Making sure the meaning isn't lost in translation
TransLatino Services focuses on medical, legal translating
BY KELLY RIZZETTA
Correspondent

CHRISKELLYstaff Mariela Osorio is owner of TransLatino Services, which focuses on providing translation services in the medical and legal fields.

Most people keep photographs of loved ones on their cubicle desks to refresh and inspire them throughout the work day. But the small, framed picture that sits next to Mariela Osorio's computer screen serves as more than just a trigger for daydreams and procrastination.

The miniature portrait of Dora Osorio, her late mother, commemorates the woman who laid the groundwork for Osorio's budding career as an interpreter and translator.

Now the owner and sole employee of TransLatino Services, the home-based translating and interpreting business that she runs out of her Red Bank residence, Osorio's bilingual vocation actually began as a young child growing up in Queens, N.Y., in the 1960s, shortly after her parents immigrated to the United States from their native Colombia.

"My mother would always sit me down, every single day after school, said Osorio. "She would drill me in Spanish: the reading, the writing, the whole bit."

At the time, Osorio complained about the intensive instruction, but its practicality soon became evident when she was able to interpret conversations and translate documents from English to Spanish for her mother, who learned relatively little English during her 35-year residence in America.

However, it didn't occur to Mariela that she could parlay her bilingual fluency into a profession. It wasn't until years later that plans for a career in interpreting and translating began to crystallize.

As she explained, "I came into this profession by accident."

Sitting in the back of an Oceanport municipal court, waiting her turn to fight a traffic ticket, Mariela raised her hand when the judge asked if anyone in the courtroom spoke both English and Spanish and would be willing to translate for a Hispanic defendant for whom no court interpreter had been provided.

"After that, I started realizing that there may be a great need for court interpreters," said Osorio, adding that her inquiry also revealed a demand for professionals in the field of medical interpreting.

"I started doing some research, and there is a great need, so I decided to start my own business, and that's how I came [up] with TransLatino Services," she said.

The company, which is listed in the directories of the American Translators Association and the Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce, is still developing, though Osorio hopes to one day grow it into a larger enterprise with a separate office and a full staff of certified translators and interpreters.

Armed with a community interpreting certificate from Brookdale Community College and a bachelor's degree in English from Monmouth University, Osorio is equipped to interpret in municipal courts and provide the multitude of services listed on the company's Web site, www.translatino.net.

Such services range from translating restaurant menus to interpreting during corporate seminars and have landed Osorio in the service of the Lakewood Board of Education, the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, even a Spanish clergyman who enlisted her to be a private interpreter for his family while he was attending a two-week conference in New York City.

But, she explained, though translating and interpreting make for an engaging and varied career, a translator/

interpreter must always abide by a strict code of ethics to keep from getting too close to the work that she does.

"You can't divulge any of that information you're privy to, and you can't take sides, either," said Osorio, adding, "You cannot take this personally; I learned that early on."

Especially in medical cases, she said, adding to or subtracting from the conversation is strictly prohibited, as superfluous or insufficient information could literally mean life or death for the parties involved.

Osorio sets all of her translating fees on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the varying level of difficulty and time required for the completion of each document, though the average price can be roughly approximated at 25 cents per word.

All of Osorio's interpreting fees are in accordance with state guidelines, including a flat $45 hourly rate (with a two-hour minimum) for short-term interpreting jobs. Transaction details are cemented beforehand with a written contract, and she guarantees all of her translations via notarization at the county seat.

But not all of Osorio's interpreting work garners such a healthy income; she volunteers as a translator at Red Bank's Parker Family Clinic whenever she can, an aspect of her work that is particularly dedicated to her mother's memory.

Osorio explained the value she places on such volunteer work and her career as a whole:

"The opportunity to share our gifts and thereby make a difference in the world," she said, "is one of the most profoundly fulfilling experiences we can have in life."