Intercultural Communication and Translation News

Even in a recession, companies have to talk to their customers. And global companies have to do it in dozens of languages.

As e-commerce and corporate websites become more complicated, with greater use of video and graphics, translation services are becoming increasingly complicated and costly. At the same time, more and more companies are pushing into emerging markets.

It is hardly surprising, then, that Mark Lancaster, chief executive of SDL, the Berkshire-based translation technology group that will enter the FTSE 250 next week, is predicting growth amid the economic gloom.

In his Maidenhead office, Mr Lancaster says: “Everybody is being cautious [about the economic climate]. But businesses will not stop communicating on the web. And companies will have to innovate to succeed in this market and if they innovate then those product launches will need translation.”

Already the world’s largest supplier of translation services and technologies following an aggressive expansion and acquisition strategy, SDL has grown from a 1992 start-up with £45,000 ($63,000) seed capital to employing more than 1,800 people in 50 offices across 32 countries. The company has announced record revenue of £158.7m and profits before tax and amortisation up 50 per cent to £25.5m for 2008, ahead of market expectations.

Read more > SDL

The following is an extract from Waxy.org - the sandbox of Andy Baio, an independent journalist and programmer living in Portland, Oregon.

While researching Oscar screeners last month, I stumbled on a remarkable example of online collaboration in China that’s completely undiscovered here. In short, a group of dedicated fans of The Economist newsmagazine are translating each weekly issue cover-to-cover, splitting up the work among a team of volunteers, and redistributing the finished translations as complete PDFs for a Chinese audience.

It reminds me of the scanlation movement, in which groups of fans scan, translate, and redistribute manga into another language. But I’ve never seen it applied to a newspaper or magazine, especially one as high-minded as The Economist.

It’s an impressive example of online collaboration with simple tools, a completely non-commercial effort by volunteers interested in spreading knowledge while improving their English skills. In the process, they’re taking a political risk in translating controversial articles about their homeland behind the Great Firewall.

I can’t read Chinese, but with the help of Google’s translation tools and several Chinese-speaking friends, I think I’ve pieced it together. (If anyone out there knows more, please email or IM me and I’ll add it in.)

Read more > Economist in Chinese

Climate change, rising sea levels, depleted natural resources, shrinking rainforest and a plethora of other reasons have pushed the green agenda to the top of political discourse.

President Obama has pledged billions towards investing in green technologies as part of tackling climate change as well as re-energising the US economy in the wake of the credit crunch.

Worldwide both small and large companies are starting to realise exciting and realistic means of creating energy through alternative, natural and less harmful means.

Not many of our clients know that we have a dedicated team of “green” translators (not literally!). As a compay we have long been dedicated to doing our bit for the environment and stemming from this we decided to invest in developing translation services for the green industries.

For more information please visit > Green Technologies Translation

For CNET’s Senior Editors Bonnie Cha and Kent German, Future Apps’ new language program for the iPhone and iPod Touch may be just the thing to get them around Barcelona next week as they attend the GSMA Mobile World Congress in that famed Spanish city.

iSpeak is a set of translation apps that can convert words and sentences from English to another language, or vice versa. You type your phrase into the app, which quickly translates your text. If you’re not sure how to pronounce the phrase, pressing a button triggers the app to speak the words aloud. iSpeak got our basic Spanish-to-English and English-to-Spanish test phrases pretty closely, though it didn’t manage to pronounce the read-out as Catalonians would (though, to be fair, Catalan is not the same language as Spanish).

Read more > CNET

SDL, the leading provider of Global Information Management (GIM) solutions, today announced the results of its two surveys exploring trends in terminology and branding; the first completed by business professionals and the second by translators. The results clearly identified a strong link between terminology and brand, highlighting the growing awareness of and need for effective terminology management solutions to maintain a consistent global brand.

Over 330 business and localization professionals in industries ranging from IT and Software to Manufacturing completed the survey.  Over 95% of respondents recognised the necessity to have the appropriate processes in place to manage their terminology and localisation, illustrating its importance in maintaining brand consistency.  Without these processes in place, businesses cannot communicate the consistent usage of terminology throughout their organisation and to their translators, which will inevitably create inconsistent global branding.

The respondents comprised of marketing, technical documentation and localisation as well as other professionals such as business analysts and product managers. Interestingly, 49% of the respondents say they already have processes in place.  However, they are still noticing inconsistencies in the application of terminology throughout their organisation, suggesting that the correct procedures have not been implemented and this will therefore impact their global brand presence.

Read more > SDL

A respected research institute wanted Chinese classical texts to adorn its journal, something beautiful and elegant, to illustrate a special report on China. Instead, it got a racy flyer extolling the lusty details of stripping housewives in a brothel.

Chinese characters look dramatic and beautiful, and have a powerful visual impact, but make sure you get the meaning of the characters straight before jumping right in.

There were red faces on the editorial board of one of Germany’s top scientific institutions, the Max Planck Institute, after it ran the text of a handbill for a Macau strip club on the front page of its latest journal. Editors had hoped to find an elegant Chinese poem to grace the cover of a special issue, focusing on China, of the MaxPlanckForschung journal, but instead of poetry they ran a text effectively proclaiming “Hot Housewives in action!” on the front of the third-quarter edition. Their “enchanting and coquettish performance” was highly recommended.

The use of traditional Chinese characters and references to “the northern mainland” seem to indicate the text comes from Hong Kong or Macau, and it promises burlesque acts by pretty-as-jade housewives with hot bodies for the daytime visitor.

Read more >> MaxPlanckForschung

The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and the Commissioner for multilingualism, Leonard Orban, have invited 16 well known European translators, writers, publishers and literary critics from different countries to a Lunch-Debate on translation and culture, to be held on 6 November in Brussels. The Lunch-Debate will be preceded by a half-day discussion among the participants focusing on translation as a key to dialogue between cultures; an intellectual bridge between small and big languages; and translation in all its forms and actors.
“I see translation as one of the expressions of multilingualism”, said Commissioner Orban, “A society is multilingual not only when its citizens can speak different languages, but also when its languages maintain a constant communication through translation. Translation is indeed a continuous negotiation between the author, the translator and the reader. In Europe, we know this only too well, negotiation being the very essence of our staying together.”

Read more >> Translation and Europe

Council workers in Swansea erected a road sign informing motorists in Welsh: “I am out of the office at the moment”.

Swansea council staff were designing a bilingual road sign barring heavy goods vehicles from a street in the city and had consulted an in-house translation service.

As the translator was not available, an automatatic e-mail response was triggered in Welsh which read: “I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated.”

Staff mistakenly thought that it was the correct translation and had it printed on the sign beneath the message in English, which read: “No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only”.

Read more >> Welsh Sign

Anyone interested in finding out more about careers in translation and interpreting should look out for two important events taking place over the coming weeks as part of the National Networks for Interpreting and Translation programme.

On Thursday 30 October, the University of Bath is organising a day dedicated to Careers in Interpreting and Translating, providing essential careers advice for sixth form students, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as to anyone who may be considering a move to the translation and interpreting sector.

The free event will give visitors the chance to talk to recent graduates from the University’s MA in Interpreting and Translation and MA in Translation and Professional Language Skills programmes, as well as to attend talks by professional translators and interpreters from a wide range of companies and organisations. These will include representatives from the European Commission, the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation and the International Court of Justice, as well as speakers from UK-based companies, and freelance interpreters and translators.

On Wednesday 5 November, the Gateways into Languages graduate placement portal will be launched at the National Network for Translation’s one year anniversary celebrations at the University of Salford. The new portal will be used to advertise work placements to students on postgraduate translation courses, and will be hosted by the National Network for Translation.

Fans of the long-running sci-fi show Star Trek will need no introduction to the universal translator. The device instantly interprets almost any language, earthly or alien, into (US) English. Chinese must have been a doddle for the crew of the Starship Enterprise.

Alas, for everyday business purposes we are not yet at the universal translator stage. Millions of pounds have been poured into the development of automatic translation systems but human capabilities are still superior. Anyone who has used internet translations will vouch for that.

Communication is, of course, everything when you are doing business and it is vital that you find an interpretation service on which you can rely.

Teresa Tinsley, director of communications at CILT, the National Centre for Languages, says: “A business meeting with foreign language speakers may have far-reaching implications and you could find yourself in a negotiating or confrontational climate. In a situation like this, your representatives must have a near-native command of their counterparts’ language if they are to persuade effectively.”

So how do you guarantee that what you say will be properly communicated?

Ms Tinsley says: “Unlike translators, who normally work at home, interpreters have to work ‘in the field’, without time for reflection or references. Therefore, you need to look for somebody who is socially knowledgeable and resourceful as well as linguistically competent.”

She adds: “When looking for a business interpreter, you should try to find someone who understands the occupational context of your meeting and has the experience, if necessary, to operate under difficult conditions, such as in a noisy workshop. Interpreting is stressful work and it is normal for a client to engage two interpreters for a full day’s service. Also remember to engage your interpreters well in advance if you want to be sure of getting the best.”

Dealing with reputable companies is half the battle.

Read more > The FT