August 4, 2015
Have Something You Need Translated in Spanish? We Have a 4-H Community Partner!
Submitted by Aliah Mestrovich Seay
Dr. Laura Kanost is a 4-H mom, volunteer, and also happens to be a certified translator and associate professor of Spanish at Kansas State University. She has already provided support to the state 4-H office in translating the New Families Guide in Spanish to be used statewide that will soon be available on our website.
Dr. Kanost has offered for her translation class of fall 2015 to take 4-H documents that we need translated as their final course project. Please see the syllabus description below:
“About six small groups of my K-State translation (SPAN 575) students will be working with community partners this October-November to produce professional quality Spanish translations, approximately three pages per group. Student groups will need to meet briefly with a community organization representative in late September or early October to ask some questions about the purpose and context of the document. Then they translate and revise, and finally submit the finished document when it has been approved by me, no later than early December. A native or heritage Spanish speaker student who has done outstanding translation coursework in the past assists me in editing the documents, and before we submit them to the community partner in mid December to early January, we check them again for accuracy. I will follow up to ask for community partner feedback about the usefulness and impact of the translation.”
In the past, Dr. Kanost’s class has translated forms, intake packets, web text, and brochures for organizations such as the library, the Crisis Center, the Emergency Shelter, Boys and Girls club, the Eisenhower museum, and Stepping Stones. This allows students to apply what they are learning in a real world experience where their decisions affect the community. This also makes translation and Spanish more visible in the community and raises awareness about what is involved in the translation process.
I will be accepting documents for the translation project during the month of August. Please send your documents directly to me at aliah@ksu.edu and I will forward them to Dr. Kanost for consideration. Please feel free to contact me with questions.