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Date: April 23 – 24, 2012

Speaker: Fernando Navarro

Venue: Sindicato Médico del Uruguay, Bvar. Artigas 1569, Montevideo.

See: Colegio de Traductores Públicos del Uruguay

On October 29 and 30 ProZ.com First Latin American Conference 2011 will be held in Montevideo, Uruguay. The goal of this conference is to provide translators with a means to stay updated on the main areas of the translation business. One of the speakers at the conference will be Xosé Castro Roig, who is a freelance translator, editor, proofreader, copywriter, TV host, semi-pro photographer and stand-up comedian. Xosé travels around the world teaching writing, translation and proofreading in Spanish. The session he will be presenting in Uruguay is entitled “Dudas ortográficas frecuentes y novedades de la reforma académica“. In this session Xosé will be speaking about common doubts about Spanish spelling and grammar translators, proofreaders and editors may have. He will also be addressing the latest reform by the Royal Academy of Spanish (RAE, in Spanish).

Xosé believes that apart from networking, acquiring knowledge and sharing experiences one of the main benefits of attending conferences about translation and interpretation is human contact. In his opinion nothing compares to meeting a colleague in person. This is the basis for building a solid foundation for a professional relationship. In his words conferences are the opportunity of putting a face to a name.

I also asked Xosé to provide a brief description on how he got involved with translation and how he chooses the varied topics of his presentations. I could not help asking him about the role humor played in his professional life and he explained that humor is a fundamental part of his life. He cannot conceive the idea of being bored with what you do and he strongly believes everything is better with a smile.

Towards the end of the interview Xosé gives a very interesting piece of advice to aspiring translators and translators trying to get established.

I feel very lucky to have had the chance to attend one of Xosé’s presentations and I highly recommend them, not only because the content is enriching and helpful but also because you will have a lot of fun. Xosé uses humor as one of his main strategies to reach his audience and his strategy never fails.

You cannot miss the opportunity to meet Xosé Castro Roig in person in Montevideo. There is still time to register for the conference in Uruguay so hurry! You will have a great time. You can see the full program here.

You can listen to the interview with Xosé here: ProZ.com podcast, 2011-10-21

If you have any suggestions for possible themes for upcoming podcasts you can send them to romina at proz.com or via Twitter @ProZcom.

See: Translator T.O.

Like the rest of the language academies of the pan-Hispanic world, this academy aims to:

– Preserve and enrich the Spanish spoken in Uruguay;
– Promote the development and dissemination of the variety of Uruguayan Spanish.

This academy was created by Decree-Law No. 10,360 of February 10, 1943.

Some scholars

Francisco Bauza, journalist, politician and writer, is known for his landmark achievement in Uruguayan historiography, History of Spanish Rule in Uruguay. His other important works include: literary studies, constitutional studies, theoretical and practical studies on the institution of the National Bank, essays on the formation of a middle-class and poets of the revolution. He was highly interested in various issues of his day: economy, social issues, religion, law, pedagogy and literature, and was the first president of the Catholic Workers’ Circle. Renowned for his eloquence, he named was several times as a representative and senator, minister plenipotentiary in Brazil and Minister of Government of his country.

Juan Zorrilla de San Martin, writer, journalist, teacher and diplomat. He was Judge of the Department of Montevideo, elected representative of Montevideo, Catholic activist, founder of the newspaper El Bien Público (The Public Good), and diplomat in Spain, France and the Vatican. He wrote both poems and essays. Among his poems are: Notes of a Hymn, The Patriot Legend, Tabaré, The Epic of Artigas, The Angel of the Charruas, Impossible, Hate and Love, Evergreens, You and I, Hymn to the Tree and Vestal. Among his essays are: Speech at La Rabida, Impact of the Road, Enclosed Garden, conferences and speeches, Details on the History of the River Plate, The Sermon of Peace, The Book of Ruth, Ituzaingó, Artigas, Decline and Renaissance.

Uruguayisms

A few years ago the Royal Spanish Academy incorporated about 1,000 “Uruguayisms”, analyzed as “1,000 words of Uruguayan Spanish”, by the Academy of Letters of Uruguay. Next is a dictionary that will be published with words and phrases particular to Uruguay, which will include selections such as:

– abombado: stupid, inept
– bagre: ugly woman
– fletar: to reject or eject someone from a place
– gaita: Galician, by extension, any Spanish person
– garronero: beggar, profiteer
– garufa: partying, fun
– gurí: young child, son
– jabón: fear, fright
– luca: one thousand peso bill
– mangar: borrow money
– morfar: to eat
– nabo: silly, naive person

See: Trusted Translations

Here is a list of ProZ.com upcoming conferences:

July 21,  2011

ProZ.com’s Interpreter Virtual Workshop (online)

Sep 17 –  18, 2011

ProZ.com Ukraine conference 2011

Sep 24, 2011

Segunda edición: Seminario para estudiantes de traducción y traductores noveles

Sep 29, 2011

ProZ.com & TAUS present: The Great Translation Debate (online)

Sep 30, 2011

ProZ.com’s 2011 Freelance translator virtual conference (online)

Oct 1, 2011

ProZ.com Regional Balkans and SEE Conference – Skopje 2011

Oct 15 –  16, 2011

ProZ.com Valencia, España, conferencia

Oct 29 –  30, 2011

ProZ.com First Latin American Conference 2011

Nov 12- 13, 2011

III Conferência Brasileira de Tradutores do ProZ.com

See:  ProZ.com Conferences

Uruguay is set to pioneer the latest mobile-phone technology in its pursuit of communication skills.  An entrepreneur´s most recent product is an English learning service via mobile phone.

Rodolfo Llanos, co-founder of Soloingles, spotted a niche market for his product in Uruguay and six years on Soloingles now has clients in Mexico and Spain, and is making a modest profit of $2,000 a month.

The aim is to offer practical but short lessons that will appeal to busy people who are on the move, and the content is entirely automated. The team of teachers update the site with new practice material but they do not guide learners.

See: Guardian.co.uk