Need urgent help about internship!
Thread poster: Chiheb Masmoudi
Chiheb Masmoudi
Chiheb Masmoudi
Tunisia
Local time: 19:50
Arabic to English
+ ...
Jan 25, 2019

Hello everybody!

I have recently finished my master's degree in Translation Studies. I have been struggling to find an internship for a while now because I didn't want to apply in a translation agency (I won't be able to have a specific type of documents to write my master's thesis in this case). I kind of lost hope and decided to do some research and write a thesis without the internship. However, today I received a phone call from the Central Bank in my country asking me to come i
... See more
Hello everybody!

I have recently finished my master's degree in Translation Studies. I have been struggling to find an internship for a while now because I didn't want to apply in a translation agency (I won't be able to have a specific type of documents to write my master's thesis in this case). I kind of lost hope and decided to do some research and write a thesis without the internship. However, today I received a phone call from the Central Bank in my country asking me to come in like 5 days with an idea/theme for my research and master's thesis. I'm completely lost and I totally can't think of any topic without it being too general or too specific, so can you please help me? What do you think is an interesting research problem in this case? (bank context, 3rd world country, English-Arabic-French, business economic language). I need help ASAP thank you guys!
Collapse


 
Aïcha Louzir
Aïcha Louzir
France
Arabic to French
+ ...
might help Jan 26, 2019

Hello Chiheb,

I hope that you found an idea. I can't help you on this topic but please have a look at this link and see if you can find useful articles to guide you. Good luck!
... See more
Hello Chiheb,

I hope that you found an idea. I can't help you on this topic but please have a look at this link and see if you can find useful articles to guide you. Good luck!
https://www.erudit.org/en/search/?basic_search_term=legal%20translation&basic_search_field=all&advanced_search_operator1=AND&advanced_search_term1=&advanced_search_field1=all&advanced_search_operator2=AND&advanced_search_term2=&advanced_search_field2=all&advanced_search_operator3=AND&advanced_search_term3=&advanced_search_field3=all&advanced_search_operator4=AND&advanced_search_term4=&advanced_search_field4=all&advanced_search_operator5=AND&advanced_search_term5=&advanced_search_field5=all&funds=��rudit&funds=UNB&pub_year_start=&pub_year_end=
Collapse


Chiheb Masmoudi
 
Chiheb Masmoudi
Chiheb Masmoudi
Tunisia
Local time: 19:50
Arabic to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
thanking Jan 26, 2019

thank you for the links! i appreciate it.

 
Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:50
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
+ ...
A few ideas Jan 27, 2019

I have no idea what kind of activities that bank has, but here are a few topics:
- If they have an investment arm, they must be looking at companies' financial statements, annual reports, earnings announcements, press releases or just general news topics about companies whose stocks they are holding or thinking about investing in, and use that input when making investment decisions. You could ask them if there are companies that only publish these documents in a certain language that the b
... See more
I have no idea what kind of activities that bank has, but here are a few topics:
- If they have an investment arm, they must be looking at companies' financial statements, annual reports, earnings announcements, press releases or just general news topics about companies whose stocks they are holding or thinking about investing in, and use that input when making investment decisions. You could ask them if there are companies that only publish these documents in a certain language that the bankers don't understand. How do they deal with the translation of those? Are there key terms they usually look for in such documents? Are there different ways of signaling certain economic expectations in different languages? Have they tried using machine translation? What are the risks of using MT (e.g. incorrect investment decisions, etc.)?

- If they have a lending arm (mortgages, business loans, etc.) do they need to use resources in different languages for risk assessment? If yes, do they use MT? Again, what are the risks/disadvantages?

The advantages of MT in the above cases is speed and low cost (compared to hiring human translators), but accuracy issues may prove too much of a disadvantage. (Or not, I don't know.)
Also, there is free MT, and there are specialized, trainable MT solutions as well.

Some further ideas:

- Do they have a fraud investigation arm? Do they have translation needs there, for example when looking at correspondence (emails, etc.) sent/received by suspects in another language? Again, are there key words/phrases they screen for?

- Do they have internal communications monitoring for fraud prevention (insider trading, etc.)? If yes, do they have the ability to screen/filter emails based on key words/phrases or other linguistic patterns, especially if communication is conducted in multiple languages?

Also, you can just go into the meeting and listen to THEIR story. Why would they want to have an intern who is a translation student, what do they need help with?

Katalin
Collapse


 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:50
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
English-Arabic-French? Jan 27, 2019

Chiheb Masmoudi wrote:
(bank context, 3rd world country, English-Arabic-French, business economic language). I need help ASAP thank you guys!



What did you mean or imply by "English-Arabic-French"? Were you saying the agency have their English documents translated to Arabic, then have the Arabic versions translated to French? If that is what they do, it is a problematic practice and a lot can be researched about that practice.


 
Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:50
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Context Jan 27, 2019

jyuan_us wrote:

Chiheb Masmoudi wrote:
(bank context, 3rd world country, English-Arabic-French, business economic language). I need help ASAP thank you guys!



What did you mean or imply by "English-Arabic-French"? Were you saying the agency have their English documents translated to Arabic, then have the Arabic versions translated to French? If that is what they do, it is a problematic practice and a lot can be researched about that practice.


"English-Arabic-French" are the three languages of the OP. He is looking for a thesis/research topic involving those languages, in a business/economic specialization.
There is no agency involved. He would be doing an internship at a bank in Tunisia.


Andy Watkinson
Oriana Bonan
 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:50
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
Yes, but Jan 28, 2019

Katalin Horváth McClure wrote:

jyuan_us wrote:

Chiheb Masmoudi wrote:
(bank context, 3rd world country, English-Arabic-French, business economic language). I need help ASAP thank you guys!



What did you mean or imply by "English-Arabic-French"? Were you saying the agency have their English documents translated to Arabic, then have the Arabic versions translated to French? If that is what they do, it is a problematic practice and a lot can be researched about that practice.


"English-Arabic-French" are the three languages of the OP. He is looking for a thesis/research topic involving those languages, in a business/economic specialization.
There is no agency involved. He would be doing an internship at a bank in Tunisia.


But wouldn't it make it easier for us to share our ideas if the OP could list the language pair(s) he's interested in, instead of listing the 3 languages used in that bank?


 
Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:50
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Ideas for him? Jan 29, 2019

jyuan_us wrote:

But wouldn't it make it easier for us to share our ideas if the OP could list the language pair(s) he's interested in, instead of listing the 3 languages used in that bank?


I am not sure what languages are used at that bank. However, those 3 languages are the OP's languages (see his profile).
I think he would welcome any ideas involving any of the language pairs in the given context, so if you have some, don't hesitate to share.

[Edited at 2019-01-29 07:23 GMT]


 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:50
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
Yes, but Jan 29, 2019

Katalin Horváth McClure wrote:

jyuan_us wrote:

But wouldn't it make it easier for us to share our ideas if the OP could list the language pair(s) he's interested in, instead of listing the 3 languages used in that bank?


I am not sure what languages are used at that bank. However, those 3 languages are the OP's languages (see his profile).
I think he would welcome any ideas involving any of the language pairs in the given context, so if you have some, don't hesitate to share.

[Edited at 2019-01-29 07:23 GMT]


In my initial post, I just intended to have a better understanding of why the 3 languages were written as "English-Arabic-French". I thought the dash was used to indicate something which I don't know. And you said "English-Arabic-French" just means "the three languages of the OP". Now I'm thinking you were right but I still don't quite understand why the OP didn't write "English, Arabic, and French" in the first place.

[Edited at 2019-01-29 13:46 GMT]

[Edited at 2019-01-29 22:22 GMT]


 
Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:50
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
+ ...
Ideas for him would be helpful Jan 29, 2019

jyuan_us wrote:

Now I'm thinking you were right but I still don't quite understand why the OP didn't write "English, Arabic, and French" in the first place.

And that is what’s keeping you from sharing ideas? Because that is what the OP needs.


 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:50
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
That's not keeping me from sharing my ideas Jan 30, 2019

Katalin Horváth McClure wrote:

jyuan_us wrote:

Now I'm thinking you were right but I still don't quite understand why the OP didn't write "English, Arabic, and French" in the first place.

And that is what’s keeping you from sharing ideas? Because that is what the OP needs.


I have no idea anyway on the topic. Having no idea to offer/share doesn't mean I cannot ask questions. Isn't that right?

[Edited at 2019-01-30 02:00 GMT]


 
Katalin Horváth McClure
Katalin Horváth McClure  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:50
Member (2002)
English to Hungarian
+ ...
The OP asked for urgent help Jan 30, 2019

jyuan_us wrote:

I have no idea anyway on the topic. Having no idea to offer/share doesn't mean I cannot ask questions. Isn't that right?


Please re-read the original post. The post asked for urgent help, and includes enough relevant info for those who want and are able to help. You did not read that post carefully (the OP specifically explained that there is no agency involved), neither you read the replies posted before yours. When this became apparent, you started criticizing the way the OP posted his question, and again failed to read carefully the reply that clarified your stated confusion (namely, that the languages are the OP's languages, not necessary the bank's).
In the meantime, you made no effort to help the OP or contribute anything to the core of the discussion, and finally admitted that you "have no idea anyway on the topic", in other words, you were simply trolling.

I wouldn't care much, except that in this case the OP is a young beginner in our profession, a fairly new user at ProZ, and this was his first forum post. I hope he is not discouraged.

And with this, I am leaving this thread (= "stop feeding the troll").


 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:50
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
How did you know I didn't read the posts before mine? Jan 30, 2019

Katalin Horváth McClure wrote:

jyuan_us wrote:

I have no idea anyway on the topic. Having no idea to offer/share doesn't mean I cannot ask questions. Isn't that right?


Please re-read the original post. The post asked for urgent help, and includes enough relevant info for those who want and are able to help. You did not read that post carefully (the OP specifically explained that there is no agency involved), neither you read the replies posted before yours. When this became apparent, you started criticizing the way the OP posted his question, and again failed to read carefully the reply that clarified your stated confusion (namely, that the languages are the OP's languages, not necessary the bank's).
In the meantime, you made no effort to help the OP or contribute anything to the core of the discussion, and finally admitted that you "have no idea anyway on the topic", in other words, you were simply trolling.

I wouldn't care much, except that in this case the OP is a young beginner in our profession, a fairly new user at ProZ, and this was his first forum post. I hope he is not discouraged.

And with this, I am leaving this thread (= "stop feeding the troll").


I think that is judgmental, which has let to a quick conclusion. I was not sure what "English-Arabic-French" was, and I asked for clarification. What was wrong with that?


 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Need urgent help about internship!







Protemos translation business management system
Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!

The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.

More info »
CafeTran Espresso
You've never met a CAT tool this clever!

Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer. Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools. Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free

Buy now! »