Since I'm the curator and the exhibits staff, what do I do?  

Actually I think this is a point about translations well taken, but I should
also add that most curators I know can't afford not to write to appropriate
level.  

Candace Perry

 

  _____  

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of John E Simmons
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 3:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Promoting Museums to Other Cultures in the Community

 

Rachel's point is important but with a large caution:  professional
translators do not usually know how to write exhibit labels.  I have worked
with translators on exhibit labels before and while what the professionals
produce is excellent Spanish, it is almost always written at an
inappropriate reading level for your local Hispanic community (imagine the
results if you lett the curators write the labels with no oversight from
exhibits staff...).  Work with someone trained in grammar to correct the
errors, but don't expect a professional translator to understand the
readability level needed for a museum exhibit label.

 

--John

On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 3:02 PM, Rachel Talent Ivers
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

I think these are wonderful ideas, but I would like to encourage the use of
a professional translator (or someone with a degree in Spanish grammar or
Spanish literature) to proof the translations before you publish them or put
them on your walls. Conversational Spanish (or English, for that matter)
doesn't always equate to a grammatically correct translation. I worked with
a translator once who literally doubled-over in laughter while proofing
translations provided by a lending institution that had used a bilingual
docent to translate their label copy. Puns, metaphors, and colloquialisms
are also easily misunderstood during translation, so pay particular
attention to those.

 

Good luck!

 

Rachel Talent Ivers

Head Registrar

Museum of Art | Ft. Lauderdale

One East Las Olas Boulevard

Fort Lauderdale, FL  33301

954.525.5500 ext. 292

direct: 954.670.2862

fax: 954.524.6011

[log in to unmask]

 

  _____  

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of John E Simmons
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 2:35 PM 


To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Promoting Museums to Other Cultures in the Community


 

Start by recruiting community help to translate your labels into Spanish.
Community help will both encourage interest in the museum and make sure that
you don't translate into a version of Spanish that is not used by your local
Latino population.  If you can't afford to replace the signage in the museum
with bilingual labels (and this can be expensive), then make photocopies of
the translations available at the front desk.

 

Make an effort to recruit high school volunteers from the Latino
community--they, in turn, will encourage other community members to visit.
If at all possible, work with the community to prepare an exhibit about
Hispanics in the community.  Work with your local Latino cultural center or
church groups.

 

Once you have something to attract the Latino community (translations of
exhibit labels, an exhibit about them, etc.) distribute flyers to the stores
and other places in the community frequented by the Hispanic population.

 

--John

On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 2:03 PM, Diane Hutsell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

We have a pretty good size Latino population in our community, but none of
them come to our museum.  We haven't decided if it is because they don't
know about us or if they don't feel like they are welcome. It has been
suggested that we print some publicity materials in Spanish but then the
question as to what do we do about the fact that all of our exhibits are in
English. Has anyone else addressed these issues that has some insight to
share?

 

Diane

 

Diane Hutsell
Executive Director
McMinn County Living Heritage Museum
PO Box 889
Athens, TN 37303
423-745-0329
www.livingheritagemuseum.com <http://www.livingheritagemuseum.com/> 
[log in to unmask]

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If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
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-- 
John E. Simmons
Museologica
128 E. Burnside Street
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010
[log in to unmask]
303-681-5708
and
Adjunct Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
19 Deike Building
University Park, Pennsylvania 16802-2709
[log in to unmask] =========================================================
Important Subscriber Information: 

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
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to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help"
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