To avoid a repeat of embarrassing episodes of the printing of gibberish Tamil text in collaterals, all government agencies will need to tighten vetting procedures and engage only publishing companies with the proper software to handle Tamil text correctly.

These are among the recommendations made by a review panel to raise Tamil translation standards in government communications, and which the National Translation Committee (NTC) has accepted in full.

As such, government agencies have been advised to include the software requirement in their contracts with the printers. With the requirement change, the NTC and Tamil Resource Panel will organise training sessions to clarify any questions publishing companies may have.

Quality translations are “a sign of respect to our different ethnic communities”, said Minister of State for Communications and Information and Health, Mr Chee Hong Tat, on Thursday (Jan 26) in an appreciation event for the panel.

Translation mistakes in the past by “various government agencies” led Mr Chee, who is the National Translation Committee chairman, to form the Review Panel on Government Tamil Translation last year.

In 2014, the National Environment Agency printed flyers in the Tamil language that contained gibberish, and the Singapore Tourism Board put up a signboard with the wrong Tamil translation of Lau Pat Sat. The following year, the “Tan Kah Kee” station name was mistranslated in Tamil as “Paan Kah Kee”, which the Land Transport Authority later apologised for.

Mr Chee explained that the mistakes in previous episodes were due to the incompatibility of the text prepared with the Tamil software used by some printers.

One source of incompatibility comes from the different operating systems: Apple (used by most printers) versus Microsoft (used by the agencies in their preparation of the text), he added.

Simple errors like how one agency translated “Thank you” as “Thandri” instead of “Nandri” could also be avoided if the agencies adopt a proper vetting process before the materials go public, Mr Chee said.

“This may sound like a simple step to take, but it is an important part of the quality control process,” he added.

For agencies that do not have in-house capabilities to do such vetting, the panel has made available a list of experience vendors they could engage.

The panel has also recommended for agencies to enlarge the pool of Tamil-literate officers who could play an effective role in the translation and vetting process.

To do that, the NTC will organise training workshops so that agencies can upgrade their language and translation skills. The NTC will also explore translator training with educational institutions and media outlets such as UniSIM, NIE, MediaCorp and Tamil Murasu.

“These are not ‘silver bullets’ that can address all translation-related issues overnight, however,” Mr Chee said. “It remains a work in progress ... Agencies must take ownership to ensure the accuracy of their translations, as this is a key part of getting their communications right.”

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by WONG PEI TING

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