[Mihalic] Mihalic update

John Burton john.burton at anu.edu.au
Fri Oct 7 12:22:02 EST 2005


I was recently in PNG and had productive talks with contacts at Divine Word
University and with the SVD in Mt Hagen. I expect us to be able to make a
substantive proposal on how to proceed within a few weeks.

In the mean time, I was asked to look over the TP translation of a lengthy
report in English in for an organisation in the NGO sector. The exercise
highlighted a number of things.

* translators need more than a fluent knowledge of the target language - in
this case, fluency in international donor-speak was an additional
requirement

* donor-speak and reportese often has long windey sentences that living
human beings wouldn't ever say, and a first step is to translate into normal
English - there was a tendency in the first instance to rigidly translate
donor-speak directly into TP

* there was a converse tendency to be too informal in translating key terms,
thus diluting the focus of various discussion and the impact of the report
as a whole

Here are some brain teasers that also came up (the TP offerings were not
necessarily my final suggestions):

implementation - wok bilong karimaut 
significant political will - politikel sapot
growing instability - kainkain hevi bilong bipo yet na nupela wari gen long
... 
public opinion - nek bilong pablik 
should make clear the guidelines - mas tokaut klia long rul consistent with
- dispela mas bihainim policy and protocols that mandate - we i tokaut long
ol ... 
in extreme or special circumstances (= 'except for a special reason') - we i
no gat spesel risen long mekim / inap long spesel risen 
play a more active role in - ol tu i mas putim han insait 
recommendations - poin long karimaut 
ratify - tok i orait long / sainim 
given the critical role of international donors - bikos arapela kantri i
save givim bikpela helpim ... 
as an integral part of this strategy - (omit) 
donors should ensure that - ?? donors should raise with government - ??

Names of all government departments - what are they in TP?

John Burton

 

 

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