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The New Year is approaching quickly. Though 2010 was a great year, I am looking forward to starting a new year. It is as if we begin everything fresh again. We erase everything from the chalkboard and start over. In Western Cultures, it is a time to make new resolutions and goals, yet it is interesting how New Year traditions vary from region to region.

In the United States, we usually gather as families or at a party and when the clock strikes midnight, we love to make a lot of noise, set off fireworks, throw streamers and of course that ever so steamy New Year’s kiss. I remember as a kid, we used to love the opportunity to bang pots and pans together and being as obnoxious as we wanted when the clock struck midnight. Our generation is also very familiar with the ball dropping at Times Square that seems to be on the television of households around the nation as we countdown the seconds to the New Year. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Whoo-hooo!

Times Square – New Year’s Eve

In Brazil, some traditions are the same as in the US. At midnight, there is a lot of noise, kissing and fireworks. However, Brazilians have a tradition of wearing colors to represent what they want for the New Year. While most people wear white as a symbol of wanting peace in the New Year, some wear yellow for money or maybe pink for love. Just be safe, I wear all white with yellow and pink undies to ensure that all my bases are covered… wink, wink!

In coastal areas, most everyone goes to the beach and celebrates the arrival of the New Year in the sand. Considering that it falls in the middle of the summer, it is clearly not a bad place to be. At midnight, many people jump in the ocean and still many more throw flowers in the water as a gift to Yemanja, the goddess of the water, in hopes that she will bring the wishes of the incoming year.

Copacabana Beach – New Years Eve

Every country and even every household seems to have their own unique New Year’s traditions. Did you know that in Cuba they throw water through the windows at the struck of midnight? So, what are the traditions in your country? We would love to hear about them.

This year we wanted to give you a very special gift—something more important than holiday cards and keepsakes.

Meet Andressa:

This caring, smart, and sweet child lives with her parents and sister in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. She loves the arts and wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Andressa lives in a shed with brick walls, a tiled roof, and a cement floor. Her father works as a general services assistant, but his earnings are insufficient to cover the basic needs of the family.

We chose Andressa among the several children supported by the Fundo Cristão para Crianças, a Brazilian charity affiliated with the Child Fund International, to foster Andressa’s development and to make a difference in her life.

Why Andressa? Could you resist that smile? =)

In 2011, we will be making monthly donations to Andressa and her family with the money we would have otherwise spent on cards and postage. Would you like to join us in letting Andressa know that the world cares for its children? Write her a letter and send it to andressa@ccaps.net. We will translate it for you and email you back her answer.

With thanks and best wishes to you this holiday season,

Andressa and the Ccaps Team

It’s that time of year… The holiday season is among us once again. A time for celebration, joy, togetherness, charity, oneness and LOVE. A time for brisk winter walks and frozen noses if you are in the Northern Hemisphere, contrasted by warm, sunny beach outings in the Southern Hemisphere.

Though it is easy to get caught up in hustle and bustle of shopping, stress of travels, and organization of family gatherings, it is important to remember that the holidays, regardless of your religion or lack thereof, can be a time to express and feel gratitude, love, connectedness and HAPPINESS.

So this year, I do not wish that you receive all the presents that you asked for, nor does it matter if you stuff yourself with turkey and cherries, rabanada, or latkes and sufganiyot. What I wish for you is a newfound sense of unconditional HAPPINESS and GRATITUDE. I wish that you carry this sensation into all of 2011. I wish that you share this sensation with everyone that you encounter in the next year.

So to all of you, in the world over:

Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo!

Felices Fiestas y Feliz Año Nuevo!

Vesele praznike in sre?no novo leto!

Frohe Feiertage und ein glückliches Neues Jahr!

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

In a selection process run by Volkswagen Brasil, the candidates were asked to respond to the following question: “Do you have experience?”

One of the candidates gave the answer below. He was approved and his response was a huge success. He will certainly always be remembered for his courage, creativity, poetry and above all, his free spirit. Read the passage below and reflect:

I have tickled my sister to make her stop crying.
I have burnt myself playing with candles.
I have blown a bubble with chewing gum and made a mess on my face.
I have talked to a mirror, and pretended to be a warlock.
I have dreamed of being an astronaut, guitar player, magician, hunter and acrobat.
I have hid behind a curtain but forgot my feet sticking out at the bottom.
I have made prank phone calls.
I have taken a shower in the rain and became addicted to it.
I have stolen kisses.
I have mixed up my feelings.
I have taken wrong shortcuts yet continue to walk into the unknown.
I have scraped the bottom of the rice pan.
I have cut myself shaving in a hurry.
I have cried listening to music in the bus.
I have tried to forget some people, but then I found out they were the most difficult to forget.
I have secretly climbed on the roof to catch stars.
I have climbed a tree to steal fruit.
I have fallen off a ladder onto my butt.
I have made eternal promises.
I have written on the school wall.
I have cried sitting on the bathroom floor.
I have run away from home forever, only to return afterwards.
I have run to avoid seeing someone crying.
I have been alone in the middle of a million people, missing just one.
I have seen an orangish-pink sunset.
I have thrown myself in the pool without wanting ever to get out.
I have drunk whiskey until my lips were numb.
I have seen the city from above and still could not find my place.
I have been afraid of the dark, I have trembled from nerves.
I have almost died from love, but rose again to see the smile of someone special.
I have woken in the middle of the night but was too afraid to get out of bed.
I have dared to run barefoot in the street.
I have screamed of happiness.
I have stolen roses from an enormous garden.
I have fallen in love for what I thought was forever, but “forever” was only half of it.
I have lay on the grass late at night and saw the moon turn to sun.
I have cried to see friends depart, but soon discovered new friends and realized that life is made of arrivals and departures.

I have done so many things… So many moments captured by the lenses of emotion and kept in a trunk called heart.

And now this questionnaire asks me, pushes me against the wall, and shouts, “What is your experience?” This question echoes in my brain: experience… experience… Could “smile sower” serve as good experience? Dreams!!! Maybe they still do not know how to harvest dreams!

Now I would like to ask something to whoever formulated this question:
Experience? Whoever has it if at any moment everything is renewed?

(This piece was published in the internal HR newsletter of Volkswagen Brasil. The name of the candidate was not revealed.)

For the second year, Ccaps is proud to be featured in the The Savvy Client’s Guide to Translation Agencies.

The book is aimed at translation and localization buyers who are new to the industry and need help knowing what questions to ask and where to begin. It was designed to be used as both a learning tool and a reference. The first two thirds of the book demystify the translation industry and its many complex terms and technologies. The last third includes a directory of 44 translation agencies to help clients begin their search process.

No translation agency paid to be included yet not all that applied made it into the Guide. According to John Yunker, author of the book and President of Byte Level Research, a consulting firm, “we made an effort to include a wide mix of large and small agencies (as well as geographies and industry specialties).”

You can download the eBook from the Byte Level website or buy the Kindle edition from the Amazon website.