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.

Cool tool: Google translation bots

by Lauren Nemec

I know that Google has been offering a machine translation tool for translations of text and web pages, called "Google Translate", though I've never used it and haven't really been following the news about its advances or anything.

(As a side note, click here to read about how Google's translation of "flippant" into Chinese came out as "the assassin who stabbed Bush" - Oops!).

But today I stumbled upon a blog post at the "Google talkabout" blog discussing Google's release of a machine translation robot, or "bot", that translates text in "instant message" or "chat" online conversations. Anyone with a Gmail account can use this functionality.

It sounded so cool, I had to check it out.

The conversation started out well.. The robots translated the text well enough (not that greetings are difficult for MT software) and within seconds...

...But, it didn't work flawlessly. Perhaps it was user error, but you can see in this next image that the "en2fr" robot jumped in with some weird text of its own before my "fr2en" robot had a chance to translate my pricing question.
Regardless of the hiccup, I think this is a nifty tool that can be very helpful in overcoming language barriers- when the quality of the translation is not crucial. Things like this allow us to communicate with almost anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Anyway, these bots are available to Google chat users in 24 language pairs: ar2en, bg2en, de2en, de2fr, el2en, en2ar, en2de, en2el, en2es, en2fr, en2it, en2ja, en2ko, en2nl, en2ru, es2en, fi2en, fr2de, fr2en, hi2en, hr2en, it2en, ja2en, ko2en, nl2en, ru2en, uk2en, ur2en, zh2en. (Don't understand the language codes? Look them up here.)

What's the world's most beautiful language?

I've been quite busy lately and haven't had much time for original posting. But here's a fun story from the AFP:

Estonian Minister announces language beauty contest

TALLINN (AFP) — Estonia is planning a beauty contest with a difference to mark its 90th birthday, according to a report Monday: the winner will be the world's prettiest language.

Education Minister Tonis Lukas wants his counterparts from around the world to get school pupils to enter recordings of sentences of up to seven words for the contest, the Baltic News Service (BNS) agency reported.

"There's a story that a world championship of beautiful languages was once held in which Estonian took second place after Italian with the sentence 'soida tasa ule silla', or 'go slowly over the bridge,'" Lukas said Monday.

"As part of the events for the anniversary of the republic, we're pleased to turn to other nations with a friendly call to check how our language sounds to others now," he added.

Estonian is a member of the Finno-Ugric group of languages and unrelated to most other European tongues.

It is spoken by only about 1.1 million people worldwide. Around 950,000 of them live in Estonia itself and many of the rest in neighbouring Finland and Russia, as well as Sweden, Germany, North America and Australia.

Preserving their language was a crucial part of Estonian opposition to foreign rule from the 19th century onwards, and remains an important plank of government policy.

Estonia is due to celebrate the 90th anniversary of its first period of independence from Russia on February 24 next year.

The country was taken over again by the Soviet Union during World War II, and became independent once more as the Moscow-ruled bloc crumbled in 1991.

Estonian is now an official language of the 27-nation European Union, which the country joined in 2004.

10-Year-Old Boy Speaks 11 Languages

by Lauren Nemec

A boy living in England has my dream superpower.

Arpan Sharma, a 10-year-old British Indian boy, has a gift for learning languages. He has learned 11 languages so far and is eager to learn more.

Arpan's mother tongue is Hindi, which he learned from his parents growing up. He also speaks English, and learned French, German, Italian and Spanish at school. Using interactive CD-Roms, Arpan has taught himself Swahili, Mandarin, Polish, and Thai. Most recently, the young language genius has been learning the difficult language of Uganda- Lugandan.

He says learning Swahili was the biggest challenge, and that Mandarin was difficult, too. Hindi is his favorite.

The young boy enjoys studying music in school, in addition to learning languages. His headmaster believes that his musical training has helped him develop his talent for picking up languages, saying "Arpan is a language genius, a natural when it comes to listening to the exact pronunciation and repeating them perfectly. I think some of his talent is twinned with his ability as a musician. His good ear for music and tone is used for languages as well."

So what does Arpan plan to do with his talent and passion? He says, "When I'm an adult, I want to be a surgeon who can work in all the hospitals of the world and speak the language of the country I'm in."

Arpan came in 3rd place last year at the national Junior Language Challenge, and has reached the final round again this year, which will be held on Friday.

Good luck Arpan!

Photo Courtesy: Daily Times, Pakistan

How has language changed your life? Rosetta Stone wants to know!

by Lauren Nemec

Rosetta Stone, Inc. wants to hear about how learning a foreign language has changed your life. The leading provider of language-learning software has started a contest, calling for 300-word essays about how learning a language has affected your love life, career or family. The grand prize is a trip for two with a value of $5,000. Runners-up will receive language-learning software.

The contest is open to U.S. Residents only. Entries are due by November 30th.

Contest details are here.
Contest rules are here.

If you can write well, have a great story to share and live in the United States then you should certainly go for it! (And if you should happen to win, consider taking along one of us poor souls who are not eligible to participate in the contest... Wink.)

Article: Study finds languages quickly dying out

by Lauren Nemec

According to recently published research, languages are becoming extinct at a higher rate than animal and plant species. It is said that one language dies out every two weeks, as its speakers die or begin using another, more dominant language.

It has been projected that about half of the world's 7,000 or so languages will die out by the end of the 21st century, most likely the languages spoken in areas such as northern Australia, central South America, Siberia, British Colombia and parts of the USA. Many of these languages are only spoken, with no written language, dictionaries or books to leave behind.

Many informative articles about this topic can be found at Google News.

Music of the Night - The Phantom Goes to China

by Lauren Nemec

Sir Cameron Mackintosh, the producer of "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Les Miserables", has announced that Chinese versions of these musicals will open in China next year. The shows will feature local performers.

I thought this was an interesting topic to post about, because musicals, like all products, are often localized to fit the language, culture and laws of the country where they are showing. For example, the famous chandelier crash scene in "The Phantom of the Opera" is not the same across performances in different countries. In Australia- a laid-back and adventurous country- the chandelier crashes to the stage at a great speed and features pyrotechnics. In Britain, however, strict safety codes usually result in a slower and less dramatic crash.

Many other musicals are expected to play in China in the next few years, including "Mamma Mia", "Cats", "The Lion King", "My Fair Lady" and "Miss Saigon". It would be interesting to see how these performances are adapted to fit the Chinese culture. Anyhow, read the AFP's article, "Les Miserables goes Chinese" for more information about musicals in China.

Russish - The Invasion of the English Language in Russia

by Lauren Nemec

Many of the world's languages these days are peppered with English words and phrases. In Czech, for example, you might wish someone a "hezký víkend" (nice weekend), ask for "dresink" on your salad, participate in "aerobik" workouts, or confirm plans with a friend by saying, "fajn" (super, good, right or fine).

Things are no different in Russia, where English words and phrases are being transliterated into Russian, combined with Russian words, or "twisted beyond recognition", much to the chagrin of Russian linguists and nationalist groups. Russian youth are especially enthusiastic users of "Russish" or "Runglish", throwing Anglicisms into e-mails and text messages or conversations with friends.

Read more:

'Russish': language of Shakespeare invades land of Pushkin

English invades Russian language

Judges Say "No" to Ballot Transliteration

by Lauren Nemec

A couple of months ago, I posted a story about Chinese-American citizens in the City of Boston who were pushing for the full translation of voting ballots, including transliteration of candidate names.

A federal panel of three judges has voted against a move that would require that transliterated candidate names be printed on ballots in precincts of Boston with a high concentration of Chinese-speaking citizens.

Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin has been opposed to the transliteration of candidate names on ballots, arguing that there is no precise or accurate process of transliterating names and that there is a possibility candidates will sue over poorly transliterated names. Examples of transliterated names of politicians running for President in the 2008 elections include:

Mitt Romney - 'Sticky' or 'Uncooked Rice'
Fred Thompson - 'Virtue Soup'
Thomas M. Menino - 'Rainbow Farmer' or 'Imbecile'
Barack Obama - 'Europe Pulling a Horse'
Hillary Clinton - 'Upset Stomach'

Chinese-American activists have insisted that the city's agreement to fully translate ballots should allow for the transliteration of candidate names. Since the judges have agreed otherwise, Galvin has promised he will "continue to work with voters who have language issues to find ways to make their votes effective".

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

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".

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.

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

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...

Transliteration of Candidate Names into Chinese Causing 'Upset Stomachs'

by Lauren Nemec

Who would you vote for in the 2008 Presidential Election: ‘Europe Pulling a Horse’, ‘Upset Stomach’, ‘Beautiful Soup’, or ‘Sticky Rice’?

(Translation: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney)

Chinese-American citizens in the City of Boston are pushing for the full translation of voting ballots, including transliteration of candidate names. Because written Chinese uses characters rather than an alphabet of Roman letters, some Chinese-Americans may have a difficult time understanding an English-only ballot. Advocates for Chinese-American voting rights insist on using transliteration as a tool to assist Chinese-American voters who are not able to read English.


However, Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin is opposed to the transliteration of candidate names on ballots, arguing that there is no precise or accurate process of transliterating names and that there is a possibility candidates will sue over their transliterated names.

Remember: Transliteration is not the same as translation.

Translation changes the word into another language while preserving original meaning.

Transliteration changes letters or words into corresponding characters of another alphabet or language.

Though there is a process to transliterating, it is not without flaws and can be very subjective. When a name is transliterated to Chinese, the linguist will find Chinese words that phonetically sound like the pronunciation of the original name. The linguist will then choose the word with the most appropriate meaning and turn it into the correct Chinese written character for that word.

Take my first name, for example: Lauren. The first syllable, ‘lau’ sounds like the Chinese word for ‘law.’ The second syllable, ‘ren’ sounds like the Chinese words for 'cloud', 'kind’ and ‘patient.’ My transliterated name could therefore be ‘law cloud’.

The problem with this process is that it can create nonsensical meanings in the target language. Perhaps you’ve heard of a very famous transliteration problem of Coca Cola’s. Back in the 1920’s, Coca-Cola was preparing to enter the Chinese market. A translator transliterated the name ‘Coca-Cola’ into Chinese characters. When the drink didn’t sell, the company found out that the transliterated characters meant ‘bite the wax tadpole’ or ‘a wax flattened mare’. The company then changed the name of the product to 'happiness in the mouth' for the Chinese market.

In order for an election to run precisely and smoothly, the ballots should be as clear as possible. Transliterated names could possibly cause more confusion than clarification and might complicate election procedures and results. Politicians with unflattering or poorly transliterated names could potentially argue that it adversely affects them in the polls, possibly resulting in litigation and contested elections. With this in mind, it’s easy to understand William Galvin’s concerns. However, the Chinese-American activists are not out of luck yet: Galvin says, "If there is precise way to do this, then I'll agree to it.” Good luck!

Further Reading:

Candidates lost in Chinese translation: USAToday

Voting rights, not 'Sticky Rice': Boston Globe

Illinois Village Debates Official Language - Part 2

by Lauren Nemec

Last night, the Carpentersville village board of trustees voted on and passed a resolution declaring English as the village's official language.

The resolution that was passed is much weaker than the originally proposed ordinance. An ordinance would have been enforceable, meaning that- by law- officials would not be able to distribute foreign language materials or offer multilingual services.

Instead, the trustees opted to pass a resolution, which is no more than an official declaration that English is the official language of Carpentersville. Though it lacks teeth (it does not bar village officials from offering foreign language services and materials), opponents of the resolution believe it will divide the community by sending the message that Carpentersville is not tolerant of diversity. Supporters of the resolution hope it will encourage residents to learn English.

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the board meeting and bring back a first-hand account (alas, Chicago White Sox baseball tickets proved to be too much of a temptation). According to reports, the meeting was quite a spectacle, with over 100 people voicing their opinions through boos, catcalls, applause and cheers.

Over 100 people attended the Carpentersville village board meeting on Tuesday night. Photo credit: WBBM 780 News Radio.

As the immigration debate heats up here in the United States, we will continue to see more and more towns, villages and cities proposing and passing English-only resolutions and ordinances. However, I believe that the majority of these towns will find that they achieve very little, while causing division in their communities and flirting with unconstitutionality and lawsuits.

A good example is the town of Pahrump, Nevada, which passed an English-only ordinance last November, only to overturn the decision months later after finding that the ordinance only succeeded in creating controversy and discontent.

Further reading:
Nonbinding English-only goes before C'ville board: Chicago Sun Times
Carpentersville Passes English-only Resolution: Northwest Herald

Czech Translation Market Growing

by Lauren Nemec

I apologize for the shortage of posts this month. I've been vacationing in my hometown of San Antonio, Texas for the past few days (...and I have to say it.... GO SPURS GO!). But, it's back to work for the moment, and I am writing from our beautiful office in Chicago on Michigan Avenue.

We saw in the Common Sense Advisory's Ranking of Top 20 Translation Companies 2006 report that the demand for translation services is expected to grow at a rate of 15-20% over the next year. The Czech Republic seems to be right on target with that figure, if not surpassing it. According to the Prague Daily Monitor, the market for language services in the Czech Republic is growing- and some Czech translation service companies have even reported growth in excess of 20% over the past year.

Translatus, though incorporated in the United States, has its main operations office located in Prague. Like other translation companies based in the non-Euro region of Eastern Europe, Translatus benefits from reduced labor and overhead costs and experiences growth right along with the Czech economy.

Perhaps Central and Eastern Europe is the place to be for translation companies these days...

Beijing Making Progress in Effort to Clean-up Bad Translations

by Lauren Nemec

It amazes me how interested people are in Beijing's goal to clean up bad translations before the 2008 Olympic Games. Articles on this topic come through my feed reader almost every week. My post, "Beijing Prepares for the 2008 Olympics by Correcting Bad Translations" remains one of the most frequently viewed articles on the Translatus blog.

Okay. I'm sure that most people are not so interested in Beijing's efforts to rid their city of embarassing translations, but are interested in finding examples of 'Chinglish' for a good laugh. But Beijing does not want to be laughed at anymore.

Still, I couldn't help but chuckle this morning as I read about the latest development. Feeling it is outdated and impolite, officials have decided to flush the potty term 'WC' and adopt 'toilet' for all public restrooms in Beijing.

As I mentioned in my previous posts on this subject, a number of groups have undertaken the enormous effort of correcting and standardizing translations across Beijing. So far, they seem to be making progress. For example, linguists are preparing a list of common menu items with their accurate translations. The list will be distributed to Beijing restaurants, and all establishments rated three stars and higher are expected to implement the pre-approved translations into their menus.

No more 'the temple explodes the chicken cube' for you!

Bringing Up Bilingual Baby

by Lauren Nemec

If you’re thinking about raising your child to be bilingual, one of the keys to success is to start as soon as possible. Studies have long shown that a child's brain is primed for learning languages from infancy until about three years of age. However, recent studies from the University of British Columbia imply that an even smaller window of time is ideal for introducing bilingualism to your child.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have made a new discovery regarding the way babies learn languages. According to the study, babies use facial clues (such as rhythm and movement of the mouth, muscle movements, and facial expressions) to distinguish between languages being spoken to them.

Babies from bilingual (French-English) homes and babies from monolingual (English) homes were shown a silent video of a person speaking in English, then in French. After a few moments, babies from 4-6 months old would lose interest in the video until the languages were switched, signifying that they can distinguish between different languages solely based on visual clues. (See the study in action! This is from UBC's Psych Department).

However, babies exposed to only one language tend to lose this ability by the age of 8 months. In the study, 8-month old babies with no multilingual experience were not able to make the distinction. As the saying goes, “use it or lose it”.

If you would like to read more about the study, here are some interesting articles:
Babies can tell if parents are bilingual
Secrets of babies' language skills
How Babies Decode Faces

If your child is older than 8 months, it's not too late to try to raise your child to be bilingual. (In fact, you're never too old to learn a foreign language).

Here are some articles giving advice about raising a multilingual child:

Ten Steps to Raising a Multilingual Child

Raising Bilingual Children: The First Five Steps to Success

A Monument to Language

by Lauren Nemec

I read the other day that the Russians have erected a monument to their language in Belgorod. The monument depicts a large bible opened to a page with letters of the Russian alphabet, symbolizing the holiness of the language and its links to the Orthodox Church. You can read more about it here.

The monument to Russian language. Photo Credit: kp.ru

I must admit... I had never heard of a monument to a language before. But it turns out that the Russian monument isn't the first of its kind.

Though not the first, the Afrikaans Language Monument in Western Cape Province, South Africa is surely the most dramatic. It was built in 1975 to commemorate the anniversary of Afrikaans becoming an official language of South Africa. The first monument built in honor of the Afrikaans language was the Burgesdorp monument, erected in 1893 and depicting a woman pointing to a book she is holding.

The Afrikaans Language Monument symbolizes the impact of culture and language on
Afrikaans and South Africa. Photo Credit: about.com

The Monument of Martyrs in Bangladesh (also called the Shaheed Minar) commemorates the people who lost their lives during the Language Movement of 1952 in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan). Every year on the 21st of February, people gather to remember those who sacrificed their lives for the movement to make Bengali an official language of Pakistan and affirm the culture and identity of the Bengali people.

Shaheed Minar, or the Monument of Martyrs, is a significant aspect of Bengali culture.

Know of any others?

Illinois Village Debates Official Language – Part 1

by Lauren Nemec

The small village of Carpentersville, Illinois is situated in the Northwestern suburbs of Chicago in the Fox River Valley. It’s your average small American community, with a main street, historical buildings, great pizza joints, baseball fields and friendly neighbors. My memories of Carpentersville make it sound idyllic, though residents might say things are far from perfect, especially now that a fierce debate is raging over a proposal to make English the official language of the village.

In the mid-to-late 1800’s, immigrants from Germany, Sweden and Poland settled in Carpentersville to work in its iron and machinery factories. Now, a century later, Mexican immigrants also go there seeking better opportunities and a higher standard of living. In the 1960’s, Carpentersville was 99.9% white. As of the 2000 census, Hispanics make up more than 40% of the population of 30,000.

Carpentersville currently provides many Spanish-language materials for its residents, including the village newsletter, fire safety handouts, utility bills, information packets for new residents and other useful materials. When the village recently switched to standard garbage disposal receptacles, Spanish-language notices were sent out with the village newsletter. Interpreters help Spanish-speaking residents understand policies that could be beneficial for them.

However, earlier this month a village trustee submitted a controversial proposal that, if passed, would require the Village of Carpentersville to conduct its affairs only in English, putting an end to these multilingual services. According to the Daily Herald (a newspaper serving Chicago’s suburbs), this would mean that “all meetings, proceedings, signage, forms, documents and publications would have to be in English.”

Many argue that this would alienate a significant number of residents and make it difficult for public servants to communicate vital information. Both the Police Chief and Fire Chief of Carpentersville agree that an ordinance like this would effect how they communicate with and assist residents. Indeed, Spanish-speakers in Carpentersville would have a very difficult time getting the health, safety, and legal assistance they need. Carpentersville might also feel the economic effects from high legal fees and businesses leaving town.

The board of trustees has delayed the decision on this proposal until mid-June, in order to give them time to clearly define the proposal, consult with lawyers and gather information to understand how much village business is conducted in languages other than English.

As someone who specializes in the language services industry (and has familial ties in Carpentersville), I am particularly interested in the outcome of this issue and the ramifications it would have, if passed. According to organizations like the American Translators Association and the Common Sense Advisory, the market for language services is currently at about $13 billion and growing at a rate of 15-20% a year. This shows us what should be quite obvious already: in this ever-shrinking world, the need for us to successfully communicate with each other is both essential and immediate. People are living closer together than ever before and we must communicate in whatever language is necessary to get a message successfully delivered.

The Village President, Bill Sarto, puts it simply: “…the point of communication is just that -- to communicate."

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The Carpentersville language issue will be on the agenda at the village board meeting on June 19^th, which just happens to coincide with a Chicago visit I have planned at that time. With any luck, I might be able to attend the meeting and bring back a first-hand account of the developments of this story. Stay tuned…

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Further reading:

English-only law returns to spotlight- Heated issue back in Carpentersville: The Chicago Tribune

Carpentersville delays vote on English-only law: The Beacon News

Using only English a safety issue, some say: The Daily Herald

Carpentersville delays decision on English: The Daily Herald