Ccaps Blog

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Open Translation Project, sponsored by Nokia, and housed by TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a project in which volunteer translators help translate educational talks into a variety of languages so that ideas can be spread around the globe.

The goal of TED is to “foster the spread of great ideas.” The project “aims to provide a platform for the world’s smartest thinkers, greatest visionaries and most inspiring teachers, so that millions of people can gain a better understanding of the biggest issues faced by the world, and a desire to help create a better future.” They further explain that “core to this goal is a belief that there is no greater force for changing the world than a powerful idea.”

TED is owned by The Sapling Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides global conferences aimed at bringing together great minds and challenges them to give the greatest speeches of their lives. These speeches are published free of charge on the TED.com website in the hopes that these ideas will be spread around the globe and better the lives of humanity as a whole.

Speech topics include areas such as Technology, Entertainment, Design, Business, Science and Global Issues. The best speakers earn a chance to receive a TEDPrize, a grant aimed at transforming their extraordinary ideas into reality. Past speakers include Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall and Bono among hundreds of other brilliant minds.

The purpose of the Open Translation Project is to translate these talks into as many languages as possible so that the information can reach people all over the world. For example, in his talk on Endangered Cultures, National Geographic Explorer Wade Davis discusses the amazing diversity of cultures that may be disappearing from the world. This speech is translated in 23 languages ranging from Arabic to Vietnamese and everything in between.

Just for fun, I calculated the number of people that can potentially be reached by simply translating this one speech into 23 languages. The result “very” roughly amounts to over 3 billion people worldwide. That’s an incredible amount of people that could make a huge impact in the social, economic and environmental improvement of our world.

How it works is that users can select one of hundreds of talks from the TED website. The spoken language of the speech is English. There is an option to view subtitles of the speech in a variety of translated languages. In addition, and even better, there’s an option to view a written transcript of that speech in various languages. A drop down list offers a choice of languages that the user can choose from, as long as they have been translated before. Users can also click on any phrase in the interactive transcript and the speaker in the video will repeat that particular phrase in English. So cool!

To date, 630 TED talks have been translated into 50 languages, with the help of 243 translators (and counting!). There are currently 1681 translations in progress into 72 languages with the help of 1085 translators. Translators can volunteer by registering at http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/293. Although there is no monetary compensation, translators are heavily credited for their work and can be seen in the member profile section with a list of their translations. Most of all, translators have the satisfaction of knowing that they are contributing to a project aimed at creating a better world.

Visit the www.ted.com website, translate a talk, sponsor a cause, SPREAD AN IDEA!

According to the Global Language Monitor, “at the current pace with a new English-language word created about every 98 minutes, English will cross the Million Word Mark on June 10th, 2009, at 10:22 a.m. (Stratford-on Avon Time)”. This is basically RIGHT NOW!!! And, as predicted, the 1,000,000th word mark was reached.

Neologisms, or the invention of new words, are popping up everywhere. We see this frequently in the modern world due to the rapid growth of technology and the creation of slangs. For example, does anyone reading this remember when a mouse was simply a small furry rodent that ate cheese? Or when “cool” actually meant not warm?

Interestingly enough as the world globalizes and the history of language dissipates, neologisms are becoming more prevalent around the globe. In his book, A Million Words and Counting, Paul J.J. Payack, president and chief word analyst at Global Language Monitor, discusses how Global English is rewriting the World.

The Global Language Monitor methodology to count words uses super computers and detailed calculations in order to predict the number of words that exist in the English language today. They actually say that 1,000,000 is quite a conservative number and there are probably quite a few more.

In order to be included in the codex of the English language, words must be cited a minimum of 25,000 times in media, literature, etc. The last 15 words to be added to the global dictionary are:

Web 2.0 (1,000,000): The next generation of web products and services, coming soon to a browser near you.

Jai Ho! (999,999): The Hindi phrase signifying the joy of victory, used as an exclamation, sometimes rendered as “It is accomplished”. Achieved English-language popularity through the multiple Academy Award Winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

N00b (999,998): From the Gamer Community, a neophyte in playing a particular game; used as a disparaging term.

Slumdog (999,997): a formerly disparaging, now often endearing, comment upon those residing in the slums of India.

Cloud Computing  (999,996): The ‘cloud’ has been technical jargon for the Internet for many years. It is now passing into more general usage.

Carbon Neutral  (999,995): One of the many phrases relating to the effort to stem climate change.

Slow Food (999,994): Food other than the fast-food variety hopefully produced locally (locavores).

Octomom (999,993): The media phenomenon relating to the travails of the mother of the octuplets.

Greenwashing (999,992): Re-branding an old, often inferior, product as environmentally friendly.

Sexting (999,991): Sending email (or text messages) with sexual content.

Shovel Ready (999,990): Projects are ready to begin immediately upon the release of federal stimulus funds.

Defriend (999,989): Social networking terminology for cutting the connection with a formal friend.

Chengguan (999,988): Urban management officers, a cross between mayors, sheriff, and city managers.

Recessionista (999,987): Fashion conscious who use the global economic restructuring to their financial benefit.

Zombie Banks (999,986): Banks that would be dead if not for government intervention and cash infusion.

In addition, the 1,000,001st word is Financial Tsunami, meaning the global financial restructuring that seemingly swept out of nowhere, wiping out trillions of dollars of assets, in a matter of months.

Happy Wording!

There are two aspects to observe as far as fonts are concerned. They will be covered in the topics below.

a) Font Names Specified in the Code

Remember Unicode? I promised to talk about this subject, but had not done so yet… Be prepared, because the subject is so extensive that it is worth of another series. The advent of Unicode has made it possible to display thousands of distinct characters, rather than sets of ten characters, which is the case of ASCII.

Most fonts do not encompass the complex set of Unicode characters. Therefore, if the name of a font type displays only Latin characters, and no Japanese ideogram is directly inserted into the software (or Web page) programming, all the Japanese localized text will be displayed as question marks, squares or strange characters, inserted for word space adjustment.

As an example, consider the Google homepage in Japanese. The first case is displayed incorrectly, whereas the second one is shown with its correct character set.

Click to enlarge the image

Click to enlarge the image

One reason for not using font names in programming is that the desired font may not be available in the system where the text is being displayed. That is, if your client’s computer does not have the AuntieLucyBold font, the text can be displayed with a substitute font, which may cause visualization problems.

b) Font Sizes Specified in the Code

Some writing forms are more complex than others. The most complex forms need more pixels (or “points”) for correct display.

For instance, most Latin characters may be displayed in a 5×7 grid; Japanese characters, however, need at least a 16×16 grid for clear visualization. Chinese characters need a 24×24 grid!

The chart below illustrates why some characters displayed in small fonts become illegible.

Font Size

As you can see, it is impossible to understand a Japanese ideogram with a font of size 7, while the Latin character “E” is perfectly legible, regardless of its size.

In the next post we will talk about number formats… 1, 2, 3 and… Get ready!

The format used to write dates is not consistent worldwide. Although dates basically include the day, month and year, their order and separators vary considerably. In fact, several differences are possible, including those within regions in the same given country.

There are two basic forms of writing dates:

a) Full Date

The chart provided below illustrates the different forms of writing full dates.

Obviously, month and weekday names vary from location to location; however, in Spanish-speaking countries, the day is placed before the month, letters are all in lower case, and “de” (in English, “of”) has been added.

In Japan, the weekday is omitted, and translations for day, month and year act more like separators.

b) Figure Date

Here you will find different abbreviated date formats:

Regarding figure date, it can be observed that in Spanish-speaking countries the order is day/month/year (also known as “dd/mm/yy”), unlike the USA pattern, namely month/day/year. In Japan the order is year/month/day. These differences may cause serious problems if they are not treated with due attention.

For instance, depending on the country, the date 07/04/01 can represent:

•      July 4, 2001 (EUA)
•      April 7, 2001 (Mexico)
•      April 1, 2007 (Japan)

Well, no more dates for today. In the next post we will talk about fonts.

Have you heard of it? Neither had I until now… Language Access Ratio is a measurement of language comprehension availability in a given region. It is used commonly in the medical system to determine how many people do not have proper access to healthcare based on the fact that they cannot understand the doctors, nurses nor read the medical forms.

It determines how many interpreters are available versus how many are needed and determines how this will affect the quality of healthcare for speakers of a foreign language. Yet how does it work? Let’s use an example of Language Access Ratio in a hospital in the United States.

First, three factors need to be identified:

1) Total number of hospital beds;
2) Percentage of individuals who speak a language other than English at home according to the primary ZIP code (or other factor determining region boundaries) where the hospital is located, based on the 2000 U.S. Census data; and
3) Amount spent on interpreting services in the most recent fiscal year.

The formulas are as follows (for those mathematicians out there who want to “play” with the numbers):

Source: Common Sense Advisory, Inc.

In this example, the Language Access Ratio is $107.00 per bed for LEP (Limited English Proficiency) assistance at this hospital.

Currently, Language Access Ratio is used to determine Hospital budgeting in a given area based on LEP requirements. This tool can be used for advanced planning so that people that lack proficiency in a language are not poorly serviced when and if they need to use hospital services. The same can be applied to Marketing, government programs, etc. and can be applied worldwide. This tool could give us an idea of language interpretation costs so that we can plan to make information and services available to everyone, regardless of language or ethnicity.

At least that was the idea under the US Department of Justice (DOJ) regulations implementing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which in the United States “prohibits recipients of Federal dollars from engaging in discriminatory acts based on national origin, which includes discrimination on the basis of language” (from Title VI Enforcement to Grow under Obama, Common Sense Advisory).

However, the law itself has never been properly mandated nor is it followed in most states. Why? Well, those that are discriminated against, in this case, don’t speak the language and therefore do not always have the proper resources or know the proper actions that they should take in order to protect their right to comprehension. Some classic examples where availability of language comprehension is lacking include the Department of Motor Vehicles, Hospitals, and Welfare offices among other organizations.

Until now, these organizations have “dodged the bullet” when it comes to Title VI compliance. But sources say that all this is about to change under the Obama Administration. In his inaugural address, President Obama made reference to linguistic diversity with the acknowledgment that the United States is “shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.”

What does this mean for us as translators? As government agencies are forced to comply with Title VI regulations, there will be an increased demand for LSPs to translate documentation into various languages. In fact, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that translator employment will increase by 24% between 2006 and 2016. The languages in demand will vary from state to state so the possibilities abound.

What does this mean for non-English speakers? Being a native Californian, I have seen Title VI in action. The Department of Motor Vehicles and Social Security offices among others offer forms in English or Spanish. Other languages such as Chinese or Japanese exist as well but it depends on the location and demand. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 39% of the 3.7 million people living in California speak a foreign language, primarily Spanish. The main concern regarding these immigrants is that they do not have equal access to resources. By enforcing Title VI across the board, we are giving these immigrants an opportunity to improve their quality level of life and thus allowing them to become contributing members to society.

What does this mean for the economy? There is also huge economic potential for private organizations from this massive group of immigrants. Before I came to Brazil, I had a brief career as a promotional spokesperson. We were responsible for reaching the public through distributing pamphlets and talking about specific products. The marketing took place in Los Angeles. Can you guess what the minimum requirement was in order to work as a spokesperson? The ability to speak Spanish! We were able to reach a huge consumer body simply by printing marketing materials one side in English and the other in Spanish.

These bilingual pamphlets are almost a rule if you want to sell products in Los Angeles and most other U.S. cities. The Spanish speakers that we were able to talk to were not only appreciative that we were making an effort to talk to them but were very eager to buy the products because they were able to comprehend what was being marketed to them. California’s adoption of Spanish as a second official language is the exception. If the rest of the country, or world, adopted this philosophy, marketing potential would be unlimited.

As a “gringa” here in Brazil, I can tell you about the frustration involved in trying to get anything official done in a foreign language. Language comprehension is an integral part of trying to function normally in any given society. If the right to language comprehension is adopted across the U.S. and other countries, there is no limit to the social, health and economic advancements that we can achieve.

The first-ever Globalization and Localization Association conference, GALA 2009: The language of business. The business of language. will feature the “wizard of local,” Craig Newmark, as the keynote speaker. Newmark is the founder and chairman of Craigslist, which is one of the top ten Internet companies in the world. He will speak at this translation and localization event about the future of online community and commerce, as one of its most successful innovators and practitioners.

As proud members of GALA since 2005, Ccaps is happy to announce this momentous achievement of the leading industry association. GALA 2009 will be held on September 14–16, 2009 at the J.W. Marriott in Cancun, Mexico, and will provide GALA members and industry professionals with language technology education, training and networking opportunities unparalleled in the localization and translation industry.

GALA 2009 attendees will hear Newmark’s secrets for effective internet marketing and customer service. “We are committed to creating a great meeting with many educational opportunities for localization and translation professionals,” said Jim Hollan, executive director of GALA. “Craig Newmark will offer invaluable insight that will help participants think out of the box in their own marketing and customer service activities. At the very least I am interested in the experiences and opinions of someone who has actually done it. I think we all can learn a lot from the Craigslist experience.”

Newmark is the guy who started Craigslist in his bedroom as a simple email exchange service, and now the site attracts 10+billion page views and 35 million visitors from more than 550 cities and 55 countries per month! Now this is what I call viral marketing! In 2008, Newmark was named one of the 25 Most Influential People on the Web by BusinessWeek magazine.

Ever thought of getting close to being one of the 25 Most Influential People in the Translation Industry? Then you should not miss this opportunity.

For more information and to register for “GALA 2009: The Language of Business. The Business of Language.”, please visit www.language-of-business.org or www.gala-global.org/conference.

See you there!

As promised, we are talking about money (something rare in this financial crisis period =).

With regard to currency formatting, the following elements should be considered. Yet before that, let us give just a brief explanation. In the incoming examples we will be referring to European currencies prior to adoption of the Euro (€) so as to make it easy to introduce the wide variety of existing possibilities.

a) Currency Symbol
Currency Symbol can be a predefined element, such as the Euro (€), or a combination of symbols, like the Deutsche Mark (DM), which may be placed before or after the numerical value.

b) Negative Values
There are a number of ways to introduce negative values, namely:
   •  A negative sign before the currency symbol and the number:
      o  UK:  -£127.54
      o  France:  -127,54 F

   •  A negative sign before the number, but after the currency symbol:
      o  Denmark:  kr-127,54

   •  A negative sign after the number and the currency symbol:
      o  Netherlands:  127,54 F-

   •  The use of parentheses:
      o  USA:  ($127.54)

c) Decimal Separator
Most currencies use the same decimal and thousand separators in relation to local numbering, but this is not always true. In some Swiss regions, for example, a full stop is used as a decimal separator for Swiss Francs (Sfr. 127.54); however, a comma is used as a decimal separator in the rest of the country (Sfr. 127,54).

In the next post, we will talk about dates again—however, shifting the focus a little this time.

See you!