Community Translation Services: Lovin’ Spoonfuls Recipe Cards
September 6, 2016 – Language Connections, a translation and interpreting services company, frequently works with a local non-profit organization, Lovin’ Spoonfuls, helping them to serve the community. As a Boston-based company ourselves, we are happy to help with community translation services in Boston whenever we can. The aim of Lovin’ Spoonfuls is collecting food, that would otherwise be wasted, and distributing it to community organizations where it is most needed. Healthy food is brought from local grocery stores, such as Whole Foods where it is considered no longer “sellable”but by no means has gone bad, to food pantries where it is accompanied by recipe cards detailing options for different meals using the donated food items.
Community translation services take many different forms, but in general they all serve to enable communities participate in day-to-day activities, as well as get the services they need. Our role with Lovin’ Spoonfuls is to regularly translate their recipe cards into the native languages of non-native English speakers to whom they will be given. These languages include Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Brazilian Portuguese and Haitian French Creole. Most recently we provided multilingual translations of ten such cards. In addition to actual recipes about how to use certain vegetables, the cards also provide information on how to store them properly, what nutrients they contain, and tips about how to best cook and eat each of the vegetables.
This type of translation often brings up issues that must be addressed regarding units of measurement and linguistic differences between English and the other languages. For instance, one of the cards included the origin of the eggplant: “Eggplant takes its name from the white variety’s resemblance to an egg.” But in all the requested languages, this English source phrase doesn’t make sense because the term egg does not appear in the word eggplant in any of the target languages (e.g. Spanish “berenjena”, Portuguese “beringela” and French “aubergine”). Our translators are experienced in dealing with differences of this type and know how to best address any linguistic challenges that they may encounter. This enabled them to translate the phrase in such a way as to explain the origin, while still ensuring that readers of the target language would understand the meaning behind the name.
About Language Connections:
Language Connections is one of the top language service companies in the US. Over the last 30 years, we’ve focused on providing the best business translation services, interpreting services, as well as interpreter training and customized language training programs. In addition to top-tier corporate language training, we offer certified corporate interpreters and professional business translation services in 200+ languages. Our network includes linguists with backgrounds in all major industries. They’re ready to meet your needs, whether they’re for technical translation services, legal translation, government translation services, international development translation services, education translation services, life sciences translation, or something else. Reach out to us today for a free quote on our cost-efficient and timely translation services, interpreters, or other linguistic services.
Language Connections INC
2001 Beacon Street, Suite 105
Boston, MA 02135
Phone: +1-617-731-3510
Email: service@languageconnections.com
