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I recently received a letter from my child in the Dominican Republic and it looks like some things are missing from the English translation. Based on Google translate and my limited knowledge of Spanish it seems that there are very specific things/whole sentences missing. It's definitely more than just the simple paraphrasing that tends to happen in translation. It's frustrating for me but I worry about what the translation is like on my child's end - will she get incomplete letters as well? Is there a reason this happened or something I can do to prevent it in the future? Is there a way to get the letter re-translated? Also, in her letter my child said that she changed groups in her center because she turned 9; this letter was written on 1/23/17. According to the info I have on her, she should have turned 10 in March 2016. It's not a translation issue because she wrote the number 9 in her original letter; could she just be confused, or could Compassion maybe have her info wrong?
Posted 3 years ago
Another sponsor here. It is very possible that Compassion received the wrong date of birth. My Dominican child had one birthday listed when I initially sponsored her and in her first letter, she gave a different one. I asked that this be looked into and her birthday was a year off (she was one year older than initially listed). The ladies that answer here are likely off for Good Friday so I'm sure they will respond to you on Monday.
Yeah I've heard of that happening with the birth dates. Thanks for pointing out that they are probably off for Good Friday, that didn't occur to me so now I won't get worried if they don't respond till Monday :)
Crazy Goat Lady 17, I sincerely apologize that your letter was not fully translated and there were some discrepancies with her birthdate. I definitely want to investigate this and get you a new translation of the letter. Regrettably, I couldn't locate your account from your email address and name. Please post your child's ID number or your sponsor number here so that we can help you further.
Here is my sponsor number: 06722266 And here is my child's number: DR036500849 Thanks so much for your reply; I appreciate you looking into this! :)
Christina, Employee
Hi Emily! I'm so sorry for any confusion or concern Maria's most recent letter has caused you. Please rest assured that I have sent an inquiry to our country office in the Dominican Republic. Our wonderful field staff will have her letter re-translated. They will also do their absolute best to confirm what Maria's correct birthday is. Regrettably, this can be difficult as in many cultures actual birthdates are not considered to be of great significance. A mother and father may not know exactly what day their child was born. On the day Maria was registered with Compassion, the program staff may not have had a birth certificate to go by, and the day of birth may have been a "best guess" by her parent. We will do our best to find out Maria's correct age and birthday for you :). It may take 6-8 weeks to receive a response from our country office. We will be in contact with you as soon as we receive a reply. Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention, so that we may have the opportunity to help you!
Alright sounds good, looking forward to hearing back once you get a response from the country office. :) Really appreciate you guys taking the time to reply and look into this!
