Ccaps Blog

One Song. One Wish. 156 Countries. ONE LOVE.

Shannon Sorensen — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:53:35 +0000

In just over one year, contributions equivalent to 14 million days of medicine have been donated to people living with HIV in Africa through the Starbucks Love Project. On December 7 of last year, Starbucks and (RED) celebrated with a worldwide singing event of the Beatles classic “All you need is love” and for every voice added, Starbucks will donate 5 cents.

You too can help increase contributions by adding your voice to the Starbucks Website.

Can’t hold a tune? For the first 1 million Love Drawings created online, Starbucks will donate 5 cents each toward the cause.

And even more fun, you can watch the videos of others singing, view the gallery of Love drawings, view a world map of participant locations, listen to the LOVE CD, which features artists such as U2 and Dave Matthews Band and buy Starbucks (RED) products that also increase contributions.

Spread the Word, Spread the Love!

One Song. One Wish. 156 Countries. ONE LOVE. is a post from: Ccaps Blog

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Five Records or Song about the Translator with No Reply

Think Latin America

Fabiano Cid — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:16:48 +0000

Celebrating 10 years, Ccaps partners up with IMTT to put together this exclusive event where some of the world’s most famous brands will reveal the secret to their success in the Latin American market.

Extreme Localization Makeover

In April 2010, the Rio de Janeiro beach town of Buzios will set the stage for a special gathering of some of the world’s leading brands in Brazil. Think Latin America will involve the participation of giants such as Coca-Cola, MGM Networks, VeriSign, VMware, Xerox, Nokia and the Brazilian Olympic Committee, which will reveal their strategies for conquering this market. The program of this boutique event will include only the chief minds and most influential professionals in their fields.

As the Gold Sponsor for the event, Ccaps is also helping IMTT, the event organizer, with the overall logistics and program. Ccaps will host the opening cocktail together with Ushuaia Solutions, the Argentinean company with which Ccaps partnered to provide a regional language solution.

According to Managing Director, Fabiano Cid, “this is a very important opportunity for Ccaps because Think Latin America is the first event of its kind in Brazil, and perhaps in the whole region. As a leading provider of localization services for Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish, we had to be at the forefront of this unique enterprise.”

Maria Cecilia Maldonado, Managing Director of IMTT, emphasized the importance of hosting the event in Brazil, a strong country in the region, where the localization industry leaders seem to be finding great potential and economic stability to expand their operations. “Fabiano and I came up with this idea in Cordoba during the IMTT 6th Language & Technology Conference and we just could not stop thinking about it,” said Maldonado. “We believe this gathering will break some new ground in the industry by proving the perfect scenario for clients to discuss their common issues in Latin America.”

The region continues to grow and attract investments as the population climbs the social ladder and increases its purchasing power. Event participants will hear from high-ranking marketing experts how to reach the 570 million consumers who live there, learn lessons from peers, partners and competitors and get advice on best practices when localizing for Latin America.

For further information on the event, please visit www.thinklatinamerica.com or contact Maria Cecilia at training@imtt.com.ar. Registrations are now open and the stellar Program is virtually unseen in conferences of this kind.

Think Latin America is a post from: Ccaps Blog

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Call the Reviewer!

Eneida Vieira — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:20:51 +0000

You know that phrase, “I am out of the office at the moment” that commences auto response messages in business emails? Well, guess where it ended up? On a traffic sign in Wales! And did it cause some confusion!

It all started when someone in the traffic department in the city of Swansea (or Abertawe in Welsh) decided to send an email to the city translation department requesting the translation for a traffic sign. The sentence read “Strictly residential area. No traffic of heavy vehicles.”

The translator was on vacation and the requestor immediately received an automatic response with the phrase “I am out of the office at the moment, etc.,” except that it was written in Welsh. “How efficient!” the requestor must have thought. And as he did not know a single word in Welsh, immediately sent it for print, assuming that this should be the Welsh translation for the English traffic sign.

Translator went on holidays??!!

Then it hailed protests… Mistakes like this are common in a country where all notices and official signs have to be translated into two official languages; in this case, English and Welsh.

To show support for the Welsh speakers, the Golwg Magazine (or View, in English) has been publishing pictures of signs containing absurd or incorrect translations. And the amount of confusion and misunderstanding these signs cause is immense. According to the magazine editor, Dylan Iorwerth, these signs are created by people who completely ignore the language and do not consult with subject matter experts. In his opinion, the ideal situation would be to use two separate texts rather than translations from English to Welsh.

If you are interested in the story, take a look at the BBC News website to learn more. By the way, it is also worth re-reading a recent post in the Ccaps Blog Save the… languages? There is a reference there to the UNESCO Interactive Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, which classifies Welsh as a vulnerable language. The 2001 census identified 750,000 speakers, which corresponds to 20.5% of the population of the country. In England, Australia, the US and other parts of the world, you can also find speakers of this modern Celtic language spoken in the British Isles,

Call the Reviewer! is a post from: Ccaps Blog

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Reviewer: Partner to the Author

The Ccaps Facebook Page

Shannon Sorensen — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:22:20 +0000

Hello Everyone!

In the modern technical age of online social networking and marketing, Ccaps has decided to create a Facebook page in order to better communicate with our clients, friends, colleagues and other industry professionals. We will share the latest information about Ccaps, our staff, events and industry news. We would love for you to join us there and become a fan.

We invite you to start discussions or participate in current discussions and you can also check out fun pictures of our adorable staff.

In the first weeks we have already gathered more than 150 fans! If you have a Facebook account, you can also become a fan clicking here.

Or just go to Facebook and search for Ccaps Translation and Localization.

For those of you Twitt-aholics, we can also be found on Twitter.

See you online!

The Ccaps Facebook Page is a post from: Ccaps Blog

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Language Follies

Fabiano Cid — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:13:25 +0000

We are taking a break for Carnival.
And the best way we found to combine partying and translation was to present you with Caetano Veloso singing ‘Língua,’ a song whose clever lyrics are all about the beauty of the Portuguese language.

In this video, Caetano is accompanied by samba singer Elza Soares in a TV show presented by Chacrinha, whom Caetano himself considered one of the symbols of Tropicalism, a movement he helped create in the 1970s. Enjoy!

See you on Ash Wednesday!

Language Follies is a post from: Ccaps Blog

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Word Olympics

Shannon Sorensen — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:56:02 +0000

OK, everyone. Stretch those jaw muscles and warm up those tongues because we are training for the Word Olympics in today’s Ccaps Blog post.

Do you have hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia? If so, you might want to stop reading this post now.

According to the Wiktionary, hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is the fear of big words. The word is actually a derivative of sesquipedalian (foot and a half), hippopotamus, and monstrum (monster) with the phobia extension added at the end. Though this word is scary enough just at first site, its more popular and scientifically used synonym sesquipedaliophobia isn’t much more user friendly.

Here are a few more big words to get your mouth muscles working:

Honorificabilitudinitatibus is the ablative plural of the Medieval Latin word honorificabilitudinitas, which can be translated as “the state of being able to achieve honors.” It is mentioned by the character Costard in Act V, Scene I of William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost. As it appears only once in Shakespeare’s works, it is a hapax legomenon in the Shakespeare canon. It is also the longest word in the English language featuring alternating consonants and vowels. Now, I bet you did know that…

One quattuorquinquagintaquadringentillion (represented by a 1 with 1365 zeroes after it), is the natural number between a tresquinquagintaquadringentillion (a 1 with 1362 zeroes after it) and preceding a quinquaquinquagintaquadringentillion (a 1 with 1368 zeroes after it). Quattuorquinquagintaquadringentillion is recognized as the natural number with the longest name (without hyphenation), and it contains 37 letters.

Floccinaucinihilipilification is the estimation of something as worthless. The term is usually used as an example of a very long word. It originates from the Latin words flocci, nauci and pili, and it appeared in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (published in separate sections from 1884 to 1928).

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, also known as Lake Webster, is a small lake in South Massachusetts, in the town of Webster. The full form of its name is said to be the longest American place name. The translation of the name of the lake is believed to be, “Fishing Place at the Boundaries — Neutral Meeting Grounds.”

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is a lung disease caused by breathing in particles of siliceous volcanic dust. Supposedly, the President of The National Puzzlers’ League, E. Smith, created this new “longest word” with 45 letters in 1935. While he wasn’t able to convince people to use it, it was included in various dictionaries!

And finally, because I know you were waiting for it…

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is an English word in the song with the same title in the musical film Mary Poppins. The song was written by the Sherman Brothers, and sung by Julie Andrews and Dick van Dyke. The roots of the word have been defined as follows: super- “above,” cali- “beauty,” fragilistic- “delicate,” expiali- “to atone,” and docious- “educable,” with the sum of these parts roughly meaning, “atoning for educability through delicate beauty.”

Ok, get a glass of water and rest those jaws; we have done enough work for one day. Now it is time for some fun!

Word Olympics is a post from: Ccaps Blog

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Certain Mismatches, Possible Matches

Leandro Barreto — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:21:46 +0000

Every human being has a tendency to retract from what they do not know and, in these situations, they mostly go through a permanent state of embarrassment and discomfort. On the other hand, the same way we are subjected to anxiety caused by strangeness, we cannot reject the chance to identify when having experiences with which we are utterly unfamiliar. Throughout our lives, we occasionally have to deal with situations of otherness, followed by the possibility of empathy.

One’s attempt of immersion into another culture is a perfect example of this scenario. The production by North American filmmaker Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation, depicts this theme in an absolutely brilliant way, as well as broadens our comprehension about everything that is involved in the process of translation.

How do we consolidate the effects of the psychological impact developed from the contact with the unknown? From where does the human capacity to define and recognize everything that causes impressions arise? Such questions were raised by Freud in some of his analytical studies dealing with our more obscure mental faculties. In The Uncanny (1919), it is assumed that all aspects and situations that have no coherence with somebody’s life find their ascertainment in their antithetical pair, e.g. in what seems to be the familiar. Thus, it is said that the uncanny represents the known – which inhabits the unconsciousness, represents the most hidden desires and needs to be deciphered.

The entire narrative of the movie revolves around Bob and Charlotte, respectively played by Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, who were able to clearly disclose the apathy and anguish inherent to their characters. The scene is Japan, marked by its ancient traditions that merge together with the high technology and experience of a near yet far future. This further accentuates the contradictions of reality and emphasizes the idea of transition in time and space.

In this case, the story seeks to call attention to the diametrically opposite aspects of the relationship between the human being and a different culture, as well as the relationship with the other existing within. Therefore, the need to translate the cultural differences and the actual sense of the meaning resulted from the division of the being and its counterpart appear in an intense way, creating a permanent state of estrangement and establishes the passion of the characters on the screen.

In some of the scenes, there are no subtitles for the dialogues in Japanese, which leads viewers to feel exactly the same way as the characters do: incorporated in a completely new and strange environment.

Bob, a Hollywood actor late in his career, who is involved with the shooting of a whiskey commercial, is flooded with instructions from the director but the translator only tells him to look at the camera and say what he is supposed to say. Lost, he faces the possibility of not being understood. Alienated, he feels as if he was transformed into a mere poster boy, who furthermore is also unhappy with the relationship with his wife.

Newly married Charlotte accompanies her husband, a famous photographer, on a job to Tokyo. Left alone and dismissed, she finds herself doubtful and anxious about her marriage, while expressing her resentment in an attempt to find the proper words to express her indecision. Charlotte and Bob get to know each other due to their shared disappointment, fear and helplessness. Both seek an explanation for the reality surrounding them and some means to translate what they experience. Above all, they live the conflicting correspondence of the other within themselves.

Each has to deal with the condition of bewilderment caused by the unknown, motivated by several perceptions towards whatever comes to them in a strange way. The ethnic and cultural differences are quite clear and marked in every moment of the movie; they connect the characters while they experience discomfort. Through exchanged glances and brief dialogues, Bob and Charlotte acknowledge that there is something similar in their lives. What follows is a close and familiar friendship, which allows for the representations that not only torment them but are also in constant need of translation.

On one hand, the movie revolves around the mismatches that arise from the difficulty of translating another language. On the other hand, it deals with the feelings and impressions resulting from the contact with the foreigner, which produces unrest and instability, as observed by Freud. However, it also addresses the chances of a possible match, as anything can be translated into familiar or become recognizable.

Translation is not only limited to the action of rendering words from one language to another. It goes beyond that and involves aspects of perception and the background of each individual. To translate is to recognize, and make acceptable to the mind what is unfamiliar and causes estrangement.

The relationships that are relevant to life and the unknown are constantly configured in this way. Every day man discovers something new that needs statements, but this will not always or perhaps, will never have an explanation. Thus, there is no doubt that existence falls into a system where mismatches are certain, while matches are only possible.

Certain Mismatches, Possible Matches is a post from: Ccaps Blog

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We Love Technology!

Shannon Sorensen — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:50:56 +0000

Hello all! Remember when a while back I wrote about fun new cell phone translation technology in the post Cool! Where Can I Get One? Well folks, now we can all have our own translation technology literally at our fingertips.

Fotozio launched the first free iPhone photo translator application, PicTranslator, which turns the iPhone camera into a point-and-shoot translator. Foreign road signs, menus, maps, etc. can be translated with the push of a button – no phrasebook lookups or typing of foreign text required to understand and read printed text.

Screenshot of application on iPhone

Presently, the iPhone app only translates into English; however, it does translate from Czech, Dutch, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. It also provides pronunciation of the original text for French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish languages.

Fotozio admits that the technology is not perfect. For example, poor handwriting or low lighting may inhibit translation, but it hopes to overcome these setbacks with future technology. They also plan to deploy user input to make constant improvements to the application.

The PicTranslator video shows the application in action. PicTranslator is available through the iTunes App Store.

We Love Technology! is a post from: Ccaps Blog

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Never Misunderestimate Bush – Part 3

Shannon Sorensen — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:53:26 +0000

“One of the things important about history is to remember the true history.” Washington, DC. June 6, 2008
Trust me, I am trying to forget all the falsities created in politics.

“We got plenty of money in Washington. What we need is more priority.” Washington, DC. June 2, 2008
We can just buy that, right? For much again?

“And so the fact that they purchased the machine meant somebody had to make the machine. And when somebody makes a machine, it means there’s jobs at the machine-making place.” Mesa, AZ. May 27, 2008
No really, was this a speech given to 5 year olds? The “machine making place”?

“We want people owning their home — we want people owning a businesses.” Washington, DC. April 18, 2008
Now wait a minute, owning a businesses?

“So long as I’m the president, my measure of success is victory — and success.” George W. Bush on Iraq. Washington, DC. April 17, 2008
Well spoken, I often measure success by success too.

“A lot of times in politics you have people look you in the eye and tell you what’s not on their mind.” Sochi, Russia. April 6, 2008
Is that different than speaking without thinking?

“I thank the diplomatic corps, who is here as well.” Washington, DC. March 12, 2008
Unfortunately, only one person was left in that department.

“There is no doubt in my mind when history was written, the final page will say: Victory was achieved by the United States of America for the good of the world.” Addressing U.S. troops at Camp Arifjan. Kuwait. Jan. 12, 2008
When history was written, I’m sure they will make mention of that, right before they set sail on their time machine.

“I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office.” Washington, DC. May 12, 2008
Now ain´t that the truth!

From: http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushisms.htm

For more Bushism fun, check out The Ultimate George W. Bushisms: Bush at War (with the English Language), listed for as low as $.01!

Never Misunderestimate Bush – Part 3 is a post from: Ccaps Blog

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Make Way for the Portuguese Language

Natália Pessanha — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:30:51 +0000

During the 12th Ibero-American Conference of Ministers of Culture, which took place in Portugal in April 2009, Maria Simón, Minister of Education and Culture of Uruguay, announced that in early 2010, the Portuguese language will be adopted as the second official language in the country. This means that the discipline will have to be part of the curriculum in the country’s public schools.

In Uruguay there are language centers where foreign languages are taught for free. These languages include English, French, German, Italian, and soon Portuguese.

The goal of this measure is to reduce the social divide in the country. The government will offer foreign language courses for Uruguayan teachers specializing in Portuguese.

From a political, social and economic point of view, this victory of the Portuguese language not only strengthens the link between Brazil and Uruguay, but it also increases the reach of our language around the world.

Just like Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War: “So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a thousand battles without a single loss. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.”

Three cheers for the Portuguese Language!

Make Way for the Portuguese Language is a post from: Ccaps Blog

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