Press Releases

 

Project: The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and Oregon State Police (OSP) want to post signs along Oregon beaches to reduce issues with the general public harvesting too many clams because the public was not familiar with the protective laws in effect. The ODFW and OSP believe a sign should help reduce the need for police and ranger enforcement and protect the population of delicate clam species. In order to convey this information to the linguistically diverse population in Oregon, the signs needed to be created in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Korean. Oregon Translation was asked to provide a full array of language and graphic design services for the sign, from raw English text to print-ready artwork in Adobe Illustrator.

Process: The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife provided a simple text file in English and the sign’s dimensions, handing over to Oregon Translation liberal creative control to translate the sign and craft custom graphics. The inherent goals for the sign were complex. Present four equal languages side-by-side within the space constraints dictated by ODFW. Ensure the sign would be legible from a significant distance away. Create an appealing visual impact to entice beach-goers and clam harvesters to read the regulations. Artistic freedom allowed Oregon Translation to hand-draw artwork specifically for the ODFW that carried the meaning across each culture and contributed to the visibility of the sign without being a distraction to the textual content.

The specific species of clams involved are only found locally along the Oregon Coast, which poses a unique challenge for the translation process. What do you call a clam species in Korean when that clam does not exist in Korea? Even in the English language alone, some species have several different common names. To resolve these issues, Oregon Translation recommended that we first translate the English common names into the Latin scientific names and that the universal scientific names for the clams be included alongside the translations. Once we had researched the Latin names, we could begin researching how to express these unique species in Spanish, Korean, and Vietnamese.

Results: Oregon Translation worked very interactively with the ODFW and OSP to present multiple versions of the clam regulations sign. Creative feedback was solicited at all levels of the ODFW and OSP. Oregon Translation then made new artistic and language changes to accommodate the visual impact and convey the explicit message that the ODFW and OSP desired. The result is a sign that the ODFW, OSP, and Oregon Translation will all be happy to debut along the Oregon Coast during the Summer of 2010.

Quote: “This sign was an attempt by the ODFW to reach out to Oregon’s diverse community and to bridge a communication barrier that was causing sticky legal situations for the ODFW and the Oregon State Police. Oregon Translation demonstrated its knowledge about language issues and its experience with graphic design. We never expected to have a translation vendor draw custom artwork for us! This sign is beautiful and will set a high standard for future efforts by the ODFW to publish information in foreign languages.”