Welcome to the year 2012 and guess what, time is still of the essence. Because there is a lot of talk around the world regarding this year being our last year on Earth as we know it, I have the growing sense that more people are in even more of a hurry to get things […]
The phrase “lost in translation” may remind the average folk of a famous movie title from back in 2003. In that movie two Americans, played by the voluptuous Scarlett Johansson and the comical Bill Murray, meet and share a few melodramatic romantic nights in Tokyo. Translators know that for them “lost in translation�
In today’s expanding global market, the importance of delivering high quality projects at competitive prices with tight deadlines has never been so critical. While working as a senior account manager in the translation industry, I see that “RUSH” projects with short turnaround times are starting to become a common c
What really is a translation? Is it someone interpreting one language into another? In reality it is a lot more complex than that. The definition of Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source language text accomplished by an equivalent target language text. For many centuries the prevailing language used
Following my last entry, I’m going to start off with some shocking and/or interesting statistics of the ever changing fabric of our American quilt. While there are many demographics of immigrants and non-native English speakers in the US, this entry will focus primarily on the rapidly growing Hispanic population in the
The value of up-selling & cross selling. To increase revenue and margins of an order by selling products / services at higher prices i.e. up-selling or by selling add-on products and accessories, a tactic also known as cross selling, share the idea of needing to prove our consumers that there is something in it for [&he
My entire life I grew up hearing from both my parents and school teachers “to assume, makes an A** out of U and ME”. I always felt a jolt of annoyance flash through my body whenever this phrase leaped out of someone’s mouth. I always thought to make an assumption was simply to not state […]
Google announced that it would be introducing text-to-speech translation via google translate for Android in February 2011. It will be launched in English and Spanish, but will soon be available in more languages. The service consists of a three-step process: • Speech recognition and conversion into text. • Automatic t
It is fair to say that Spanish translation is the U.S. is divided equally between the domestic and international market. These markets each have their own idiosyncrasies that represent only one aspect of the language problem in the United States. U.S. based translations face a very different situation from that experienced
There are a number of organizations who are advocates of the importance of language, localization, and global content. As frequent industry contributors, they organize events to promote quality standarization and help strengthen a community that spreads across the globe. Translation Manager, Localization Managers, Transla
If you have a business or company in the United States and are considering investing in Spanish translations, it is important to have access to Hispanic trends, census data, and demographic information. Below are some good resources: United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Statistics – Information and statistics on
The U.S. book publishing industry is a $27 billion a year business and consists of approximately 2600 companies. There are 6 large publishers (all in New York), 3,400 medium-sized publishers and 86,000 small/self-publishers in the U.S. Four of the U.S. conglomerate publishers are foreign owned. Although the publishing indu
Spanish is becoming increasingly more common in the U.S., stimulated by an increasing growth of the Hispanic population. Many Hispanics, even those fluent in English, want to maintain their cultural identity by continuing to learn and speak Spanish. Finally, there is a growing group of English-speaking, non-Hispanics who ar
According to the 2000 census, over 21 million people in the United States have limited English proficiency (LEP). Nearly 28 percent of all Spanish speakers in the United State fall into this category. This language barrier can be a serious disadvantage in providing quality health care. It can affect an LEP patient’s acces
A dictionary is a simple tool which helps us with the pronouciation, spelling and grammar needed for correct and effective communication. A glossary is an alphabetical list of technical terms in some specialized field of knowledge. The list below are helpful resources for general and specialized terminology in English and
As I promised here’s the last part of the glossary of Neutral Spanish terms, which I shared with you in previous posts. quitar (take off, take out) rabo (tail) rasurar (shave) refresco (soda,”coke”) refrigerador (fridge) renta (rent) retrete, excusado (toilet) rosquillas (donuts) sabroso (tasty, yummy) sala (liv
In the US, when a transcript contains a translation of conversations spoken in a foreign language, a qualified witness must authenticate and verify the translation. See United States v. Llinas, 603 F.2d 506, 509-10 (5th Cir. 1979). A party who wishes to challenge the accuracy of a translation is responsible for presenting
Remember the Telephone Game? Most of you probably remember it from childhood. You would whisper a short sentence into someone’s ear and so on until it went full circle. When the message reached the last person it was totally different from the original and it had everyone laughing out loud. You’re probably thinking, “
Can anyone stop the ever growing Spanglish movement in the U.S.? After all, Spanglish is not a language but rather people who speak English and Spanish badly. The North American Academy of the Spanish Language (ANLE, for its initials in Spanish) has taken on this challenge. Seen by some as the “language police”, the Aca
It is commonly believed that any bilingual person can translate. However most fail at written translations. This is because such informal translation is oral, not written. For an informal translator, any translation which communicates the main idea of the message suffices. But in a professional translation, the original doc