About this book

The Manual aims at providing translators, interpreters, instructors and trainees with much needed exercises in practically all realms of activity:

• Medical
• Legal (Court, attorneys, etc.)
• Law enforcement (police, arrests, statements, and so forth)
• Business (advertisements, real estate, sales, etc.)
• Other social endeavors such as services, immigration, job application, etc.

This manual comprises many kinds of exercises, among them the following:

• monolingual (expansion, synonyms, intra-lingual translation, and so forth)
• bilingual (for written and oral work) such as inter-lingual translation and interpreting, sight translation, consecutive, bilateral, and a bit of simultaneous
• mixed, where one complete idea is to be translated into language A and the next idea is to be translated into language B
• code-switching, a totally new kind of exercise, formerly taboo in linguistic training, where ideas in sentences, paragraphs, and whole texts are expressed in different languages, making the student-trainee increase her/his reaction speed, improve vocabulary, structural, and memory skills in two languages. These exercises have also shown great effectiveness in bilateral and simultaneous interpreting training

The Manual is structured for five levels of proficiency:

• Beginners
• Beginners – Intermediates
• Intermediate
• Intermediate – Advanced
• Advanced

However, trainees and even practicing translators-interpreters will find that exercises at all levels will always offer something new, exciting and useful in context.

About the author

Eduardo González-Muñiz was born in Cuba, where he obtained his Bachelor-Master's Degree in Translation-Interpretation and Literature at the University of Havana. He completed his Doctorate in Education in Moscow, Russia. In the U.S. he became a Certified Federal Court Interpreter. He has lived and worked in several countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America, and has served as an Interpreter-Translator in settings such as national and international conferences, hospitals, international medical brigades, courts and embassies. He was recently chosen as a Fulbright Senior Specialist and has written numerous articles, a dictionary, a book of chronicles and an Exercise Manual for the Training of Community Translators and Interpreters. He has been an educator since 1970.

Section I: Beginning Level

• Vocabulary and Preposition Exercises (Spanish)
  
• Sports Vocabulary, Translation and Expansion
  
• Notas sobre las palabras en espanol y reglas para poner acentos (Spanish)
  
• Ejercicios con palabras agudas, llanas o graves y esdrujulas
  
• Cultural Topics (English and Spanish)
  
• Exercises with ser and estar, Vocabulary, Expansion, Translation
  
• Revision Exercises (Punctuation, Vocabulary, Grammar), Translation and
  Commands in Spanish (English and Spanish)

Section II: Beginning–Intermediate Level

• Contrastes y similitudes (but, some, neither, either) — English and Spanish
• Los verbos haber y hallar (Spanish),
• Passive Voice in Spanish. Exercises
• Translation Phenomena: Acronyms; English > Spanish Translation; Bilingual Exercises; Culture and Information; Curiosities (Medical and in Court)
• Mixed Exercises
• Modo Subjuntivo / Subjunctive. Translation Exercises
• The Right Context? Style? Register? Mixed Exercises
• Consecutive Interpreting; Legal Vocabulary; Court Expressions and Initials
• Ads, Business, Fliers, Disclosures, Everyday Items (English and Spanish)
• Spanglish. Mixed Exercises (English, Spanish, Spanglish)
• More Spanglish/anglonol
• Idioms, Colloquialisms, Special Constructions, Vulgarities (Also for Intermediate and Advanced)
• Certain English Modal Verbs. Translation English < > Spanish
• Perifrasis verbales. Ejercicios de traduccion
• Exercises on Ethics (Translator and Interpreter) English and Spanish [Also for Intermediate and Advanced]

Section III: Intermediate Level

• Same reality, different approaches: Culture, Oxymorons, Focus; Eastern and Western terminology. Expansion (English and Spanish)
• Collocation; Culture; Linguistic and General Knowledge; Translation and Revision Exercises
• Idioms and Miscellaneous (medical, military, word-combinations...)
• Vulgarities; Translation Exercises
• Interpreting; Basic Consecutive Practice; Short Term Memory, numbers, names (Legal and Medical)
• Special Difficulties; Transposition, Addition, Omission. Other translation
• Problems: Passive Voice, Gerund, False Cognates, Anglicisms, Hispanicisms
• Long Text Translation (Spanish > English) — 789 Words

Section IV: Intermediate–Advanced Level

• Special, Useful Terms and Phrases (Police, Legal and Medical Terminology) First Sight Translation, Consecutive and Written Translation. Mixed
• Jargon, Colloquialisms, Vulgarisms and "Misunderstandings" — The Health Provider's and the Patient's Perspective
• First Sight and Written Translation. Legal Vocabulary in Context. Switching Codes
• Medical and Social Contexts — Possible Self-Test or Quiz
• Consecutive Interpreting, First Sight and Written Translation (Law and Medicine); vulgarities
• First Sight Translation and Consecutive Practice (General Information; News)
• Medical Texts. First Sight/Consecutive — Chart Model and Nursing Problems
• Intra/Inter-Language Translation. Idioms and Special Phrases
• Simultaneous Practice — Court Vocabulary and Advisement of Rights.
• Mini-texts for Written and First Sight Translation (Traffic, general, medical)
• More on Collocation; Mechanics; Grammar; Idioms; Prepositions and Connectors
• Idioms and Special Word Combinations. Mixed
• Paneles, ponencias, preguntas (Consecutive Interpretation)
• Long Text Translation (English > Spanish) — 790 Words

Section V: Advanced Level

• Expansion and Connotation. Translation exercises. Bilingual
• First Sight Translation; Mixed Bilingual and Code Switching Exercises
• Idioms, Proverbs and Special Phrases (Spanish > English)
• Idioms, Proverbs and Special Phrases (English > Spanish)
• Appendix I (Generic Information Forms — health, immigration, job application...)
• Appendix II (Affidavits, Court Plea and Waver Forms, Juvenile Proceedings...)

Key to Exercises

Brief Glossary of Translation Terms, Techniques

Bibliography and References

Index