"A World of Translation Work" Celebrates First Birthday

by Lauren Nemec

February 7th marks the 1st anniversary of the first post on "A World of Translation Work". It's been an interesting year, filled with many new faces and exciting changes and projects.

Here are some of the highlights.

In February 2007, we announced Tarah McCarthy as the new Manager of Operations. Tarah has done a wonderful job throughout the past year, keeping a close eye on all projects, raising our quality standards, developing relationships with key customers and polishing up our invoicing procedures.

In March 2007, we announced the opening of our Chicago office by President of the Translatus North American Division, Matthew Miodonski. Matthew and our other Chicago staff have been enjoying the beauty and inspiration of the Michigan Avenue location.

In May 2007, we welcomed Veronika Svobodova to our Chicago office. Veronika had already been working successfully for Translatus for a year as a Project Manager at our Prague office, but she is really thriving in her role as a North American Account Manager, bringing in great new business. One of the blog's most popular posts is Veronika's piece about the culture shock she faced as a Czech moving to the big city.

Also in May 2007, we announced the expansion of our hours of operation. Project managers work from our Prague office between the hours of 9:00 and 22:00 CET, better serving our clients across multiple time zones.

In August 2007, we introduced a new-and-improved version of Translatus.com and also marked the 5-year anniversary of Matthew Miodonski's employment with Translatus.

In September 2007, we proudly announced the opening of Translatus China. Christine Kee currently serves as the Executive Vice President of the Translatus Asia division. Our Beijing office has been very successful in bringing new business from Asian companies and processing jobs. Translatus hopes to open a second office in the region soon.

In November 2007, I mentioned a new service that Translatus offers in a discussion about global brand names - Brand Name Analysis. Translatus launched other new services last year, including Intercultural Training, Expedited Translations, Foreign Market Lead Generation for B2B Services and Informed Advertisement Placement.

The year 2008 already shows promise of being a big year for Translatus. We have many exciting projects in the works and anticipate many significant changes. I look forward to sharing our 2008 news with you!

Some Blog Statistics from the Past Year:
Number of Posts: 90
Number of Authors: 5
Number of Visitors: 3,177 (since June)
Number of Countries Where Visitors Come From: 105
Number of Languages Spoken by Visitors: 47

Top Posts:
Beijing Prepares for 2008 Olympics by Correcting Bad Translations
International Business: Business Card Etiquette
Czech Culture
Cultural Dimensions: Individualism vs. Collectivism
Czech in the Big City
International Business: Dining Etiquette

Immigrant influx to Chicago suburbs spawns foreign language schools for kids

This article from the Chicago Tribune explores the efforts made by suburban Chicago immigrants trying to instill their native heritage in their children, primarily through language study.

Immigrant influx to Chicago suburbs spawns foreign language schools for kids

By Russell Working |Tribune staff reporter

12:05 AM CST, January 4, 2008

Art and Maria Guelis are well-educated Russians who speak their native language at home, read Tolstoy and Dostoevski and watch Internet TV programs out of Moscow. But their 7-year-old son, George, always answers his parents in English.

Determined to pass on their linguistic heritage, the Guelises recently adopted a time-honored immigrant strategy that is burgeoning in Chicago's suburbs.

They enrolled their son in Saturday language classes in addition to his regular public schooling.

George attends a Russian school in Naperville, one of scores of weekend foreign language schools springing up in houses of worship and cultural centers as migration from Chicago and the high-tech industry in DuPage County bring a polyglot populace to the suburbs.

While embracing English as essential in America, these parents are striving to keep their own languages alive in their family for another generation. But history shows they face an uphill battle.

Read more.

Facebook's Translation Application

From WebProNews:

Facebook Launches Self-Translation App

By Doug Caverly - Fri, 12/28/2007 - 9:29am.
Because what the world needs now is a social network
In order to make Facebook available in many different languages, the company could have paid dozens of professional translators rather large fees. Instead, in what we'll call an "accountant-approved alternative," Facebook has decided to involve its users and crowdsource the issue.

A new application called Facebook Translations allows people to suggest translations and vote alternatives up and down. Or would allow them, anyway - the accountants may have pinched a few too many pennies, as the app isn't in working order at the moment.

Still, we know it was running, because Rodney Rumford reports, "There are already 839 people translating the site to Spanish. All for a whopping cost of ZERO Dollars." And he offers several screenshots of Facebook Translations if you can't get the link to function, either.

Once working, the app should make Facebook more accessible in a number of countries; this will likely translate into a large number of new users. The project should, at the least, result in added dedication from its participants, since they'll have something invested in the outcome.

On a less optimistic note, given its failures in English, we have to wonder how well Facebook can handle privacy issues in multiple languages.

"Guerilla Translating in China, a Labor of Love"

Rick Martin of the "Little Red Blog" explains how the Chinese are keeping up with the high demand for translations of western entertainment.

Guerilla Translating in China, a Labor of Love

Dec 26, 2007 19:04

The Chinese are by far the best in the world at being numerous. The country has a near-infinite workforce which will naturally drive the economy for years to come. Also, Yao Ming can get voted an All Star starter every year by legions of Chinese fans, whether he's deserving or not. Yi Jianlian is likely not far behind. Such are the perks of being numerous. No surprises though, right?

How about this then? What if I told you China has one of the world's best and most efficient language translation networks that this world has ever seen. And the secret to it's success lies in numbers. Read more »

"Mystery" Mandarin Interpreter Discusses Career with NBC News

by Lauren Nemec

A few days ago, the MSN News World Blog posted about a "mystery" top-level interpreter who expertly rendered U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's speech into fluent Mandarin at U.S.-China trade talks in Beijing.

I was amused by the post, thinking that the author (NBC News Producer Adrienne Mong) made the interpreter seem like a rock-star of the interpreting world, marveling at his proficiency and pointing out that it is rare for an interpreter working at such a high-level Chinese diplomatic function to be anything other than ethnic Chinese. Indeed, Mandarin is a difficult language for Westerners to master, especially because of its multiple tones, and it is surely more common to see ethnic Chinese interpreters at these kinds of functions. But let's not go throwing our knickers on stage just yet, ladies...

Ms. Mong was able to track down the elusive Mr. Brown for a phone interview. And it turns out he's a very modest guy with an interesting education and career path that accidentally led him to this specialty. You can read all about it on the MSN News World Blog here: Mystery Interpreter Reveals Disappearing Act

Interpreter Jim Brown sits behind Henry Paulson, U.S. Treasury Secretary, during a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Brown has been called "mysterious" and "shy", but Brown insists that keeping a low profile is part of the job, saying, "When they forget I was there interpreting, then that is the highest compliment." Photo: AFP - Getty Images.