Improving the translation process and language equality - what's the case for trio writing?

Sometimes I post in English, and sometimes in Welsh. It really depends what I have to say and who I feel my target audience is. But with this one, I'd like to address my readership in both languages - because so many people in Wales these days play a role in delivering bilingual services, whether they read Welsh or not. Recently I read a post on LinkedIn about a translation method called trio writing. I've come across trio writing before, a few years ago - and as much as I feel it has its place, there are some questions that need addressing. And this method really is just one item in our toolbox. So, I put pen to paper - or fingers to keyboard - and set out my thoughts.

To start, some context: the intention with trio writing is to produce better translations, bringing the translator into the drafting process rather than leaving translation until the end. In translation, it can sometimes be difficult or even impossible to express certain things in the target language. In these cases, we do what we can, but a different expression in the original language would make things much easier for the translator and would ensure better provision for the target language audience. In a situation like we have in Wales, where Welsh is the target language pretty much all the time, this leads to what might be described as inequality for the Welsh-speaking audience. For my readership from outside of Wales - public bodies in Wales are required by law to treat Welsh and English equally.

One example for you is a Transport for Wales advert I saw a few years ago, which played on the English idiom, 'the early bird catches the worm'. The English ad was effective, to be fair to whoever was responsible for marketing at TfW. But it was a problem in Welsh, because that particular idiom doesn't exist in our language. The entire marketing campaign focused on this idiom - including the images. And all the poor translator could offer was (in Welsh) 'A little birdie told me...' ... which was, to be fair, a bird-themed Welsh idiom, but it didn't fit the images or the rest of the text. The Welsh ad simply didn't work - through no fault of the translator's. The fault lay with the process.

So, would the trio writing method have avoided this problem entirely? It very probably would have. Bring the content writer and the translator together in a room at the start of the writing process, and issues like these can be flagged up before it's too late to change things.

The post I saw on LinkedIn about trio writing was based on a blog about the process of producing a bilingual text by Adnodd - the public body responsible for supervising educational resources in Wales. Adnodd had used trio writing to produce their language policy, and the blog aimed to describe the process from the perspective of a member of the trio.

It's positive to see organisations in Wales experimenting to find the best way of delivering bilingual services and ensuring equality for the Welsh language. Certainly, we need more experimenting and discussion of solutions - and a better understanding of the issues in the first place. It could be argued that Welsh has become a language in translation over the last few decades - not what people campaigned so hard for. We've come a long way since the darkest days when Welsh was ignored at best, and suppressed at worst. But we're not at our final destination yet - and seeing a recognition of that fact is very welcome.

But it would also be useful to see a discussion about how to decide when to adopt the trio writing approach. When does the nature or significance of a text justify the increased costs associated with the method? And the question that needs addressing before we even get to that one: how much more time - and money - does trio writing need compared to the normal translation process? Certainly, trio writing has its place (our early bird can attest to that), but I suspect its use will be limited. Organisations need to understand where the need lies, for any particular text, before assigning trio translation scarce resources. After all, this isn't a new method, and I haven't seen any signs yet that organisations are chomping at the bit to adopt it.

And there are other solutions to help us do better on bilingualism. Here are some ideas -

💡 How about gathering more feedback from our Welsh-speaking audiences? And feeding that back to translators - and to others who write content in Welsh? If my experience is anything to go by, hardly anything gets fed back to Welsh translators currently. In a world where User Experience is so important it's capitalised, this is pretty poor. I'd be very glad to know if I'm wrong.

💡 How about ensuring that organisations that operate bilingually have enough staff who can draft bilingually in the first place? The best way to deliver on a language policy is to ensure the necessary skills are enlisted through the recruitment process.

💡 How about requiring organisations to monitor the progress of their staff's bilingual skills development? Too often, a commitment to developing Welsh-language skills as a condition of employment is never monitored.

💡 How about reimagining organisational translation teams as Welsh language support teams? They could provide the usual translation service, and also a proofreading or fine-tuning service to support staff who have bilingual skills to draft themselves - and to improve their translation skills and their Welsh language written skills. That would support the second and third points, and increase the proportion of staff within an organisation who have high-level bilingual skills.

💡 And of course, ensuring strong leadership on bilingualism is paramount. This element has been included in Adnodd's language policy (the text that was produced by trio writing). In the case of Adnodd, that's achieved by appointing a member of the Board to be Welsh-language champion. This is really positive. An organisation's culture is shaped by the people at the top, and that includes its language culture.

There's a lot we can do if we really want to ensure equality for Welsh-language audiences. Trio writing is one solution. But we need to think much more widely. And need to broaden the discussion. The Welsh language deserves better than to be a box to tick.