Advanced English for

Interpreters and
Translators

Celulares en vibrar por favor

Patrick Weill
COTIP March 26 2015, 6 -8 p.m.
Instituto de Especialización Judicial del Estado de Querétaro
 Order of Activities
I. Presentation of Content
- Shall and Will
- That and Which
- Legalese
- Capitalization and Punctuation Differences Between
Spanish and English

II. Break

III. Interpreting Exercises

 I. Shall and Will: An Old Distinction,
Mostly Important for Contracts

 Normal/Uncolored Future:
For describing a simple future event without overtones:

“I shall, we shall” but “you/he/she/they will.”

What is first, second, and third person? Plural and singular?

 Colored Future (Reversed: Shall is used in second and third

person to mark overtones of obligation, emphasis, willfulness
(voluntad), or insistence):

“I/we will, but you/he/she/they shall”

Colored Uses:
You shall regret this. (speaker’s threat)
I will lend you 5 dollars. (It is my will or agreement to do so)
You shall not have any. (My refusal)
I will have my way. (My determination that it shall be so)

Non-Colored Uses: Simple Future

I shall die some day.
You will die some day.
Shall I go to the meeting tomorrow?
Will they be here tomorrow?
 Shall and Will in Contracts

shall:
The sponsor shall comply with the obligations established
in Section 6.1.
‘se compromete a cumplir’, ‘cumplirá’ , ‘deberá cumplir’

will:
This object of this agreement is to establish the obligations
to which the parties will be subject with respect to the
conduct of the clinical trial referenced in Recital One.
Simple future, no command/obligation.
 II. That vs. Which
THAT  
  ‘That’ introduces essential information. This information is necessary for the listener so that he or
she may understand the meaning.

‘That’ tells you an essential piece of information about its antecedent: for example, “The application
that is used most often is Easyconvert.”

Here the ‘that’ phrase answers an important question: which of the many applications are we talking
about? The answer is the one that is used most often. ‘That’ is used to specify which of the
applications is most often used.
  
An abridged version of this rule might be To clarify which, use ‘that’.

WHICH
‘Which’ introduces extra or additional information. The information following ‘which’ is not
necessary for the listener to be able to understand the meaning.

Generally ‘which’ is used in conjunction with two commas in what is known as a parenthetical
phrase.

An example is “Penn's computer center, which is called CUPID, has been successful so far.“

This sentence could easily function without the parenthetical phrase.

 That vs. Which
Another way to keep ‘that’ and ‘which’ straight is to imagine ‘by the way’
following every ‘which’: “Penn's computer center, which (by the way) is called
CUPID. . . .” The ‘which’ adds a useful, but not grammatically necessary, piece
of information.
 
A paradoxical mnemonic device: use ‘that’ to tell which, and ‘which’ to tell that.

(Always use ‘who’ for people, not ‘that’ or ‘which’)

You can also use ‘through which,’ ‘in which,’ ‘by which,’ ‘into which,’ etc.

-A custom of moderation, through which we are able to achieve success, is the

type of behavior that can only result from a dispassionate refusal to succumb to
the lure of immediate gratification.

-The agreement that was executed on March 12, 1999, under which the
obligations of the Defendant were established, was determined by the Third
District Court to be valid in all respects.
III. Thus (de esta manera), Therefore (por lo tanto, por
lo que, por lo anterior), and However (sin embargo, no
obstante): Correct Punctuation Use.

Encyclopedia Britannica: Punctuation is “the use

of spacing, conventional signs, and certain
typographical devices as aids to the understanding
and correct reading, both silently and aloud, of
handwritten and printed texts.”

Generally, ‘thus,’ ‘therefore,’ and ’however’ are

only used after a semicolon or period. They begin
with a lowercase letter when they appear after a
semicolon.
Thus (de esta manera), Therefore (por lo tanto), and
However (sin embargo)

-The weather is humid, gray, windy, and cloudy; thus,

we are likely to experience a rainstorm.
-The quantity of precipitate produced was significant;
therefore, the hypothesis can be dismissed.
-The quantity of precipitate produced was minimal.
However, the hypothesis should not be dismissed.

Incorrect: But, the hypothesis should not be dismissed.

(‘But’ is better as a conjunction: in the middle of a

sentence)
 IV. Differences Between EN and ESP in Comma Use

In proper English, a comma cannot separate two simple

sentences (or independent clauses-basically a subject-verb pair).

Incorrect:
Two men walked in to a bar, they were very cold. (semicolon)
We have to study very hard this semester, I know it will be
rewarding. (period or semicolon)

Correct:
The professor said that two complete sentences can be joined by
a semicolon or a period; she was then sure that she had passed
the test. (Related ideas)
 Translation ES(chileno)-EN (US) 23 March 2015

Cabe destacar que el documento solo posee un cambio

administrativo, se modifica el número de teléfono al que el
paciente puede llamar en caso de necesidad, por este motivo
el presente material es de implementación inmediata en el
centro.

It should be noted that the document only contains an

administrative change; the telephone number that the patient
can call if necessary was modified. For this reason this
material is for immediate implementation at the site.
 (SKIP) Legalese II
Hereby (by means of this document)
You are hereby notified of our Committee’s resolution 1234.

Herewith (with this document)

Enclosed herewith please find the Purchase Agreement signed on March 12, 2013.

Hereof (of this document)

This activity shall be governed by Articles II and II hereof.

Hereto (to this document)

The Financial Schedule, attached hereto as Annex I, may be amended as established in
paragraph C of Article IV of the Regulations on Ethics Committees.

The parties hereto shall comply with the provisions of Royal Decree 1208 and any party in
violation of the aforesaid Royal Decree shall be subject to all penalties corresponding to the
violation.

Hereinafter referred to as (“En lo sucesivo denominado”)

Weill & Associates (hereinafter referred to as “COMPANY”) owns and/or represents that it is the
owner of certain valuable proprietary information, including but not limited to the following:
SKIP: Further Punctuation and Capitalization Differences Between EN and ESP

Quotations
U.S. ENGLISH:
…pertaining to the study entitled: “The Effects of Coursecasting in International Freshman Students.”

U.K. ENGLISH:
…pertaining to the study entitled: “The Effects of Coursecasting in International Freshman Students”.
(U.K. use is the same as Spanish use)

Commas in List Items

U.S. English: My favorite colors are yellow, green, and red.
U.K. English: My favourite colours are yellow, green and red. (U.K. use is the same as Spanish use)

Months, Days, Nationality, Languages, Religions:

My favorite months are March, April, and May, because there are many Mexican holidays. I love to eat Mexican food,
but Chinese food is the best.
This paper, which was written in Spanish and translated into English, was reviewed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Capitalization of all Words in a Title or a Heading (Omit short prepositions, articles, conjunctions, etc.)

Titles:
The Effects of Coursecasting in International Freshman Students
Effect of Type IV Spider Venom on Human Blood Pressure under Desert Conditions

Headings:
Methods and Materials
Preparation of the Samples
 Question 1

True or false:

Will is used in second and third person to

mark overtones of obligation, emphasis,
willfulness, or insistence.

Can you use ‘shall’ in a sentence?

 Question 2: That or Which
He bought all the books ________ are required for
the course.

She wanted to buy a scarf _______ would

complement her blue eyes.

The answers, ________ you can find in the back of

the book, are sometimes incorrect.

(Break)
 Interpreting
Interpreting sometimes involves “polishing” your output in order to de-
emphasize missing or incorrect translated speech. Eventually we will
produce errors but the idea is to, while not unethically and illegally
modifying our translation, orient our output towards an actually flawless
as well as seemingly flawless production of speech (Try to sound as error-
free as you can).

1. With a partner, study the example sentences, taking notes as needed

(5 min)
 
2. Take turns interpreting the material provided (10 min).
One partner reads and another interprets without seeing the text.
 

3. Volunteers are taken for a live interpreting exercise.

THANK YOU!