DynCorp Awarded $4.6 billion Translation Contract from US Army

by Lauren Nemec

It looks like L-3 Communications' days in the sunny #1 spot of the Common Sense Advisory's Top 20 Translation Companies are numbered... or are they?

It was announced last Friday, December 9th that L-3's rival, DynCorp International Inc., has been awarded a disputed $4.6 billion contract from the U.S. Intelligence and Security Command. The contract was first awarded to DynCorp in December of 2006, but L-3 Communications protested the move through the Government Accountability Office.

When reporting on the top language services providers of 2006 back in May of 2007, the Common Sense Advisory pointed out that a contract loss for L-3 would likely boot the company off the top 20, saying "The U.S. Army voted L-3 off the Top 20. In late December 2006 the U.S. Army awarded DynCorp International and McNeil Technologies a five-year contract worth up to US$4.6 billion to provide linguists to the U.S. military in Iraq. L-3 (number 1) was the Army’s incumbent provider. The company could drop out of the Top 20 altogether if it loses its protest, while McNeil – on last year’s list, off this year – could be at the top of the heap next year. L-3 violated a cardinal rule of business by putting all of its wars in one basket."

Fortunately for L-3 Communications and its shareholders, L-3's contract with the army had a series of extensions while the protested $4.6 billion contract was being sorted out, netting them almost an entire year of revenues that otherwise would not have been. According to the Motley Fool, "The failure to win a re-up or a contract extension will not affect [L-3's] previous earnings guidance, which L-3 reaffirmed today: $13.7 billion in 2007 revenue, rising to between $14 billion and $14.2 billion next year; earnings of about $5.88 per share this year and $6.48 next year; and free cash flow of $1.1 billion or better in both years."

Dyncorp entered into a joint venture with McNeil Technologies to create "Global Linguistic Solutions (GLS)",which will provide translation and interpretation services to the U.S. Army in Iraq and other governmental agencies supporting "Operation Iraqi Freedom".

Further reading:
Common Sense Advisory's "Ranking of Top 20 Translation Companies" report for 2006
Yahoo's "L-3 Not Awarded Linguist Contract"
Forbes' "The Troops Support DynCorp"
The Motley Fool's "L-3's Anti-Pyrrhic Loss"

Il Lingue della ex Iugoslavia

by Lauren Nemec

Today I stumbled across an article of mine on GlobeArticles.com that has been translated into Italian. I think it'd be great to get some multilingual content on the blog, so here you have it- my article "Languages of the Former Yugoslavia" in Italian. (*Please note: I don't happen to know more than a handful of phrases in Italian, and since Translatus did not manage the translation of this piece, I can't guarantee its quality.*)

**Update, December 8th:
A very special thanks goes to translator/interpreter Cristina Tabbia (www.intertranslation.it) for pointing out the poor quality of the translation of the article into Italian. I'm removing the Italian article from the blog, but if you would like to read the article anyway and don't mind MT quality, you can still find it at GlobeArticles.com here. I apologize for exposing the blog's readers to anything but the best translation work.
Thanks for your help, Cristina! **

Wow, the world really is flat....

by Lauren Nemec

Today I finished reading Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat". It's a little funny, considering the date: November 9th, or 11/9. If you've read "The World is Flat", you'll understand the significance of this date. Today marks 18 years since checkpoints were opened along the Berlin Wall, allowing the citizens of East Germany to travel freely into the Western world. Friedman lists this event as one (in fact, as the first) of the 10 forces that has flattened the world. But I digress...

Anyway, for those who don't yet believe that the world is flat, here's an article that might change your mind: "Bangalore butler is latest development in outsourcing".

Global corporations have been looking to India to outsource non-core business operations like software development, human resource management, accounting and customer service. If you've ever had an airline lose your luggage or have needed help with your laptop, it's likely you've spoken with an Indian when calling the company's customer service line.

But now, individuals are starting to look to India for management of their daily tasks. Parents are purchasing tutoring services from India for their school-aged children using VoIP from their computers at home. For busy professionals in big U.S. cities, a personal assistant service in India can schedule appointments, make dinner reservations, provide wake-up calls, book flights, give directions, and even help their clients find love by searching online dating sites for people who match their requirements!

According to the article, this globalization of consumer services will eventually create a market of millions of households in the USA and other countries that will require services "like health and nutrition coaching, personal tax and legal advice, help with hobbies and cooking, learning new languages and skills, and more."

Does that mean when I can't remember an ingredient for my chocolate chip cookies, I can call someone in India and they will be able to help me? Really, the world is flat.

Global Brand Names - Is Yours Lost in Translation?

by Lauren Nemec

Are you preparing to introduce a new product in a foreign market? Read this first.

Naseem Javed, an expert on Corporate Image and Global Branding, has written an informative and useful article on the subject of global brand names, called "Lost in Global Translation?". In it, he explains the challenges of naming a brand for the global market, focusing on Middle Eastern products branded in Arabic. Here are some interesting points from the article, if you don't have time to read through it.

Who are the leaders in global branding?

According to Javed, Japan laid the groundwork for the systematic naming of global brands. He says, "Decades ahead, Japan was on the forefront of creating global brands, like Toyota, Minolta, Sony, Pentax, Sharp, Panasonic, Canon and hundreds of other five star standard names, as names originating from Japanese language would have never allowed such global acceptance."

What are the components of a good global brand name?

Ideally, the best global brand names are those that adhere to international rules of translation, appeal to the masses, lack negative cultural connotations, and are easy to pronounce, spell and recall. This seems straightforward enough, but is easier said than done, as many global companies could tell you from experience.

Javed's Recommendations

According to Javed, "The best thing [companies can] do is conduct a highly professional third-party nomenclature audit. Check connotations and language issues to find out where the name could be rejected or taken as too confusing and forgettable."

Translatus Brand Name Analysis Services

This subject gives me ample opportunity to introduce a service offered by Translatus.

We understand that a brand is a valuable asset- one which should be evaluated before entering new foreign markets. Therefore, Translatus has designed a "Brand Name Analysis" service, which provide our clients with linguistic and cultural analysis of their brand names, slogans and logos.

Translatus will deliver a detailed, written analysis for each brand name in each target market. The analysis addresses the following issues:

• Prior use of the brand name in the target market
• Similarity of the brand name to other companies, products or services.
• Direct translation or similarity of brand name to existing words in target language.
• Negative cultural connotations or possible offensiveness.
• Unclear use of colloquial language, slang, or idioms in the brand name or slogan.
• Ease of pronunciation and recollection.
  

This global and market-specific analysis of your brands ensures accurate representation of your brand image and company message in your foreign markets. For more information, please visit our website or contact me at lnemec@translatus.com or +420 222 517 153.

Photo courtesy: The Trademark Blog

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

Happy Halloween!

by Lauren Nemec

It's October 31st, which means that tonight across the United States, children will be running from door to door asking for candy, dressed up in their Shrek, Harry Potter and Star Wars costumes. But Halloween is not just for children. Adults will enthusiastically don ridiculous costumes to attend Halloween parties. They'll compete with their neighbors to see who can turn their home into the scariest haunted house on the block; manicured lawns will be transformed into cemeteries, complete with spider webs, gravestones, spooky music, fog, and any other Halloween-themed novelty Wal-Mart can sell. Yes- in the United States, it seems Halloween has exploded into a major holiday, rivaling Christmas in its commercialism.

So, U.S. Americans celebrate Halloween by doing what we do best - spending money and eating. But how does the rest of the world celebrate Halloween? According to PumpkinPatchesAndMore.org, "Halloween is one of the world's oldest holidays, dating back to pagan times. But it is celebrated today by more people in more countries than ever before."

Let's take a look at Halloween traditions around the world.

Ireland - Where it All Began

In Ireland, where the holiday supposedly originated, children receive a one-week holiday from school for the Halloween celebration. Both adults and children dress up as goblins, ghosts and other creatures, much like in the United States. Bonfires are lit to ward off evil spirits and people sometimes also set off fireworks.

A traditional Halloween cake called "barmbrack" will be eaten. Various objects are usually baked into the cake, and tell the fortune of the one who gets the item in his or her piece. For example, a ring indicates a wedding in one's future.

Austria

From PumpkinPatchesAndMore.org: In Austria, some people will leave bread, water and a lighted lamp on the table before retiring on Halloween night. It was once believed that these would welcome the dead souls back to earth on a night that Austrians considered to be magical.

China

There is no "Halloween" celebration in China, but they have a very similar celebration called the "Ghost Festival" which is held on the thirteen day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar. Chinese families will prepare feasts and leave empty seats at the table for their deceased family members. The Chinese also burn things made of paper to remember the dead and bring comfort to the ghosts. For example, "Hell Money" is offered to ancestors for use in the afterlife.

Hong Kong

People in Hong Kong do celebrate Halloween, unlike maChristine Kee, Executive Vice President of the Translatus Asia division and native of Hong Kong explains, "In Hong Kong, children head to local theme parks like Disneyland or Ocean Park to participate in western Halloween traditions."

Halloween's "Jack-O'-Lanterns" in Asia.
Photo from Travelogger.

Korea

From PumpkinPatchesAndMore.org: In Korea, the festival similar to Halloween is known as "Chusok." It is at this time that families thank their ancestors for the fruits of their labor. The family pays respect to these ancestors by visiting their tombs and making offerings of rice and fruits. The "Chusok" festival takes place in the month of August.

Mexico

Halloween kicks off three days of celebration in Mexico, and is celebrated much in the same way as it is in the United States. Children dress up for trick-or-treating while teens and adults throw costume parties. The Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), which occurs the following two days, honors the lives of the deceased and celebrates the continuation of life. The traditions of the celebration differ across regions, but common elements include providing offerings for the departed, preparing special foods, lighting candles in honor of the departed, and spending time at desceased relatives' grave sites. It's a fascinating celebration, and you can read more about it here.

Photo by Ruben Cordova, from UTSA.edu.

UT's Profile of the Arab World

by Lauren Nemec

The University of Texas at Austin (my Alma Mater) usually has some wonderful feature stories posted on the homepage of their website. Their current feature story offers insight into the language, religion and culture of the Arab world. The story is called "Translating the Arab World: Language, religion and culture are keys to understanding diverse region".

The story has a section where you can listen to some pieces in Arabic.

The National Security Education Program recently awarded the University of Texas at Austin's Department of Middle Eastern Studies with $700k to set up an Arabic language program, in hopes the program will produce more proficient Arabic speakers in the United States.

Fuji-Xerox Introduces Copier-Translator Machine Prototype

by Lauren Nemec

Fuji-Xerox has introduced a prototype translator-photocopier machine that will be able to translate Japanese documents into English, Korean or Chinese with the touch of a button. Fuji-Xerox has not yet announced a price or launch date for the commercial version of the product.

It seems Fuji-Xerox is highly touting the feature that the copier can perform and print out the translation while preserving the document's original format. Wonderful as that is, I wonder how good the translation quality is and with what kind of machine translation software the product is equipped? Fuji-Xerox has not yet made this information publicly available. If the copier produces translations à la Altavista Babelfish, the quest to improve international business communications will have to continue... Only time and the market will tell.

Starbucks in Prague Next Year

by Lauren Nemec

Starbucks is preparing to open in the Czech Republic sometime next year. While this news has excited many American expats here in Prague (who can now scratch "mocha frappuccino" off the list of things they miss from home), I have to wonder how Czechs will embrace the coffee colossus.

Coffee "on-the-go" has yet to really take off here in the Czech Republic. As in most of Europe, coffee is enjoyed at a leisurely pace in coffee houses or cafes while reading the newspaper, people-watching or chatting with a friend. There are a few locations for getting coffee to-go here in Prague, but native Czechs don't flock to these shops with the same fervor as American tourists. Most Czech workers get their java jolts from vending machines located at train stations and offices, where for 10 czk (about 50 cents) one can get a small plastic cup with a shot or two of coffee. Also, Czechs (like most Europeans) are not used to drinking coffee in excessive volumes like us Americans. I'm trying to imagine a Czech woman walking down the street with a Starbucks venti in hand, but my imagination is not quite up to the task.

Starbucks' success in the Czech Republic will likely rely heavily on their pricing. Czech salaries are quite low, so a cup of coffee from Starbucks at a price comparable to that in the USA would be an extravagance that many cannot afford. Dave Faries, food critic at the Prague Post said in an interview with Radio Praha, "The key though, for Starbucks in this market, will be price-point more than anything. Whether Czechs will be willing to pay for it, whether even expats will be willing to pay...".

Starbucks' brand image should give them a strong advantage in this market. Czechs (especially teens and young adults) tend to be very brand conscious and enthusiastic about things from the United States. When Starbucks comes to Prague, I think Czechs will be drawn to its foreign exoticness and strong brand image, and will probably consider it stylish to consume Starbucks beverages.

I guess this means Czechs will have to adapt to the Starbucks way of ordering a coffee... "I'll have a Venti mint mocha chip frappuccino with whipped cream, caramel affogato and a triple shot."

Also coming to Prague within the next year or so: the fast-food giant Burger King and discount supermarket chain Aldi.

Photo Courtesy: Starbucks.com

Translations - 6 Mistakes that Cost You Money

by Lauren Nemec

1. Choosing the Cheapest Provider

In the translation industry, there is a per-word cost below which it is unlikely you will receive a quality translation. When you go below this cost, you risk spending much more time and money than anticipated. Let’s figure out the true cost of getting a cheap, poor quality translation:

Item	Cost
Initial translation of 1,000 words	$0.03 x 1,000 = $30.00
Internal review of translation*	$35 per hour x 1 hour = $35.00
Negotiating discount with provider*	$35 per hour x 1 hour = $35.00
Translation discount of 50%	50% of $30.00 = ($15.00)
Editing translation, 2-4 hours	$30 per hour x 3 hours = $90.00
Total Cost	$175.00

Save money by spending money - and save the headaches. Buying the translation from a reputable provider at $0.15 per word could cost less than having it done poorly for $0.03 per word.

* Time is money, so any time that you and your colleagues spend rectifying this situation will cost your company (calculated here using a sample hourly wage).

2. Not Using Translation Memory

Translation Memory (TM) can be a valuable asset for your company. Translation Memory improves quality and consistency of your translations by building up your preferred multilingual terminology and phrasing. It also gives direct discounts off your translation rates; because a TM increases with every project, the more you translate, the more you will save through TM matches.

After building their Translation Memory with Translatus for one year, our clients realized TM savings at an average of about 2-5% per project. It may not seem like much, but with a yearly volume of $100,000, that adds up to $2,000-5,000 in savings. Over a greater period of time, consistent use of your TM can cut translation costs by 30-50%.

3. Poor Organization

A well-organized project will not only save money, but will reduce stress and help to ensure a quality translation. Before you begin:

• Review the original document to cut out parts that may not be necessary or relevant to your target markets. This will improve your materials and save money.
• Finalize the document before sending it for translation. Changes to the source material during the process can be messy and expensive.
• Send the right document for translation. It sounds obvious, but we've proceeded with translations before only to have the client realize they sent us the wrong file. Unfortunately, when something like this happens, the client must incur the cost of any translation that was done.

4. Setting Unreasonable Deadlines

When you submit a project to your services provider, set reasonable deadlines to avoid incurring rush fees.

When setting deadlines, consider that a translator can usually translate about 2,000 words per day and a proofreader can proofread about 8,000 words per day. Therefore, for a 4,000-word translation, you should allow at least two days for translation and one half-day for proofreading.* Pushing these limitations will likely result in a rush fee, so don't do it if you don't really need it. Most language services providers will charge rush fees of 20-50% for non-standard delivery times.

* When possible, it’s always a good idea to add an extra day or two to your deadline.

5. Not Providing the Original Documents

When a client does not provide an original document for translation, language services providers will often tack on additional charges for transcribing or extracting text, converting formats, and correcting layouts.

These documents are frequently submitted to language service providers and are difficult to work with, costing you more money:

• PDF: It takes a matter of seconds to convert an MSWord document into a PDF. However, it can take hours to extract text from a PDF document and re-create its proper layout in MSWord. When possible, submit the original document from which the PDF was created.
• Fax: It can take many hours to transcribe text from a faxed document into a word processor. This is made especially difficult when the fax is grainy or hard to read. When possible, submit the soft copy of the document.
• JPEG Graphics: Desktop publishing specialists can usually work with any graphic in any format, but without the original file it will take more time and cost more money. When possible, submit the original Photoshop (.psd) file. It’s cheaper and the quality will be better.

6. Not Asking for Discounts

If you buy strategically, you should never have to pay full prices for anything. This can be true for buying translation services.

• Considering a new provider? Ask for a free test translation.
• Working with a new provider? Ask for a “new customer” discount off your first paid project.
• Receive a better offer from a competitor? Ask your provider to match or beat that quote.
• Haven’t worked with a provider in a while? Ask for a "Welcome Back" discount.
• Just ask! Simply asking your provider to give you a more competitive rate can often result in at least a 5% discount.

Remember, it never hurts to ask.

Blog on Holiday

by Lauren Nemec

I will be out of the country for the next two weeks. Normal posting will resume in mid October.

In the meantime, feel free to peruse some older, popular posts!

The Languages of the Former Yugoslavia, by Lauren Nemec
Beijing Prepares for the 2008 Olympics by Correcting Bad Translations, by Lauren Nemec
International Business: Business Card Etiquette, by Lauren Nemec
Bringing up Bilingual Baby, by Lauren Nemec
Transliteration of Candidate Names into Chinese Causing 'Upset Stomachs', by Lauren Nemec
Cultural Dimensions: Individualism vs. Collectivism, by Lauren Nemec
Czech in the Big City, by Veronika Svobodova

Czech Culture

by Lauren Nemec

The Czech Republic is an incredibly beautiful country with a rich history, fascinating people and an abundance of business opportunities. Yet the country remains relatively obscure and unknown to Americans, many of whom still call it “Czechoslovakia.”

Whether you are enticed to the Czech Republic by its dramatic castles, famous beer, luxurious spas or cheap labor force, this modest guide to Czech culture should provide you with a deeper understanding of the country and its people.

The Czech People

A common first impression of the Czechs is that they seem cold and impersonal. To us warm and open Americans, this can be quite disheartening. It shouldn’t be taken personally, as Czechs are very private people. They have a smaller boundary of personal space than Americans, but they guard it very closely. Though Czechs are used to being in close physical proximity to each other, they tend to keep others at an emotional distance and will not usually smile at, make eye contact with, or engage in small talk with strangers.

Americans are known for their ability to quickly and effortlessly form casual relationships, so it should come as no surprise that Americans are often frustrated at the difficulty of forging relationships with Czech people. In addition to their strong sense of privacy, years of foreign invasions and occupations have perhaps made the Czechs slightly distrustful and fearful of strangers or foreigners. Therefore, it takes a long time and a great deal of trust to overcome a Czech’s boundaries and fears and develop a friendship with him. Once you do, though, it will be a rewarding and lasting friendship.

When you do get to know them, you’ll find that Czechs have a unique sense of humor, best described as ‘mischievous’. Jara Cimrman, for example, is considered to be a national hero, having been the first man to reach the North Pole and the inventor of dynamite. Actually, Cimrman is no more than a figment of the Czech imagination, but Czechs still enthusiastically pretend he existed. They’ve even built a museum in honor of Cimrman, which often fools tourists into believing this extraordinary person really existed.

Money Matters

Czechs have not always lived in a consumer-oriented society. During the communistic era, goods were scarce and stores offered poor selections. People had to make do with what was available and everybody usually had the same things. For example, many Czech families have the same china collection, called the “Blue-Onion” pattern, because it was the only nice china collection available for a very long time. People who had something rare, unique or expensive were often the object of gossip and envy.

When my husband was a child, he was taken to the store every year on his birthday to choose one toy. When his mother took him to the store for his birthday after the Velvet Revolution, he looked at the wide selection of toys and burst into tears sobbing that he would never be able to choose just one thing. When Czechoslovakia entered a free market economy, more goods were available than ever before and Czechs suddenly needed to develop the ability to make complex purchase decisions. This proved difficult, as Czechs wanted to buy everything they had been denied for so long, yet they did not have the purchasing power to buy it all because salaries remained very low. Unfortunately, this caused an envious mentality and lust for money to emerge among Czech people.

Doing Business with the Czechs

The Czech Republic is an attractive offshore location, primarily because of its cheap but highly educated labor force. However, the differences between American and Czech business cultures can often cause frustration for American businesspeople.

Communism adversely affected the way Czechs do business. For example, customer service, quality and efficiency weren’t highly valued under socialistic rule, so Czech businesspeople have had to learn (or re-learn) how to do these things that we Westerners take for granted. You may find that these concepts aren’t yet up to Western standards in some situations. Processes might not be clearly defined and the pace of work and decision making may be slower than what westerners are accustomed to. However, one should not assume that the Czechs are in the Dark Ages. Though they don’t have as much experience in the free market economy as Western countries, the Czechs are quick learners and seem to be adapting quite well.

Czechs have a strong aversion to the unknown. In business, this certainty avoidance means that Czechs tend to need lots of time to consider their choices and weigh the options in their mind before making a decision. Plans are made slowly and methodically and details are pored over. It also means that Czechs tend to be nervous about taking risks and making changes. A French expatriate manager of a large financial institution in Prague once described to me his difficulty finding Czech managers willing to relocate to France.

The company wanted the Czech managers to go temporarily to learn how to successfully run the company on their own, but most of the managers refused. It was an excellent opportunity with a generous salary and benefits package, so the French managers couldn’t fathom why any reasonable person would refuse the offer. When you consider the Czech fear of uncertainty, it becomes a little easier to understand their hesitation.

Though the Czechs have a relatively egalitarian society, they are formal people. Formal Czech is spoken in business situations and it is very important to address people appropriately. The Czechs strongly value academic achievement and are proud of their academic accomplishments, so it is important to use correct academic titles, if known.

A Final Word

This article contains many generalizations of Czech people and culture. Generalizations help us determine what to expect from people in certain situations, but should never be taken as absolute truths. I think you will find, as I have, that the Czechs will never fail to surprise you.

*****
This article was originally published in the September 2007 issue of McElroy Translation's newsletter "E-Buzz". To subscribe to "E-Buzz", click here.
*****

The Best of American Exports - Hooters Opens in Beijing

by Lauren Nemec

Now Chinese men can also say, "I only go there for the wings."

Hooters has recently opened a restaurant in Beijing, China. It's actually the fourth Hooters restaurant in China (the first is located in Shanghai), but the first in the conservative city of Beijing.

American expats, students and tourists will probably make up a large percentage of Hooters patrons, but the company is hoping that the concept of "sex sells" will also be true for Chinese consumers. Hooters also hopes to capitalize on the masses of visitors who will be visiting Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Waitresses at Beijing's Hooters wear the signature outfits of orange hot pants and tight tank tops as they serve up chicken wings and cold beer. The environment is very much the same as any Hooters restaurant found in the United States - but one aspect has been a little 'lost in globalization' - the name "Hooters" doesn't have the same connotations to the Chinese as it does to Americans. It simply means "owl".

Further reading - Globalization Gone Wild : Hooters Opens in China

Photo: Frederic J. Brown, AFP/Getty Images

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.

International Business: Dining Etiquette

by Lauren Nemec

The rules of etiquette can be difficult enough to follow in your own culture. After crossing borders, the rules of etiquette can change so drastically from what you’re accustomed to, they become a minefield of blunders and faux-pas just waiting to happen. If you are in another country on business, following the local rules of etiquette becomes very important, as it can be crucial to the success of your business ventures.

While some etiquette blunders are laughable or not likely to cause serious offense, others might make your business counterparts perceive you as rude or unappreciative, and may inhibit your business relationship from moving forward. Knowing proper table manners can be an asset in international business.

Invitations

Receiving an invitation to dine out should be considered and honor and should not be refused. Dining out with your hosts can help build your relationship and establish trust, which will help you with your business endeavors in the long run. If you must refuse, offer a legitimate reason.

In most countries, an invitation to dinner likely means you will be dining with your host in a restaurant. A personal invitation to dine at someone’s home should be considered a tremendous honor and a sign of deep trust. However, some cultures highly value hospitality and are eager to extend invitations to dine in the home. Therefore, an invitation to dine at an Indian or Colombian home may not carry the same significance as an invitation to dine at a Japanese or British home. Nevertheless, these invitations should be treated with the same amount of respect and decorum, and should not be refused; otherwise, you might offend the host or miss out on a fascinating experience.

Time and Punctuality

Dinner, drinking and other social occasions can last many hours. Set aside an entire evening for a social event and pace yourself. To avoid causing offense, try not to leave before others do. In China, the serving of fruit signifies the end of the meal. Guests are expected to leave within 30 minutes after the fruit course is served.

While punctuality is important to many people, it can offend others. When in North America, Scandinavia, Germany and China, it is important to arrive on time for business functions and social occasions. Arriving late could offend your hosts. In other countries, you will be expected to arrive late for social functions. Arriving early or on time could embarrass your host, as they may not yet be prepared for your arrival. In India, for example, you should arrive 15-30 minutes late for dinner at someone’s home.

Seating

Seating arrangements are often well thought out according to many factors, such as age, gender, status or hierarchy. A good rule of thumb in any country is to wait to be seated. In many countries, the guest of honor will usually have a specific place to sit, often next to the host, at the head of the table or farthest from the entrance.

Ordering

As a guest, you should respect the selections of your host and sample everything. A host may ask you for recommendations. If you are familiar with the country's food, don’t hesitate to say something like, "I've read about haggis and I would love to try it."

As a host, you should take into consideration the dietary restrictions of your guests. In India, for example, Muslim Indians do not eat pork, Hindus do not eat beef and many Indians are vegetarians. When hosting a meal in India, provide chicken, fish or lamb for meat eaters and a variety of vegetarian dishes.

Toasting

Toasting is a common practice in most countries. You should wait for your host to initiate the toast before drinking or beginning your meal. Make an effort to lightly clink your glass with all other guests. In many cultures, it's appropriate to make eye-contact when touching glasses and to seal the toast by sipping your drink. After the host proposes a toast, you can also make one, but be sure you do not upstage the first.

Here is a list of common toasting phrases in different countries:

China: Ganbei

Czech Republic: Na zdraví

Denmark, Norway, Sweden: Skål or Skoal

France: Santé

Germany: Prost

Japan: Kampai

Spain and Mexico: Salud

USA, UK, Australia: Cheers

More phrases can be found here.

Eating Utensils

Chopsticks

Chopstick etiquette is very important in Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam, and you would be wise to learn how to use chopsticks properly before visiting any of these countries on business. The effort will be appreciated by your hosts. For those who are completely inept at using chopsticks, silverware will probably be available for you in many restaurants. Chopstick etiquette differs across cultures, but here are some general guidelines:

• Never leave your chopsticks sticking straight up out of your rice bowl, as this resembles a funerary rite in many of these cultures.
• Never point your chopsticks at someone or use them to gesture.
• Use a chopstick rest, when available.
• Don't chew on your chopsticks.
• Don’t pierce or spear food with your chopsticks.
• Dropping your chopsticks or placing them parallel across your bowl symbolizes bad luck, so don’t do it.

Hands

In the Arab world and in India, the left hand is considered to be 'unclean', as this hand is used with water in place of toilet paper. It is taboo to eat or pass food with your left hand. In these countries, refrain from using your left hand when shaking hands, dining, passing objects or gesturing. This will be a challenge for left-handed people, but you will have to train yourself.

Cutlery

The U.S. American style of dining with cutlery is often a source of amusement for many Europeans and South Americans. U.S. Americans tend to hold the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right hand as they cut their food, then switch hands to put the food in their mouth with the fork (tines up), and switch back again to cut the next piece of food. This method of eating may seem quite silly to people outside of the United States, and may even offend those with high expectations of proper table manners.

Outside of the United States, most people adhere to the “Continental” or “European” style of dining with cutlery, where the fork is held in the left hand and the knife is held in the right hand throughout the meal, without ever switching.

Rejecting food

I recently had dinner with a well-traveled American businessman, who told me about the time he was offered live baby mice at a banquet in China. In nearly every country, it is considered polite to sample every kind of food you are offered. To refuse food without having tried it can offend your host. However, no one will expect you to eat something that will make you sick or violate your beliefs. If you are offered something you simply cannot or will not eat, offer a believable health or religious reason.

Cleaning Your Plate

In some countries, etiquette dictates that you should eat everything on your plate. Otherwise, you might be seen as wasteful or unappreciative of the food. However, in other countries, cleaning your plate would indicate to your host that he did not provide enough to eat.

Here are some general guidelines that should help you handle this delicate situation:

• In Asian countries like Japan, China and Taiwan, leave a small portion of food on your plate to signify to your host that your appetite was satisfied.
• In most European and North American countries, eat everything you take.
• When in doubt, observe what your fellow diners do, or leave a small portion of food on your plate.

Alcohol

Alcohol plays different roles in different cultures. In some countries, drunkenness indicates a lack of self-control and will be frowned upon. In others, social drinking can last far into the night and your counterparts may get "three sheets to the wind". You should understand the local drinking habits and laws in order to prevent yourself from getting sick, making a faux-pas, or even committing a crime.

Your host country might be more avid alcohol drinkers than what you are accustomed to, the alcohol might be stronger, or the climate might make the effects of alcohol more extreme. Pay close attention to your alcohol intake and the effects it has on your body. When you’ve had enough to drink, turn over your empty glass or keep it full so it won’t be refilled. In countries where rejections of alcohol might cause your host to lose face or take offense, state health or religious reasons for abstaining.

In Islam, intoxication by alcohol is forbidden. In most Islamic countries, Muslims may face severe penalties for importing, purchasing or consuming alcohol. As a tourist or business traveler, you may consume alcohol in some hotels, but refrain from offering alcoholic beverages to your Muslim business counterparts or drinking in front of them.

Topics of Conversation

In some countries, meals are considered to be social occasions, and as such, your host may not bring up the subject of business. Wait for your host to begin discussing business first. Even if business is not discussed at dinner, you are still building a relationship and establishing trust with your host, which can help your business goals in the long run.

Not all topics of conversation are appropriate in all countries. For example, you should refrain from discussing women in Saudi Arabia, talking about Aborigines in Australia, or criticizing the government in China.

When in doubt, safe topics to discuss include:

• Weather
• Sports
• Culture, the Arts and Literature
• Travel
• Food
• History – positive aspects
• Your home country or city

Unless your colleagues bring it up first, avoid these topics:

• Politics
• Terrorism
• Religion
• Money
• Sex
• Divorce
• History—negative aspects, including wars
• Racism and Ethnic/Class differences
• Criticism of the host country
• Personal issues, such as income, marital status, age, sexual orientation, etc.

Other Etiquette Tips

Some general or miscellaneous etiquette guidelines to follow:

• cover your mouth with your hand when using a toothpick
• refrain from blowing your nose at the table
• avoid adding excess salt, pepper or ketchup to your food
• don’t belch or slurp when eating, except in Asian countries where these are signs that you are enjoying your meal
• wash your hands thoroughly before eating
• participate in the singing if you are invited to karaoke in Japan, Korea or China
• offer cigarettes to everyone else in your group when smoking
• keep hands on the table, not in your lap, when dining in Europe
• men should refrain from dining alone with a businesswoman in South America; consider inviting spouses

Payment

In almost every country, the person who extended the invitation is expected to pay the bill, though guests and hosts will often enter into a good-natured argument about who will pay. Women should expect their male counterparts to insist on paying.

When saying “thank you” is not enough, you can reciprocate by inviting your host to a meal of the same value. In fact, this may be expected in places like China and Taiwan. Before the meal begins, make sure you give your credit card to the restaurant staff or instruct them to only accept payment from you.

Tipping customs vary across countries, so you should do research on it or ask a native of the country you're visiting how much you should tip at restaurants.

Here’s To Your Health!

In any culture, adhering to proper table manners and etiquette shows your host that you have respect for them. This can only help improve your relationship and establish trust.

The guidelines put forward in this article are generalizations that should give you a vague understanding of dining etiquette across cultures, but you should do your own country-specific research before traveling abroad for business.

The following resources should help:

1) Executive Planet

2) Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands: How to Do Business in 60 Countries

3) Wikipedia

-Worldwide Etiquette

-Table Manners

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

Translatus Opens Office in Beijing

by Lauren Nemec

Translatus is delighted to announce the opening of our first office in China! The new office is located at Room 1403, Tower A, Building 2, Jiulong Garden, Guangqu Road, Chaoyang District, in Beijing. Translatus China operations will be headed by Christine Kee, Executive Vice President, Asia Division.

About Christine Kee

Christine joined Translatus in 2004. Since then, she has been leading and managing Translatus' Sales and Customer Service team in Europe. Christine Kee is a native Chinese speaker who was born in Hong Kong. She graduated with a MA in Applied Translation from the University of Leeds in England. Before joining Translatus, she had over 5 years experience in translation, including freelance translation and interpretation, as well as full-time translation service to the Hong Kong Government. Christine speaks English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Christine Kee will lead Translatus China.

About Translatus China

There are currently three staff members at Translatus China, and we look forward to welcoming more as we grow in the region. The Translatus China staff speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and English.

Translatus staff in China will concentrate on developing new business relationships with Chinese companies and will ensure our existing customers get the support they need for their communications in the Chinese market.

We will also establish a second operations center for job processing at the Beijing office. The opening of the new operations center brings us closer to our goal of truly becoming a 24-hour service provider. As Translatus expands into other continents, our clients in every time zone will benefit from having multiple centers of operation around the world working together remotely to process jobs more efficiently.

By knowing the market and buying locally, we have a competitive advantage in that we are able to select the best of Chinese translators and interpreters. People buying translations in China often find that they are charged more or given poor quality because they don't speak the language. Translatus believes that speaking the right language is the key to our clients' success. Our Chinese-speaking staff in Beijing is able to obtain first-class translations at the best prices.

“On behalf of my colleagues at Translatus in China, we look forward to helping our clients successfully carry across their message into any language, market or culture." Christine Kee, Executive Vice President, Asia Division.

Translatus Project Managers are World-Class

by Lauren Nemec

I've been spending this week in our Operations Department, lending a helping hand with projects while many of our staff members are on holiday. You know, Translatus really has a world-class team here in our Operations department! I am amazed at the time and energy our Project Managers devote to their work. Managing projects can be a hard job with long hours, enormous pressure and a fair bit of drama. But the Operations team, led by Tarah McCarthy, is always resilient and dependable.

The people here at Translatus are committed to not only providing the best product at competitive prices, but we are passionate about giving our clients the best customer experience. No one achieves this better than our dedicated Project Managers. I am surrounded by talented people, all ready to pitch in with their expertise to ensure that our clients' projects are completed on time, with high quality and exceptional customer service.

Thank you, Ops, and keep up the great work!

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".

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

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!"

16 Ways to Get Employees Excited About Workplace Diversity

by Lauren Nemec

I found this article about workplace diversity because my article "International Business: Business Card Etiquette" was referenced there: 16 Ways to Get Employees Excited About Workplace Diversity

I had a lot of diversity coursework and training throughout my undergraduate education, so I love the idea of getting employees psyched about diversity in the workplace. This article presents some excellent ideas for getting employees pumped up about diversity initiatives. I especially like the idea of "Multicultural Food Day" where everyone brings a native dish!

Great article, Dawn!

McDonald's Symbols Lost in Translation?

by Lauren Nemec

If you've eaten at McDonald's anytime within the past year or so, you may have noticed the strange symbols on the food packaging that are meant to represent nutritional information. They look something like this:

If you have any health education, it might be easy to make some educated guesses about what the chart means, but do you think the average McDonald's consumer can fully interpret everything?

Here is the nutritional chart decoded:


What do you think? Is the 'fat' icon is, as they say, 'an easily recognizable measurement tool'? It looks like a display on a stereo system to me. Does the icon with the three dots looks like a salt shaker? I suppose it might, now that you mention it, but I never would have deduced that on my own. Did you even notice the gray shaded areas or dotted line representing daily allowances? I suppose I was too busy decoding the icons.

These days, many global companies opt to use illustrations and symbols rather than incur the cost of translations into multiple languages. If you've ever bought furniture from IKEA, you know what I am talking about.

Ikea's 'instruction people' show you rather than tell you how to handle and assemble IKEA products.

How can a company choose a group of icons that will mean the same thing in any location in the world, without causing offense or confusion? It's quite a challenge and McDonald's did not go at it alone- they enlisted the help of a language services provider.

As this trend grows, more language services providers seem to be offering cultural evaluation services for companies using images, symbols and illustrations in their documentation. Experts (such as marketers or iconographers) evaluate symbols against a certain set of criteria to determine possible cultural offensiveness or insensitivity, appropriate use of color, similarity to existing symbols, ease of comprehension, etc.

I'm sure the language services provider that McDonald's used to analyze their icons did a quality job, but I would question the person who developed these icons. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But I say, unless you can show me the right pictures, I'd rather have the words.

Thank You

by Lauren Nemec

As one of millions of blog writers, I often wonder if people out there ever read my humble postings (other than my mother and a small handful of colleagues).

But people do, in fact, read ‘A World of Translation Work.’ And for that I am very grateful and would like to say a very gracious and heartfelt “Thank you!” I especially appreciate those who have supported this blog through 'word-of-blog' and cross-linking. To those who have posted comments and written emails, I appreciate your insight, feedback and compliments. Keep them coming!

Google analytics is a fabulous tool that allows you to see where your website visitors come from. I am thrilled to have readers from more than 60 countries around the world. (Cue "It's a Small World After All"). A special "hello, howdy y'all, guten tag, hallo, bonjour, buon giorno, hola, olá, merhaba, zdravo, konnichi wa, god dag, dia dhuit, saluton, dobrý den, päivää, and salaam" to all of you.

It is my goal to make ‘A World of Translation Work’ informative and entertaining. If you ever have any questions, comments or suggestions, I would be happy to hear from you. I welcome guest contributions, should you have anything you would like to publish and think this blog would be a relevant forum.

Thanks for reading!

Lauren Nemec

lnemec@translatus.com

+420 222 522 650

Czenglish

by Lauren Nemec

Turns out the Chinese are not the only ones having problems with poor restaurant menu translations.

I've just returned from a lovely lunch with my mother-in-law at a delicious Italian restaurant here in Prague. We had a nice laugh over the menu selections, which included items such as:

-Mozzarela cheese lavred wuth sloves of tomatoes and fresch basil
-Grilled proper salat with jogurt dresink
-Pizza with pineaplle tomtoes and chees
-Salad with nightshade and smokem cheese with 1000s islands dresink

I appreciate that restaurants are translating their menus into English. I can hold my own with food-related Czech, but there is always the fear of ordering liver or stomach by mistake. But I have to wonder: why do nice establishments spend so much money on printing beautiful, glossy menus with tassels and vellum paper only to overlook the importance of printing correctly translated menu items?

Translatus should go around Prague translating restaurant menus for free in exchange for adding a "Translated by Translatus" notice on the menu. Hmm.. there's an idea...

Cultural Dimensions- Individualism vs. Collectivism

by Lauren Nemec

I just read a fascinating article on Yahoo! about study results illustrating Americans' individualistic nature and how it tends to hinder our abilities to understand other people's perspectives. Perhaps it's not directly related to translation, but I strongly believe that understanding culture is crucial to success in international business.

Study: Americans Don't Understand Others

Basic Rundown of the Study
Researchers took American and Chinese participants and told them to move a block on a table. There were two blocks on the table, though one was obstructed from the examiner's view by a piece of cardboard. The Chinese participants were more likely to take into consideration that the examiner was not able to see both blocks and quickly determined the block in the examiner's view should be moved. The Americans were confused by the request, and took much more time to decide which block to move.

Cultural Dimensions
The study and its results illustrate an important concept about culture: individualism vs. collectivism. This concept has been developed and studied by specialists in the field of cross-cultural communication- Geert Hofstede, Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner. These specialists have developed models of culture using multiple 'cultural dimensions'. Anyone who has ever had coursework or training in cross-cultural communication, intercultural sensitivity, or international management should be familiar with these dimensions of culture.

The individualism vs. collectivism dimension explains a culture's social functions; in society, do people function as individuals or groups?

Individualism
In individualistic cultures (such as in the United States, Canada, Germany and South Africa) relationships between people are loose. A person's utmost responsibility and duty is to himself and his immediate family, and people will often put their own needs above the needs of others. Independence and self-reliance are important values in individualistic societies. It is strongly believed that people should be free to pursue their dreams and goals.

This tendency to think about ourselves can suppress our ability to empathize with others and understand different points of view. People in individualistic societies are often seen as 'selfish' or 'egotistic'.

Collectivism
In collectivist cultures (such as China, Japan, Greece and most Latin American countries), individuals are bound together through strong ties. A person's responsibility and duty is to his community, and the needs of the group are put above the needs of the individual. People are expected to act in the best interest of the group, society or family unit. Harmony and loyalty are important values in collectivist societies.

Why is this important?
Developing cultural awareness can help you communicate and work effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds than your own. Understanding the influence of culture on a person's values, behavior, communication style and decision-making may mean the difference between success and failure in an international business venture.

And for Americans, training in cultural awareness might be the medicine we need to cure our egocentric and selfish reputations!

Kwintessential has some great cultural awareness quizzes on their website, if you'd like to get started with your cross-cultural education.

Translation Tools for the Modern-Day Traveler

by Lauren Nemec

If you depend solely on a tattered old phrasebook to get by when traveling abroad, you’re way behind the times. These days, international travelers have a wide range of tools and gadgets at their disposal to help them communicate when abroad.

Swearing

Travelers can really blend in with the locals by using profanity, and websites likes cusscards.com and insults.net easily bring multilingual expletives right to their fingertips. So, the next time you’re cut off by an Italian driver in Rome, you can swear at him like the locals do. Please note that these websites may contain offensive material.

Health

On a more serious note, tools also exist to aid travelers with medical issues. Some niche language service providers exist to help travelers with special needs, such as allergytranslation.com. This service provides translations of 175 food allergies and nearly a dozen diets in over 20 languages. The allergies and their translations are printed on a small card, which can be shown to restaurant staff in other countries, ensuring a pleasant and safe dining experience.

High Tech

A cousin of mine and his wife are traveling through Europe for the next few weeks. They're addicted to their Blackberries, so they activated international service for their phones prior to their departure. With internet access in their hands, they'll be able to perform on-the-spot machine translations (in addition to other great things like checking email, reading restaurant reviews, and checking flight delays). Smartphones can be a great tool for international travelers- one I never even dreamed of when I first started traveling 10 years ago.

These days, you can buy various language software packages for your pocket PC that provide phrasebooks, bilingual dictionaries, machine translation, language learning programs and flashcards, voice translation, and picture dictionaries.

Electronic pocket translators have been around for a long time, but can do much more than they used to thanks to increased storage space and improvements in machine translation technology. Most electronic translators on the market also have multiple functions, such as an MP3 player, world clock, travel alarm, currency converter and calculator.

Forget verbal communication- Just point

Those who want to forget spoken language altogether can depend on the most basic of non-verbal communication tactics – pointing. There are many universal wordless phrasebooks in print, usually called ‘picture dictionaries’. Whether it’s toilet paper, gasoline, beer or a doctor, simply point to a photograph in the ‘phrasebook’ to signify what you need.

Discretion

Though not related to translation tools exactly, there is one more sophisticated 'device' to point out.

In an age where travelers (especially from the U.S.A.) need to look as inconspicuous as possible, some products and services are designed to help travelers blend in. Avant-Guide, for example, is a range of travel books that won’t make you stick out like a sore thumb. Their discreet covers make the books look more like a novel than a travel guide.

So throw out that old phrasebook and get with the times ;)

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

International Business: Business Card Etiquette

by Lauren Nemec

“To know another’s language and not his culture is a very good way to make a fluent fool of yourself.” Winston Brembeck

Your plane tickets are booked, your glossy brochures are printed, your business suit is pressed and your trusty phrasebook is in your pocket. Are you prepared for your meeting?

In the United States, business cards are seen as nothing more than an easy way to exchange contact information. Elsewhere, however, a business card represents its owner, and as such should be treated with the utmost respect. In some business cultures, exchanging cards can be a ceremonious process, with plenty of opportunities to impress – or offend - your business associates.

Here are some tips and guidelines on appropriate business card content, appearance, translation, and ceremony.

Business Card Content

It may seem straightforward - all you need on your business card is your name, job title and contact information, right? Depending on where you are doing business, more information may be necessary. Your card should provide people with information about your background and qualifications.

Job Title

Your job title could be the most important piece of information on your card. Ensure it is translated accurately. Some job titles can be hard to translate, or the title might not exist in the target language.

In many situations, your title will help your business associates determine if you have the authority to make decisions on behalf of your company. You can determine the same thing about your counterparts by referring to the titles on their business cards.

Academic Qualifications

In countries where people hold great respect for higher education, it may be beneficial to state your academic qualifications on your business card if you have any advanced degrees. A few examples of where this would be appropriate are Austria, France, Germany, India, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Peru, and Russia.

Professional Qualifications

If you are member of a professional organization, or if you have received any honors, awards or other distinctions, you might consider putting this information on your business card.

Company Logo

A logo is seen an essential part of any reputable company’s identity, and as such, should be included on your business card.

Company Distinctions

Many cultures value tradition, stability, and longevity. If your company has been established for many years, it would be an asset to put the company’s founding date on your business card.

Translating Your Business Card

If your business card is in English, it is not necessary to have it translated when doing business in these countries, as English is widely spoken or understood:

• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• German
• India
• Israel
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Philippines
• Poland
• Singapore
• South Africa
• Sweden
• Switzerland

It is beneficial to have your business card translated when doing business in the following countries:

• Argentina (Spanish)
• Austria (German)
• Belgium (French and Dutch)
• Brazil (Portuguese)
• Canada (French and English)
• Chile (Spanish)
• China (Chinese, local dialect)
• Colombia (Spanish)
• Egypt (Arabic)
• Greece (Greek)
• Hong Kong (Cantonese)
• Italy (Italian)
• Japan (Japanese)
• Peru (Spanish)
• Russia (Russian with Cyrillic alphabet)
• Saudi Arabia (Arabic)
• South Korea (Korean)
• Spain (Spanish)
• Taiwan (Traditional Chinese)
• UAE (Arabic)
• Venezuela (Spanish)
• Yemen (Arabic)

If you do translate your business card, you can have it translated on the reverse side. Remember to hand over a double-sided business card so that the native language of your business counterpart is facing them.

Business Card Appearance

The quality of your business card may reflect the quality of your product or service, so opt for the best.

People may appreciate the elegance of an engraved or embossed business card. As this prevents anything being printed on the reverse side, have separate cards made for translations into other languages.

In China, the colors red and gold are considered to be auspicious, and would be ideal for use on a business card.

If you don’t already have one, consider buying a business card case. It is considered poor business etiquette to shove a card in your pocket.

Business Card Exchange

Exchanging business cards is a common practice in most countries. In some countries, it is quite common to distribute business cards to everyone you meet, including secretaries and assistants. Make sure you bring a plentiful supply of business cards with you. To avoid causing offense, be sure you offer a card to everyone present, no matter their station. Remember this example: Japanese employees can be very loyal, often staying with the same company for their entire career. The assistant you meet today could one day be an influential decision maker. He will likely remember you if you treat him with respect and politeness.

Rituals of business card exchange vary greatly from country to country. In Western countries, cards are usually exchanged with very little ceremony. However, in some nations, business card exchange can be a highly ceremonious event, requiring decorum, etiquette, and knowledge of the customs.

While varying slightly in formality, the exchange of business cards in countries like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan is as follows:

Bow or shake hands and say your greeting. Present your business card with both hands (or your right hand only, see below), with your associate’s language facing them. Start with the most senior person in the room, and repeat with process with everyone else, moving down the corporate ladder as you go along. When accepting a business card, accept it with both hands and a gracious 'Thank you’. Politely read the business card for a few moments. This is a good time to clarify the pronunciation of a person’s name, ask a question, or make a pleasant remark about his or her card. You may want to leave the cards near you on the table to facilitate name-learning during a meeting. Be sure to carefully put all the cards away in a business card case.

A good rule of thumb for ANY country: treat a business card as if it is a precious gift. Don’t write on it. Don’t stuff it in your pocket. Don’t play with it.

In places like India, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco and Egypt, the left hand is considered to be unclean. (If you don’t know why, click here for a good explanation). Therefore, in these countries, you should hand over your business card only with your right hand.

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Although poor business card etiquette may not be disastrous for your business efforts, good business card etiquette will leave a positive impression of you and your company in the minds of your associates. Knowing the ceremonies will help to put you at ease and open the lines of communication.

Before leaving on a business trip, it is wise to research local business card customs. Here are some resources to get you started:

Executive Planet

Kwintessential Article

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?

7 Steps to Great Translations

by Lauren Nemec

Follow these seven steps for an efficient and cost-effective translation process.

1. Get Organized

A well-organized project will reduce stress, save money, and deliver a solid translation. Before you begin:

• Review the original document to cut out parts that may not be necessary or relevant to your target markets. This will improve your materials and save time and money.
• Finalize the document before sending it for translation. Changes to the source material during the process can be messy and expensive.
• Ask your provider questions! Make sure your document will be translated by a native speaker who specializes in your field. Request to see translator CV's and select the translator whose experience and expertise best fits your job.
• Understand project specifications before sending the project to your provider. If you do not understand, chances are your provider will not understand either.

2. Be Generous with Information

It is crucial that your provider understands as much as possible about the document's purpose. Useful information includes:

• Audience: Is the document for internal or external use? Will it be read by employees or customers? Is the audience sympathetic or hostile?
• Purpose: Does your document persuade people to buy your product or instruct them how to use it? Does it inform about an exciting new technology or announce a new product launch?

3. Use Translation Memory

Translation Memory can be a valuable asset for your company. Translation Memory:

• improves quality and consistency of your translations by building up your preferred multilingual terminology and phrasing.
• gives direct discounts off your translation rates; because a TM increases with every project, the more you translate, the more you will save through TM matches.

4. Set Reasonable Deadlines

A reasonable deadline allows the translator to craft a better translation and provides time for having the document proofread by a second translator.

When setting a deadline for your provider, keep these things in mind:

• A translator’s capacity is about 2000 words of translation per day
• A proofreader’s capacity is about 8000 words per day
• Highly specialized content requires extra time for research
• Additional services, such as DTP work, require additional time

5. Have a Flexible Budget

Understanding the market and its pricing factors can help you understand what kind of quality to expect for your money. Translation rates depend on any number of the following factors:

• Volume of Work: Clearly, a longer document will be more expensive. However, large volumes of work could qualify for volume discounts.
• File format: Providers will charge more to translate documents in formats such as InDesign, HTML or Framemaker than they will charge for common applications such as Microsoft Word or Excel.
• Translation Memory: A mature TM will realize greater cost savings.
• Desired deadline: Tight deadlines could incur rush fees.
• Complexity of material: Translators in highly specialized fields may charge a premium for their expertise.
• Country where provider is located: Translators will charge more in countries with a higher cost of living. Therefore, translations into Finnish, Japanese or Swedish will be more expensive than translations into Chinese, Czech or Russian.

6. Provide Support Material

Providing the project team with reference material will help them to choose the best terminology for your company and to adhere to your preferred writing styles. Excellent examples of support material include:

• previous translations
• websites
• screenshots, pictures, graphs
• company glossaries or dictionaries
• style guides

7. Be Helpful

You can play a key role in the success of your project in the following ways:

• Answer questions as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. Good translators usually ask good questions about the material.
• Provide reference material if a translator requests it.
• Offer deadline extensions if the project team is struggling to finish on time.
• Understand that unforeseen events can happen. Take a deep breath, be patient and work through the obstacle together.

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If you like this, the American Translator Association has published an in-depth guide to buying translations (you can find it on their homepage).

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For more information about Translatus, please contact:
Lauren Nemec
Marketing Manager
Email: lnemec@translatus.com
Tel: +420 222 517 153
www.translatus.com

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

The Globalization of... Cheerleading?

by Lauren Nemec

Whether it's German youth tuning into MTV, Chinese teens hanging out at their local McDonald's, Japanese kids playing baseball in the streets, or girls in the UK playing with Barbie and Bratz dolls, it's clear to see that globalization has brought aspects of American life to every corner of the globe. But I admit that I was a little surprised when I learned about the latest American cultural export: Cheerleading.

At the 2007 World Cheerleading Championships (held last month in Orlando, Florida), 38 teams from fifteen different countries competed for the gold medal. The competitors came from countries all over the world- Chile, Colombia, China, Australia, Scotland, New Zealand and Germany, to name a few. Though the American teams take home the majority of the medals each year, some of the foreign teams will become a force to be reckoned with in future competitions- namely the Chinese squads.

All this really shouldn't come as much of a surprise when you consider the influence cheerleading has on American culture- and how that culture is being packaged and sold like a McDonald's Happy Meal.

For example, cheerleading is a popular theme in many teen movies. The 2000 hit cheerleading movie "Bring it On" made about 25% of its $90 million box office sales overseas. According to Newsweek's article, "A World of Cheer", cheerleading's rise in popularity around the world is also a result of ESPN International's broadcasts of cheerleading competitions and the attractiveness and athleticism of famed NFL cheerleading squads.

What will come next? I'm hard-pressed to find an American product, service, or experience that can't be had around the world!

Common Sense Advisory's Top 20 for 2006 is Here

by Lauren Nemec

The Common Sense Advisory has just posted their 2006 Top 20 Translation and Localization Providers list here.

Some notable changes from last year:
- L-3 Communications has surpassed LionBridge to take the number one spot.
- Candidates from Asia were considered for the list in 2006, allowing Japanese company "Honyaku Centre" to make the shortlist.
- Other newcomers include Language Line (claiming the number 4 spot) and Semantix.

Common Sense Advisory will hold a webinar for its members on Tuesday, May 8th to discuss the findings.

You're Never Too Old to Learn a Foreign Language!

by Lauren Nemec

I found a sweet article today from the Hartford Courant about residents of a retirement community who are learning foreign languages in order to communicate with each other. You can read it here.

Nearly 40% of the residents at the Olympia, Washigton retirement community are Korean-born, and don't speak much English. Though they had been neighbors for many years, the American and Korean residents could not do much more than smile at each other- until now. At the request of the residents, English and Korean classes are being offered at the community. Being able to ask of their neighbor something as simple as "How are your children" in their neighbor's native tongue has not only helped the seniors to develop respect for each other, but has also opened the door for friendship.

Studies have shown that children who begin language learning at early ages will have better native pronunciation and an increased ability to speak the language fluently than an adult who begins language study later in life. However, according to language-learning-advisor.com, advanced age should not prevent a person from successfully learning a foreign language. Quite the opposite! A person's life experience, motivation, confidence and mature cognitive system can greatly contribute to their learning a foreign language.

Besides, I guess it helps that they don't have the added pressure of studying for exams or certificates!

*Photo credit: courant.com, Tony Overman

Translatus Announces Management Changes

by Lauren Nemec

Translatus would like to announce numerous management changes within our company.

Ms. Christine Kee, formerly the Sales Director, is now the Sales Director of Translatus International. Christine’s focus and responsibilities in the coming months will be concentrated on the company’s expansion into the Chinese market and implementing the company’s global sales strategy.

Christine is a native Chinese speaker who was born in Hong Kong. She graduated with a MA in Applied Translation from the University of Leeds in England. She has over 5 years experience in translation, including freelance translation and interpretation, as well as full-time translation service to the Hong Kong Government. Christine speaks English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Mr. Jean-René Savoie joined the Translatus team as an Account Representative in February of this year. As our new European Sales Director, he will be responsible for building the European Sales Team and achieving sales goals that will help Translatus to become a key player in the language services market.

Jean-René graduated from the Université Laval (Quebec City) and Université de Montréal, with degrees in Communications and Advertising. He joined Translatus after working for 2 years in the advertising, communications and public relations fields in Canada. Customer service and business development were part of his responsibilities, either as a freelance project manager or for major players of the Canadian advertising industry. Jean-René speaks French and English.

Mr. Marco Berg has been with Translatus as an Account Representative since April of 2006. During this time, Marco has significantly contributed to sales force by closing key accounts and setting the bar for the most dedicated customer service. As our new European Account Manager, Marco will head the recruiting efforts for Translatus in addition to focusing on his key client accounts.

Marco graduated from the College of The Hague with a degree in Human Resources. Before joining Translatus he had over 4 years experience in Recruitment, Customer Service and Account Development. Marco speaks English, Dutch and some German and Czech.

For more information about Translatus, please contact:

Lauren Nemec

Marketing Manager

Email: lnemec@translatus.com

Tel: +420 222 517 153

www.translatus.com

China Struggles to Meet Translator Demand

by Lauren Nemec

Exactly one month ago, I made a post about China's endeavor to improve the quality of translations in preparation for the multitude of visitors expected to arrive for Beijing's 2008 Olympic games.

A plan was unveiled in early February to ensure quality translations by replacing mis-translated signs at tourist destinations, standardizing restaurant menus, offering English lessons to city officials, and fixing confusing road signs. For a country notorious for its low-quality (and sometimes extremely funny) translations, this task will require an army of language professionals. As if that wasn't enough to keep them busy, translators will continue to be in high demand throughout the 2008 games as well as for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.

Considering the low translation prices typically found in China- with the quality to match- it comes as no surprise that there is a severe shortage of qualified language professionals. There are an estimated half million translators in China- of which only about 15-20% are officially certified! Getting a quality translation from a Chinese translator without knowing the market requires as much luck as winning a game of roulette.

The English People's Daily Online put up a great article today called, "China struggling to get past its translation bottleneck." It describes the challenges the Chinese are facing in developing translation market standards and sourcing enough professional, highly qualified translators to meet growing demand.

For more information about Translatus, please contact:

Lauren Nemec

Marketing Manager

Email: lnemec@translatus.com

Tel: +420 222 517 153

www.translatus.com

Translatus Announces Partnership with EventAffair

by Lauren Nemec

Translatus is pleased to announce our partnership with Milan-based event management firm EventAffair. Translatus will be supporting EventAffair by providing their clients with comprehensive translation and interpreting services for their important events. This partnership allows Translatus to assist our own valued clients by linking them to a strong partner in the event management industry.

Sabine Vinci, General Manager of EventAffair says, “EventAffair is thrilled to partner with Translatus. Together, through our expertise in our respective markets and the strength of our services, we can achieve our goals of supporting the needs of global organizations.”

About EventAffair:

EventAffair customizes event programs to meet all of our customers’ communication needs. Our full service offer makes us a single source, turn-key solution provider, capable of managing all event activities. We support our customers in the search for the best ways of organizing meetings and managing individual services; customized and managed for you with utmost professionalism.

Our range of event capabilities includes:

Corporate Events

PR Launches

Product Presentations

Press Events

Public and Sporting Events

Charities

Incentives

Congresses

Teambuilding

For more information about EventAffair, please contact:
Sabine Vinci
General Manager
Email: sabine.vinci@eventaffair.com

Mob.: +39 335 8198813
Tel: +39 02 89011551
www.eventaffair.com

For more information about Translatus, please contact:
Lauren Nemec
Marketing Manager
Email: lnemec@translatus.com
Tel: +420 222 517 153
www.translatus.com

Foreign Language Tongue Twisters

by Lauren Nemec

Tongue Twisters are a source of fun for people all over the world. I've asked some members of Translatus' very multicultural staff to provide me with their favorite tongue twisters in their language. Have fun, and don't hurt yourself ;)

Lauren Nemec’s Favorite English Tongue Twisters

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.

She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,

I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Jean-René Savoie’s Favorite French Tongue Twisters

Les chemises de l'archiduchesse sont-elles sèches ou archisèches ?

Are the shirts of the archduchess dry or extra dry?

Ce chasseur sait chasser sans son chien dit le sage garde-chasse, chasseur sachez chasser sans chien!
This hunter knows how to hunt without his dog, says the wise hunting ward. The hunter knows how to hunt without dog!

Le blé s'moud-il ? L'habit s'coud-il ? Oui l'blé s'moud, l'habit s'coud.

Does the wheat mill itself? Does the coat sew itself? The wheat mills itself! The coat sews itself!

Si six scies scient six cyprès, six cent six scies scient six cent six cyprès.

If six hundred saws saw six hundred sausages,
six hundred six saws will saw six hundred six sausages.

Sonia Černohorská and Veronika Svobodová’s Favorite Czech Tongue Twisters

Vlk zmrzl, zhltl hrst zrn.

The wolf froze, he swallowed a handful of grains.

Strč prst skrz krk.

Stick your finger through your throat.

Třistatřiatřicet stříbrných křepelek přeletělo přes třistatřiatřicet stříbrných střech.

Three hundred and thirty three silver qu

ails flew over three hundred and thirty three silver roofs.

Pštros s pštrosicí a malými pštrosáčaty. Pštros s pštrosicí a pštrosáčatz šli do pštrosačárny.

A male ostrich with a female ostrich and baby ostriches went to the ostrich house.

Pan kaplan v kapli plakal.

The chaplain cried in the chapel.

Kmotře Petře, nepřepepřete mi toho vepře.
Godfather Peter, don't put too much pepper on my pork.

Marco Berg’s Favorite Dutch Tongue Twisters

Zeven Zaventemse zotten zullen zes zomerse zondagen zwemmen zonder zwembroek. Zware Julien zijn zuster zaliger zei: "Zo'n zeveraars! Ze zijn zijle zeker zot zeg! Ze zullen zinken!"

Seven fools from Zaventem will swim six Sundays in the summer without swimming trousers. The dead sister of fat Julien said: "Such fools! They are nuts! They'll sink!"

Drie dikke drilboren drillen door drie dikke deuren.

Three large drilling machines drill through three large doors.

Kapper Knap, de knappe kapper, knipt en kapt heel knap, maar de knecht van kapper Knap, de knappe kapper, knipt en kapt nog knapper dan kapper Knap, de knappe kapper.

Hairdresser Knap, the smart hairdresser, cuts and does hair smartly, but the mate of hairdresser Knap, the smart hairdresser, cuts and does hair more smartly than hairdresser Knap, the smart hairdresser, cuts and does hair.

Gooi geen groene groenten in de grote gracht.

Don't throw green vegetables in the big canal.

Alexander Larsson's Favorite Swedish Tongue Twisters

Sex laxar i en laxask.

Six salmons in a salmon box.

Sju sjösjuka sjömän sköttes av sju skönsjungande sjuksköterskor på det sjunkande skeppet Shanghai.

Seven sea sick sailors were taken care of by seven beautifully singing nurses on the ship Shanghai.

Flyg fula fluga, flyg, och den fula flugan flög.

Fly ugly fly, fly, and the ugly fly flew.

Knut knöt en knut bakom knuten, och när Knut hade knutit knuten så var knuten knuten.

Knut tied a knot behind the corner, and when Knut had tied the knot the knot was tied.

Want to see more tongue twisters in other languages? Check this out!

For more information about Translatus, please contact:
Lauren Nemec
Marketing Manager
Email: lnemec@translatus.com
Tel: +420 222 517 153
www.translatus.com

Common Sense Advisory's "Global Watchtower" Posts about Irish

by Lauren Nemec

A week before I wrote the "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" post, the Common Sense Advisory posted a commentary about Irish in their Global Watchtower. This article offers a more in-depth profile on the Irish language, focusing on the challenges caused by increasing demand for Irish since becoming an official language of the EU.

You can read it here. Enjoy!


For more information about Translatus, please contact:
Lauren Nemec
Marketing Manager
Email: lnemec@translatus.com
Tel: +420 222 517 153
www.translatus.com

Tabhair póg dom, táim Éireannach - Kiss me, I’m Irish!

by Lauren Nemec

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh! Saint Patrick’s Day blessing upon you! The recent Irish holiday, which fell on Saturday, March 17^th, has inspired me to write a profile on the Irish language. Also an inspiration for this entry is a recent business trip I made to Ireland. As Irish is a language that Translatus has not yet had the opportunity to work with, I am not too familiar with it and was excited to learn more about it!

A Cork cab driver was happy to answer my many questions about the language on our journey to the airport for my trip back to Prague, though first I had to convince him I am not Irish. He exclaimed, “You’re foxy-haired! When you came to the cab I thought you were Irish!” before jumping into a lively conversation about his native tongue. Also contributing to my Irish education is Folklorist and Curator of the Church of St. Anne Shandon- Declan Kelly (who requested my rendition of "Deep in the Heart of Texas" before allowing me to ring the Bells of Shandon).

Ringing the bells of Shandon at the Church of St. Anne Shandon in Cork.

Irish (also known as Irish Gaelic or sometimes just Gaelic) is the first official language of Ireland and one of the 23 official languages of the European Union, though only a small percentage of Irish citizens are native or fluent speakers. Out of a population of about 4 million people in the Republic of Ireland, there are only an estimated 380,000 fluent speakers of Irish.

My taxi driver explained that children in Ireland learn Irish throughout their education, and are often taught their basic courses, such as mathematics, science, literature, etc., entirely in Irish. Compulsory study of the Irish language ends once students reach university level. Recent discussions have called to abolish the requirement of Irish study in primary and secondary schools, though many Irish people oppose the idea.

For the most part, Irish is not spoken in cities and families do not speak Irish together in their homes, though Irish colloquial phrases are used frequently in every day life by speakers of all proficiency levels. The only places in Ireland where Irish is actively spoken would be in the “Gaeltacht” (literally "Irish-speaking regions"). These regions are few and far between, with a total population of about 85,000.

Despite the prevalence of the English language, Ireland’s second official language, Irish-speakers are able to watch television in Irish, listen to the radio in Irish, and read newspapers and magazines in Irish. Road signs in Ireland are written in both English and Irish. Signs in any Tesco can guide you to Cúram Gruaige (hair care products). And for those who actually read that kind of thing, legislation and other important documents of Ireland and the EU are translated into the Irish language.

Most signs I saw in Cork were written in English and Irish, like this sign at the airport.

As we neared the airport, the taxi driver expressed his great regret (a feeling which I believe many Irish share) that the language is disappearing. The Irish government has made efforts to preserve the Irish language, though most see them as half-hearted and ineffective attempts that work only until the funding runs out. What keeps the language alive today are those few speakers in the Gaeltacht areas. I certainly hope that the Irish will preserve their native tongue for generations to come. After all, it is such a beautiful language.

Slán agus beannacht leat!

Goodbye and blessings on you!

For more information about Translatus, please contact:
Lauren Nemec
Marketing Manager
Email: lnemec@translatus.com
Tel: +420 222 517 153
www.translatus.com

Beijing Prepares for the 2008 Olympics by Correcting Bad Translations

by Lauren Nemec

Since 2001, China has been making grand preparations for their big moment in the spotlight: the 2008 Summer Olympic Games that will take place in Beijing. New multi-million dollar venues are being constructed. Beijing’s subway system is being expanded and modernized. Credit card systems are being developed and opened for international competition. One preparation that has recently been making headlines – and causing a few laughs- is Beijing's campaign to correct mistranslations found throughout the city.

Tourists are often amused at some of the confusing translations they find at tourist attractions or on restaurant menus. At one delightful restaurant, you can choose from a selection of:

“The temple explodes the chicken cube”

“The water boils the beef”

“Chicken silk noodles”

“The soil bean burns the beef”

“Slip away the chicken slice”

“Black mushrooms rape”

“Styn fived pine seeds withcorn”

“The sugar vinegar in ridge”

However, not all mistranslations are funny. Indeed, some can even be insulting, such as the sign on a handicapped restroom door reading “Deformed person.” Some might even be dangerous, like a sign at a hazardous area of the Great Wall of China warning you to “Slip Carefully.” Some are just incredibly confusing, like a park sign saying, "Be civilized visitor, set up the ecosystem scenery together!"

Such examples of “Chinglish” are exactly what the Chinese intend to correct in anticipation of the hordes of foreigners that will attend the 2008 games. A number of groups are spearheading the changes, including the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Beijing Speaks Foreign Languages Program, the Beijing Speaks to the World Committee, and the Beijing Municipal Tourism Bureau.

These organizations have made significant progress. Translations of popular restaurant menu items have already been standardized, meaning that you will be hard-pressed to find “Slip away the chicken slice” in any Chinese establishment. Public signs, tourist attractions and hotel information will also be getting translation makeovers throughout the next 18 months. Taxi drivers and police officers are receiving English crash courses in order to better serve the estimated 500 million foreigners that are expected to attend the 2008 games.

In related news, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) has recently selected the official language services provider for the 2008 games. The Chinese translation company “Yuanpei Translation” will provide all translation and interpretation services required for the games. You can read the related article here.

If you would like to see more examples of Chinglish or read more articles about this topic, click on the following links:

PocoPico - Photos and examples of Chinglish in China

BBC News Article - "Beijing Stamps Out Poor English"

Wall Street Journal Article - "Tired of Laughter, Beijing Gets Rid of Bad Translations"

For more information about Translatus, please contact:

Lauren Nemec

Marketing Manager

Email: lnemec@translatus.com

Tel: +420 222 517 153

www.translatus.com

The Languages of the Former Yugoslavia

February 27, 2007

by Lauren Nemec, with contributions from Aleksandar Skripka

Though the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has ceased to exist, the ramifications of the tumultuous changes that occurred throughout the region in decades past continues even today. One aspect that continues to be a controversial and touchy subject in the region is the language. Today, many people find it difficult to understand the differences between Serbo-Croatian, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Slovenian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, etc. As outsource language specialists, it’s not only Translatus’ job to understand the nuances of the language systems of the region, but to ensure our clients understand them as well. While the differences between the languages are usually not significant enough to prevent basic understanding between speakers, they can create the potential for significant challenges for a company targeting this region. Perhaps this article will provide better understanding of the language complexities in the former Yugoslavia.

Serbo-Croatian

For many years, “Serbo-Croatian” was the standard, official language used in the former Yugoslavia. However, some would say it was more of a “pseudo language” that was created by communists to smooth over nationalistic feelings in the region. The term “Serbo-Croatian” is not used today, as many native speakers would find it to be politically incorrect or offensive.

Serbia and Croatia

Serbian is understood in Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia. Croatian is understood in Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia. Spoken Serbian and Croatian are virtually interchangeable, meaning Serbs and Croats understand each other. However, due to ethnic tensions between the two groups, and because a translation done in Serbian would be obvious to a Croat (and vice versa) a document destined for both regions should be done in both languages. The same can be said for Bosnian. Though it can be understood in Serbia and Croatia, a Bosnian translation should be used only for the Bosnian market.

Croats are wary of any foreign influence on Croatian. They tend to be protective and purist regarding their language. As a result, Croatian, unlike Serbian, tends not to use loan words or foreign words, but will instead create its own words. For example, the English word “computer” in Serbian would be "kompjuter” – a phonetic spelling of the English word. Instead of borrowing the foreign term, the Croatians have coined the term “računalo”.

Case Study

We experienced this issue first-hand when a client in the telecommunications industry had a document translated from English into Croatian. Our translator came back to us with a question regarding treatment of the English word "router". In his words, “Croatian terminology in [the telecommunications field] is still under development and far from being standardized.” The translator presented the client with a choice of three Croatian terms for the word "router”: router, ruter, and usmjernik, representing the foreign term, the phonetically adapted term, and the new Croatian word, respectively.

In some cases, as well as in this particular case, a client might choose the term listed in their pre-approved term base or glossary. If the client has no term base, or if the term is not yet included in their term base, Translatus would suggest the most appropriate term. In this case, the most appropriate term would have been "usmjernik", as it gives proper meaning while also representing the spirit of the Croatian language.

As this case study illustrates, languages in the Former Yugoslavia are constantly evolving, presenting us with new challenges in selecting the most appropriate terminology.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

The population of Bosnia and Herzegovina is made up of three ethnic groups- Muslim, Croatian, and Serbian. The Muslim group of Bosnia (known as Bosniaks) calls their language Bosnian. However, the Croatian and Serbian groups of Bosnia speak Croatian and Serbian, respectively. All three languages are Bosnia and Herzegovina’s official languages. So what is the best language for a document for this market? It depends exactly what is being translated, but unless a client has a very specific target market within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the best bet is Bosnian.

Montenegro

Montenegrins speak “Montenegrin”. In fact, this is not an official language, but rather a heavy dialect of Serbian. Whether or not "Montenegrin” will become an official language of Montenegro is currently a hot issue. As such, a document intended for the Montenegrin market would best be completed in the official language of Montenegro, which is Serbian. However, a company specifically targeting Montenegro can certainly have a translation done in "Montenegrin" if required. One cost-effective way to do this might be to have an existing Serbian translation proofread or edited by a Montenegrin translator.

Macedonia

The primary official language of the Republic of Macedonia is Macedonian. Macedonian is the most widely spoken language in the country, though many other languages are also spoken. Macedonian is sufficient for translation destined for this region. However, the rapidly increasing Albanian population in Macedonia could lead to an increasing need for Albanian-language documents in the future.

Slovenia

Translations for Slovenia should be done in the official language of Slovenian. Macedonians and Slovenians who were educated during the period of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will be able to understand both Serbian and Croatian, but others educated after the mid-1980's will not. Therefore, Croatian and Serbian translations will not work for these countries.

Languages of the Former Yugoslavia- Quick Reference Table

Country	Language for Translation	Alphabet
Bosnia & Herzegovina	Bosnian	Latin
Croatia	Croatian	Latin
Macedonia	Macedonian	Cyrillic
Montenegro	Serbian/Montenegrin	Latin
Serbia	Serbian	Cyrillic or Latin
Slovenia	Slovenian	Latin

Do you have examples to share? Would you like to present your own insights about this topic? Please feel free to post a comment to this article. We welcome your feedback and your thoughts!

For more information about Translatus, please contact:

Lauren Nemec

Marketing Manager

Email: lnemec@translatus.com

Tel: +420 222 517 153

www.translatus.com

Prague in Pictures

Charles Bridge, January 2007

February 15, 2007

By Lauren Nemec

Translatus is part of a network that brings people from all parts of the world together. We love to receive pictures from our business partners showing life in their part of the world, whether they are snaps of a translator ice-fishing in Finland, a client's photos of steamy Seville, or shots of famous icons from around the globe. In return for these insights into your lives and your countries, we would like to share some of our own photos with you.

Translatus Account Representative Marco Berg has captured the beauty of Prague and is excited to share his photos with you. Please click on the photo thumbnail for a larger image.

Old Town Square, September 2006



View of Prague Castle, June 2006



The City of 100 Spires, April 2006



Bridges Spanning the Vltava River, April 2006

Should you decide to come see the beauty of Prague for yourself, please stop by our office! We would love to meet you.

For more information about Translatus, please contact:

Lauren Nemec

Marketing Manager

Email: lnemec@translatus.com

Tel: +420 222 517 153

www.translatus.com

Translatus Announces New Manager of Operations

February 7, 2007

By Lauren Nemec

Translatus is delighted to introduce our new Manager of Operations, Tarah McCarthy.

Ms. McCarthy joined the Translatus team in November of 2006 as a Project Manager. She is now set to lead the Operations Department as the former Director, David Depman, prepares to head Translatus’ new Department of Business Development.

Before joining Translatus, Ms. McCarthy had three years of experience working in the accounting department of a New Jersey law firm as an assistant to the controller. Ms. McCarthy holds a B.A. in Art and Communication from William Paterson University, where she graduated with honors.

Translatus looks forward to working with Ms. McCarthy as she leads the Operations team to what we are sure will be a very exciting and busy year!

For more information about Translatus, please contact:

Lauren Nemec

Marketing Manager

Email: lnemec@translatus.com

Tel: +420 222 517 153

www.translatus.com

Welcome to the Translatus Blog

February 7, 2006

By Lauren Nemec

Welcome to the new Translatus blog!

We at Translatus expect a busy and exciting year in 2007. Our team is working hard to offer you groundbreaking new services and the best customer service at the most competitive rates.

Come back often for Translatus updates and industry-related news and articles. Please feel free to leave your comments. We would like to hear from you!

For more information about Translatus, please contact:

Lauren Nemec

Marketing Manager

Email: lnemec@translatus.com

Tel: +420 222 517 153

www.translatus.com