Passenger's fear of foreign-language speakers delays flight

by Lauren Nemec

A passenger on an American Airlines flight from San Francisco to Chicago delayed the flight by 11 hours over her fear that a group of other passengers were speaking a foreign language. The men, who were speaking Arabic, were defense contractors who had been training Marines at Camp Pendleton. At least one of the men is a US citizen.

The lady passenger apparently confronted the Arabic-speaking passengers and expressed her concerns to crew members during taxi. The crew decided to return to the gate and the red-eye flight was delayed until morning, so the airline had to accommodate all passengers for the evening and reschedule their flights.

A representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Chicago stated "It is one thing to flag suspicious behavior, but to flag a global language? We are deplaning people for who they are, not what they do."

Further reading:
Chicago Sun-Times, Arabic Spoken? Plane grounded
Chicago Tribune, Plane bound for Chicago held after dispute involving Arabic-speaking men

"Lost In Translation - What Interpreters Are Really Telling Their Audiences"

by Lauren Nemec

CityNews.ca has posted an amusing story citing examples of diplomatic mis-interpretations.

It's good for a hearty laugh. Thanks CityNews.ca!

Baby Talk is Universal

by Lauren Nemec

A recent study shows that verbal communication towards infants - or baby talk - translates well across cultures.

In the study, English-speaking women were recorded 'talking' to both children and adults, in approving, disapproving, comforting and attentive manners. The tapes were played for non-English speaking villagers in Ecuador, who were able to distinguish with impressive accuracy the difference between the women speaking to an adult and speaking to a child. In the case of baby talk, the Ecuadorians could even easily determine the mother's manner of speaking.

The report, published in the "Psychological Science" journal.
MSNBC's story on these research findings, "Baby talk knows no language barriers".

A separate study also published recently at the University of Chicago showed researchers that monkeys also use a form of baby talk with infants. Like humans, monkeys use of baby talk consists of vocal cues including tone, volume and pitch that result in a sing-song like quality.

Chicago-Sun Times story on these research findings, "Goochie-goo: Monkeys use baby talk".

Invented Languages

by Lauren Nemec

The LA Times posted an enjoyable and thought-provoking article today about invented languages. In it, the author takes a look at the world's constructed languages (called "conlang" for short) ranging from Esperanto to Klingon.

In their own words - literally

Fun with Engrish

by Lauren Nemec

The term "Engrish" widely refers to the incorrect usage of the English language - usually in written form - by people in East Asian countries, including Japan, Korea and China. "Chinglish" is the term used to describe incorrect usage of the English language in China or by Chinese people.

Things associated with the west, including English, are wildly popular in East Asian countries because they are seen as exotic. So the Chinese, for example, slap English sayings on anything from t-shirts to pencil cases to bubble gum wrappers. Sometimes the translations are done by professionals and checked for quality- but often they are done using machine translation software, a dictionary or a person who knows very little English, producing the "Chinglish" phrases that we all love so much.

Americans are guilty of doing this too- not so long ago, it was all the rage in the United States to wear clothing spattered with Asian languages or to get tattoos of Chinese or Japanese characters. Much of the time, this writing was nonsensical, meaningless, or silly. I'm sure many people were stopped in the street by Chinese speakers who would say something like, "Hey, did you know your shirt/tattoo says 'female horse rice'?"

So now that we know more about Engrish and Chinglish, we can have some fun.

• Watch a 1,300+ photo slideshow of Chinglish photos on Flickr.com.
• Visit the Hanzi Smatter blog - 'dedicated to the misuse of Chinese characters in western culture' - to see many examples of tattoos gone wrong
• Take a look at Engrish.com; read about Engrish in the fabulous FAQ section and see hundreds of hilarious photos of objects with Engrish
• Read an old post I made about Beijing's effort to rid the city of poor translations in time for the 2008 Olympic games
  

On a side note, we even have Chinglish here in Prague! Here are a few cute examples of Chingrish I've found, courtesy of Restaurant Shanghai (the best Chinese food in town):

Fried yellow croaker in squirrel style
Ocutopus with vegetables
Grape-shaped fish with bones
Chicken of three vigours

Have any more fun Engrish sites to share? Post a comment and tell us all about it.

Globalization, Internationalization, Localization and Translation

Globalization, Internationalization, Localization and Translation: The Processes to Apply in Preparation for Foreign Market Entry

by Lauren Nemec

Penetrating new markets is a top strategic priority for many businesses. Preparing to expand a business into new foreign markets requires significant time and money. Success depends on careful planning and having the right processes. These processes include globalization, internationalization, localization and translation and each represents a crucial step in taking a product to a new market

Globalization

Globalization is the process of developing, manufacturing and marketing a product intended for distribution in foreign markets. This is a two-step process consisting of internationalization and localization, with translation being an integral part of localization.

Internationalization

Internationalization is the process of generalizing a product to prepare it for localization. This neutralizes the product, enabling a more efficient localization process, improving quality and decreasing localization costs and time to market. Internationalizing a product just once enables a company to easily localize that product for multiple locations.

Here is a sample list of tasks commonly performed in the internationalization process:

• Reduce redundant or repetitious texts
• Finalize texts before localization and translation
• Use standard terminology
• Create a glossary defining any original, technical or unclear terminology
• Enforce a consistent writing style
• Adhere to grammar rules
• Adapt layouts to accommodate right-to-left or top-to-bottom scripts
• Allow for extra space since text tends to expand when translated from English
• Use programming tools that support foreign language character sets

Localization

After a product has been internationalized, it can then be localized. Localization is the process of adapting a product to fit the specific language and culture of a target market. The goal is to make the product as natural and transparent as possible for the user, as if it was developed with that user in mind.

The following details differ greatly between countries and therefore must be taken into consideration during localization:

• time and date formats
• time zones
• keyboard usage
• currency conversion
• paper size
• units of measurement
• graphics
• colors
• symbols
• names and titles

Translation

Translation is the process of rendering the meaning of a text from one language into another. It is a significant part of the localization process.

Why Is This Important?

Globalization has made barriers to market entry smaller than ever before. However, language and culture remain significant obstacles for companies expanding to foreign markets. It is a common misconception that most business professionals in the world have sufficient knowledge of English and because of this, English-only websites are perfectly acceptable for a global marketplace. Companies cannot survive under this assumption. While English knowledge is indeed widespread, knowledge does not indicate preference. Put quite simply, people are less likely to buy your product if they can't read about it or use it in their own language.

Market for Localization and Translation Services

According to the Common Sense Advisory, a research and consulting firm specializing in this industry, the market for outsourced language services is at $10 billion this year and expected to grow at 15-20% per year. No single company consistently dominates the market. In fact, the top 20 companies in the industry combined hold less than 20% of the market. This means that there are many language services providers for companies to choose from and that pricing for their services remains competitive.

How Can a Language Services Provider Help?

Language services providers offer a range of services that support globalization, internationalization, localization and translation initiatives, such as:

• Global content management solutions
• Product internationalization
• Website localization
• Software localization
• Translation
• Terminology management
• Translation memory management
• Consulting and training

When you globalize a product, you are making a commitment to support that product in all of your target markets for the duration of its life cycle. This long-term commitment requires an excellent partner who has a history of success with its existing clients, extensive experience with localization and translation technologies, knowledge of your industry, subject-matter expertise and a process-focused approach to supplying services.

Yes Sir, Th@t's My Baby

by Lauren Nemec

A couple in China has irritated government officials with their request to name their baby "@". The couple claims that this name (pronounced like English "at") symbolizes their deep love for the child, as the Chinese pronunciation of the symbol sounds like the phrase, "love him".

It's not clear if Chinese officials- who are already bogged down with couples trying to name their children non-traditional and modern names- will approve of "@". In a country where as few as 20 surnames cover the majority of the population, young parents are proposing more and more unorthodox names for their children in effort to individualize them.

There are links to many articles about this story here at Google News.

Skype Adds New Dimension to Language Learning

by Lauren Nemec

Perhaps I am much too young to be saying things like this, but back in my day, the only technology my school used in teaching foreign languages was a beat up old cassette player. And we certainly didn't have contact with native speakers (unless you count the one letter I received from my French pen pal).

Things change so quickly. The Christian Science Monitor posted an article today called, "Learn a Foreign Language - Over the Web", which illustrates how services like Skype allow language students to connect with native speakers around the world, revolutionizing the way foreign languages are taught and learned.

This clearly benefits a student's language ability by providing exposure to a variety of accents, increaseing vocabulary, building confidence and speeding up competency. There are other benefits too- skyping with people in foreign languages can develop cross-cultural communication skills, help students understand cultural differences, build knowledge about global issues, and help them to succeed in international and multicultural environments.

I guess I should throw out my obsolete French tapes.

Introducing the New Translatus Website

by Lauren Nemec

It gives me great pleasure to announce the launch of a new version of the Translatus website at www.translatus.com. Our website has long been in need of a face-lift and our Web Developer, Craig Clark, did a fantastic job rejuvenating the look of the website and making it easier to navigate. Most importantly, the new Translatus.com incorporates fresh content about our full line of Language Services and Market Entry Solutions.

In the coming weeks, we will be applying these changes to the foreign language versions of our website. We will try to make this process as efficient and transparent as possible.

We welcome your comments and feedback about the new Translatus.com. As always, hank you for your interest and support!

Lauren Nemec

Marketing Manager

lnemec@translatus.com

+420 222 522 650

Marking 5 Years with Translatus

by Matthew Miodonski

Last Wednesday, August 8, 2007, I marked my 5^th year with Translatus Inc. While I hope to raise a glass of something bubbly, be it champagne or beer, this week when I am back in Prague with those I have worked with for much, if not all, of those 5 years, in the meantime I have been reminiscing about different experiences over the past 5 years.

As one more American in Prague looking for a job teaching English, I came across an ad in the now-defunct Prague Pill after 3 fruitless months of unemployment. (Just as, I’m sure, many people in the Northern Hemisphere forget that when it’s winter where they live, it is summer in Southern Hemisphere, I apparently forgot that when it is almost summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is still almost summer when you go to a different part of the Northern Hemisphere. Thus, there was no one to teach.)

My first-ever meeting was with Porsche AG two months after taking the job. Yes, that Porsche. My Sales Director and boss at the time, an Irishman named Mathew (I won’t say “also named …” as his and others’ use of one “t” ruins it for the rest of us) handled most of the meeting, as I trembled only a few feet away. My following two meetings were also stressful, but I was slowly learning.

Marktredwitz, Germany. That is a town I will never forget. You see, after a trip to see Grundig in Nürnberg, I was returning via Germany’s truly excellent rail system, but there was a connection I was supposed to make to get back to Prague the town before Marktredwitz. I slept through it. Although Germany’s rail network is truly wonderful and extensive and clean and reliable, it had one too few trips going from Marktredwitz to Prague that evening—I ended up spending a good part of the afternoon and night stadtbummeln in the small burgh, and I slept on a bench at the train station. I caught the next train to Prague at about 4:30AM in the morning.

They were not all mishaps. Just two months after my meeting with Porsche AG, I met with some very nice women at MAXDATA in Marl, Germany. MAXDATA is still one of our most important clients, and they have been a genuine joy to work with. Though I am not in touch as often as I used to be (or should be) from here in Chicago, while living in Prague I estimate that I visited them at least a dozen times, each time a pleasure.

There was the time my airline went out of business after a 4-hour strike by airport workers in Milan. (As well as the time I met a nice German girl on the resultant 23-hour train back to Prague.) The time I, horrifyingly, thought it would be funny to change the salutation of a new employee’s email to something less-than-flattering thinking she would catch it in time. (She did not catch it—how was she to know her new boss could be so, well, stupid?—but, through some miracle, the recipient did not even notice. That (forgiving) employee has since become our most productive sales person in the relatively short, but memorable, history of the company.

There was the old one-room office where a young sales team (I was one of two original members of said team) slowly grew … as the rest of the office heard them grow with telephone sales blunders: “Do you speak English? [Person on the other end apparently answers in the affirmative] Great! So do I!!” There were lean times as the company experienced what many start-ups endure. There were triumphant times as we stabilized and grew, new Sales and Operations team members making—and leaving—their mark. There were the opportunities to travel through Europe on business: Brussels, Munich, Köln, Geneva, Milan, driving on the Autobahn in rented 4-valve Škodas and Opels …

… Fantastic memories, all.

As mentioned at the beginning of this entry, I will be back in Prague later this week to meet with the new team members, and you will hear from me again on what the next five years might bring.

Cheers.

Harry Potter in Translation

by Lauren Nemec

Perhaps I am one of the few people left on Earth who haven't yet been swept up in the Harry Potter craze. Harry Potter books have sold more than 325 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 65 languages. Indeed, I must be one of the few.

However, if I were one of the millions of Harry Potter fans worldwide, I wouldn't have to wait for my local language translation of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" to come out. I could just read it on the internet.

Ever since Deathly Hallows came out, unauthorized translations of the book have been popping up all over the internet. Many of these 'translators' are cashing in on Harry Potter fans' desire to know how the tale ends, while others perhaps do it for the fun or fanaticism. Several unauthorized translations have surfaced in China, as described in the article, "China is too impatient to wait for Harry Potter translation", which could easily lead to the production of counterfeit books in the piracy-rampant country. A youth in France was briefly detained this week for posting a "near-professional" quality translation of the book on the internet. Authorities are still investigating the matter, and the boy could be charged with violating intellectual property rights, as reported in the article, "French teen detained over Harry Potter". In Venezuela in 2003, a terribly translated version of Order of the Phoenix appeared 5 months before the official translated version was due. The translator was so bad, he inserted phrases like, "Here comes something that I'm unable to translate, sorry" into the text.

Perhaps a more interesting topic than unauthorized translations of Harry Potter books would be the authorized translations of Harry Potter books. In fact, the subject of Harry Potter translations actually has its own Wikipedia entry- Harry Potter in translation - which shows why this is such a fascinating topic in the translation industry.

Translating Harry Potter books presents unique challenges to even the best of translators. Because the books are so widely read and have such an enormous fan following, translations of the texts must be of the very best quality. Considering the plot's close ties to British culture, cross-cultural differences must be taken into account. For example, American children might not understand the concept of boarding school. Also, author J.K. Rowling invented many words to enhance the magical world of Harry Potter. Translators have invented their own words or used transliteration to carry across words like "quidditch" or "pensieve". The titles of the books themselves can be challenging to translate. Rowling came up with an alternate title for Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter and the Relics of Death) so that translators could have an easier time rendering the title into their languages.

Though I'm fascinated by the translation issues he presents, the appeal of Harry Potter remains a mystery to me. But perhaps that can be solved - Does anyone have a copy of Sorcerer's Stone I could borrow?

Welsh Demand Bilingual Services from Tesco

by Lauren Nemec

Campaigners in Wales are pushing for bilingual offerings at their local Tesco supermarkets. These activists claim that Tesco is responsible for pushing out local Welsh shops (where services used to be offered in Welsh), therefore Tesco has the duty to offer a bilingual shopping experience to its customers.

Among their demands:

• bilingual signage, promotional materials and product packaging (for Tesco label products)
  
• Welsh tannoy (loudspeaker) announcements
• language training for staff

Full article: Language campaigners to stage protest demanding the greater use of Welsh by Tesco and other supermarkets

Localizing the Theme Park Experience

by Lauren Nemec

Disney has learned the hard way that you simply cannot impose American culture on another culture and expect to be successful.

In 1992, Disney opened the Euro-Disney theme park, located just outside of Paris, France. Unfortunately, Disney failed to adapt to local tastes and cultures when planning the theme park, which resulted in negative publicity, controversy and low attendance. For example, in line with Disney values and policies, alcohol was not served at the park-- a poor decision considering that wine is a staple at any meal in France. The executive chef in charge of menus at Disney parks recalls being told, "Do your own thing. Do what's American." Many viewed Disney's expansion as an assault on French culture. French intellectuals called it a "cultural Chernobyl."

Disney did a little better in 2005 with the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland. For example, they limited the number of clocks in the park (in China, clocks are seen as a symbol for death), put Mickey Mouse in a red and gold Chinese suit, and even consulted a Feng Shui master to ensure a harmonious and pleasant environment for Chinese guests. However, Disney got a little too carried away adapting to the local environment when they offered shark fin soup (a local delicacy) on their wedding banquet menu. They removed the selection after environmental groups threatened a worldwide Disney boycott. Poor Disney can't win.

Mickey and Minnie in traditional Chinese clothes. Photo courtesy cbsnews.com.

There are a myriad of cultural differences that must be addressed and overcome when theme parks expand into other countries. There is a fantastic article today on OrlandoSentinel.com called "Disney and Universal tailor attractions abroad to prevent culture shock" that provides some wonderful examples of these localization difficulties. Highly recommended read, especially if you're a fan of Disney or Universal Studios theme parks.

Top picture: Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Hong Kong Disneyland. Photo courtesy wikipedia.com.

Bonita Cinderella - Teaching Children Foreign Languages through Fairy Tales

by Lauren Nemec

An American writer named David Burke has developed a unique foreign language learning program for children. Concerned by Americans' lack of foreign language skills, Burke developed a line of children's books that teach children new foreign words in every book. The article, "US Writer David Burke Teaches Language Through Fairy Tales", offers an example from the instruction CD to illustrate how the books read:

"Once upon a time, there lived a poor girl - nuhaizi - named Cinderella who was very pretty - pioaliang. The nuhaizi, who was very piaoliang, lived in a small house - fangzi…."

So far, the books are available from English into Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian and Japanese and from Spanish, Korean and Japanese into English.

I think this is a great idea, mostly because fairy tales are so universal. In the Czech Republic, for example, you can see Czech fairy tales portrayed on television during every national holiday. Czech children watch their Czech fairy tales on Saturday mornings with the same wide-eyed excitement as American children watching a Disney fairy tale. Though the tales may vary from country to country, the basic themes, plots and characters are usually the same.

Perhaps fun tools like these books will make children more eager to learn foreign languages and help them connect easily to other cultures.

You can visit David Burke's website at slangman.com to learn more about him and order these books. Here's a man as animated as his fairy tales...

American Express Not Lost in Translation

by Lauren Nemec

"Are you lost in translation?

or

Are you a card member?"

In addition to receiving world class services, rewards and privileges American Express card members now benefit from round-the-clock translation services. In case of emergency, American Express can connect its members to English-speaking medical and legal professionals, ensuring their customers never get lost in translation.

American Express has an interactive banner advertisement for these services floating around the internet. I discovered this elusive ad on msn.com's travel section in an piece entitled "Slideshow: 20 Great Travel Gadgets" (an interesting thing to look at in its own right- I am particularly interested in the Zadro Nano ultraviolet germ zapper). Unfortunately I haven't seen the ad since then.

If you can find the ad somewhere, play with it (and tell us where you found it by leaving a comment). It's actually pretty cool in that it entices viewers by offering voice translations of common travel phrases, printouts of these phrases, and even downloads of multilingual ringtones in Japanese, Mandarin, French, Russian and Spanish. Yes, your phone can say: "I don’t speak mandarin, but my phone does!"