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(U) Letters to the Editor: Trade Jargon
FROM: SIGINT Communications
Unknown
Run Date: 12/16/2003
(U//FOUO) We've received several comments on the recent article Trade Jargon: Got Your
"Ears"? :
(U//FOUO) "Great List. One should remember the humour that goes along with this
terminology, or the great practical jokes that linguists play on each other. My favorite would be
to take a reel (I'm dating myself here), fast forward it on the take-up reel, then use the take-up
reel as an "original"... Present the reel to a "nugget" (a new linguist), and instruct him/her to
transcribe it ASAP as it had a very important cut on it. Ha! Some, but few, would pick up on the
joke very quickly, others would turn out a "great" transcript! You can only imagine the
feedback!" (U//FOUO) "Having been doing this for nigh on 30 years, I thought I'd put my two cents worth
on this. Your definition of A%, etc. is slightly off - which is understandable since I've found that
quite a lot of people hired over the past few years haven't the foggiest idea of A-val, B-val, Cval, etc. A-val is certain, confirmed; B%/-val is probable, as in "that's probably what was said,"
C% is possible. Anything less than C% the linguist is supposed to sound out what he hears.
USSID 101 explains it. As for "read" - it's actually "reads" short for "readability." As linguists we
would say that "the reads on this are terrible". This all comes from the Morse query using Qsignals of QRK IMI which means "what's my signal strength and readability" (5 by 5 meaning a
very strong signal and very good readability). So, we could also say "the reads on this are 5 by"
or "this is fivers" (meaning 5 by 5). We also use "femop" for "female operator." At one time the newbies wouldn't understand this - we talked about "hammered copy" which meant it was
garbled. I believe that came from the idea that the Morse or TTY copy looked like the operator
had been using a hammer to send it. This crossed over into the voice world for those of us who
worked in the same ops spaces as the Morse collectors. "A false friend" is a new one. Sounds
like something A-group people would've thought up." - Anonymous
(U//FOUO) Editor's comment: You guessed correctly. The author was an A Group [the
organization that focused on the Soviet Union] transcriber for 6 years. It seems that even within
the same profession there were organizational differences in jargon!
(U//FOUO) "This is just a note FYI. I am a Language Analyst here. I am also a certified
translator and interpreter, and I have a small comment regarding this article. It stated that
translation could be the conversion of text or speech from one language into another. While the
term translation is widely used to describe the rendering of language A speech into language B,
the correct professional term for this is "interpretation." Interpreters and instructors of
interpretation are actually quite touchy about this differentiation, as translation and
interpretation are two very different skills. ... Text to text is translation. Speech to speech is
interpretation, and there are two kinds: simultaneous (with the headphones), and consecutive
(where the interpreter takes special notes while the speaker is speaking, then presents the
interpretation)." -
(U//FOUO) "Good article! As a transcriber, I can definitely identify with most of the definitions.
May I suggest an addition? When I saw "ears" for headphones, "ear" came to mind. Ear
(singular): A transcriber's ability to translate the target language. "Let's get
to do
that difficult cut; she's got a good ear." -
(C//SI) "These terms have not significantly changed since I was stationed at FS Berlin in '7578. Then Captain, now MG, Quirk was my Company Commander. Mr. Jim Cusick was the senior
German DSO....however, my language was Russian. Mr.
was the head QC of the
Russia shop." NGIC
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid comms)."
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