11/27/2006 - 11/28/2006

Chelsea F.C to Launch Chinese Website

Chelsea will launch a Chinese language Web site sometime next year in the hopes of expanding its marketability in Asia.

The English champions are teaming up with China's biggest sports Internet service to launch the site, which Chelsea claims will be the first from a Premier League club. The Blues are hoping to keep pace with European rivals Manchester United, Liverpool, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona in the profitable Asian market.

New EU Language Chief Loses Translators

The European Union's designated language chief left interpreters tongue-tied on Monday while trying to persuade EU lawmakers he was the right man for the job.

The attempt by Romania's Leonard Orban to impress the European Parliament committee with his range of languages backfired when interpreters seemed to be caught off-guard, and there was a deafening silence as he moved smoothly from French into English and on to his native Romanian.

Pope Calls for Intercultural Dialogue

Pope Benedict XVI has called for an "authentic dialogue" between Christians and Muslims in a speech at Turkey's directorate of religious affairs. He said the exchange must be "based on truth and inspired by a sincere wish to know one another better".

The pontiff was speaking at the start of a four-day visit to Turkey - his first trip to a mainly Muslim country since acceding to the papacy.

Taxi Drivers Face Language Proficiency Test

Taxi drivers in Wrexham will face tests of their English language skills, basic arithmetic and knowledge of the area.

Town councillors have backed proposals that anyone applying for a taxi licence must show a command of "basic" written and spoken English. The move follows licence applications from people who do not speak English.

Microsoft Lose Language Battle in Korea

A recent court ruling involving a patent infringement case may force Microsoft to temporarily halt sales of Microsoft Office in South Korea, according to a report from the Korean Times.

In 1997 and 1998, Professor Lee Keung-hae of Hankuk Aviation University filed patents for technology used to automatically translate English into Korean within Microsoft Office applications. The Supreme Court of Korea has ruled that those Korean patents are effective.

Word of the Day: redact

redact \rih-DAKT\, transitive verb:
1. To draw up or frame (a statement, proclamation, etc.); to put in writing.
2. To make ready and put in shape for publication; to edit.

The authors have obtained a copy of this memo, albeit redacted. -- John F. Kelly and Phillip K. Wearne, Tainting Evidence

White sat down to write or re-write or redact whatever one does to a twenty-year accumulation of episodes. -- Gerald Weales, "The Designs of E. B. White", New York Times, May 24, 1970

Mandarin should be a Priority for U.S Students

China’s emergence has made it “hugely important� for American students to be fluent in Mandarin according to Margaret Spellings, US education secretary.

Ms Spellings made the remark after she signed a new memorandum of understanding with China’s ministry of education late last week to expand language and academic exchanges.

“It’s in their [US students’] interest to come and learn from and about China and the Chinese people,� she said. “You can buy in any language but you have to sell in the language of the buyer.�

The Evolution of the Expatriate

In the European Union and elsewhere, the statistical profile of the expatriate has undergone a welcome evolution. In fact, the longstanding expat stereotype––typically male, and transferring from corporate headquarters to a location outside of their country for one to five years––is breaking down. Now, an increasing percentage of international assignees are female, are transferring to and from locations other than corporate headquarters, and taking on assignments often measured in months not years. Even more encouragingly, there is now a best-practice focus on assignee and family support before and after relocation.

Courts Keeping Interpreters Busy

More and more often, Vernica Arenas is finding herself in courtrooms, and she hasn't even finished law school yet.

Arenas, 25, a University of Florida law school student, works as a court interpreter who translates Spanish. She's one of a growing number of court interpreters in Florida and around the country needed to help the rising number of people involved in criminal or civil cases who don't speak English.

The numbers prompted an increase in spending this year on court interpreter programs statewide and an addition of staff positions for interpreters in some court circuits. "The need is there," said Kristina Voz, coordinator for the 8th Judicial Circuit's court interpreter program.

National Occupational Standards in Translation

In the summer of 2006, CILT carried out a consultation exercise on the National Occupational Standards in Translation. Since then CILT has done two things. It has analysed the responses, which you will find in the document Consultation Report 1 on the Revision of the Translation Standards. It has reviewed the findings of the consultation with the help of the steering group and come up with a plan for action to revise the standards.

You will find in this document a series of proposals for the way forward as well as boxes for you to comment whether you agree with them or not and why. We also welcome ideas on any other aspects that you think should be addressed.

Ontario Govt. invest $2.1 million in Interpreting Services

The Ontario government is investing $2.1 million in interpreter services so that victims of domestic violence get the help they need in the language they know best, Ontario Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Mike Colle and Minister Responsible for Women's Issues, Sandra Pupatello announced today.

"Newcomers sometimes face language barriers that make it difficult for them to get help in times of need and distress," Colle said from Toronto's Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic. "We want to ensure that we can provide appropriate support to those in need."

America: Land of the Rude

The land of the free has become the home of the rude thanks to the "arrogant" and "unpredictable" immigration officials who police its borders, according to a survey of travellers.

The nation that once welcomed all with its Statue of Liberty and declaration E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one) is now considered the world's most unfriendly.

Worst country: experts fear that rudeness is turning away the tourists Visitors are staying away, costing the country billions of dollars in lost revenue, and the situation threatens America's already battered image, according to the group behind the survey. The Discover America Partnership, a group of travel industry leaders, found that two thirds of the 2,011 foreign visitors it questioned found America "the worst country in the world" in the way they were treated.

Growing Voice to Boycott BA

British Airways faced the prospect of a growing boycott by international travellers yesterday over its refusal to allow a check-in worker to wear a small Christian cross over her uniform.

An internet website was set up to co-ordinate an angry response to the airline's suspension of Nadia Eweida. And a Church of England vicar went on BBC Radio 4's Today programme to urge people to shun the airline because he said it effectively discriminated against Christians.

word of the day: equivocate

equivocate \ih-KWIV-uh-kayt\, intransitive verb:
To be deliberately ambiguous or unclear in order to mislead or to avoid committing oneself to anything definite.

The witness shuffled, equivocated, pretended to misunderstand the questions. -- Thomas Babington Macaulay, History of England

By equivocating, hesitating, and giving ambiguous answers, she effected her purpose. -- Harriet Martineau, Letters from Ireland