Handy Multicultural Communications and Translation Guide now available

 

CFA has created a Multicultural Communications and Translation Guide to help our members effectively communicate with multicultural audiences.

 

Victoria is home to people who speak 290 languages and have 314 different ancestries. The purpose of this new guide is to provide information and direction about how to engage with multicultural audiences in an effective way.

The guide was also created because we were seeing varying translations of key phrases, such as Fire Danger Rating, Fire Danger Period, and others, depending on the translation company, and we want the community to interpret these terms consistently and accurately.

The guide was developed in collaboration with The LOTE Agency and numerous factors and considerations were taken into account, such as literacy levels, cultural norms, gender and age demographics. It provides an enormous amount of guidance on working with multicultural communities, including best practices for content, translation techniques. We recommend that all members consult this guide when working with multicultural communities.

The guide has six sections including:

• Know your community: Information and tools to break down barriers, and data about Victoria's communities and languages
• Translation best practice: How to involve the community in message creation, selecting the most appropriate tones and styles and, where practical, using NAATI-certified translators.
• CFA in language assets: How we translate our assets, allocate our resources to the 12 priority languages, and ensure the translations are consistent.
• A language glossary: Translations of key terms and expressions used by CFA across 12 key languages. The words in the glossary can be used directly in new content or can be sent to a translator to ensure our key words are used and translations are consistent. 
• Translation guidance: Questions and information about how to identify communities, effective messaging formatting and best practice to developing URLs for translated pages.
• Translation services: Help with defining budget, choosing the right agency, scope of work, etc 

Access the guide on Members Online.

We’d love your feedback, and suggestions. Contact cfacommunications@cfa.vic.gov.au

 

Submitted by	Nancy Thompson