02/19/2007 - 02/20/2007

Conference: Languages & Business 2007

The program for the sixth edition of Languages & Business has now been finalized. The conference for languages and international business communication takes place from April 16 to 18 in Duesseldorf, Germany.

The program for the sixth edition of Languages & Business has now been finalized. The conference for languages and international business communication takes place from April 16 to 18 in Duesseldorf, Germany. The conference organizers have again been able to attract competent, well-known experts from both the language-training field and industry to the event, which focuses on foreign languages and international business communication. With contributions by specialists from Belgium, Germany, France, Great Britain, Poland, and Switzerland - and highly qualified attendees - Languages & Business offers numerous opportunities for the exchange of experience at the international level.

Bush wants more Culturally Competent Intelligence Workers

President George W. Bush instructed the new U.S. spy chief on Tuesday to focus on finding more recruits with the language skills and cultural background needed to collect information on al-Qaida and other terrorist groups.

At a swearing-in ceremony Tuesday at Bolling Air Force Base outside Washington for retired Vice Adm. Mike McConnell as the second director of national intelligence, Bush said the intelligence agencies still need significant improvements more than five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

PeriscopeIQ Announces New Survey Translation Solutions

PeriscopeIQ(TM), a provider of an advanced web-based survey technology platform, today announced its new Survey Translation Mapping (STM) and complementary Survey Response Mapping (SRM) solutions. Its STM technology provides in-place multiple language translation of survey questionnaires while its SRM tool translates the responses of open-ended questions, easing the creation and analysis processes of multi-language surveys.

Word of the Day: apogee

apogee \AP-uh-jee\, noun:
1. The point in the orbit of the moon or of an artificial satellite that is at the greatest distance from the center of the earth.
2. The farthest or highest point; culmination.

But in retrospect, this period would prove to be the apogee of O'Sullivan's career, although he always felt bigger and better things were on his way. -- Edward L. Widmer, Young America

How can we suppose that science has reached its apogee in the twentieth century? -- John Maddox, What Remains To Be Discovered

Britons get the most laughs from bosses

Britons are just the funniest people...or at least that's what top businessmen said in a survey about European humour released on Thursday.

Some 34 percent of respondents to the latest UPS Europe Business Monitor said the British have the sharpest wit, while only three percent backed German claims for the accolade. Even in Germany, only one in ten executives said their countrymen cracked them up -- compared with 47 percent who sided with Britain, the survey showed.

Re-Entry and Culture Shock

Coming home is all about the familiar, the comfortable and the secure. Corporate expatriates, much like Dorothy, go to their own 'Oz', a strange, perhaps exotic place with different rules, routines and language.

According to Global Relocation Trends' 2005 survey conducted by GMAC, 81 percent of companies provide pre-departure cross cultural training for their expatriates and 20 percent of these companies make it mandatory.

Etiquette Guide to Czech Republic

The Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has issued a 96-page booklet of advice for foreigners on how to behave when living in the country, the international service of Radio Prague reported last week. The document is dominated by mundane but essential information on how to use the education, healthcare, and social security systems. However, it is the section on personal behaviour that suggests perhaps rather too many of the roughly 310,000 foreigners living there are not familiar enough with the rules of polite Czech society.

Buzz launches multilingual web browser in 11 languages

Buzz Technologies, a Chinese company specializing in telecommunications and internet-related products, has launched a multilingual web browser that provides one-click translations into 11 languages including Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, German, French, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Dutch, Greek and English.

Report: THE LOCALISATION PRACTICES OF MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES

Conversis, one of the world’s leading providers of globalisation, internationalisation, localisation and translation (GILT) services, in coordination with the Localisation Program at California State University at Chico, has released the findings of a pioneering research study that examines the localisation practices of multinational corporations and how well they are adapting to countries, cultures, and languages.

Research on Localisation Practices was conducted by the Localisation Program at California State University at Chico. The program provides education, training and insight in Localisation and International E-Business to help students and businesses compete in the new global networked economy.

The Translation Industry in the Czech Republic

A shakeout of the Czech Republic’s crowded translations industry seems long overdue and testimonies from insiders familiar with the business suggest 2007 could see the start of one.

Identifying the reliable players amid the huge and heated competition may prove to be a real headache as the sector is characterized by significant and wide-ranging differences in terms of price and quality.

The quality issue is especially discussed because clients often don't understand the language delivered to them and thus can't check the material for accuracy. “Unfortunately some translation agencies, sometimes even well-known and established ones, still practice fraudulent methods. For instance, they promise a client a proofreading will be carried out by a native speaker, for which they add an exorbitant surcharge, and then don’t put the text through a proofreading at all," wrote David MraÄ?ek, an English instructor and a graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy of Charles University in Prague.

Word of the Day: turbid

turbid \TUR-bid\, adjective:
1. Muddy; thick with or as if with roiled sediment; not clear; -- used of liquids of any kind.
2. Thick; dense; dark; -- used of clouds, air, fog, smoke, etc.
3. Disturbed; confused; disordered.

Although both are found in the same waters, black crappies usually prefer clearer, quieter water, while white crappies flourish in warmer, siltier and more turbid water. -- Tim Eisele, "Crappie Facts", Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), May 8, 1998

Rough or smooth, the Irish Sea at Blackpool is always turbid. Beneath the murk float unspeakable things. -- David Walker, "Is Labour right to end its affair with Blackpool? YES says David", Independent, March 26, 1998