March 23, 2010 in Blog, Twitter by admin

Mr.Barack Obama Signs Health Care Overhaul Bill Tuesday

WASHINGTON — Claiming a historic triumph that could define his presidency, a jubilant Barack Obama signed a massive, nearly $1 trillion health care overhaul on Tuesday that will for the first time cement insurance coverage as the right of every U.S. citizen and begin to reshape the way virtually all Americans receive and pay for treatment.
After more than a year of hyperpartisan struggle — and numerous near-death moments for the measure — Obama declared “a new season in America” as he sealed a victory denied to a line of presidents stretching back more than half a century. Democratic lawmakers cheered him on, giving the White House signing ceremony a rally-like atmosphere as they shouted and snapped photos with pocket cameras or cell phones.
Not everyone was cheering. The Democrats pushed the bill through Congress without GOP support, and the Republicans said Tuesday that those Democratic lawmakers would pay dearly in this November’s elections. Opinion polls show the public remains skeptical, too, and Obama will fly to Iowa on Thursday for the first of a number of appearances that will be more like a continuing sales job than a victory lap.
Aside from the huge, real-life changes in store for many Americans, the White House hopes the victory — even as a companion Senate “fix-it” bill moves through the Senate — will revitalize an Obama presidency that has been all but preoccupied with health care for his first year and three months in office.
The reshaping of one-sixth of the U.S. economy, to be phased in over several years, ranks among the biggest changes ever devised by Washington. Indeed, that was a main complaint from Republicans who characterize the measure as a costly, wrongheaded government power grab. Obama and the Democrats portray it as literally a lifesaver for countless Americans.
The core of the massive law is the extension of health care coverage to 32 million who now lack it, a goal to be achieved through a complex cocktail of new mandates for individuals and employers, subsidies for people who can’t afford to buy coverage on their own, consumer-friendly rules clamped on insurers, tax breaks, and marketplaces to shop for health plans.
The law’s most far-reaching changes don’t kick until 2014, including a requirement that most Americans carry health insurance — whether through an employer, a government program or their own purchase — or pay a fine. To make that a reality, tax credits to help cover the cost of premiums will start flowing to middle-class families and Medicaid will be expanded to cover more low-income people.
Among the new rules on insurance companies are banning lifetime dollar limits on policies, coverage denials for pre-existing conditions, and policy cancellations when someone gets sick. Insurers also will have to allow parents to keep children on their plans up to age 26.
The changes are to be paid for with cuts in projected government payment increases to hospitals, insurance companies and others under Medicare and other health programs, an increase in the Medicare payroll tax for some, fees on insurance companies, drug makers and medical device manufacturers, a new excise tax on high-value insurance plans and a tax on indoor tanning services.
For seniors, the plan the plan will gradually close the “doughnut hole” prescription coverage gap and improve preventive care. But it also will cut funding for popular private insurance plans offered through Medicare Advantage. About one-quarter of seniors have signed up for such plans, which generally offer lower out-of-pocket costs.
Democrats, led by Obama, celebrated a “new wind at our backs” from an achievement accomplished after more than a year of high tension and deep division — stretching back to shouted protests that interrupted lawmakers’ town hall meetings on the subject last summer. Obama signed the measure less than two days after the cliffhanger final House vote in a rare Sunday night session.
“Our presence here today is remarkable and improbable,” Obama said, his grin wider than any in recent memory. “With all the punditry, all of the lobbying, all the game-playing that passes for governing in Washington, it’s been easy at times to doubt our ability to do such a big thing, such a complicated thing.”
At a second celebration later, he said, “After a century of striving, after a year of debate, after a historic vote, health care reform is no longer an unmet promise. It is the law of the land.”
The president now faces the task of selling to the public a bill that satisfies neither side of the political spectrum.
Liberals bemoan that a government-run plan to compete with private ones was shed from the legislation during bitter negotiations. Conservatives fear an expansion of government and costs they say will bankrupt the country, despite an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that the law will cut federal budget deficits by an estimated $143 billion over a decade.
Obama’s explanatory hurdle is not an easy one, given the law’s multilayered provisions and timetables. A bumper-sticker slogan it is not. But he must help protect the Democrats — particularly those from conservative-leaning districts — who stand to suffer in the fall elections from their votes.
Republicans face a challenge as well. Aware of traditional American suspicions of government intrusion, they cast themselves throughout the process as against major changes. They now must explain to voters impatient for action in Washington why nothing was their best choice.
In a hint of the coming Republican line of argument, Sens. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said the new law would push the United States to a “European-style” government.
More than a dozen Republican senators introduced legislation to repeal the law that Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said would “force taxpayer funding of abortions, raise health costs, hike taxes, cut Medicare, raid Social Security and put bureaucrats between patients and their doctors.”
“Repeal and replace,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters.
And attorneys general from 13 states acted on their opposition immediately, filing suit to stop the overhaul just minutes after the bill signing. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum took the lead in the lawsuit that contends the legislation is unconstitutional, joined by colleagues from South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Michigan, Utah, Pennsylvania, Alabama, South Dakota, Louisiana, Idaho, Washington and Colorado. Other GOP attorneys general may join the lawsuit later or sue separately.
Obama made clear that the Republican offensive will not go unanswered. His larger, second event, held in a vast Interior Department auditorium, had a more combative feel. He accused Republicans of telling “lies.”
“Those fighting change are still out there, still making a lot of noise about what this reform means,” he said. “Look it up for yourself.”
Starting with a Thursday trip to Iowa City, where as a presidential candidate he announced his health care plan in May 2007, Obama intends to emphasize the law’s most immediate impacts, including the ability of young adults to remain on their parents’ health plans and a ban on insurers denying coverage to sick children.
Even as the celebration proceeded in Washington, Congress labored to complete the overhaul with a companion measure containing changes demanded as a condition of House Democrats’ approval. The Senate was poised to consider that bill, with Democratic leaders hoping for its completion by week’s end.
“We are going to make a good law signed by the president even better,” Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., declared on the Senate floor.

By JENNIFER LOVEN

Source: AP

March 4, 2010 in Blog by admin

Introduction to Interpretation versus translation the difference between the two terms

Despite being used interchangeably, interpretation and translation are not synonymous, but refer, respectively, to the spoken and written transference of meaning between two languages. Interpreting occurs in real time, in the presence — physical, televised, or telephonic — of the parties for whom the interpreter renders an interpretation. Translation is the transference of meaning from text to text (written or recorded), with the translator having time and access to resources (dictionaries, glossaries, etc.) to produce a faithful, true, and accurate document or verbal artifact.
A very common, layman’s misconception of interpretation is that it is rendered verbatim, that is, as a word-for-word syntactic translation of an utterance. That is impractical, because a literal, verbatim interpretation of a source-language message would be unintelligible to the target-language recipient. For example, the Spanish phrase: Está de viaje, rendered verbatim to English translates as: Is of voyage (senseless in English), yet its faithful, true, and accurate denotational and connotational interpretations in context are: ‘He/She/You is/are travelling’ or ‘He/She/You is/are out of town’. That is, the overall meaning, tone, and style in the target language are what matter, rather than the source-language syntax.
Interpretation is also held to a different standard of accuracy than translation. Translators have time to consider and revise each word and sentence before delivering their product to the client. While interpreters try to achieve total accuracy at all times, details of the original (source) speech can be omitted from the interpretation into the target language, without a pause. Conversely, in signed languages, when a word is used for which there is no sign, expansion may be necessary in order to accurately interpret the message and give the recipient the same message as those who are hearing it from the speaker.
The trained professional simultaneous interpreter, however, never omits original source language, rather they learn to provide the same information in the target language. For example, when interpreting English to Spanish, they may shorten the interpretation rendered with gender specific usage and reflexive pronouns not used in English.
In court interpretation, it is not acceptable to omit anything from the source, no matter how fast the source speaks, since not only is accuracy a principal canon for interpreters, but mandatory. The alteration of even a single word in a material way can totally mislead the triers of fact. The most important factor for this level of accuracy is the use of a team of two or more interpreters during a lengthy process, with one actively interpreting and the second monitoring for greater accuracy.
Speakers at interpreted meetings can ensure better communication of their message into other languages by slowing their delivery slightly and by adding a pause of one or two seconds at the end of each paragraph, although in practice, interpreters have to deal with difficulties such as the speaker speaking too fast, background noise, or other constraints.

March 4, 2010 in Blog by admin

interpreting for Sign language and hard hearing

When a hearing person speaks, an interpreter will render the speaker’s meaning into the sign language used by the deaf party. When a deaf person signs, an interpreter will render the meaning expressed in the signs into the spoken language for the hearing party, which is sometimes referred to as voice interpreting or voicing. This may be performed either as simultaneous or consecutive interpreting. Skilled sign language interpreters will position themselves in a room or space that allows them both to be seen by deaf participants and heard by hearing participants clearly and to see and hear participants clearly. In some circumstances, an interpreter may interpret from one sign language into an alternate sign language.
Deaf people also work as interpreters. They team with hearing counterparts to provide interpretation for deaf individuals who may not share the standard sign language used in that country. In other cases the hearing interpreted sign may be too pidgin to be understood clearly, and the Deaf interpreter might interpret it into a more clear translation. They also relay information from one form of language to another — for example, when a person is signing visually, the deaf interpreter could be hired to copy those signs into a deaf-blind person’s hand plus include visual information.
In the United States, Sign Language Interpreters have National and State level associations. The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) is the national certifying body. In addition to training requirements and stringent certification testing, the RID members must abide by a Code of Professional Conduct, Grievance Process and Continuing Education Requirement.
In Europe each country has their own national association of sign language interpreters. Some countries have more than one national association due to regional or language differences. The European Forum of Sign Language Interpreters (efsli) is the umbrella organisation of sign language interpreters in Europe.
Sign Language Interpreters can be found in all types of interpreting situations, as listed in this article. Most interpreters have had formal training, in an Interpreter Training Program (ITP). ITP lengths vary, being available as a two-year or four-year degree or certificate. There are graduate programs available as well.

Source: wikipedia

March 4, 2010 in Blog by admin

Language interpretation stands for communication converting expression and thoughts

Language interpretation is the facilitating of oral or sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutively, between users of different languages. The process is described by both the words interpreting and interpretation.
In professional parlance, interpreting denotes the facilitating of communication from one language form into its equivalent, or approximate equivalent, in another language form; while interpretation denotes the actual product of this work, that is, the message thus rendered into speech, sign language, writing, non-manual signals, or other language form. This important distinction is observed in order to avoid confusion.
An interpreter is a person who converts a thought or expression in a source language into an expression with a comparable meaning in a target language in “real time”. The interpreter’s function is to convey every semantic element (tone and register) and every intention and feeling of the message that the source-language speaker is directing to target-language recipients.
Source: wikipedia

March 3, 2010 in Blog by admin

New Web page translation plus improved privacy control by Chrome

If you’re an established fan of Chrome – or perhaps a Windows user recently presented with actual, honest-to-goodness browser choice by Microsoft – then perhaps you’ll be interested in the new beta version of Google’s streamlined platform.
Released for widespread consumption on March 01, the new beta version of Chrome gives users that surf foreign pages the opportunity to apply instant machine translation via Google’s own reputable Google Translate service – and without the need for any kind of browser extension or additional plug-in.
According to Wieland Holfelfer, an engineering director working out of Google Munich, the new Chrome translation feature provides an on-screen prompt offering its services whenever the language of the current Web page differs from the user’s preferred language setting.
“We hope that the development of online translation tools like this one will help make all the world’s information universally accessible in an easy, frictionless way – imagine reading a diversity of foreign language news sources in your mother tongue, or easily conducting online commerce across borders and languages,” posited Holfelder in an official Google blog post.
And not just delivering a new translation feature, the latest Chrome beta also gives users greater choice and control over their privacy while surfing the Internet.

Google Translate by chrome

Source : http://www.thetechherald.com

March 3, 2010 in Blog, Translation by admin

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