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Standardizing Agency/Department Forms: Foreign Language Content

Standardizing Agency/Department Forms: Foreign Language Content. Vingette CMA User Group Meeting June 1, 2006. Prepared by Julie Lewis, Department of Human Services. Author’s Background. Lived in Colombia, South America as a foreign exchange student during junior year of high school

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Standardizing Agency/Department Forms: Foreign Language Content

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  1. Standardizing Agency/Department Forms: Foreign Language Content Vingette CMA User Group Meeting June 1, 2006 Prepared by Julie Lewis, Department of Human Services

  2. Author’s Background • Lived in Colombia, South America as a foreign exchange student during junior year of high school • Continued studying Spanish at Oakland University • Bilingual in Spanish working with migrant and Spanish-speaking clients in DSS/FIA/DHS for over 31 years • Co-facilitator of the DHS Spanish Language Proofreading Workgroup • My many DHS hats include: • Online Manuals statewide liaison • Forms and publications Print Coordinator for Family Support Services • Web and Language Content Editor for DHS

  3. Spanish Best Practices • What Remains in English • Proper Names and Titles. Certain proper names and titles always appear in English only, or in English followed by the translation in parentheses. Use the “telephone book rule” to decide what remains in English: If the word or phrase would appear in the telephone book, it remains in English. Example: Business names and titles of government departments or agencies, such as Department of Human Services, remain in English. • Document Titles. The official business title of a document is the English title. For example, when referencing the document in another document, the English title should be used, followed by the translated title. Documents that are entirely in a foreign language may use the translated title only. • Document Formats • The translated document should use the same formatting as the English document. Examples: Sentences formatted with bullets; paragraphs that appear in a box; numbered sequences. • Page breaks should occur in the same place in the translation as in the English, even if it’s in the middle of a sentence. Reason: Easier for an English speaking person to follow along if there are questions.

  4. Best practices continued • Combining Terms or Sentences • Terms. When separate terms are used in the English document, do not combine them in the translation. Examples: Terms referring to financial accounts such as “checking/draft,” “savings/share.” • Sentences. A sentence in the source document should be a sentence in the translation (a sentence is a sentence). Do not combine sentences. • Dictionaries. Create a dictionary that contains the exact translation that is to be used for certain words and phrases that have special meanings in the context of your department documents. Example: DHS has an English/Spanish electronic dictionary in Word of DHS-related terms and other words that the Spanish Proofreading Workgroup struggled with as they must be used in a policy context. This dictionary is available upon request from lewisj4. • Consultation. Provide a contact person who can provide assistance if all or part of an English document does not make sense to the contractor, or if they have any other questions. This person should be able to either resolve concerns or provide the name of a contact person who has detailed knowledge of the topic.

  5. DHS Glossaries • Glossaries. English glossaries containing definitions of policy-related terms are available for your reference on the DHS public web site at the following links: • http://www.mfia.state.mi.us/olmweb/ex/prg/glossary.pdf Public assistance program terms (Food Assistance Program, Medicaid, Family Independence Program, etc.) • http://www.mfia.state.mi.us/olmweb/ex/prg/glossary.pdf Social work program terms (Adoption, Child Protective Services, Foster Care, etc.)

  6. Translation vendors • DHS has a list of Pre-Qualified Translation Vendors for at least 14 identified languages • Requirements include translation, proofreading and creation of a PDF document • For a copy of the list, contact Linda Rose, Office Services Manager at rosel@michigan.gov

  7. Spanish Content: e-Michigan Alphabetical except where there are characters or numbers – not always the easiest way to find things if you don’t know the exact title.

  8. DHS forms in numerical order Spanish titles follow the English titled form/pub Exception: The department mandated that the primary applications remain at the top of list.

  9. Use Release Date and Priority to place forms/pubs in numerical order Note: Use the same release date for all forms/pubs. Use the form number as the priority number, foreign language forms increase the priority number by one.

  10. Release Form # Form Name Asset ID Content ID Date Priority Note: Author maintains an Excel spreadsheet to facilitate updating information.

  11. Keyboard and HTML for special characters in text

  12. Questions or comments Please feel free to contact me: Julie Lewis, Specialist 517 241-7084 lewisj4@michigan.gov

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