Language Translation | World View Blog

Translating a Wealth of Welsh Literature into English

Translation Comments Off

Jun 292012

Quality foreign translations are needed in many languages!

A painting about The Mabinogion Courtesy: www.sacred-texts.com

A monumental addition to the world’s cultural treasure chest came in the form of an English translation at the hands of a man named Gwyn Thomas. (The original translation was done by Lady Charlotte Guest in 1877, which is when the title The Mabinogion also became popular.) Thomas, who is a Welsh writer and a professor, has published 16 volumes of poetry, and several volumes of work as a literary and cultural critic. But perhaps his greatest contribution, his grand opus, was his translation of The Mabinogion into English. For those of you who are unfamiliar, The Mabinogion is a collection of stories taken from medieval Welsh manuscripts.

This group of 11 stories focuses on historical events in both the medieval and Iron Age. Several of the stories are important to note as they provide valuable evidence for the development of the Arthurian legend. The stories of The Mabinogion appear in the earlier White Book of Rhydderch and The Red Book of Hergest. They are divided into The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, four native tales, and three romances. This collection consists of the preponderance of prose found in medieval Welsh manuscripts that had not been translated from other languages. Continue reading “Translating a Wealth of Welsh Literature into English” »

Being stumped by foreign languages? Feel Free to Blame You Brain!

Learning Languages Comments Off

Jun 292012

Structural development in the brain may predict the ability to learn foreign languages.

Brain mapping Photo: wikipedia.org

Have you wondered why others can pick up foreign languages so easily and you have such difficulty with the same task? A group of neuroscientists from University College London has uncovered a clue: fast language learners have developed different brain structures at different rates than slow language learners. Their findings, entitled “Brain structure predicts the learning of foreign speech,” determined that the capacity to differentiate sounds in a foreign language is linked to cerebral white matter. In accordance with their results, quick learners have more white matter and a less symmetrical brain than those who labor with foreign tongues.

Translation agencies haven’t gone quite the distance of having their translators’ brains examined, but their translators and interpreters should be qualified professionals, selected for projects on the basis of their Continue reading “Being stumped by foreign languages? Feel Free to Blame You Brain!” »

Translating Paradise

Language Resources Comments Off

Jun 272012

Many historical translators believe all human languages descended from the Garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve Photo: www.answersfrommen.com

Scholars across the globe once believed that all human languages were handed down from the language of Adam and Eve, a language referred to as Adamic.

“In the Sanskrit Language (1786), Sir William Jones proposed that Sanskrit and Persian had resemblances to classical Greek, Latin, Gothic and Celtic languages. From this idea sprang the field of comparative historical linguistics. Through the 19th century, European linguistics centered on the comparative history of the Indo-European languages, with a concern for finding their common roots and tracing their development.”

Operating from a biblical vantage point, some intellectuals accepted as truth that all human languages were the progeny of the language of Adam and Eve’s Adamic Language. Many of these learned men believed that the Hebrew Language was, in fact, the Continue reading “Translating Paradise” »

Internationalization: Step One Moving Towards Localization

Globalization, Localization Comments Off

Jun 252012

The Localization process begins with Internationalization of the software or website.

Internationalization photo: www.tbmagazine.net

The Internationalization of your software and/or website is the first critical step towards Localization. But let’s start with a quick overview of exactly what Internationalization is. LISA, the now defunct Localization Industry Standards Association, defined it as follows:

Internationalization is the process of generalizing a product so that it can handle multiple languages and cultural conventions without the need for re-design. Internationalization takes place at the level of program design and document development.

Basically, prior to sending the source material to the localization vendor, the product must be made ready for international markets. This process entails the removal of text to be translated from the software source code. “String files, or if you prefer, “resource files,” are created to house the translated text. Next, the Continue reading “Internationalization: Step One Moving Towards Localization” »

Translator vs. Translation Agency

Translation Comments Off

Jun 252012

It is a monumental misconception that bilingual speakers are also able to translate.

Three sets of eyes photo: courtesy www.pbase.com

Three sets of eyes photo: courtesy pbase.com

When searching for translation services, it is vital to remember that just because someone speaks two languages does NOT mean that this person is qualified to translate between these two languages. The fact is that most bilingual speakers do not receive the sort of education or expertise required for a quality professional translation in either language or in the field of expertise for which the translation is intended. Often an employer will ask one of their Spanish-speaking team members to translate a letter or some short document from English into Spanish. It happens all the time. It never occurs to the team leader that the employee may not be equally well-educated in both languages–especially not for a Continue reading “Translator vs. Translation Agency” »

Translation vs. Localization

Localization, Translation Comments Off

Jun 212012

Translation converts written text into another language and localization brings those conversions into the wonderful worlds of technology and computers.

Translation/localization photo: www.buildingonline.net

Translation involves the conversion of written text or spoken words into another language. It is essential that a full understanding of the source material be flawlessly rendered into the target language, concentrating on all possible cultural nuances and style.

The difference between translation and localization can be defined as follows:

“Translation is only one of the activities in localization; in addition to translation, a localization project includes many other tasks such as project management, software engineering, testing and desktop publishing.”¹

Localization is typically used by software and web page development industries for translating their software or web sites into different languages and designing them with a specific country or region in mind. Localization implies that the culture and mannerisms of the specific location for which the localized product is intended will be assimilated into the translation of that product. Products and environments are geared to work naturally with the target language and individual locale by adding region-specific programs and translating text.

Continue reading “Translation vs. Localization” »

Globalization

Globalization Comments Off

Jun 122012

Globalization refers to the combined steps of Internationalization and Localization.

Image by Craig Roth www.wordle.net

As a term, Globalization can be used in several different ways. But here in the translation industry, it has manifested itself as the overall function of translating and “localizing” software and websites. In this capacity, software and web sites are enabled to accommodate non-English speaking readers. This particular version of Globalization is generally employed by sales and marketing departments as they target themselves towards taking their products global in international markets

Note: G11n is often used as an abbreviation for globalization, where “11″ indicates the number of letters between the “g” and the “n”.

LISA, The Localization Industry Standards Association, now defunct, defined Globalization as follows: Continue reading “Globalization” »

Spanish Book Translation Explodes

Translation Comments Off

Jun 122012

Tens of thousands of publications are being translated into Spanish each year.

Photo courtesy of www.ehow.com

More than 10,000 books annually are translated from English into Spanish. Tens of thousands additional works are translated from English into Spanish, including medical, technical, and scientific publications. These numbers can only continue to grow as the globalization of businesses around the world races with medical and technical advances to benefit the ever-growing Spanish-speaking population base. This is an amazing growth industry. Can you predict a niche market for any translating or interpreting companies?

Graduates in High Demand for Localization Work in Ireland

Localization Comments Off

Feb 012012

The Centre for Next Generation Localisation (CNGL) is urging secondary students to consider a career in the localization sector. They have put together a guide based on research from four Irish universities, Ireland-based multinationals including IBM and Microsoft, and other subject matter experts. The guide itself highlights the range of careers in localization and shows case studies of former Irish graduates that have gone on to work in the localization industry.

Dr Páraic Sheridan, the associate director at CNGL, said, “Localisation is critical to so many industries, including software, games, financial services and medical devices, in bringing their products to foreign markets, so it really is vital to Ireland’s export-led recovery.” At Language Translation, we understand the importance of having quality localization and the effect it has on promoting your business worldwide.

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Language Translation, Inc.
A leading language translation and interpretation service provider for more than 20 years.

Twitter Translation Center Will Support Right-to-Left Languages

Language In Use, Language Resources, Translation Comments Off

Jan 262012

The Twitter Translation Center, which takes a crowd-sourced approach to translating and localizing Twitter for people around the world, recently announced that Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu would be fully supported this spring. Twitter is currently available in 22 languages, allowing many users worldwide to be able to tweet in their language of choice. Over 425,000 people volunteer for this project, which started with Japanese being the first language translated back in 2008.

They are continuing to develop more languages, and are encouraging any potential translators to visit their translation center if they want to volunteer.

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Language Translation, Inc.
A leading language translation and interpretation service provider for more than 20 years.

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