Language Translation World

Different eHabits for Different Folks

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:06:00 +0000

From the perspective of our own lives, it is hard to imagine that people in different countries use the Internet in different ways. Markets develop and mature at different rates and Internet marketing habits vary from place to place.

Consumers in different markets have different habits when interacting online. Businesses that are looking to reach clients in other countries are advised to understand the opportunities and challenges that arise from these differences.

One example of this is the Financial Products industry in Spain. Only 14% of Spanish adult web users researched financial products online and of these only 3% bought online. One of the categories is car insurance where only 14% of consumers buy online.

This data, provided by Forrester Research, suggests that Spanish eBusiness executives have ample room to promote the Internet and support their clients with better site design, interactive help and follow-up of clients that abandon their sites before completing the process.

The Web by Language

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:41:00 +0000

Do you ever wonder what role language barriers play in this disparity. This is an important question when one suspects that a significant majority of the web's content is in English. Does this mean that most of the Internet users are English speakers?
Not necessarily. The Chinese represent an estimated 10-20% of all web users, the largest single group based on estimates by Hang Lei, the founder of Chinese translation community Yeeyan. See Ethan Zuckerman's blog.

But Chinese language content is not proportionally represented in the Internet. We haven't found an authoratative source that has established the percentage of content by language on the Internet, but Wikipedia suggests that 80% of the content is in English, followed by German and Japanese.

One experiment described by Mr. Zuckerman leads us to believe that these numbers might be accurate. A simple Google search for the phrase "breast cancer" in English yields almost 39 million pages. The same search in Chinese yields only 6 million pages. But the quality of the content is much higher in the English searches.
The same search in Spanish only yields 1.2 million pages. This is only 3% of the amount of content in English.

If this is true, we can conclude that is a "massive imbalance" in the amount of content available per language.

Translation Services in Hospital Settings

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:00:00 +0000

Imagine being admitted into a hospital in a foreign country where the hospital staff does not speak your language. This happens to thousands of people all over the world; many of them are critically ill or injured.

On one hand patients need to understand their medical condition and feel reassured and comforted. On the other hand proper medical care requires good communication between medical staff and the patient. To facilitate this process many large hospitals have translators and interpreters on call to play the critical role of communicators. Institutions can afford interpreters on staff when they have a constant flow of patients that speak specific languages.

But if the patient speaks a language that is seldom handled in the hospital or the institution is too small to afford staff linguists, there is a cost efficient solution: telephone interpretation services which usually can provide an interpreter in a couple of minutes into/from commonly spoken languages.

Medical translators cover a wide range of needs in patient's care. Competent medical linguists many times have had long careers in the healthcare industry, their knowledge of medical terminology must be extensive -in at least two languages- and they must have good communication skills to build a bridge between patients and their caregivers.

Hospital stays can be difficult times for many patients and their families, and they often have questions or concerns regarding their medical options. Medical interpreters provide confidential services that can help the patient feel heard by his attending physicians and reassured.

Mass Extinction of Languages

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:07:00 +0000

It is expected that about half of the 7000 languages that are spoken today will cease to exist by the year 2100, according to experts as reported by the Washington Post.

But what does it mean that a language is considered extinct? When the last person who learned that language as his or her primary language passes away.

Languages can become extinct as well as evolve. Languages such as English, Italian and Spanish will certainly survive and adapt to the new times. But many languages will become extinct. It can be said that this is nothing short of evolution as it manifests in linguistics.

There are regions that are especially vulnerable to this extinction process, mainly Siberia, North Australia, the Andes and the Amazon. Even the Pacific Northwest is expected to see the reversal of fortunes for several native languages.

Language extinction is not a modern phenomenon, it has happened since time immemorial and it happens when a smaller group come in contact with more dominant populations.

Government action also has affected the rate of extinction. Examples of this can be found in Russia and Australia, where government policies have been in place to encourage, if not force, native populations to speak the dominant language.

Each language offers a different perspective on the human experience. Let's hope that we can keep a vibrant language diversity from which to draw inspiration and knowledge.

Same Word, Different Meaning - Portuguese Funcionário

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:02:00 +0000

It is not uncommon that inexperienced Portuguese translators assume that a word that is written the same and sound the same in two languages mean the same thing. WATCH OUT, because this is seldom the case.

Take for example the word "funcionário" in Portuguese and the word "funcionario" Spanish. In Brazilian Portuguese translation the word "funcionário / funcionária" can fit all positions in an organization (any employee). It implies actor or bearers of a function; hence, the prefix "funcio-". In a general text, for instance low level employees and high directors and executives are both referred to as "funcionários".

In Spanish the word funcionario ONLY refers to high level directors or officials, and is never used to describe general employees.

A somewhat more diminishing term for "employee", on the other hand (and, purposely, which should be avoided) is "empregado / empregada", which could be used to translate the word "employee". But the term "empregada" (fem.) in Br-Pt has turned to attract the meaning of a "household cleaning lady", which sounds embarrassing in a corporate environment. And also because "empregado" (masc.) has a politically-correctness issue to it, in what it might imply someone employed but who receives no payment (it means that the pearson is "placed in", but not necessarily is paid for his work). Some people can even refer to "empregado" as a "slave".

Some companies sometimes choose the term "colaborador / colaboradora", but the employees themselves explain that they do not like that term, because it also may imply that he/she only "collaborates", but do not receive salary for that "collaboration". In Br-Pt, the verb "colaborar" has lost the original meaning of "work" [labore] "together" [co-] and been attached to the meaning of "social work" / "collaborative work" / "volunteer work" or simply a "help" provided without payment.

Our friend and collaborator Dorival Santos Scaliante shared this information with LanguageTrna.

Reset Button?

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:52:00 +0000

Hillary Clinton, in an effort to "reset" the relationship between the USA and Russia presented Russain Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva a small box with a gift ribbon. The box contained a red button with the word "peregruska" printed on top.

She said, "I would like to present you with a little gift that represents what President Obama and Vice President Biden and I have been saying and that is: 'We want to reset our relationship and so we will do it together.'"

Clinton, added, "We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?" she asked the Foreign Minister.

"You got it wrong," Lavrov said." Both diplomats laughed. "It should say "perezagruzka" (the Russian word for reset,). This says 'peregruzka,' which means 'overcharged.'"

Oops!

Watch Out Amateurs

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:32:00 +0000

Language translation gaffs are amusing for most of us because we assume that translating a phrase or text into another language can be done by using a bilingual dictionary, a little knowledge and a bowl of hope.

This is not an assumption which should be done when trying to communicate correctly in another language. One Miami company printed several thousand T-shirts which were supposedly translated into Spanish "I saw the Pope". Whoever translated it used the above mentioned recipe. A class of Spanish or two, a dictionary and a brave pen. The result was "Vi la Papa" which really translates as "I saw the potato".

Google Machine Translations - Not Enough, Yet

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:41:00 +0000

It is a well known fact that Google has invested heavily to breach the language divide through technology and computer aided translations. The company considers their computer translation tool as one of the key components of their global strategy. In this effort, they have expanded their language translation offerings to 41 languages including Turkish, Estonian, Galician and other languages. Google's strategic goal is quite simple: eliminate language as a barrier to communication in GoogleWorld.

As a language translation provider, LanguageTran has tested translations done by Google's translation tool in a few language combinations. Richard Ramos, President of LanguageTran, said that "Google has achieved a remarkable level of accuracy in some of the language combinations. It is a great way of translating content to have a general idea of the original text. However, the intrinsic nuances of language are still trumping the ultimate goal of near perfect translations. I can see the day when we use tools like Google to improve productivity, but we don't see that happening anytime soon. In some of the language combinations that we tested some sentences were perfectly translated. However, errors in terminology, grammatical constructions and subtle interpretations in large parts of the text make the tool unreliable for applications which require precise well written translations."

He added, "The time needed by a human editor to proof-read, edit and correct errors is still greater than the time required for direct human translation".

Community Based Translations

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 13:18:00 +0000

The question of how to bridge language and cultural divides in multilingual countries or regions has been a challenge since time immemorial. This question is especially important for community understanding and development. One such region is East Africa and the Sub-Saharan region where the population speaks a plethora of languages, everything from local languages to the old colonial languages which are now in ample use.
A new blog platform called Maneno has been created targeted for this region which has an interface which is supported by a wide-based community translation effort. This blog enables the publication of a post in multiple languages. Currently it can be read in English, Spanish, Swahili and Portuguese.
The translation is done by the community of people.

Why use professional translators vs. a bilingual speakers

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Sat, 31 May 2008 21:51:00 +0000

I often get asked why use a professional translator vs. a bilingual speaker to translate documents into other languages. The answer can be elusive, but if the question is rephrased, the answer becomes obvious.
Would I use a professional to write a legal document or a technical manual, for instance? If the answer is yes, you need to work with a professional translator.
If you need to translate a personal communication, where accuracy and writing skills are not of the essence, use your bilingual friend.
In the case of Korean, many people consider it an isolate language with Chinese influences. Thirty five percent of the words in the language are Korean, 60% are Sino-Korean and around 5% are loaned words, mostly from English. Geographically, Korean is mostly limited to the Korean peninsula.
The size and importance of the Korean economy have created a large demand for Korean translators and anyone attempting to translate between Korean and other languages must be deeply steeped in the Korean language and culture. Look for our article on finding the right Korean translator.

No Dictionaries for Shakespere

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:05:00 +0000

It's hard to imagine how someone with an extensive vocabulary could have acquired it without the use of dictionaries, but that is exactly what the ole' Bard did. You see, English dictionaries in Elizabethean times simply did not exist. The English dictionary, the widely used list of words arranged in alphabetical order that many of us cherish, is really a modern invention in the English language.

As translators, dictionaries are our bread and butter and I can't imagine working without them anymore that I can imagine attempting to write a piece of Shakesperean prose without one.

By the beginning of the seventeenth century other languages were well under way in establishing a fixed and formal structure to the language, most notably French and German. English was far behind and had no unified consensus on basic concepts as spelling. This presented a very real challenge for a language that was becoming of age as England expanded it's global reach. English was destined to become the international language, but to do so it needed to define the language in lexicographical terms.

One of the first steps in this direction were the first attempts to publish lists of pompous words "for the benefit and help of ladies, gentlemen and any other unskilful persons" as the author of the early dictionary, A Table Alphabeticall… of hard unusual English Word, wrote.

The understanding of what a dictionary is, as we view it today, had a long way to go. More of that in the next installment. Meantime, as a Spanish to English translator, I am grateful for bilingual dictionaries.

Reaching Hispanic Markets

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:50:00 +0000

Communicating in Spanish is a strategic move in today’s world as companies target the ever growing Hispanic Market in the USA and Latin American countries. Your potential Spanish speaking customers will respond positively to your marketing efforts if you communicate in their own language. However, non-Spanish speakers face the challenge of bridging the language barrier. Many companies have tried, with different degrees of success.

I’ve seen many corporate marketing efforts to communicate with the Hispanic population. A few years ago, I opened the Houston Chronicle one morning just to find that part of the sport’s section was in Spanish. It was not surprising that given the large Latino population in Houston, they wanted to reach them by offering them news of the Soccer World Cup. To my surprise, the quality of the language was dismal. To their credit, they’ve improved significantly since the early days and now have professional Spanish writers and professional translators on staff that is responsible of producing a Spanish only publication.

The challenges faced by the Houston Chronicle are not unique to them. Many companies, governments and individuals need to communicate in Spanish so we’ve prepared a few tips on how to select the right Spanish translator for your Spanish communications.

Golden Gate to Growth

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:22:00 +0000

The last few days I've been attending the Golden Gate to Growth conference of the Association of Language Companies in San Francisco. It is always refreshing and motivating to listen and share experiences among peers and the ALC is especially good at achieving this. Being a small organization focused on a very specific industry segment (language company owners) has several advantages over larger organizations and it can be better serve the needs of its constituents.

If you own a language company, I strongly recommend that you join the ALC.

San Francisco will always be San Francisco. Yesterday I walked in Haight Ashbury and, except for the modern cars, it was just like being transported back to the early 70's and the hippie era. Will it still be like this in 100 years?

Legal Translations in Spanish Speaking Countries

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Mon, 12 May 2008 23:42:00 +0000

Countries have different legal traditions. The legal systems of English countries is usually based on Common Law theory which works on precedent. The legal systems in Spanish countries are usually inherited from Spain and is based Napoleonic Law principles, which limits the ability of judges to establish precedent. Under this legal theory, judges are bound by general rules which fall within the domain of the legislative branches of government.

But even if these countries use the same legal theory, Spanish speaking countries all have at least some differences in their legal systems. This poses problems of Spanish legal translations, especially that of documents with legal validity.

The one country that has drastically different legal system is Cuba, which has departed drastically from the legal system of Spain, the root system of the other Spanish-speaking countries. Legal translators must always be cognizant of these differences and be familiar with the peculiarities of each country's legal system.

Learn a Little Chinese... before heading for the Beijing Olympic Games

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:32:00 +0000

Have you ever wanted to learn Chinese (Mandarin) and haven't found the time or someone to teach you in the convenience of your own home? Today I found a website that will help you do just that. Making Mandarin Manageable offers electronic flashcards, interactive programs, recordings and many other resources to help you help you learn, polish or master Chinese.

This is an excellent resource for the thousands of travelers heading to China in the next couple of months for the Olympic Games. It always helps to have basic navigation words when you travel. Things like "take me to, left, right, stop, faster, slower". Believe me, it comes very handy when you are lost.

If you have special food needs it is good to know how to describe them, such as "vegetarian, hot, cold". Or learn the basic words for shopping , "too expensive, more, less, how much".

The few hours you spend learning basic words will more pay off in the end, especially in areas of China that are far away from the big cities. So, let us recommend that you get basic English to Chinese Translation skills before you are asked to jump over hoops to get yourself understood.

Corporate outreach to Hispanic Students

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Tue, 06 May 2008 22:07:00 +0000

Language can be a barrier to higher education, especially for minority groups. Such is the case of Hispanics in the USA that see dwindling number of enrollments in technology and science majors in US universities.
IBM has launched an initiative to ameliorate the problems that Spanish speakers face when interfacing with higher education. IBM has an Internet program called ¡TradúceloAhora! that it has offered to be used in several universities at no cost to help students and their parents to translate email communications.
In addition, some universities in Arizona, California and Texas have begun offering another IBM program designed to mentor Hispanic students called Cascade Mentoring Program which involves IBM employees and others as mentors for young Hispanics.

Cross-Culture Polinators

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:19:00 +0000

A well known Zen koan asks: what is the sound of a tree falling if no one hears it? I was thinking today, how would our culture sound if if translators did not exist? Imagine the voices that would be silenced if language translators did not exist. They have always been the first bridge to enrich and cross-pollinates cultures. There are many examples in the past. Think of the impact that translating the Bible into Latin had. What about the wealth of Arabic mathematical knowledge that would not have been lost to Europeans were it not for translators.
Today, it is easy to underestimate the impact that language translation has in our societies. After all, in our English-centric world we tend to think that almost everything we need is already in English. But there are always voices and styles in other languages that need to be heard.
One example of this is India, a country with hundreds of native languages. Only about 50 have current literature that gets regularly published, although news papers publish around 100 languages.
Fortunately, translators have stepped up to the plate and are helping the world learn about the priceless literature written in those languages. Arjun Deo Charan, Rajasthani poet-playwright, “Regional languages are beginning to reach a greater number of people thanks to translations.
This is phenomenon in many countries of the world. The work of language translation is alive and well and it will continue as long as there is language diversity.

EU invests money in automatic computer translation technology

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:01:00 +0000

The EU is required to publish all its documentation into 23 official languages. The expense to do do so is quite substantial: 1 billion Euro every year. This is the reason why the EU has been investing in research to develop computer aided simultaneous computer translations. If they achieve their goal, it would greatly reduce the need for human translators and interpreters.

The difficulty presented by language has trumpeted all efforts to achieve the Holy Grail of automatic translations. Systems are plagued by punctuation, meaning, grammar and translation mistakes that make the translation itself seem unintelligible.

The EU has invested in the so called TC-STAR project to address this challenge. They've achieved an accuracy of 70% of the words that are translated, although they've been challenged with placing the words in the right order within the sentences.

It is expected that in the few next years the project will achieve acceptable levels of translation quality, although it might be limited to a few language pairs. Computer translation is still a technological challenge for today's technology.

International Service Award for Serving as Translators

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:42:00 +0000

It has crossed my mind, more than once, that translators have a natural gift to give back to their communities. Can you imagine how many conflicts arise out of missunderstandings due to language and cultural differences? I don't think this has been systematically researched, but my guess is that it is not a negligable number. History is littered with such incidents.

I read today that a junior in Princeton University will be honored with the 2008 International Service Award presented by the Davis International Center. Tashfin Samiul Huq, a Bangladesh student majoring in Biology, will be presented with the award as a recognition to his dedication to cross-cultural humanitarian endeavors. Mr. Huq has helped establish a NGO dedicated to raising the awareness of Bangladeshis to combat AIDS and protect the environment.

This is a small example of what we translators can do to uplift our communities. For a long time, the thought has crossed my mind to create an organization called Translators Without Borders. Perhaps, if you are reading this post, this idea sounds appealing. Give me a call, and let's see if we can get enough people interested.

Welcome to Language Translation Service Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:50:00 +0000

The purpose of this blog is to create a database of frequently asked questions and general information pertaining the language translation industry. Our global economy creates ever increasing demands to communicate with one another, many times across language and cultural barriers. Individuals and institutions often find themselves with a myriad options to address their translation needs. We hope that this database assists you in finding the right service and shed light on the issues that you need to take into account to successfully complete your translation project.

Language Technology for the Battlefield

noreply@blogger.com (Gurudev Singh) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:18:00 +0000

The language barrier can become a high stakes game in war situations. Imagine a British or American soldier trying to communicate with Iraqi civilians with simple commands and the endless possibility of misunderstandings that can become fatal in the middle of a war zone.

It is easy to think that ever soldier can have his/her own translator, but this is impractical. Technology however, has again taken upon itself to fill part of the gap, with a voice recognition device that offers a technological solution to the age-old problem of language translation. The most recent example for this, according to the BBC News, is the much awaited launch of a translation device named Ahky (Arabic for”speak”), designed to improve communications between soldiers and the Iraqi people.

This device is based on voice recognition technology. It can assist the soldiers communicate effectively with civilians, especially in highly charged situations.

The device is expected to look like an extended wristwatch, making it easy to carry.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr. Ismail said, “"If this device can help save innocent lives in a conflict situation then that has to be good."

With translation technological solutions such as these, the potential for better understanding increases. This device is not only effective in military situations, but it is also an asset for many hospitals and other public services.