Leading globalization solution provider Moravia Worldwide announced the formation of a partnership with Asia Online which is a leader in the field of automated machine translation technology. The partnership was formed to provide the clients of Moravia Worldwide with value-added language translation services that would be based on Asia Online’s Language Studio platform.
Asia Online’s innovative translation technology includes a suite of products called Language Studio which covers hundreds of language pairs, while Moravia Worldwide has earned a solid reputation for excellence in language quality systems, solution development, workflow, project management, corpus management and post-editing. Together the companies aim to provide for high-volume translation requirements spanning a wide range of specializations and quality parameters.
Chief Corporate Strategist of Moravia Worldwide, Arturo Quintero said that at Moravia they had already been developing Machine Translation capabilities and at the same time they had observed how Asia Online had rapidly emerged as a leader in the field of statistical machine translation. This lead them to decide on the partnership which would help both companies in leveraging their capabilities to better serve clients who required translation of large volumes of content.
On the other side, Mr. Kirti Vashee of Asia Online said that Moravia Worldwide with its reputation for providing first-rate processes and quality control to clients with sophisticated translation requirements was the ideal partner for making use of the potential of its Language Studio suite of products and design high quality automated translation engines for specific types of translation requirements.
Fotozio, LLC has launched a free iPhone photo translator application called PicTranslator. Although there are now many reasonable to good quality language translation apps for the iPhone available from the iTunes Store, PicTranslator is different as it uses the iPhone camera and turns it into a point-and-shoot translator. Options available to users at present include thumbing through phrasebooks or translation apps that require typing in foreign language phrases in order to get a translation. PicTranslator with its innovative approach has all the trappings of turning into a must-have application for frequent travelers which they can use to readily translate maps, road signs, menus, and the like.
The fact that PicTranslator is very easy to use is an added benefit. All one needs to do is launch the application to take a picture of the text that is required to be translated. Thereafter the image might require some cropping so that the text is placed within the given parameters before hitting the translate button. The image is then sent off to be translated which can take some time during which PicTranslator throws up interesting trivia about the area. In order to get accurate results one needs to ensure a clear picture of the text, for if it is blurry or taken at an angle or say, strong light is reflecting on it then the translation might not be accurate.
Free version of PicTranslator includes one langauge chosen by the user. Other languages can be purchased as in-app purchases. Individually they are priced $ 0.99 and $1.99, while the whole bunch costs $2.99 and includes Spanish, French, German, Russian, Italian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Norwegian Swedish, Turkish, and Portuguese. Some of these languages come with audio pronunciation facility. The developers will be adding more languages in future, and of course the app would get better with more people using it.
The translation team working on the revised edition of the New International Version (NIV) Bible has added two scholars. One of them is Bill Mounce who has earlier worked with the translation team of the English Standard Version (ESV) Bible and Jeanine Brown who is a professor of the New Testament at Bethel Seminary (St. Paul, Minn.).
Bill Mounce said that he was happy with the ESV and his decision to work on the New International Version was not a case of “jumping ship”. He also added that he was confident of not having any trouble adapting to the translation philosophy of the NIV Bible project because he is a strong believer in different translation philosophies and when it comes to language translation one size does not fit all. Mounce holds that it is the translator’s responsibility to be true to the stated translation philosophy of a given project and he would not have any trouble working within the guidelines set for the NIV Bible translation project.
Interestingly the team also has a translator from Today’s New Bible (TNIV) Bible translation team with whom Mounce has shared some rivalry in the past arising out of the fact that ESV and TNIV scholars have at times been critical of each other’s translations. It was recently announced by global ministry Biblica and NIV publisher Zondervan that they would be discontinuing the sales of the controversial TNIV Bible and would focus their resources on the publication of the updated version of NIV in 2011. Right now, Bill Mounce is working on a presentation which would deal with the controversy over ESV and Today’s New Bible (TNIV) Bibles’ coexistence. He would be addressing the Evangelical Technological Society in the coming month.
Microsoft’s language portal which was previously restricted to the company’s internal use has now been made available online for public use by the company. The portal is rich repository of resources and will not only allow users to search through Microsoft’s terminology database and localization glossaries in more than 70 languages but also download style guides and provide their feedback regarding the terminology used in Microsoft products. Links to other Microsoft language resources will also be available. Users can collaborate with linguists and/or participate in terminology forms.
All of the above benefits are enhanced by an easy to use term search function. All the user has to do is, key in the required term and select the language and after a few seconds the results window would display the definitions for all related terms. The portal provides individual translation for all Microsoft products. Advanced search options are also available; they enable users to search for translations of terminology narrowed down by specific Microsoft products as well for translations for all combinations of the given languages.
In the case of the Style Guide there are over 70 of these available for each language in the CHM format (MS HTML). They are excellent resources of information. However the CHM files don’t open, maybe because of security issues. This is a bug which hopefully Microsoft would resolve soon. At present users facing this problem try opening the CHM file with the help of the Internet Explorer and then follow-up with the tips provided in the portal for the purpose.
The Malaysian government has declared that the month of October would be celebrated as National Language month from next year. Malaysia’s deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said that all government agencies have been directed to develop suitable programs and activities for the celebration of National Language Month in 2010.
The government has made this move with the intention of enhancing the awareness of the national language, Bahasa Malaysia among the people – how the language can not only serve as a language for communication but also in cementing the unity of the country. It intends to make the people aware that if the national language is not used for progress and knowledge it would lose its importance, get outdated and die out over a period of time.
A variety of language themed events would be organized during the National Language Month which would provide the public with opportunities to participate in activities related to Bahasa Melayu. A new award called ‘Anugerah Tokoh Ilmuwan Negara’ would be given to scholars who have been committed to the development of the national language.
The Malaysian government hopes that this initiative would go a long way in dispelling the perception that the national language may not have the potential to serve as a language of progress and knowledge.
The event also bodes good opportunities for Malaysian translation providers, as the continued efforts of the Malaysian government would definitely create the requirement for high quality translation to and from Malaysian and other world languages.
Since time immemorial, we’ve always had conservative folks of every generation complaining about the ways of those who are liberal. People have been accused of being ‘too liberal’ and not following the guidelines prescribed by the Bible but to my knowledge no one has described the Bible itself as being liberal…until recently. I am referring to the statements made by a group called Conservative Bible Project according to which the Bible has become much more progressive than it was originally meant to be.
According to this group, errors in translation of terms that were newly introduced by Christ and not yet fully understood at that time led to errors in delivery of the intended meaning. This has been aggravated by the lack of precision of our modern language.
The Conservative Bible Project plans to create a completely conservative translation of the Bible by developing a web site like Wikipedia which would correct the said errors. The group’s website has its project mentioned as “The Trustworthy Encyclopedia” along with a number of guidelines on how the project would be undertaken.
According to these guidelines, the Conservative Bible Project intends to create what it calls a ‘thought-for-thought’ translation that is completely free from any corruption arising out of liberal bias. The translation would not seek to simplify the Bible for easy understanding or make use of gender inclusive terms as the trend has been in recent times. Moreover, the existence of the Devil and Hell would not be downplayed but underlined through powerful conservative words.
Whenever I am asked by someone requiring language translation services about whether they should go for a freelance translator or translation company, I usually prescribe the latter. I have utmost respect for freelance translators and have been one myself for a major part of my working life. However, I usually recommend translation agencies simply because they make the whole process of getting a language translation much smoother and easier. Before I move on to the details, I would like to say that if you require translation services and know any suitable freelance translation professional for your project then by all means go ahead with him/her. However, if you are clueless about the process and/or require large volume/multiple languages translation, then read on why a translation agency would be a better choice.
Firstly, translation companies are usually more affordable. This is because there a large number of such companies who are competing for clients. This leads them to cut down their charges, as well as ensure high quality work. Most language translation companies also offer instant quotes, which include the charges for the language translation, turnaround time and any applicable discounts. Instant quotes are a very convenient and effective method of comparing several translation agencies in the time span as short as a few minutes. Since modern translation companies usually have websites all you have to do is go to their website and get the instant translation quote for your project.
Translation companies usually work with a large number of professional translators who specialize in many different language pairs. Thus one can easily get multiple language translation projects completed at the same place without any hassle. Moreover, translation companies also work with native translators who ensure authentic translation especially in the case of original documents whose language is steeped in local language and culture.
Translation companies are also usually faster at the work than freelance translation professionals. This is especially applicable to big projects. Translation companies have this advantage because they usually work with teams of language translators. The translation process is broken down into distinct with each step being managed by different experts this results in fast turnaround times while maintaining quality. Moreover translation companies also have project managers assigned to different projects. Project managers provide regular updates and feedbacks, as well as resolve issues in the process. Some translation companies offer 24/7 chat lines and customer services from where one can obtain project updates at any time.
Many language translation companies also operate online; they accept translation projects in the form of Word or PDF documents thus enabling translation buyers to get their completed translation without moving out of home or office.
Web sites that can be read in multiple languages are now becoming significant for the success of the product/service or objective for which they have been created. However the fact remains that web site translation is complicated and overwhelming especially for someone who is doing it for the first time. If one is not well prepared then it can very easily fail to achieve its purpose.
The above makes it imperative that one prepares well for a web site translation. Recently the Search Laboratory Blog carried out a substantial post with very helpful technical pointers specially aimed at developers and web designers which would benefit first timers immensely. It covers a list of straightforward no-nonsense tips culled from many years of experience in web site translation. Some of the tips include suggestions like -
There’s no need to build a user interface for translators
The downsides of using cookie-based language selector and how to use the same optimally
Providing support for switching language translation on each page
Setting the database structure
Using SEO friendly and localizable URLs
Creating localized formats
Internationalizing the database
Removing text-based logic
Make sure you check the post here if you are going for a web site translation for the first time, you might just end up saving yourself a lot of trouble and money.
A judge of the Dubai Misdemeanors Court granted unconditional bail to a Filipina detainee due to the absence of a translator who could help her communicate with the court. The incident happened when the Filipina suspect was summoned by the judge so that he could confront her with the charges. After the woman had come to the bench the judge asked the courtroom guards and other translators present in the room for a Tagalog translator. But it turned out that the concerned translator had not come to work, this made the judge noticeably irritated and he simply decided to release the Filipino suspect immediately. The judge ordered that the detained woman was to be released unconditionally right away without the requirement of a financial bond or her passport being kept in custody.
The judge had to face the absence of a French translator the same day before the aforementioned incident occurred. He had summoned an African suspect who spoke French but the French translator was absent. The judge noted that this was the second time that the translator had been absent and demanded to know the reason. He also said that the suspect had been detained for a long time because of the absence of the French translator when the African suspect was summoned in the court the first time around. He added that he was going to fine the chief of translation section. The African suspect was however, not lucky like the Filipino woman as the judge’s warnings seemed to had an effect as a female French translator was brought in and the suspect eventually admitted to having indulged in passport forgery.
Language translation is not a simple field, it has got many sub divisions depending upon the area for which language translation is required. Apart from having in-depth knowledge of required language, the skills, knowledge and techniques required for say, financial translation would be significantly different from the requirements of marketing or literary translation. In the same lines, there is an area of language translation known as game translation. With video games becoming popular all over the world and generating huge revenues, there are only a handful of companies from as many countries that produce cutting edge and highly popular video games. Now these companies originally produce the games in their native languages say English and Japanese. But the games are also highly popular among people who don’t speak or even understand these languages. Hence the companies need to translate and localize their games in order to reach their maximum potential market.
Game translation just like any other field of language translation has its own unique challenges. Some of the most common ones are –
Quite frequently game translation providers face the difficulty of lack of context. The source content is very often made of sets of strings or short sentences without any context to make them meaningful. Though apparently short sentences are easy to translate, the fact that they do not indicate specific meaning puts the translation provider in a position where he/she has to assume what the source content might be referring to in order to translate. The best way to deal with such a situation is to begin with collecting and studying all the information related to the project. The Internet can prove to be a big help. Game translators are advised to check out various websites that might be dealing with the software in hand or any of its previous versions. If one is lucky, translation buyers may sometimes deliver demo versions of the game or TM (translation memory) if they have it, along with the project. These can prove to be of big help.
If the translation customer is available for discussion then the translator can make a list of all doubtful or ambiguous sentences and get them clarified. However this strategy might not be relied upon in the case of emergency or short-term projects as there might not be enough time in hand that would allow the translator to wait for the customer’s clarifications. In such projects, its best to ask the customer at the outset to provide documentation related to the game (for example – glossary/terminology) that would help in understanding the context.
There is yet another problem and this one can prove to be the most limiting. It comes from the fact that all languages do not take equal amounts of space to express the same meaning. It is common knowledge among translation providers that languages like French, German or Italian take up more space than English, unfortunately this detail is not always taken into account while creating the UI of games. The result is that many time translations do not fit the space available in the UI. This forces the translator to cut down on the text but still convey the original meaning as closely as possible. But such translation is not always satisfactory.
