'm keeping busy in my week off from University !!

Little Update...

         Just been called by one of the clients I do some translations for - they're a Classic Formula One racing team currently in negotiations with a French client concerning some particular parts for one particular model... This particular client of mine - whose French is limited - has suddenly after weeks of correspondence in English been bombarded with a French email - that's where I step in! 

One such phrase was - 'ils sont un peu pinailleurs!' Rarely see that!