Blog Archives

International Translation Day

9/29/2021

After spending some time abroad on a working-holiday visa, I wanted nothing more than to return home. I started looking for opportunities to work in government because, as a young professional, I felt a strong sense of patriotism – you really begin to appreciate your culture when you are away from it.

I knew I wanted to focus on and continue developing my translation skills. Fortunately, at that time, Trinidad and Tobago was seeking to host the Secretariat for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a proposed agreement which never got off the ground. This thrust lead to an initiative by the T&T Government to make Spanish the first foreign language of T&T and resulted in the formation of a unit (born in the Ministry of Trade and Industry), called the Secretariat for the Implementation of Spanish, where I held the post of foreign language specialist.

In this role, I had the opportunity to translate, interpret, host cultural awareness seminars, teacher-training initiatives, collaborate with ambassadors of the Spanish-speaking diplomatic missions accredited to T&T and collaborate with many other ministries.

Fast forward many years later, while in that role, I saw local and international opportunities to specialise in translation, and I took the leap towards independence, starting off by translating full-time, then earning further qualifications. That leap led to the formation of RMC.

Here we are almost 10 years later with so many opportunities to convert documents from one language into another and work with some really talented professionals and fantastic clients.

On this International Translation Day, I celebrate this profession with my fellow translators. May we find all the words we need and the ability to continue connecting people across languages, borders and cultures and may we enjoy every step of the journey.

Here's to all the translators who celebrate our profession on this International Translation Day.

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Values of a Country

9/27/2021

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Why can understanding a country's values help nationals of different backgrounds successfully work together.

Recently we shared about the values of our company. Values are also reflected in a country, in a people’s way of living and being. The values of a people, a nation, reflect what is important to the people of a country.

What is important for the people of Trinidad and Tobago? We hold many values dear. This is one of the topics I discuss with my assignees (expats) to help them understand what is important to our people. It helps them understand us better and can help them work with Trinidad and Tobago nationals better.

Education
Celebrating festivals (our unique cultural celebrations)
Family
Food (and drink)
Relationships

We inherited a strong educational system from the British. Many of the systems and structures in our schools were patterned on and are a result of the British educational system and we have a very high literacy rate. This is true for most, if not all, of the English-speaking Caribbean.

In addition, education is provided free to children from early childhood all the way up to university with various government funding programmes being made available for those pursuing tertiary education. Finally, additional amenities have also been provided to our children over the years, including books, laptops, the ability to participate in various sporting activities and exposure to other extra-curricular activities as part of the school system. These opportunities have benefitted our children tremendously.

Our unique history has resulted in many cultures coming together and we celebrate each other’s foods, music, dance and festivals. From Carnival to Christmas to Divali to Eid to Emancipation to Easter. We celebrate many religious and national holidays – a total of 14 each year. We have a unique ability to live among people of varied backgrounds in relative harmony.

In our homes families can be nuclear (mother, father and children), extended, headed by
grandparents, single-parent and so on. Whichever the family type, Trinbagonian (and Caribbean) families are usually close-knit and somehow connected long beyond the age of adulthood. In other words, our children do not necessarily leave home at the age of 18. In fact, some adults move out only after getting married and some move into their in-laws homes after marriage. The main thing to note is that family is very important to us. This is connected to another important characteristic, which is that we are generally ‘collective’ or group-oriented in nature.

From pelau, to roti, to doubles, to saltfish buljol and accra, to black pudding, pastelle, Spanish rice, black cake, sorrel, and bake and shark, food and drink are a very important part of who we are. We celebrate everything with food, from baptisms and funerals, to graduation and marriage, food and drink are very important to us.

We are a people who operate by relationships (not tasks). The relationship very often takes
precedence over the task we are performing. Who you know is more important than what you know. If you know someone who can help you get something done faster, that is the route we will take. This can lead to a whole other discussion, but that is for another time. Suffice it to say that we maintain relationships from nursery school onward. We maintain contact with neighbourhood friends, university pals and work colleagues long after we have moved onto other pastures. Our colleagues are people we eat with in the lunch room and with whom we will often form long-term bonds. We place more importance on relationships than on tasks. There is a lot more to be said on this, but I will leave it here.

What would you add to this list of Trinbagonians' values? What else is important to us?

#values #culture #interculturalcoaching #crossculturalcoaching #Trinbagonians #RMC
#languageandculture

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Intermediate Conversational Spanish Starts Monday 27 September.

9/21/2021

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Do you want to become more marketable?

Are you looking to improve your proficiency in Spanish?

Do you interact with native Spanish speakers?

When asked what they enjoyed most about the course, here's what participants had to say:

"Interacting with others at the same level of language learning."— J.B.

"I liked our class. It was intimate and we encouraged each other." — C.C.

"Everything and everyone!" — P.P.

For more information, click here.

Register here.

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Online Intermediate Conversational Spanish

9/13/2021

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Did you promise yourself that you would improve your language skills in 2021?

Are you thinking of taking your career to another level?

Are you relocating to a Spanish-speaking country or one where the community speaks Spanish?

It is not too late to achieve your language goals in 2021.

EARLY BIRD OPEN UNTIL 15 SEPTEMBER 2021!

Sign up for our intermediate conversational Spanish course:

Days: Mondays & Wednesdays
Time: 5.30 pm to 7 pm
Period: 10 weeks
Dates: 27th September – 1st December
Where: online learning platform

All you need is:

A device
A stable Wi-Fi connection

Early bird individual: TTD $995/person if you register by 15 September 2021

Early bird group: TTD $2700/group for 3 persons or more (payable as a lump sum) if you register by 15 September 2021

Regular individual rates: TTD $1200 after 15 September 2021

Deadline for registration is 26th September. Register today!

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Amerindian Footprints: Hyarima

9/2/2021

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Photo published by Wired868.

Like footprints in the sand, though faded or washed away, we acknowledge and remember the presence of the first peoples who roamed and cultivated this rich land of Trinidad and Tobago, the very soil of which is nourished by their ancestral DNA. These indigenous peoples or First Peoples who settled in the Caribbean formed themselves into tribes based on their locations, lived a simple, yet hard-working life and traded among tribes and even islands as they canoed up and down the Caribbean Sea. Their presence has been so prominent in Trinidad that even places were named by them. However, the life these first settlers knew was about to plunge into anarchy.

The Europeans arrived and took hold of these islands and their resources through the renaming of and theft from these lands, and enslaving and forcibly converting local tribes to Christianity. The Amerindians were under siege, suffering from overwork and abuse. Yet, though primitive, heroes arose among them in honour of their ancestors, gods and people. One such man whose gold-coloured statue welcomes you upon entering the Borough of Arima is that of Hyarima or Hy Arima. He was such a powerful native figure who called the ‘shots’ along the east-west corridor.

Chief Hyarima led the people of the Araucan Tribe who lived within the region of Arouca, North Trinidad. He was enslaved, along with his tribe, by the Europeans and escaped their captivity around 1625. It is believed he fled to the hills of Arima where he set up his base. Fuelled with rage for these newcomers, he began recruiting and influencing other Amerindians to not only escape, but to form an alliance that sought the oppressors’ downfall. He became a nuisance to the colonisers and harassed them constantly by launching attacks on their settlements. He worked alongside the Dutch and successfully executed an attack on the then capital of San José, currently known as St. Joseph, which made villagers flee the area in 1637. Every year, rituals are performed at his statue by the descendants of the First Peoples in remembrance of his and others’ legacy and to honour the elementals.

Their footprints, which once were and forever will be, still mark the sands of time.

We hope you have enjoyed our segments featuring the Amerindian heritage of Trinidad and Tobago.

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International Translation Day

Values of a Country

Intermediate Conversational Spanish Starts Monday 27 September.

Online Intermediate Conversational Spanish

Amerindian Footprints: Hyarima

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