Entry 8 - Overall Reflection

Since my internship is coming to an end, this last entry will be a reflection on how well my internship went and what it brought to me. I will share my thoughts concerning the fulfilling of my goals, my use of strategies learned in class and my improvements in English as well as my host and the organization I worked for.

Goals

My goals were to enrich my vocabulary and to improve my writing skills. I think I accomplished both goals. Indeed, I had the opportunity to learn many pertinent and useful vocabulary words such as sustainable, empower and discrepancy, words that I can now use in my own writing. Also, with these entries I wrote every week and the work I am currently doing on e-KSS's Facebook page, I notice that it is a lot easier for me to write in English now. Words come more fluently out of me and my grammar structures are better. Therefore, my goals are accomplished.

Strategies

I had chosen to use the strategies of guessing, looking for patterns and accept ambiguity. The guessing strategy, as I said in my previous entries, was successful. It helped me translate faster and more accurately since I could figure out the meaning of words without always looking in a dictionary, also allowing me to remember them more. I used the ''looking for patterns'' strategy differently. Instead of searching similarities between French and English, I noticed the differences between them. That allowed me to understand better how English works and helped me avoid making mistakes of interference of the first language.

Growth

What I enjoyed the most in my internship is that I saw my grammar skills, my reading skills and my vocabulary improve. At the beginning, translations were difficult for me and as time went by, it became easier. I could translate faster because I understood more the work I had to translate. Therefore, my comprehension of English language in general had greatly improved. Also, with this internship, I wanted to dip my toe in the water and to make sure I really wanted to become a translator. And I realised that I enjoy this work a lot. This is definitely a career I will consider in the future.

Placement

Finally, my host and the organization I worked for are wonderful. My host was there for me, helping me when I needed it, giving me clear instructions and constructive and insightful feedback that helped me improve my work. I enjoyed working with him. I would definitely recommend this internship for the next years' students.

And this is what marks the end of my internship. It was a great experience that I won't forget.

Entry 7 - Practice Makes Perfect

(This blogpost won't follow the guide of anglaisenaction)

This week, I noticed many differences between English and French. I looked at the different ways to express ideas and grammatically correct sentences. I also focused on different accents during the week.

Linguistic observations

The translation of this week allowed me to see that the English language is more focused on people than French. Indeed, we usually try to avoid talking directly to someone or including ourselves in our writing in French. We would use impersonal pronouns like "on" or "il', or no pronoun at all, instead of mentionning "I" or "we". However, I noticed that the use of those pronouns is more common in English. Therefore, I had to translate sentences like "We only need to watch television" into "Il suffit de regarder" or "How will we choose" in "Comment choisir". So where French tries to avoid naming people, English focuses more on them.

Accents

As I was meeting my supervisor through Skype, I took time to analyse my host's speech and tried to see how his first language, Portuguese, could interfere in his English, even though I don't speak Portuguese. I noticed that he had a strong accent. For example, he pronounces the "ing" sounds in verbs in the progressive tenses or gerunds "ink". The "g" transforms into a "k" in his speech. He also pronounces "r" like in French, a rolled "r". I found interesting to see how his accent shows where he comes from. I then wondered if I had any particularties of speech like him and I noticed that I still have some trouble with my "th" sounds and sometimes I don't pronounce "a"s correctly. I put too much accent on the "é" sound of words. Therefore, I have an accent as well, an heritage of my Quebec native language. 

Vocabulary

Finally, here are the vocabulary words I learned this week:

• Pioneering: It is the act of innovating, of opening up new areas of thought, research or development. 
• Alumni: I saw this word in the section concerning the university partners. I found it interesting because it looks like a name of a sect or something. However, it is a former student or a graduate of a school.
• Backbone: It is originally the vertebrate spine. However, this word can be used with the meaning of a main support or a sustaining factor, for example "humanitarian aid acts as true backbone for unfolding a new reality in the Amazon". We barely use this expression in French.

Blog 6 - Breaking it Down

Since I'm halfway through the internship, I believe it is the perfect time for me to pause and to supervise my learning. Therefore, during this past week, I took time look back to see how much I improved since the beginning of my internship. 

Improvements

I realised that my listening and reading comprehension of English has improved significantly. For listening, before I had a lot of difficulties to understand speakers with other accents than the American one, since the latter is closer to my pronunciation of English. However, my host speaking with a Brazilian accent forced me to adapt and to familiarize myself with his different pronunciation. At the beginning, I had trouble understanding him, even if he spoke slowly. And I realise that now, I understand him a lot better. I don't need to ask him to repeat sentences. However, I still use the strategy of repeating what he said to make sure I understand everything. Therefore, my comprehension of accents has improved.

My reading comprehension has also improved. I'm able to read a lot faster in English than I used to six weeks ago. I need to pause less and less to guess the meaning of words or to search them in a dictionary. And when I do, it takes me less time to figure out their meaning using the context of the sentence. I was able to achieve this improvement because of the academic level of English of the website and with the help of my host who has always given me clear explanations of expressions and sentences, but also using professional language. Being totally immersed in advanced vocabulary has allowed me to developp and to improve my reading comprehension and my writing skills.

Challenges

What I find difficult is to apply my learning into oral communication. I have a wide vocabulary when it comes to writing, and I am a great listener, but I still search my words when I speak. Academic words don't come has fluently as basic words in my head when I speak spontaneously. I will have to practice more to become more fluent. 

Vocabulary

Finally, I learned new words and expressions this week:

• Discrepancy: It is a divergence, a difference between facts or claims. For instance, there is a discrepancy between the Infant Mortality Rates of indigenous and non-indigenous people.
• Illiterate: It is a person that is unable to read and write, or had no formal education.
• To draw talent: It is to find good professionals with knowledge and talent. I had never seen this expression and couldn't find an equivalent in French.

Entry 5 - Cultural Encounters

(This blogpost won't follow the guide written on anglaisenaction's blog)

Since I'm translating at home, I don't have the chance to work in an English surrounding or with representants of other linguistic communities. Therefore, the observations I made concern more linguistics than culture.

Linguistics

While I was translating, I faced a challenge. I noticed that many sentences in the website were debuting by "It is", "It is bringing professionals that share the same vision together." for example. Since the website is written in a high level of English, I'm assuming that sentences debuting by "it is" are accepted in academic language. However, the best way to translate these phrases to French would be with the word "ça" or "cela". These words are seen as very poor language in French and we usually try to avoid them. I found it interesting that it wasn't the case in the English language.

Cultural observation

As for culture, I noticed that I am exposed to two different levels of English. Indeed, the website that I have to translate in written in an academic level, with complex vocabulary words and structures, but still accessible to a large audience. However, during the meetings with my host, even though the language remains at a professional level, it is a bit less academic. For example, when my host talks, he uses many of the basic verbs and adjectives, like "to be", "to go", "to have", or "big", "really", words our teacher forbids us to use in our blogs. Therefore, the language is a bit more loose, according to how spontaneous our conversation is.

 Vocabulary

Lastly, other vocabulary words have been added to my lexicon:

• Abreast - It means to be up to date, to be informed of something.
• Enable - To enable is to make able, so to supply with means or knowledge to make someone able to do something, for example to protect their lands.
• Bidding - I found this word in the section explaining the different partners and their contributions. It said the partners provided support through bidding process. That means a request or demand has been made.

Entry 4 - The World Is your Classroom

This week, unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to meet my host through Skype. However, I did make some interesting observations about linguistics and the processus of learning outside of a classroom.

Interference of first language

This week, I focused on observing how my first language, French, can interfere in my communication or comprehension in English. I noticed that there are many words in English that are exactly the same as in French. I remembered in class, we called them "cognates". However, even if these words are shared between the languages, they can be used in different contexts for each. Therefore, sometimes, I need to replace the existing word by another in order to express the same meaning in French. For example, in the sentence "the consensus to discuss the exchanges under an indigenous perspective" "consensus" would be "entente" in French, instead of the same word.

Classroom vs Internship

I noticed that I might learn even better in an English environment than inside a classroom. Because I am translating, I actually have the opportunity to analyse the different structures of English and the language itself. Not having a teacher to explain the grammar, I had to developp strategies and methods to be able to understand by myself. When I don't understand words, I look for the context around them, but also if I can recognize some parts of the words, for example "wife" in "midwifery" or associate them with another language if they are cognates. These strategies help me learn better because there's nothing like searching the answers by yourself to remember them.

Vocabulary

Finally, I had the opportunity to enrich my vocabulary with new words. For instance:

• Assessment - It is the act of evaluating or estimating. I often encountered this word in the expression "need assessment", the evaluation or estimation of the needs of the indigenous communities.
• Westernized - I recognized the word "West" in this word, so I figured out it would be related to the "West civilization" and indeed, this word means to be converted into the customs of the West, of the Occident.
• Midwifery - In the website, this word was used in a context of maternal health, therefore I knew it had to be related. This word means the techniques used by the person who assists a women giving birth.

Entry 3 - Diving In

During the week, I had to translate a section of the website that is called "About Us". Since the objective of this section is to present the workers and officers behind the organization, I learned many corporative terms and expressions. It was a challenge for me, since I don't have a lot of knowledge in the coporative world, even in French. I also had the opportunity to make pertinent observation during my first official meeting with my host.

Intonations and rhythm

This week, my meeting with my internship host through Skype has allowed me to notice differences in the rhythm of the speech between French and English. Indeed, English speakers tend to separate the parts of speech in a sentence. For example, they will pause in between the verb and the rest of the sentence. They also emphasize the verbs a lot more than we do in French, rising their tone and making the verb last a bit longer that other words. On the opposite, French speakers won't pause to distinct part of speech, speaking a lot faster and more fluently I believe. This distinction in rhythm will help me become a better English speaker since not pausing at the correct time shows that the language is foreign to the speaker.

Cultural observations

What stroke me the most this week is how time is important for English speakers, or maybe only for my host. Every minute of his day is scheduled and it's essential for him to be on time. For example, our Skype meeting was at 4:30 PM. He called me exactly at 4:30, not even 4:31. I found it amusing. Also, on our first meeting, he arrived five minutes late and left me a message to warn me, even if it was only five minutes. Therefore, English speakers are concerned about time and punctuality.

Vocabulary

Because of the technical aspect of the translation I had to make, I learned a lot of vocabulary this week. Here are some examples:

• A beacon: A beacon is a source of guidance or an inspiration. For example, the organization of my internship used a United Nations report as a guideline - a beacon - to their activity.
• A stakeholder: It is a person or a group that is concerned about an organization's actions and will be affected by its decisions. I must remember that word since it is used often in corporate business.
• Members at Large:  I had to ask my host the meaning of this expression. He told me it was a designation for members that have some privileges but are excluded from the Board of Directors. I could then search for the right expression to use in French, which is "Membres Associés."

Entry 2 - First Impressions

First impressions

Since I am working from home, I didn't get the chance to go in a new environment with English speakers. However, I must admit that I like this environment, me in front of my computer, comparing English's grammar structures and vocabulary to French's. It is interesting to notice the differences between them, but it's also a challenge for me to find a way to express the right ideas in my mother tongue. 

Mistakes and misunderstandings

During my first meeting with my host, I made a mistake that made me realise how easy first language interferes with second languages in spontaneous oral communication. Instead of saying "I have a job", I said "I have a work" because I thought of the French word "travail". I have to be careful not to let my mother tongue get mixed up with English.

I also saw an expression that I didn't understand because I translated it into French word by word and it didn't make sense. "Lands having high biological importance" means that the land is home to an enormous amount of fauna and flora, and not a "grande importance biologique".

Cultural observation
I noticed that English communities don't welcome each other like French communities do. In French, when a men or a women meets another women, they will greet each other with a peck on the cheek, what we call "bises". English speakers, however, greet each other with a hand shake, regardless of genders. I found it surprising when I met my host for the first time. 

Idioms and expressions are hard to translate

During the week, I also learned many new idioms. This is the most difficult part in translating a text in my opinion, because many expressions do not have the same meaning in French. For example, the English language is full of two-words adjectives, like "well-structured" or "last-minute", while French separates these words (we would then say "bien structuré" or "à la dernière minute").

Strategies and vocabulary

Finally, through my work, I encountered new vocabulary words. In order to get their meaning right, I tried to use the "Guessing" strategy. Here are some examples of vocabulary I developped:

• Courtyard - A space open to the sky surrounded by four walls. My host wanted me to meet him in the courtyard behind a coffee shop. I guessed that it was a "terrasse", a space where we could sit outside, and I was right.
• Empower - To make something stronger.
• Sustainable - Something that will last, that will be kept in existence.