Q&A: Mexican energy reform is defining moment for translators

Flor Dimassi and Thomas Lacombe lead Global Speak Translations, a Houston business that specializes in providing interpretation and translation services for the energy industry. The company anticipates a boom in business as an economic overhaul in Mexico opens state oil monopoly Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and other parts of its energy sector to private investment for the first time in decades. Dimassi, the firm's CEO, and Lacombe, its president of operations, spoke with the Houston Chronicle about the intricacies of translating the technical language of the oil and gas sector for clients that include Shell, Halliburton and Schlumberger. Excerpts, condensed and edited for clarity.

Q: How did the company launch, and what's the impact of the reform in Mexico?

Dimassi: I started as an independent translator at the local level. Four years ago we decided to take a more global perspective. The company focuses on oil and gas. Eighty percent of the translation and interpretations we do deal with technical terminology. Our teams are composed of field experts. We have civil engineers and mechanical engineers, depending on the subject matter we translate. Every team member has a speciality. Some feel more comfortable with financial terminology. Others are experts in fields like environmental solutions. Mine is drilling. Many companies approach us with legal contracts. In Mexico we have a team of bilingual lawyers familiar with terminology. With Mexican energy reform we've been extremely busy.

Lacombe: I consider Mexican energy reform to be a gift. It opened up not just one door, but entire country doors for us. We're on a mission to help these companies do business in Mexico. We want to be that energy language bridge. If we can connect a company with Pemex, then we've done our job. In some way, that's contributing back to the livelihood and strength of Mexico. Some of our languages are Spanish, French, Russian, Portuguese, German, Romanian A lot of translation companies will work in oil and gas, but we specifically do it as our unique focus.

Q: How did you enter the translation field?

Dimassi: I had been in project management for oil and gas companies. I worked at Oceaneering, and because I spoke French and Spanish, the rest of the staff would always give me documents to be translated. That was 18 years ago. I found myself always translating operational manuals for remotely operated vehicles,fiber-optic installation, things like that. That's all I was doing. I had piles of projects in a chair that needed to be translated. I told my boss, I think I can work for you - but independently. That's how it all got started.

Q: What sort of nuances are required when translating for oil and gas?

Lacombe: Sometimes projects will be translated, and I'll review them since I was in the industry. I was a geologist for Penzoil. There are nuances that literally translate properly, but in our terminology in the oil sector, people wouldn't understand. The word "pipeline," translated literally into Spanish, is "line pipe." We want it in their own particular vernacular.

If someone says they want something translated into Spanish, the question is always: 'Who's your target?' We want them to be specific and say whether it's Mexico or Argentina or somewhere else. "Drill bit" in Spanish can have four or five different terms.

Q: What kind of people work as translators for you?

Dimassi: They're colleagues I've worked with more than 15 yeas. I know what to expect from everybody. They have different talents. Eighty percent of them are local in Houston. Others are out of Central America, South America and Mexico. Whenever we add a new language - we did Haitan Creole for one company - we start interviewing people, getting their reference, looking at work they've done in the past.

I think we're one of the only firms where interpreters and translators leave a pair of steel-toed boots and a hard hat in the back of their car. Often we're called to shops to interpret training sessions. Often it's in shops for companies like Schlumberger or Halliburton, where there's a group of 30 engineers coming to be briefed on the latest technology, and at the end of a three-week course, they have to take an exam. One time their instructor asked: "How do I know you're interpreting all this information?" There were Latin American engineers, and local English-speaking engineers. The first, second and third place scores were all Latin Americans. I was proud of that.

Q: How do you prepare for an in-person interpretation?

Lacombe: We'll already have our glossaries pre-constructed, specific to that meeting. We always ask the client for all the presentations before we go into their session. A glossary is prepared with key phrases so at any time, the interpreter will be able to enunciate those properly.

Dimassi: You have to have experience to convey the message, otherwise, they'll stop the conference and say, 'Excuse me?' That's the reality. You need to convey the message because they've traveled far to be there and to learn something.

Q: Any interesting miscommunications?

Lacombe: We had a Latin American crowd - most weren't from Mexico, but some were, so she used neutral Spanish. The word 'shaft' came up. 'Eje' is the proper translation, but the largest man in the room - he's from Mexico - stands up and insists that it's 'flecha.' That means arrow, but in Mexican Spanish, it also means shaft. He's saying 'flecha,' and the Colombians are saying 'eje.'

Dimassi: When something like that happens, you have to maintain order. I explained to the gentleman we're trying to cover everybody.

Lacombe: When there's live sessions, you have to be on point and you can't lose your train of thought. One lost word can knock the meeting off and take it in a complete different direction.

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