Reaching the Outside World

Translations

The UN has six official languages: French, English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese. UNDP’s three working languages are English, French and Spanish. Translation is important as part of the multinational face of UNDP. All major global documents are translated into English, French and Spanish. Wherever possible, translation projects related to a country or region should tap local expertise—the Arabic version of the Arab Human Development Report, for example, is translated by a team in Cairo.

Since translation is expensive, the rationale for translating national and regional publications depends largely on the target audience for a communications product. If you are presenting a report on decentralized local governance, and policy makers in a capital city speak one language, while local communities in the provinces use another, you may need reports in both languages to reach both constituencies. If the report is on the national impacts of global trade, reaching central policy makers in a single language may be enough. If you expect to attract global media attention, you may need to translate the report or at least a summary into English, and possibly French or Spanish depending on the original. This is particularly important for languages that may only be spoken in one or two countries. Some countries face serious political sensitivities related to languages, which may be associated with one group or another. In these cases, translation may be an issue of ensuring that UNDP doesn’t take sides.

In 2007/2008, UNDP's Office of Communications signed Long Term Agreements (LTAs) for one year with 12 translation companies and three years with 29 freelance translators. These LTAs are renewed periodically provided that vendors render satisfactory services. For information on this process, and the translator's and translation companies expertise and contact info, please see the UNDP Corporate Freelance Translators and Translation Companies page on the UNDP Intranet. The translation companies and freelance translators were selected through a rigorous request for proposal (RFP) process, where they were all asked to submit, among other things, translation samples and a technical proposal. UNDP Units at Headquarters that need to engage a freelance translator or translation company must use one of these LTA vendors. UNDP Country Offices are not compelled to work with these freelancers or companies if they can find equally competent translation services locally provided they follow all of the UNDP procurement rules. The advantage of using the LTA freelance translators and translation companies is that they have been vetted, evaluated and passed the review criteria meeting UNDP translation quality standards. The procurement procedures for engaging these translators, as well as sample contracts, can also be found on the UNDP translators LTA page.

In 2010, we added a roster of 12 preselected translation companies to our list. Also thoroughly vetted, they have been approved by the Contracts, Assets and Procurement Committee (CAP). While not under LTA, they are readily available for business and the same procurement rules apply for hiring them. Their contact details are also available on the Intranet.

The United Nations Multilingual Terminology Database.
The database was compiled in response to diverse
and wide-ranging demands of United Nations language
staff for terminology and nomenclature.

When soliciting bids from freelance translators or translation companies, be sure to consider your job requirements. If you need a translation for a document that will be distributed as a Microsoft Word file, you will need only a translation. If you plan to have a graphic designer layout the translated text into a book or report format, however, the text will need to be proofread after layout to ensure that no mistakes have inadvertently been inserted. The translator should know about this at the beginning of the project and include the proofreading cost in the proposal. The translator will also need to set aside time for this part of the project, which generally happens days or weeks after the translator has delivered the text. For more guidance on the translation process at UNDP see the UNDP Guide to Commissioning Translations (English, French, and Spanish).

Some additional translations resources include UN Terms, which offers 70,000 entries in six languages, all related to UN terminology. For very basic and quick translations across a number of languages (for example, to get the gist of an email), you may try Google Translate. Please note that machine translation is not always reliable and that it is preferable to enlist the services of a professional translator, if time and budget allow. The Translations Manager can provide additional sources of support; he can be contacted at communications.toolkit@undp.org.

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