“The same parliamentarians who talk to each other in the corridors in a language that they all share need interpreters to understand one another in the chamber,” El Mundo Editorial.

Previously, the language used in the senate was Castilian Spanish, which is spoken fluently by all the senators.

However, in the main chamber a team of 25 interpreters will now be used daily to render each of these newly allowed languages into Spanish.

This move has been criticised by many as a waste of money during a time of sweeping spending cuts. The cost of these new interpreters is around €12,000 (£10,000) a day.

On the other hand, many senators are in favor of this change saying that as regional representatives, it is imperative they are able to speak in the language of the people they represent while in the governing chamber. Yet it remains to be seen if this is a positive move for Spain’s many spoken languages, or if it will turn the senate into a Tower of Babel.

Source:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/19/translation-spanish-senators-five-languages

Tower of Babel is a post from: The Translation People - Blog

The Translation People wish you a Happy Burns Night is a post from: The Translation People - Blog

First of all, all pages in the document will have to be flipped, i.e. everything on the left-hand page of a two-page spread should be moved to the right-hand page, and vice versa. The result is that, whereas in an English document page two is on the left and page three on the right, in the Arabic document page two is on the right and page three on the left. This does not mean, however, that an Arabic document starts “at the back”, it only means that an Arabic document is bound on the right, whereas an English document is bound on the left. The front cover of a brochure in English is also the front cover of the same brochure in Arabic.

Secondly, it is also very important to follow this rule when it comes to printing, so that the Arabic document does not get printed with an “English” page sequence. An Arab person would be just as confused picking up a document in Arabic with page two on the left and page three on the right as an English person would be picking up a document in English with page two on the right and page three on the left. If this rule is not adhered to it could become very costly for the company as the brochures would have to be reprinted.

The Translation People is happy to advise on these issues, and our expert DTP team will ensure that your brochure is fit for the boardroom and not for the shredder.

Typesetting and printing Arabic documents – possible pitfalls is a post from: The Translation People - Blog

This highlights the importance of having all translations checked thoroughly before delivery. Whether public information material, instruction manuals, legal documents or marketing material, the checking is as vital a part of the translation process as the translation itself.

At The Translation People we always offer our clients the option of having their translations checked by an independent proofreader, who is of course a native speaker of the target language. This is a way to ensure that the final translation will not cause embarrassment or anxiety, and will be a help – and not a hindrance – towards making global communication easier.

A job well executed is a post from: The Translation People - Blog

The RAE is the Spanish language’s governing body and forms part of the 22 language institutions spread across the globe. In December 2009, it published the new guide to Spanish grammar and usage, which had been over 11 years in the making and formed an extensive work covering all language variations. It is now proposing a new spelling rule book, which will be published in all Spanish-speaking countries before Christmas 2010.

The guide will no doubt be a vital addition to the bookshelves of Hispanists, translators and linguists alike, all of whom need to incorporate these linguistic changes into their daily work. The new rules are yet to be ratified at a meeting in Mexico at the end of November, but for a brief preview about what is in store, we turn to the news site www.20minutos.es.

The Academy identified some inconsistencies in the usage of the letter ‘q’ and as such the letters ‘c’ and ‘k’ will be used instead in certain words. For example, Iraq, Qatar, quásar (quasar) and quórum (quorum) will become Irak, Catar, cuásar and cuórum. The old form may be retained, but if so it must be treated as a foreign word and therefore written in italics and without the tilde – which shall also be removed from the adverb ‘sólo’ (only).

As for the prefix ‘ex’, this shall be attached to base words but ‘only if it affects a single word’, for example, ex marido will become exmarido (ex-husband) and ex director, exdirector (former director). However, it remains separated in the case of compound words, as in ex capitán general (former field marshal).

The Washington Post reported that ‘The aim is to have coherent spelling and avoid linguistic dispersion’. Further changes are to be incorporated into this new guide, but we shall have to wait until the end of November when all 22 language academies meet at the Guadalajara International Book Fair to discover the extent and the content of any amendments.

The RAE states that the publication will be written in a language that is clear and comprehensible, doing away with complicated phrasing and thus making language and grammar accessible to all.

Sources: www.rae.es; The Washington Post; www.20minutos.es

Official changes in the offing for Spanish spelling rules is a post from: The Translation People - Blog

Afaqs.com reports that NGC’s addition of the Bengali language follows its English, Hindi and Telugu options and that the November launch has been coordinated to coincide with the Durga Puja festival. Durga Puja is an annual Hindu festival celebrating the ‘mother goddess’ and in the media world, many books, films and musical offerings are released around this time. Afaqs.om also discusses NGC’s commitment to regional languages, quoting the addition of the Telugu language earlier in the year.

This is not the first time that the Bengali language has hit the headlines recently. In August 2010, Sony Entertainment Network launched the Bengali movie channel ‘Aath’ in the US. Aath is a channel devoted to Bengali movies and now that it is available in North America, it has become a valuable addition to the ‘Prabasi Bengali package offer’ stated the Vice President of International Programming.

And in September 2010, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh made an official visit to the United Nations to call for Bengali to be added to the six official UN languages of Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. She referred to the vast number of Bengali speakers worldwide (300 million), discussed the language’s ‘rich history’ and talked about the resolution that the government has adopted in a bid to push the UN to accept Bengali as an official language.

Sources: www.thaindian.com; www.afaqs.com; www.bbc.co.uk

National Geographic Channel to be launched in Bengali is a post from: The Translation People - Blog

VNA is an English-language daily that has grown from a four-page publication in 1991 to a 32-page print edition and multilingual website. Since September 2010, it is now available in Chinese, alongside its English, French and Spanish counterparts. Providing both national and international news, it attracts around 20 million hits per week and it is hoped that the new website will ‘serve as a bridge towards closer cooperation and cultural exchange between the two nations’, stated the Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam at a recent press conference.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) were also proud to announce a new Chinese-language resource called Aviamost-Chinese: the first Chinese-language magazine for the tourist industry. Printed in simplified Chinese and aimed at Chinese tourists and business travellers, it will enjoy an initial distribution of 20,000 units and it is hoped that it will become as popular as the Aviamost-Russia edition that is still going strong since its first publication fifteen years ago.

Meanwhile in Russia, there was the news that the ‘Russian language version of a Chinese modern poetry collection’ had been launched in Moscow in October 2010 (Xinhuanews). It was reported that this volume of poetry contains some 60 poems written over the last 100 years and it is a work that plays a significant role in the activities for the 2010 Chinese Language Year in Russia.

Sources: www.ameinfo.com; www.english.vovnews.vn; www.news.xinhuanet.com

Chinese language websites, magazines and poetry in Vietnam, UAE and Russia is a post from: The Translation People - Blog

The patron saint of translators is St Jerome, who is accredited with writing the ‘first Latin translation of the Bible’ and many critical translation commentaries. His saint’s day is celebrated on 30 September – hence Thursday’s significance to translator’s across the globe. One of the major organisations involved in these annual celebrations is the International Federation of Translators (FIT), whose remit around this event is to urge ‘translators from all horizons to come together on 30 September to promote the profession by reaching out to fellow translators, interpreters, sister associations, and users of translation services’. FIT have supported the day since its inception in the 1950s, but called for its official recognition in 1991 and carry out work in collaboration with United Nations agency UNESCO to raise the profile of translators and language professionals worldwide. Every year, thousands of international activities and awareness-raising campaigns take place on 30 September that all serve to bring together language professionals and improve the sector’s visibility on the world stage.

In Canada, the University of Alberta have organized the St Jerome’s Day Conference: A Celebration of Translation, where everybody is welcome for lively debates and discussions about the translation industry. The keynote speaker is David Homel (writer, film maker and translator) whose talk is entitled ‘I can do better than that: What Translation Teaches About Writing and Vice Versa. There will also be a series translation readings held on October 1.

In London, the Free Word Centre, in collaboration with English PEN and other language organisations, are hosting a seminar day – and it certainly looks set to be a huge success! Not only can translators receive practical advice about issues such as training and how to market yourself successfully, there will also be talks and discussions dealing with contemporary issues for language professionals. This year’s program includes topics such as: Languages in Education, that addresses the promotion of MFLs in schools in a bid to increase the waning uptake of languages; Community languages – the UK is rich in these languages, yet many native speakers are unaware that they can be used in a professional capacity and therefore an awareness-raising campaign is necessary in this respect; Ongoing professional development, training and advice on starting out will be offered; and there will be a Future of Funding talk for the translation industry and how it is important to foster links with other organisations.

And for some serious fun, there’s the Live Translation Slam where two translators ‘go head-to-head, independently translating a Spanish text before coming together to debate their differences in front of a live audience’.

Online events include the proz.com virtual conference. There are already over 9,500 participants and the twelve-hour event offers panel discussions, presentations, training advice and networking opportunities. Topics include project management and successful marketing practices; Maximizing the use of CAT tools such as Trados and memoQ along with practical tips; QA procedures; talks on specific sectors such as medical, legal, financial etc, and an Arabic virtual powwow. And if this wasn’t enough – virtual coffee mornings before some events to meet fellow participants and to network.

With something for everybody, the day looks set to be a fantastic success and here at The Translation People, we’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Translator’s Day 2010!

Sources: www.fit-ift.org; www.artscouncil.org.uk; www.wordswithoutborders.org; University of Alberta, Canada; http://www.jane-asher.co.uk/

International Translation Day 2010 is a post from: The Translation People - Blog

EDL’s objectives are to raise the profile of language learning, promote the use of languages in business and education and highlight the role that languages play in social inclusion and mobility. It was unveiled at the 2001 European Year of Languages and its popularity has grown so much over the years that it now involves millions of people and 45 different countries. Stakeholders include policy-makers, the general public and voluntary sector organisations who deal with language policies and awareness-raising campaigns.

So, what is on offer for EDL 2010. Apart from the multilingual leaflets and audio files about the day itself, activities include a conference entitled ‘Languages for jobs’; a round-table discussion dealing with ‘how multilingualism can help business’; and the ‘my favourite foreign language story’ competition in which participants submit stories about the importance of languages both in a personal and a professional capacity. National events across Europe provide access to languages for schoolchildren and professionals alike.

The European Multilingualism website offers further details about the EDL event that include radio broadcasts in Bulgaria, Latvia and Lithuania; an online language competition for school children in the Czech Republic; a rap show and multilingual poetry competition in five languages (Danish, French, German, Italian and Spanish) in Denmark; a language fair in Estonia; a ‘multilingual story-telling event’ and ‘language café’ in Finland and in Germany, budding translators can attend the ‘Languages and Countries of Europe Event (27 September 2010) for professional advice about becoming a translator and presentations on the translation industry.

For bloggers, there is the Day of Multilingual Blogging, that promises blogs posted in Arabic, French, Spanish, Tagalog and Ukrainian. This virtual event takes place on 26 September 2010 and its Facebook page states that there are already over 150 participants.

In the UK, EDL activities include a multilingual spelling competition organized by Routes Into Languages and the European Commission. Aimed at school children, participants translate a word from English or Welsh into French, German or Spanish – but must use the foreign language alphabet to spell the target word! And for university students, the University of Cardiff has arranged a ‘Poetry in Translation’ competition that will take place on 5 October 2010.

The European Day of Languages encompasses all sectors, and participants from across the entire language spectrum are welcome – school children, businesses, professional linguists and policy makers. With a host of exciting events, it not only promotes linguistic diversity and cultural understanding, but also provides an invaluable resource for professionals both within the language sector and those who are interested in pursuing a career using their language skills.

Sources: European Commission Directorate-General for Education and Culture; Piccolingo; European Commission Multilingualism; Europa EU Calendar; Council of Europe; European Day of Languages; CILT; Facebook (Day of Multilingual Blogging)

European Day of Languages is a post from: The Translation People - Blog

Engkoo uses web-mining technology to extensively search the internet for suitable bilingual content and like the online translation tool ‘Linguee’, the web-crawling process concentrates on professionally translated texts, such as those from the United Nations or multilingual news sites. This enables the software to provide bilingual Chinese-English comparison tables and as the source is cited, it also allows a credibility rating to be assigned to the translation. To date, Engkoo contains more than 10 million cross-referenced terms and receives more than 4 million hits per month.

Other useful services include the mouse-over and collocation features. The former allows users to hover over specific words in the source language text and in turn, the corresponding word(s) are highlighted in the target text. For the latter, this employs ‘part-of-speech wild cards’. Microsoft Research explains: ‘Users can find prepositions that typically follow the word “terrific” by simply searching for “terrific prep”. In this example, they could find sentences such as “I think it looks terrific on you”’.

As for fuzzy matches, users can carry out searches based on the phonetics of a word and how it is typically spoken by a language learner. For example, entering “shampin” into the software would bring up “champagne”.

Engkoo also makes full use of audio and visual components with its text-to-speech software and video option. Inputted text is output in an audio format that is also available as an MP3 download. The aim here is for the audio output to sound natural and to follow the intonation and stress patterns of the target language. Microsoft Research has reported that this is one of the most popular features. To provide learners with further help in regards to correct pronunciation, there are plans to include animated videos displaying the position of the tongue, for example, when pronouncing the word.

Slang and idiomatic expressions are also included in the ever-expanding database, and there is also talk of adding Japanese as an available language and mobile apps for people on the move.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, Engadget, Microsoft.com, Microsoft Research, www.rdmag.com, 1on1english.blog18.fc2.com

Engkoo – Microsoft’s Chinese-English translation and language learning software is a post from: The Translation People - Blog