TranslatorsTraining.com - RSS Language/Translation Blog Collection http://www.translatorstraining.com/ Journalists writing about machine translation always lean on the proposition that MT will one day put professional translators out of business. Just as likely, ubiquitous availability of “good enough” translation will do the opposite. Here is why. http://www.globalwatchtower.com/2010/03/09/google-translate-transparent-communication/ Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:54:55 CET We included 12 automotive brands in the 2010 Web Globalization Report Card. And of the 12, Volkswagen emerged on top. Volkswagen is one of the more globally consistent automotive web sites. In general, automotive sites are behind the curve in global consistency, so it was nice to see so many country sites leveraging the same global design [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/fGJaglVoVn0/ Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:37:56 CET In January of this year, ICANN announced that four fast-track IDNs had made it through linguistic approval — effectively clearing the way for commercialization. Oddly missing from that list was China’s IDN. One of the reasons ICANN initiated a fast-track process — if not the reason — was China. China began putting pressure on ICANN a few years [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/Xmx-i2XpZcE/ Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:11:58 CET Languages are a means to an end, and in web globalization, languages help you expand your global reach. And global reach doesn’t always mean expanding beyond borders, it could also mean expanding within borders — consider Spanish for the US (a trend that continues to tick upward). That said, any executive with global aspirations is sure to [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/1IPJqjFCrlM/ Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:03:30 CET We reviewed 225 web sites for the Report Card, which means 200 sites didn’t make the “cut.” If your company is in this list of 200 and you want to know where you ranked, please contact me at jyunker (at) bytelevel (dot) com and I’ll provide that information. I don’t want companies to buy this report [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/XQac3UTqIkE/ Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:06:32 CET I’m pleased to announce the publication of the 2010 Web Globalization Report Card. Here are the top 25 web sites overall: Google Facebook Cisco Systems Philips Samsung Wikipedia 3M NIVEA Symantec Lenovo Xbox Autodesk Gmail Microsoft Nokia Intel Caterpillar Panasonic HP Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LG Volvo Group Hotels.com SAP Kodak Google has emerged on top again, but just barely. The big story this year is that Facebook and Google finished in a numerical tie. But because Google supports more languages (for now), it [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/BKE6v0lUaPI/ Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:16:24 CET Last month, Rod Beckstrom, President of ICANN, spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Here’s the video. It’s a great introduction to how ICANN has evolved and where it’s headed. And, yes, Rod does talk about my favorite topic: IDNs! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/JYcWdXnZvUM/ Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:21:16 CET Seventeen countries have applied for IDNs so far, but we only know the details on four of them: Saudi Arabia (SA): السعودية Egypt (EG): مصر United Arab Emirates (AE): امارات Russian Federation (RU): рф Yesterday, Bangladesh announced that it too had applied. Here is the domain the government selected: বাংলা There are 300 million Bangla speakers around the world who will potentially [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/WNKFcc_oNG4/ Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:47:23 CET Google Translate is the first place I turn for free machine translation (MT), mostly because it supports the greatest number of language pairs. I use Microsoft Translator as well, but usually only when I want to compare engines. I haven’t used Babel Fish in years. But which engine offers the highest quality translations? I’m assuming Google, [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/7MXVM1W2TJA/ Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:46:24 CET Facebook, with support for more than 70 languages, promises to do very well in our 2010 Report Card. That said, a week ago Facebook began rolling out a new design that includes what I believe to be a global design flaw — one that I hope is reversed in the months ahead. Now, if you’ve been reading [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/u15-5wMusl8/ Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:44:05 CET After more than a year at Microsoft, I have decided to return to Byte Level Research. It was a tough decision to make. I enjoyed working with the many people who are passionate about globalization. And I enjoyed being a part of one of the most global companies on the planet. But the time was right for [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/_VDJRYD-srY/ Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:41:24 CET Let me guess. Year of the Tiger? http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/Rj0_vEnd7LY/ Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:14:44 CET After three weeks of analyzing Web sites for the 2010 Web Globalization Report Card, a number of interesting trends are coming together, and I thought I’d share a couple of them with you… Geolocation is gaining momentum PricewaterhouseCoopers is now using geolocation to improve global content delivery. So too is Audi. And we have yet to detect [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/gmX1_xKyydI/ Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:54:55 CET Language service provider Welocalize today announced the release of its web-based MarketSight translation marketplace. In this latest example of translation technologies moving into the cloud, this self-service software is aimed at helping companies manage their marketing translation budgets and operations. Unlike most portals offered by translation agencies, MarketSight lets users plug in any translator or [...] http://www.globalwatchtower.com/2010/02/01/welocalize-marketsight/ Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:14:38 CET In response to the earthquake in Haiti, Microsoft quickly expanded its machine translation engine to include Haitian Creole. Today I noticed that Google has an alpha version of its Haitian Creole engine as well. Though it’s sad that it took a natural disaster to spur attention to a particular language, I’m glad to see the language available. It’s [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/ODua6AtB0V0/ Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:03:39 CET With all of the news about hacked e-mail accounts, it shouldn’t be a big surprise that crowdsourcing interfaces can be manipulated, too. Earlier today, politicking or pranking Russian translators forced a Google Translate mistranslation of four segments — “USA is to blame,” “Russia is to blame,” “Obama is to blame,” and “Medvedev is to blame” [...] http://www.globalwatchtower.com/2010/01/28/google-russia-blame-game/ Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:26:40 CET This morning, Language Line Services (LLS) announced that it will use its staff of 8,000 interpreters to offer face-to-face (F2F) services throughout the state of California. Why is the company suddenly making such a strong play for in-person services after decades of touting the benefits of its remote interpreting services? We spoke with Louis F. [...] http://www.globalwatchtower.com/2010/01/28/lls-f2f/ Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:01:03 CET SDL announced another technology purchase last week to further deliver on its strategy to be a one-stop-shop for global content management tools. Its acquisition of Amsterdam-based Fredhopper will enable it to be a player in global e-commerce solutions. http://www.globalwatchtower.com/2010/01/26/fredhopper-sdl/ Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:04:41 CET I came across an interesting presentation today via Carla Briceno. The survey, sponsored by AOL and conducted by Cheskin, was based on interviewing more than a thousand Hispanic households across the US about how they view and use the Internet. First some data points. Looking ahead at the 2010 census: 50 Million Hispanics will be living in [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/UX0aQIYIeyA/ Tue, 26 Jan 2010 06:46:40 CET ICANN shed some light on its fast-track application process today, announcing the first four countries to pass the string evaluation of the process. Here they are: Saudi Arabia (SA): السعودية Egypt (EG): مصر United Arab Emirates (AE): امارات Russian Federation (RU): рф I’m surprised to see China absent from this list. But there are 12 other requests behind these four. I know [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/EaRNmHiycSY/ Fri, 22 Jan 2010 06:00:25 CET Long before Google launched Google.cn, it launched the Chinese localized version of Google.com. And this site is alive and well and hosted outside of China’s great firewall. Just change your browser’s language preference to Chinese and you’ll see it the next time you visit Google. And had China not continually blocked this site from Chinese citizens years ago, [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/lvQb9AM6NUk/ Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:48:02 CET I’ve been writing this blog since 2002. Back when I started out, I wasn’t sure how long I would stick with this “blogging” thing and I didn’t really want to make any investment in software (besides time). I tried a few different platforms before settling on WordPress. It was free — certainly a selling point. But it’s wasn’t [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/ThF-kLnc4ew/ Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:00:45 CET Today we officially kick off a sixth edition of the Web Globalization Report Card. The next four weeks will be devoted to analyzing 225 web sites across more than 20 industry categories. You can view a list of companies we plan to include here. This list will likely evolve as we discover new companies to include along [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/trxJFQvkNDU/ Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:24:17 CET If you want to know the world’s most dangersous ccTLDs, ask an anti-virus software company. McAfee has released its list of most dangerous country codes. Here are the top five: Cameroon (.cm) PR of China (.cn) Samoa (.ws) Philippines (.ph) Former Soviet Union (.su) Why is Camerooon at the top of the list? Because .cm is a common typo by users who intended [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/YGPqDDYQ3L4/ Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:51:31 CET I recently got around to upgrading to Snow Leopard. Along the way, I discovered a rather interesting bug. It’s not a huge deal, but a bug nonetheless. And one likely to cause a fair amount of confusion. First of all, if you have never modified your language settings (The “International” button on the System Preferences menu)  then you [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/i1veIz-gg8g/ Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:29:33 CET With a few hours to spare, here are the most popular blog posts of 2009, based on number of visitors: The rise of “international” English — otherwise known as American English Of Kosovo and .ks Bing Beats Google in Insta-translation Facebook: From 1 to 100 languages in two years Is this the next language icon? Google Translate now in 41 languages Three [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/9vart1bN5TY/ Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:07:27 CET I’m working on the Web Globalization Report Card, and this, plus my fascination with Facebook, inspired me to check out my Forgetting English page in several different languages. Here it is in Spanish… And Chinese… And, my favorite, “pirate English”… Thanks largely to volunteer translators, Facebook has localized from one to 70 languages in two years. (Personally, I think [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/fZzKvVlhSfg/ Tue, 29 Dec 2009 04:40:16 CET As Katie Hafner writes in the NY Times, a number of people are taking a break from Facebook (or trying to). Call it a Facebreak. Facebook is all about scale. Hundreds of millions of users. And 10 billion minutes spent on Facebook each day. But for us Facebook users, time does not scale. Every minute we spend on Facebook is one [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/sDTcsQ7GTw4/ Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:26:21 CET Smashing Magazine has an entertaining piece on the Unusable and Superficial World of Beer and Alcohol Websites. The “age gateway” was a topic I wrote about a year ago and I’m glad to see others chime in on the sheer futility and stupidity of the device. I mean, really, does this little gateway really keep out the [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/RhMZKggyBwE/ Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:28:24 CET It’s not every day I come across a survey localized into 18 languages. But I guess I should expect nothing less from one of the world’s largest translation agencies. Lionbridge wants to know what social media you use. If you enter your email address, you’ll get the results. Here’s the link. PS: I just took it and it did take [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/UJ0SANcGIi0/ Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:38:24 CET http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/iyr7L3ba6UU/ Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:16:02 CET Just what the world needs — two more URL shorteners. Google now has goo.gl. And Facebook has FB.me. But Google’s URL jumps out at me because it marks the first instance of Greenland (.gl) being used as a “countryless country code” That is, the ccTLD is not being used to signify location, but for something totally unrelated. I’ve compiled a [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/ISfehdFmQO8/ Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:32:53 CET I’ve long maintained that translation agencies need to get creative if they are to succeed in the age of machine translation. London-based Today Translations is doing just that — offering a Name Audit Service for soon-to-be parents. Do you think Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes would have chosen Suri for their daughter had they known it meant [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/2cWRF_c1COw/ Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:09:27 CET For a Westerner like myself, the most-popular Korean portals Naver and Daum are a maze of text and images. The pages are too busy, too distracting. But I’m not the intended user. Google Korea, as I mentioned in 2007, has big aspirations in Korea. So much so that it tried relaxing its austere design protocol. Here is [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/nyS-gVCD5io/ Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:50:58 CET Nominet, the UK registrar, published the results of a poll that found: More than three-quarters (77%) of British consumers prefer to use a .uk rather than a .com when searching for information on the Internet. Clearly, you have to hold these numbers at arm’s length. But I would agree in general that people have an affinity for [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/z-G6LgA21JU/ Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:37:47 CET For translation crowdsourcing to work, first you need crowds. And TED, which has been using the crowd to provide translation of its videos, is looking for a few more participants. Here’s a recent blog posting: Wanted: Translators The goal of TED’s Open Translation Project is to bring ideas worth spreading to the wider world by offering TEDTalks with [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/jBWqzi0jUH8/ Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:29:57 CET So who’s applied for IDNs so far? According to ICANN, 10 applications (representing five languages) were submitted over the first four days. ICANN won’t announce exactly who applied and for what until each application is successful — which pushes us well into 2010. So I’ve had to turn to press reports from the registries to piece together the [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/9scoluQKxbA/ Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:17:48 CET I’m pleased to announce a new country codes map, this one devoted to the 27 members of the European Union. The ccTLDs are sized according to population and to the side is a list of the top 17 ccTLDs by number of registrations. Germany leads the list of course. I also included .EU, which now has more [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/Xn6Gedy_-eM/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:33:44 CET It’s not easy having an American English keyboard when you frequently need to input characters like è or ä or ç. Or ¥. Or €. Maybe it’s because I switch between Mac and Windows so frequently. Or maybe I’m just too lazy to remember the keyboard shortcuts. Fortunately, I just discovered: CopyPasteCharacter.com. Give it a shot and you’ll see [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/ANrNtP4vQus/ Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:22:43 CET There is a woman who set out to read (and review) a book a day for a year. Not Moby-Dick, mind you. Books of a certain length. And she did it. A book a day for a year. But she kept going. She’s still reading! And, as luck would have it, she just read our own Midge Raymond’s book. And [...] http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GlobalByDesign/~3/vyLwoxSDQoI/ Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:26:54 CET