Why a New York Times Exposé Is Published in Four Languages
发布人:天津翻译|天津翻译公司|翻译公司|乐译通翻译 发布日期:2015-05-30 浏览次数:1842次 返回上一页
New York Times reporter Sarah Maslin Nir
took an unusual approach to an investigation of the exploitation of nail salon
workers. Instead of working in English, Nir assembled a team of translators and
interpreters to investigate the story in Korean, Chinese, Spanish, and
English—the languages most commonly spoken by the salon workers. Over the
course of a year, the interpreters on Nirs team interviewed 125 salon workers.
Many more refused to talk. The use of interpreters, although costly, became
crucial in establishing trust. The translators working on the project reviewed
court cases and foreign language newspapers looking for reports of underpayment
and abusive working conditions. What Nir and her team discovered was made all
the more shocking by its ordinariness: there is a nail salon on every corner,
in every mall, and never a thought that anything could be wrong. Yet, there is.
Salon workers are paid as little as $1.50 per hour and often work 24-hour
shifts. They frequently share small apartments with 10 to 12 co-workers. It is
not unusual for a worker to pay a $100 training fee in order to get the job,
and then work without pay for months before the salon owner decides they are
qualified enough to receive a salary. One unexpected finding of the
investigation further emphasized the value of working a story in multiple
languages. By comparing the interviews across all four languages, Nir
discovered that ethnic discrimination plays a huge role in the nail salon
industry: Korean speakers earn 15% to 25% more and in general are treated
better than either Chinese or Spanish-peakers. This aspect of the story would
never have come to light if Nir had focused on only one language group to the
exclusion of the other two. The decision to use translators and interpreters in
the investigation turned out to be invaluable.
From "Why a New York Times Nail Salon
Exposé Is Published in Four Languages"
Columbia Journalism Review (NY) (05/08/15)
Bech Sillesen, Lene