Background on Translation

Translation between English and Nepali is an essential role that our outside-Nepal-based volunteers can accomplish for Nyaya Health. This is a challenging and critical service, and we greatly appreciate the time and diligence that our translators put into this.  A central objective of our translations, whether they be for government proposals, for clinical protocols, or for community notices, is that they capture not just the literal meaning but also the spirit of what we are attempting to state.  This requires significant thought and effort, but is central to our aims of being a community-based organization in Nepal when many of the resources are available in English.

Translations Protocol

When translations are needed at the clinic, program director will email Director of Language Services in Health (currently: asthakc (at) nyaya ) and cc ryan(at)nyaya 7 days in advance. Program director will coordinate with the US team to provide a complete version of the material in English and not expect the translator to do further research.

Dir of Language Services will email our list of translators and designate one or more translators to complete the task. The Director and the translators will discuss the final product and finalize it within the given time frame of 7 days.

Sometime urgent translations will be needed. If at all possible, these will be conducted by team members in Achham or Kathmandu. If engaging in translations will hamper provision of services at the clinic, Program Director will email asthakc(at)nyaya to request urgent translation with a deadline. Director of Langauge Services will quickly coordinate with all translators, divide up the document if feasible but will be ultimately responsible for completing the translation as needed.

Typing in Nepali

The easiest "font" to learn is romanized nepali: http://mpp.org.np/index.php?option=com_docman&Itemid=63

(Select "Nepali Unicode Romanized)

If you want to change Unicode to the fonts that are more populat in Nepal (like Preeti, Kantipur) or vice versa, use "Conversion Tools" from the same page. Note that you can only convert .txt files using this program so all of your formatting will be lost.

Technical terms in health

-translations of health-related materials, are challenging. Unfortunately, there are no reliable sources of Nepali/English translations so most of this will be acquired with practice.

-common pitfalls in trying to make accurate translations:

       1. Accidentally following the structure of English sentences: e.g. "TB patients must be checked for side effects every week." "टि वि

बिरामीलाई चेक गर्नै पर्छ साइड इफेक्टको लागि हरेक हप्ता" should be " टिवि बिरामीलाई हरेक हप्ता साइड इफेक्टको लागि चेक गर्ने".

       2. Using literal translations and technical terms. "Anemia is pregnant women can be life-threatening". "गर्भवति महिलालाई रक्तश्राब

हुनु…" should be " गर्भवति महिलालाई रगतको कमि हुनु". Avoid any technical terms in Nepali because no one uses them except newsreaders and the PhDs in Kathmandu when they write books :). think about how you would explain something to a person who comes to the clinic. "तपाइको व्यवसाय के हो" should be "तपाइ के काम गर्नुहुन्छ?"

Resources

http://nlp.ku.edu.np/lpdobhase/en/index.php

online translator. Uses a lot of technical terms and you can only translate from english to nepal (not vice versa). If only translating single words, remember to put a period (.) at the end of the word before you hit "translate".

http://www.nepalisabdakos.com/

Nepali-Nepali dictionary

http://www.dictionary.com.np/

English-Nepali and Nepali-English Note that you have to use Preeti font to use Nepali-English

http://www.shabdkosh.com/

Hindi-English and English-Hindi dictionary. Lot more extensive than Nepali dictionaries and can be helpful for awkward technical terms in Nepali that sound more like sanskrit words.

Current translators 

http://docs.google.com/a/nyayahealth.org/Doc?id=df8rgpnb_19fnw9rjck

(requires Nyaya login)