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Poll: Is Kofi Annan a native speaker of English?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
Sam Berner
Sam Berner  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 13:34
Member (2003)
English to Arabic
+ ...
Profession? Oct 28, 2005

Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:

Our profession judges this term very stringently. It is the "A" language that interpreters must pass muster on through a rigorous process before they can advertise that they are "native" in a language. For professionals, it should be tantamount to the mother tongue.


As far as I know, and have known for the past 22 years, our profession is almost totally unregulated. "Native is as native does". I have not so far been asked by any of the bodies I belong to, or agencies I work for, to produce my birth certificate (I have three, in three different languages)to prove my native-belongings. The only proof I posses of my "fluency" is the fact that I passed an extremely stringent test that qualifies me to put my stamp on translations as an "accredited professional translator". So far for Australian government pre-requisites. As for the agencies, it is basically "can you do it and can we afford you."

Indians are not "native" Brits, but would you deny Salman Rushdi, Zia Sardar, or Naipul their "native" writing abilities? Would anyone? Ahdaf Suweif is an Egyptian, but her "In the Eye of the Sun" is a masterpiece. Ada Aharoni is an Arabic-speaking Israeli writer - her book "The second exodus" is in English and suffers no fault.

What are we talking about,exactly? The text is the construct that is judged by the client - and the client often has issues spelling and knowing what to do with this little guy ",".

[Edited at 2005-10-28 05:58]
 
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Poll: Is Kofi Annan a native speaker of English?






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