With the continuing devaluation of the peso, many well-to-do Mexicans are finding that they can make their money go much further by buying real estate in the United States. Sales along the Southern borders and interior of the U.S. are increasing as Mexicans as well as other nationals purchase homes and ranch lands for second homes or investments or to be nearer relatives who have immigrated to the States. Real estate appreciates, making property a sensible hedge against Mexico's inflationary/devalued economy.

And that is just one reason why translation services are the wave of the future. A recent report in U.S. News and World Report stated that a new U.S. Census survey indicates that one in ten Americans is foreign-born, with half of all foreign-born U.S. residents from Mexico, Central America, South America, or the Caribbean. One in five are from Europe. Another U.S. Census report shows that home ownership is on the rise for Hispanics, 44.4 percent in the first quarter of 1998 over 42.6 percent in the first quarter of 1997.

With many of these home buyers speaking and conducting business in their native tongues, the need for document translation services is also on the rise. Gene Myers, with Rosetta Stone Translations in Tucson, Arizona believes the bi-national, bi-ligual homebuying trend points to the need for experienced translators who can handle the detailed documentation required by a bi-national and bi-lingual real estate transaction. It is important for the legal protection for all principals involved in the property transfer.

"We are seeing an increase in the number of loan packages we are being asked to do in Spanish and other languages. Our job is to take the foreign language documentation and translate it into English to process loans. Then, we give the documents back in the identical format."

Rosetta Stone Translations handles translations in multiple languages and for companies and individuals all over the world. "Location is not as important as it once was. The translation business is conducted by phone, fax, E-mail, modem-to-modem, and - for large files - the old reliable FedEx," says Myers. "Where the difference lies for translation services is in the quality of customer service, support and value the consumer receives."

The principals of Rosetta Stone Translations each hold a BA with distinction and BS in engineering. Translators hold various degrees including Bachelor, Master, and PhD in business, finance, engineering, and legal. A native speaker in the target language is consistently used to provide clear, concise, and meaningful translations of the material in question.

Myers, a graduate electrical engineer with over 30 years international experience with engineering/installation of major communications and electrical projects, oversees the technical aspects of the translation services.

When shopping for translation services, Myers recommends that translators are members of the American Translation Association, a trade association which certifies proficiency in translating one language to another. "It is like a professional test," advises Myers. Members of ATA are defined as "any person who (a) is professionally engaged in translating, interpreting, or closely related work, (b) is a citizen or permanent resident of the United States, and (c) has passed an accreditation examination administered by the Association or has achieved demonstrable professional status as determined by peer evaluation." Any person who meets all qualifications for active membership except U.S. citizenship or permanent residence is eligible for corresponding membership.

When Rosetta Stone Translations is given a job to do, the initial translation is done by a professional translator and reviewed by Myers' wife Carol, a PHi Beta Kappa graduate with Honors in English and who speaks seven languages. The documents are examined for correct terminology, reducing wordy expressions to succinct meaningful phrases, application of proper accent marks, and insuring the resulting translation looks professional and will be understood by the reader. Carol frequently reviews and polishes the source English before proceeding with the translation. Excellent writing skills are of paramount importance in quality translation, she suggests.

Myers then takes over if the document requires camera-ready copy, using graphics associated with the original English version and changing the text into the target language, eliminating the need to redraw plans, surveys and other pertinanat drawings, charts or figures.

In the past twelve months, Rosetta Stone Translations has represented 55.6% of the principal languages spoken on a worldwide basis, including, with numbers in parentheses representing millions, Chinese (999), English (487), Spanish (401), Russian (280), Arabic (230), Portuguese (185), Japanese (126), French (125), German (124), Korean (76), Italian (62), Thai (52), Dutch (21), Hungarian (14), Greek (12), Czech (12), and Hebrew (5).

Published: May 6, 1998

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