In the future of translation, seamless and real-time is the brass ring. Many a sci-fi fantasy has presented a universe in which some small tech miracle allows us to instantly communicate with people from any country, culture, or planet.
But much like the jet pack, flying car, and invisibility cloak of our much-imagined future, the dream of perfect, automatic translation is still far from reality. This doesn’t mean people aren’t working on it, though.
In this post, we’ll take a look at two recent efforts to disrupt, democratize, and scale-up translation.
Lithuanian is considered an "old" language by linguists, as it's one of the closest European languages to Proto Indo European. But how did such a small country manage to preserve its language over centuries of occupation and foreign rule? In this blog post, we'll explore the story of an occupied language that triumphed over history.
Internationalization and localization. To the uninitiated they sound interchangeable, jargon deployed in the profitable process of exporting software to new international markets. Abbreviated i18n (internationalization) and l10n (localization), they have specific definitions which you’ll want to understand if you’re contemplating turning your app or service into a brand with global reach.
If you’ve ever wondered what the difference is, this short overview will clarify the particulars and help provide a framework for what to expect when you work with a translation agency to expand your market overseas. We’ll take a look at their definitions, their scope, and the teams who have a part in the process.
In the next hundred years, about half of the roughly 7,000 languages spoken around the world will disappear. With a current world population of seven billion people it would seem that there are plenty of languages to go around. However, 87% of the world's population only speaks the 85 largest languages. That means that the 3,500 smallest languages have only 8.25 million speakers total. But not all endangered languages are vanishing. Read on for an inside look into how preserving these words is helping more than just the people who speak them.
If you had to mark ground zero on a map for the world’s most explosive eLearning market, where would you place your pin? Your mind might naturally drift to established economies where network connectivity and computing power are ubiquitous.
The truth is Africa is home to countries with the most aggressive growth rate in self-paced eLearning. Eleven of the sixteen leaders in eLearning sector growth have rates above 15.2%, with countries such as Senegal above 30% and Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya well above the 24% mark, according to the research firm Ambient Insight.
African nations are eager to retool and reshape themselves for the knowledge-based economies of the 21st century. In this article we’ll look at some of the trends in eLearning and see what that means for knowledge management and training for companies in Africa.
If you’ve done business in Asia, odds are that you’ve flown to (or through) Tokyo. With two bustling airports, Narita and Haneda, Tokyo has the world’s third-busiest airport system, coming in just after New York and London. But busy as they are, Narita and Haneda have nothing on the city itself when it comes to crowds — Tokyo is the world’s largest metropolitan area, packing in over 35 million people in its 23 wards and 39 municipalities. And it seemingly has almost as many tourist destinations as people. Taking just four hours out of your travel schedule — whether it’s a layover or a few hours between meetings — means Tokyo can keep you busy.
A team of evolutionary biologists headed by Mark Pagel of the University of Reading in the UK have traced back some 100 known regional languages through the seven basic Eurasiatic tongues. The team came up with 23 “ultra-conserved” words whose sounds and associated meanings would likely be understood by our ancestors back 15 millennia.
Here in the States, you’re getting ready to celebrate the 237th anniversary of independence from King George and his redcoats. Before you light up the grill and set off the fireworks, let’s take a look at how far American English has diverged from the English of its former ruler and my home country. We still share a common tongue, but many words have grown in opposite directions, meaning one thing in the States and quite another in the UK. And nothing highlights the differences between American English and British English better than slang.
The Irish language is much more than just Éirinn go Brách ("Ireland forever"). With a unique word order, a strange lack of irregular verbs, and no words for "yes" or "no," this language boasts a history just as rich as the people who speak it. Ready to learn more about Irish yourself?
What do Turkish, Esperanto, and Serbian have in common? With Father’s Day coming up, we wanted to celebrate dads of the world by looking a bit more closely at the “fathers” of these modern languages. From alphabet reforms to language revivals, these men have done quite a bit more than just use Pig Latin when your mother is not around.
Ready to learn more about how a single father can change a language spoken by thousands, if not millions? Read on for our celebration of language fathers from around the world.
Among the 40 million Star Trek fans worldwide, die-hard Trekkies have more in common than pointy ears and Star Fleet insignias. While Klingon language localization campaigns have yet to go mainstream, there are new Klingon language tools, such as audio books, dictionaries and the new Microsoft Bing Translator tool Klingon features for transliterated and Kronos script. Klingon is more than just a gimmick, and today's post explains a bit of its history and place in popular culture.
In any market, you want your audio and video content to speak to the audience. But you don’t always want to create all that content from scratch for each market. So how do you take your global content and give it local flavor? Great voiceover localization can make your global training video, radio spot, TV ad or multimedia project speak eloquently in any language. Whatever style of voiceover you’re working with — from off-camera narration to carefully choreographed lip-syncing — there are some best practices that can make or break your project.
Here are some of our best tips for making sure your voiceover localization project speaks in a voice your target language market understands.
Spanish is an extremely varied language, spoken in at least 20 countries and even differing among regions within the same country. Finding an easy way to express yourself with a single Spanish translation can be a challenging, but not impossible, task. Knowing your specific regions and working with good in-country resources or a translation agency can help make sure you avoid using the wrong term in the wrong area.
A giant monster terrorizes a city, leaving a trail of… art in its wake. Playful and provocative, Bangkok's Bukruk Street Art Festival has literally marked this city in a whole new way. Curious to find out what European and Thai graffiti artists can do when they put their minds to it? Read on to see how their art acts as a global language that pushes boundaries. Think of it as graffiti meets localization on a (literally) massive scale.
Here’s one for the hardcore language nerds out there (like us!). We couldn’t resist sharing this article we discovered recently about a computer program developed by UC Berkeley and the University of British Columbia to reconstruct the vocabularies of ancient languages.
While you certainly won’t need to have your brand translated into proto-Austronesian anytime soon, the implications of the technology and its relationship to human linguists is fascinating to consider. Read on for a brief look into how computer scientists and language historians join forces to take us on a tour of major mother tongues.
In today's post, we want to give a quick explanation on how we select and promote our linguists (translators, editors, and language leads) and our continual quality control process for our language translation and localization services offerings.
The key to a successful project is ensuring that quality is implemented from the start, and qualification of our linguists is the first and a very important step in assuring a successful rollout. So, without further ado, may we present: our linguist qualification process!
Christmas around the world isn’t always what you might expect. Just like well-known brands that take on a new flavor when localized for foreign countries, your experience with Santa Claus and holiday treats may vary, depending on where you’re traveling.
For example, how is an American fast food chain part of a Japanese holiday tradition? Why does Iceland have 13 versions of Santa Claus? And does Germany really hunt for the “Christmas pickle” in the tree each year?
Pack your sled, and let’s take a tour of some strange facts and fictions about Christmas around the world.
On December 15, the landmark exhibition Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal Asia opens at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. With over 300 paintings, photographs, screen prints, drawings, 3-D installations and sculptures featuring some of Warhol’s most iconic images, the Hong Kong stop is part of a two-year tour throughout several cities across Asia.
Thanks in part to Acclaro’s track record serving clients such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Guggenheim, Tiffany & Co., and Coach, The Andy Warhol Museum chose Acclaro to translate into Chinese their mobile app and educational resources website for the exhibition.
How does one present an artist like Warhol whose own definition changes in the context of contemporary life? Furthermore, what does it take to translate his legacy for Chinese audiences?
It turned out doing it well while on tight deadlines was an art form of its own.
December brings with it visions of snow, so what better time to head to Russia and its vibrant capital Moscow? Whether you've got a long layover or better, if you're spending a few days in this sprawling city, there's more to see than just the Red Square and the Kremlin.
From taxis to how to enjoy a Russian banya, the best museums to street food, we have what to do in Moscow covered. Our first word of advice: watch out for the high curbs. They're tall because of the snow, so when you step, it's a long way down.
Read on for our tips on how to make the most of your Moscow visit.
From Thanksgiving pies to Christmas cookies, the holiday season in the States is a sugary six weeks of baking and celebrating. Every culture has a sweet tooth, so as Americans pull out their rolling pins and pat out the pastry dough for pumpkin pie this week, we thought it would be fun to take a tour of celebratory desserts and sweets around the world. Whether for religious holidays, national celebrations, or special occasions, sugar plays a prominent role in the international recipe book. Forget about your diet and don’t tell your dentist — it’s time to celebrate the sweeter side of life!
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