Guidelines for Translations and Reproductions of INEE Tools

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Before you start

Before beginning the translation or reproduction process, please inform the INEE Secretariat (minimumstandards@ineesite.org) that you are planning to carry out a translation of an INEE Tool; the INEE Secretariat will send you an approval for undertaking the translation. This allows the INEE Secretariat to provide the necessary support during the translation process and also allows the Secretariat to better coordinate the international translation process, preventing the duplication of translation efforts.  

Step One: Translating the text

  • Identify a professional translator, preferably someone who is familiar with humanitarian and education work.
  • Identify a proofreader to review the translation draft. The translator and proofreader should not be the same person. If funds are not available for a proofreader, a member of the reference group (see next paragraph) can serve as a proofreader.
  • Appoint a contact person who will support the translator throughout the translation process, as necessary (see Useful Practices below). Convene a reference group of mother-tongue experts from different agencies who will support the translation process by discussing and agreeing on translation of key terms and concepts and do a review of the final text. If the language is one of INEE’s Working Languages (Arabic, French, Portuguese, Spanish) this process should be coordinated by the Language Community Facilitator – your Secretariat point of contact can put you in contact with the relevant Facilitator.
  • The translator should review the tool and then translate INEE’s Key Terminology List into the language of the translation (see Key Terminology List: http://www.ineesite.org/uploads/documents/store/Key_Terminology_List_Template.doc). This list can be expanded on the basis of the translator’s initial reading of the tool, as some languages may find some terms particularly difficult to translate. It should then be circulated to the reference group, including the proofreader, for review; ensuring that there is agreement on key terms and potentially difficult vocabulary will make the translation process smother. Only after agreement is reached on the Key Terminology List should translation of the full text be started.
  • Once the translation is complete, the proofreader should carefully read through the entire text with a view to consistency with the Key Terminology List, typos and minor grammatical edits.
  • Reconvene the group of mother-tongue experts from different agencies (see the third bullet above) to review the final draft after the translation has been proofread. The group needs to reach a consensus on the translated text.
  • Send the final translated document in Word format to the INEE Secretariat.

 

Step Two: Producing the translated INEE Tool

  • Work with the INEE Secretariat to obtain the original English working files of the INEE Tool (i.e. the files that a designer can manipulate, usually in a programme like Quark or InDesign).
  • In some cases (particularly Roman alphabet script) it might be easiest and cheapest to work with the designer who did the original document; in situations where this isn’t the case, identify a graphic designer and share the working files with the designer.
  • Work with the proofreader, translator or volunteer Reference Group members to do a final proof of the designed document (checking page references, figures, captions etc). Notes of these corrections should be kept and the alterations made to the final Word document.
  • Please share the final working files produced by the graphic designer with the INEE Secretariat before sending all files to the printer. Please also provide high and low resolution PDFs. If possible, please ask the graphic designer to develop the contents page of the PDFs to be clickable/navigable.

 

Key things to note

  • Content:  Please translate the whole handbook as it appears in the origincal English version.  You may not change, substitute, or delete any sentences, paragraphs, sections or chapters of the text. You may not add any sentences, paragraphs, sections or chapters to the text. The translated text must be identical to the English text.
  • Front Cover:  The front Cover of the document should be identical to the English text. The only exception is where the front cover includes a photograph; this can be replaced with a photo more relevant to your context. Acknowledgement of the provenance of an added photo should be noted in the same place and style of the original photograph.
  • Acknowledgement of translation support: The INEE Secretariat, and broader network is always grateful for support received to translate key INEE documents; however, as these tools are inter-agency in nature, the branding of them with agency logos is a delicate issue. Where support has been given to the translation and/or printing of a tool, the supporting agency’s name can be added to the Acknowledgement page as follows:

           This <language> translation of <Tool Title> was undertaken with support from <agency>.

If, due to agency funding or other internal policies, the inclusion of a logo is essential, this can be added next to the above statement on the Acknowledgements page. The same sentence and logo can be added to the back cover of the tool, but for the reasons stated above, the strong preference is to have agency branding limited to the Acknowledgements page.

Step Three: Printing

  • Identify a printing house and determine the desired quantity of printed copies, in consultation with the INEE Secretariat.
  • Please be sure to send at least 10 hard copies of the translation to your Secretariat contact (ask for mailing address).

 

Step Four: Dissemination

  • The translation must be available to all actors in the education and emergencies community, including local and national government authorities.  Please distribute both hard and soft copies of the translation.  If possible, distribute the translation through listservs and by uploading it on appropriate websites and databases.
  • INEE will post the translated document on the INEE website and share it through the INEE listserv so that INEE members can access it.
  • No individual or organization may realize any financial gain from the translated text.

 

Don’t Forget! Please send the INEE Secretariat:

  • Final Key Terminology list
  • Final World files of the translation
  • Final working files (Quark, InDesign, etc) of the designed translation
  • High resolution PDF of the final document
  • At least 10 hard copies of the final document
  • The contact details for where more hard copies can be obtained

 

Tips and good practices

  • Key terms and concepts: it is important to get consensus on key terms and concepts and develop a Key Terminology List. Draw on already approved glossaries or reputable documents that have already been translated if possible. Inform the translator that he/she needs to use the agreed-upon terminology.
  • Communication channel: it is essential to effectively communicate with your translator, especially at the beginning of the process. This would be the responsibility of the contact person, ideally a native speaker with excellent writing skills, working for an agency involved in disaster response. This person must be willing to spend some quality time reviewing first few pages of the translation and to be in regular contact with the translator.
  • Proofreading: If your resources permit, please hire a professional proofreader to review the whole translation. Ideally, the proofreader would participate in the translation process from the start, helping to produce agreed-upon translations of the Key Terminology List. If not, make sure the proofreader has the Key Terminology List and ask the proofreader to check the grammar, punctuation, proper page order, etc. If resources are limited, the contact person could do this review.

 

Thank you!

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