Translator Angel guidelines
Beloved Translators,
First of all, please know how blessed the world is to have you as translators. It is a beautiful thing, the service you give from your language skills and your heart. Heaven Admin and I are so grateful. The Heavensubscribers who relish your translations must be so happy.
I can only think that God had a strong hand in leading you to this place, do you agree? I have long had the question: Did we choose our roles in Heavenletters, or did God choose us?
It seems to me that somewhere on the forum is a list of guidelines for translator angels. I can’t seem to find it. Does anyone happen to know where that list is?
A translator emailed me a few days about translating given titles to Heavenletters. She was wondering how close to the original title a translated title has to be. My answer is as exact to the original title as a translation can be. Let our titles be consistent.
When I changed the titles for the Heaven book, Heavenletters, Love letters from God, Book One, I wasn’t thinking ahead. I wish I had the days and days to spend on naming each Heavenletter in the first place as I spent on the titles in the book. This was not a wise precedent for me to set. Even though a new title may be an improved title, we’d better stick with the present title as it is, do you agree?
God has said several times that Heavenletters will be known by millions, even billions. Your translations are not just published once and never seen again. Your translations will be permanent. There will be books made of them.
When you have a question about a title or text when it comes to translating a Heavenletter (beyond your language’s idioms,) please continue to post your questions on the forum here. http://www.heavenletters.org/global-translators-circle
Many years ago, a translator in a country that does not approve of drinking, questioned the title of Heavenletter #2092, A Toast to the World, and some lines within the text of this and another Heavenletter or two. Clearly, it would be a turn-off to Heavenletters in that country if we did not respect the country’s culture.
If you ever have a situation regarding changes to a title or content beyond normal translation changes, please post your question so we can make a united decision.
Interestingly, today a Heavensubscriber posted a comment about this title: And the Moon Is Made of Cheese, Heavenletter #4341 Published on: October 13, 2012. As soon as I can, I will give a long response under the Heavenletter about how Heavenletter titles come into being.
Thank you so much for all your blessings and service.
With love and all blessings to you,
Gloria
I fully agree with you that
I fully agree with you that we need to stay to the original title as close as possible.
It happens to me regularly - when posting earlier Dutch translations under the English Heavenletters - that I get confused because the translator in question "invented" her own title. I then need to check first the number of the Heavenletter and if that's correct I need to find out what's going on. And then I find that the title has been changed completely.
Blessings,
Luus
Oh, I wasn't aware of this,
Oh, I wasn't aware of this, Luus.
I can't blame anyone because, so far as I can remember, this guideline was never stated. And I did not set a good example.
What did you do, Luus? Were you able to change the title back to the original?
If it happened in Dutch translations, it may well have happened in other languages as well.
Just the same, we have the translations, and, for that, I am so grateful.
I also had the thought recently that it would be lovely if translators would post how they came to translate Heavenletters. I remember you had a great story! Tell us, will you?
As regards the Italian
As regards the Italian translations, I only have problems when a title or the text refers to nursery rhymes or stories known only in America or England (like the story of the little engine with the train, for example). I try to keep the translation as faithful as possible, and initially I made a footnote explaining the meaning and the origin of the phrase, but I noticed that when the translations were sent out, the footnote was gone, so I stopped writing it. I just hope that if people want to know the origin of the expression, they know how to find it on internet.
Love,
Paula
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Never think that you are I. Know that I am you. /HEAVEN #515)
Wow, I never thought of how
Wow, I never thought of how some titles might be unfamiliar in another language.
Thanks, Paula. I think you're doing right to leave a little mystery once in a while. Thanks for everything, first translator!
I encounter the same kind of
I encounter the same kind of difficulties with nursery rhymes and titles that are directly connected to very specific cultural references. Usually I search on Internet to find some cues about them.
There are also cases, like the one I have this morning in translating a forthcoming Heavenletter, where there are "word plays" or "jeux de mots" like this one: "An island, an is land, a land where you be, a land in outer space, a land far away from the Truth of Yourself, your Self."
This is a word play on island and is land and land where you be. This whole phrase cannot be translated into french as it is because it is based on the word structure (included in its spelling) of ISLAND which does not exist in french. Sometimes there are no ways out. So I ask Gloria on the forum.
But in this morning case, my ease with words was useful because in french ISLAND is ÎLE from latin INSULA (which means "in salt", vg. salt water) which the french word ISOLÉ (isolated) is also derived from. And the theme of this paragraph in this particular Heavenletter is about us feeling isolated on an island called Earth: island —> IS LAND —> A LAND WHERE YOU BE.
So this is how I could avoid skipping this whole sentence in my translation. That is a good mental exercise. But we can't always have that luck.
Another type of difficulties I encounter is those long paragraphs in Heavenletters that may contain only ONE sentence. This must be a big challenge for many translators (in many languages) because each language has a special way of mentally structuring the development of ideas in a paragraph. In french, you have to limit the number of ideas and sub-ideas in one sentence. If a sentence contain many different ideas and sub-ideas, it has to be broken down in sub-sentences or formed into new sentences.
I would be interested to hear how the situation looks like in German, Dutch, Chinese, Italian, etc.
I take my hat off to all the
I take my hat off to all the translators. (Does everyone know this idiom?!!! )
You all do incredibly. I love how conscientious and caring you all are. It sure shows. Beautiful.
What a nice problem we have, wouldn't you say? -- trying to configure God! Somehow we have to take it seriously enough without taking it too seriously.
I can see already that one good thing is sharing our thoughts here.
Clearly, translators are a tremendous asset and can be helpful to each other regardless of what language. Muchas gracias.
P.S. Although I like it a lot when God gives us one of those incredibly long sentences -- I like the effect it seems to have -- like it builds a momentum -- if it becomes super-human to transfer a long long single sentence to another language, hey, don't worry about it.
Love, Gloria
Don't worry, dear
Don't worry, dear Gloria,
when I encounter these paragraph-sentences, I first scream, rage, get off my chair and go to take a breath or a glass of water or both (but no wine in early morning!) and when I come back, I just do the translation and keep on going.
In fact, I had one of those paragraph-sentences this morning with the ISLAND, IS LAND . Two hits in one today!
The least Heaven should do
The least Heaven should do is to provide you with a wall you can pound!!!
Dear Normand, I'm glad
Dear Normand,
I'm glad someone else is screaming and raging at some point of the translations, as well. I don't mind so much the long sentences, because English is much more simple than Italian, and many times the Italian sentences are much longer than the original English ones anyway. I rage at God because of the new and strange or original expressions He uses so often, and I have to stop the flow and go look for a word in the dictionary. But then I have to laugh, as I know God is stretching me, and my English has improved so much so that last summer an Englishman thought I was English! And my Italian is improving as a consequence.
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Never think that you are I. Know that I am you. /HEAVEN #515)
Dear Paula, as a Finnish
Dear Paula, as a Finnish speaking person, do you speak or can you understand Hungarian?
Dear Normand, no, I am
Dear Normand,
no, I am sorry, I don't speak Hungarian. Eventhough Finnish and Hungarian are related to each other, I don't understand Hungarian at all.
**********
Never think that you are I. Know that I am you. /HEAVEN #515)
translation
This 'song' I can only translate in Dutch with 'whole' words; it is difficult to make some else of it. This is also a kind of difficult......
Heavenletter4362:
Come on, come on, come on. God is awaitin’ you. God is invitiin’ you.
Say, “Yes.” Say, “Okay, God.” Say, “Okay, God. I’m a-comin’, God. Right away, God. Right now, God. I’m a-runnin’ to You.”
Then, I, God, lift you, you little enchanter, in My arms of love. An’ you take leaps an’ a-forward you go. An’ you take leaps, an’ a-forward you go.«
love and light, namasté, Anneke
Beloved Anneke, yes, of
Beloved Anneke, yes, of course! This is kind of a dialect.
I can't imagine that there is something similar in other languages. If there is, you would know. I wouldn't strain on this, dear one.
Instead of An', unless you do know an equivalent, by all means say And.
Instead of a-forward, say Forward.
Await may be a standard English word, but Awaitin' would be Awaiting. I wouldn't know how to explain Awaiting, so, in these cases, beloved Anneke, all you can do is do is do what you can do.
You can't hold yourself responsible for the myriad of in's and out's of Dutch and English. As it is said in Australia: "No worries, mate."
grateful
Beloved Gloria,
Grateful…yes I am grateful too, because Heavenletters came into my life. As I wrote you before: I can’t do my job anymore
due to health problems. And I really needed something “to take my mind of my body” and asked the Universe, God or whatever you may call it for guidance and ‘something to do’, to be useful again.
And, Eureka!, there was the question for help from you and Luus for translating in Dutch. So I really think God choose me, but after I asked how I could be of help. So I really agree: God had a strong hand in leading me to Heavenletters !!
Translating a title I always try to get as close as possible. Sometimes reading the whole Heavenletter I do understand the title better and change it according my understanding, but still of course as close as possible.
The title was chosen on a given moment and I think it is better to stick to them, instead of changing them for a book. Change does not always mean improvement….
I hope you all have a great Sunday!!
love and light,
Anneke
namasté
Here's the back story as
Here's the back story as best as I remember. Back story, in writing circles. refers to what has gone on in a story before the book's first chapter. So, before you arrived on the scene, Luus said something about inviting another Dutch translator to join her. Correct me, dear Luus, but I think you were hesitant to sort of advertise for one in Heaven News. I may have said something like: "It can't hurt. And better to ask than not ask."
Then we put Luus' request in Heaven News, and that was when you came to be a Translator Angel.
Blessed day. Thanks, Anneke.
This is exactly how it went,
This is exactly how it went, and I'm so happy to have Anneke as a co-translator. Our birthdays are two days apart, we're Virgin, and Virgins are perfectionists. So whenever I make a mistake (and I made big mistakes the last couple of days - too much on my mind right now), Anneke will point them out to me and I will then try to correct them.
How I became a translator is not an interesting story. I had been reading Heavenletters for a couple of years when my friend Kate from Scotland suggested I volunteer, but at the time I was too busy with other things and I also did not think I was good enough at translating. It was only two and a half years ago, when I noticed that only two Dutch translations a week were sent out that I decided I was needed. I started translating two of three a week and then more and more until you, Gloria, mentioned that I was translating daily, and what I could do then but start doing so. I managed to translate daily for one and a half years, and then fortunately Anneke volunteered.
You ask whether I correct the titles when needed and the answer is yes, of course. I also correct the grammar and right now, where I'm at, it's very time-consuming. Still about a hundred by this particular translator to go and then it will become easier.
It is important that all translations are correct, for as I see it Heavenletters will exist and will be sent out, long after you and I are gone, although I know for sure that I, and probably also you, will be in a body for many more years. However, we must put all translations under the English Heavenletters in the new system and try to finish the job in time, so that future generations will benefit from it.
I bow down to you, dear
I bow down to you, dear Luus. And won't we have fun in Heaven!
For Translators
Dearest Gloria,
In response to your question regarding the guidelines...is this what you're looking for...
under the section Heaven's Manual...it's the first topic on the page from the link below.
http://www.heavenletters.org/heavenletters-website-manual.html
Blessings,
Nancy
As for the heavenletters'
As for the heavenletters' title, we will remain its original title. But the letters of the books, I use your book’s title.
Dear Gloria, I am very happy to hear from you. I am just enjoying my leisured time. HEHE and I are still living in my husband's hometown, a small but peace and beautiful village. Every day I have some time to translate heavenletters. With heavenletters, with God's words, with countryside winds, with the golden autumn, I am full of love and joy. Each leaf, each birds' singing, each raining drop, all is God's words. I love the earth and love all!
Xiyangyang, Ruozi and I, every of us have 30 papers to translate your heavenbook, they two (Xiyangyang,Ruozi) have already finished their translations, they are now translating the newest letters. I still have a few papers. Maybe 2 weeks later, the translation of your book will be accomplished. We three are all happy to tell you this message.
As for the publication of your book, we are just finding the proper opportunity to do it. I have asked for several spiritual friends, who had published some other spiritual books, but it is not a quick-done thing, maybe it will be waited. I believe God have designed it well, we are just doing what we should do as possible as we can. If the publication’s issue is ok, we will tell you immediately, and maybe need to negotiate a contract with you.
The Heavenletters in Chinese blog:http://blog.sina.com.cn/heavenletters (Xiyangyang set it )
LOVE YOU SO DEEPLY.
Yingxuan
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*****Is it not a joy to have like-minded friends come from afar?-Analects of Confucius 有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎？-论语*****
*****Our hearts are open. There is no closing them. My prodigal son has returned--Heavenletter #4184*****
Beloved Yingxuan, How happy
Beloved Yingxuan,
How happy I am to hear from you and to catch up on all the wonderful news from China!
With your words, you paint a picture of how happy you are with your adorable son, HeHe, in the country.
And look at HeHe. Adorable! I will find someone to post his photo here for us. And also a jpg of the website Xiyangyang set up. Meanwhile, here is the link to it!
http://blog.sina.com.cn/heavenletters
The three of you, you, Xiyangyang , Ruozi, work so diligently and independently on spreading Heavenletters and translating the Heaven book. A book is not published overnight. The first big step is the translating, and that's almost done, thanks to the three of you. You sure know how to work as a team!
The three of you are amazing in your energy and your initiative. You bring tears of happiness to my eyes, and you fill my heart with joy.
I think publishing doors will open. A thousand blessings. The site that Xiyangyang made is beautiful and will help.
And thank you so much for posting here and letting us all know how everything develops. Ruozi and Xiyangyang, I would be so happy if you would also post here!
Is my meaning understandable when I say that Heavenletters™ hit the jackpot when you, Xiyangyang and Ruozi came to us. I am so grateful to you all and to Nick who prefers to be anonymous who started it all.
God bless you all, and God bless all the nations of the world. May all blossom under God's Sun.
With love,
Gloria
Normand, French translator,
Normand, French translator, thank you so much for posting the graphics within Innerpeace's comment above. And so love is woven on the internet. God bless you.