Bulgarian Translator's Blog

BABYLON DICTIONARY – A HANDY TOOL FOR NEWBIES AND PROFESSIONALS

2008-06-11T16:14:00.032+03:00

If you are a professional translator or work with languages in another capacity, then you might as well use dictionaries almost every day. Dictionaries are not only reference aids but also tools of work in the linguists’ hands.

With the rise of computers and the Internet, the hard-copy reference materials are gradually being replaced by electronic counterparts or even more enhanced versions of the old books. Thus the translator’s efforts to look up words and terms in several volumes of different dictionaries are spared and shifted to a single point of reference.

One of the most popular dictionary tools currently available is Babylon (http://www.babylon.com/). This is not a dictionary proper but an environment for working with some of the leading dictionary products on the market today.

Besides its dictionary features, Babylon also provides currency and measurement conversions, machine translation engine, and a spell-checker for emails, instant messaging and blogs. These functionalities, however, won’t be the subject of this post.

SEARCH WITHOUT TYPING

The most unique feature which makes Babylon stand out amongst the crowd of computer dictionaries is its OCR technology. This means that when you read a document or surf the web, or just see any text on the PC screen, you can simply click your mouse button over a word which you want to check and the Babylon window pops up and initiates a look-up in the configured bunch of dictionaries. You don’t need to type anything – the application recognizes the respective word and types it for you in the search field. (Of course, you can type the words/phrases by yourself, like in a conventional dictionary application.)

The developers went a step further by extending the search functionality, enabling Babylon to automatically include the surrounding words in the search query. To illustrate this, please have a look at the picture below:

In the text I’m reading there is a phrase “feasible target payout ratios” which I want to look up. Hovering over the word “ratio”, I click the mouse scroll button (This is my personal setup; other users may set it up differently). Babylon starts searching a definition for the word “ratio” but finds that its dictionary databases contain definitions not only for “ratio” but also for “payout ratio”, and even for “feasible target payout ratios”. The software proposes the respective results from any lexical databases where it appears.

What I found here very convenient is Babylon’s feature of searching and suggesting terms present not only in the dictionaries I have already configured to use but also in the dictionaries available in the large online database offered on Babylon’s website. So, if I’m satisfied with the definition of the term in a particular dictionary, I can easily add it to my bookshelf for further searches by simply clicking on the “+” (plus) sign in the dictionary title bar. In this way, your stock of working dictionaries gradually enlarges, thus ensuring better hits in future searches.

PREMIUM CONTENT

Another great asset offered by Babylon Ltd is its stock of premium dictionaries. If you go to http://www.babylon.com/ and then to the menu Add Dictionary > Premium Content, you are offered dictionaries issued by renown publishing houses (Oxford, Merriam-Webster, Britannica, Larousse, PONS, Langenscheidt, to mention few of them). However, their content here is provided not as hard copy but in an electronic form, enabled to be installed in and searched by the Babylon dictionary application. I have noticed that the company continually expands this list, including more and more dictionaries. These dictionaries cover some of the most popular languages used on the Internet – English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, etc.

DICTIONARIES BY BABYLON LTD.

Apart from the so-called “Premium” dictionaries, Babylon Ltd. also offers a multitude of free online dictionaries, glossaries, encyclopedias, and other reference databases. These are neatly categorized by topics. If we stick to linguistic content, we will be happy to find out that Babylon offers its own proprietary dictionaries covering a wider range of language pairs (go to http://www.babylon.com/gloss/glossaries.php, then Languages category, Babylon sub-category): from English to Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and vice versa. These are very comprehensive dictionaries (for example the English-English pair containing the total of 161,892 entries) which use a morphology search engine that can recognize words in their different grammatical or spelling forms. They are offered free of charge to users who buy the Babylon application.

USER DICTIONARIES

The third type of content that can be used with Babylon is the dictionaries created by users. They can be found at the Categories web page (http://www.babylon.com/gloss/glossaries.php).

In fact, one can easily compile their own glossaries to be loaded and used in Babylon side by side with the renowned Premium dictionaries. This can be done with the help of a separate application (provided free of charge by Babylon Ltd.) – Babylon Glossary Builder (version 3.1.0). The lexical data must be prepared beforehand in an Excel spreadsheet and then imported and converted to a .bdc file format. The downside of this additional tool is that it is not very straightforward and must be tweaked to get the desired results. The previous version of this application (namely Babylon Builder v. 2.2) was much more in line with Babylon’s strengths – namely, ease of use and intuitive functionalities.

From the perspective of language professionals, the possibility to create user (or any custom) dictionaries is one of the major strengths of the Babylon application in general. Premium content mostly supplies generalist dictionaries. What a professional translator needs in his/her daily work is narrowly specialized content – e.g. glossary of electrical engineering, bilingual automotive dictionary, and the like. Because such products have not been provided by Babylon Ltd. yet, the professional user can rely on the community efforts and sharing initiatives.

While browsing through the list of categories, I noticed that most of the user dictionaries were created 5–6 years ago and very few are added recently. I don’t know what the reason for this drop is, but Babylon Ltd. must definitely do something to urge the users create and upload their content in order to sustain the interest not only of users with small to medium linguistic needs but also of professional translators.

MY WISH LIST

What I would like to see in the future versions of the dictionary application is a better control of the search options – e.g. implementation of wildcard searches and better ways to restrict language pairs in a particular search query. The feature I’m missing the most is, let’s call it, enhanced “fuzzy searching”. In other words, when I activate the appropriate option the dictionary will give me all headwords that contain the word searched. This means that when I look up for “tax”, I’ll be provided with the definitions of the terms “corporate tax”, “tax advisor”, “tax return”, “capital gains tax”, etc. (i.e. the word “tax” appearing in combinations with other words in the entries). This feature is very useful in the translation work because oftentimes a term has an identical or similar meaning as used in another phrase. The translator is thus given additional information how the term is employed in other combinations.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Judging from my experience as translator, Babylon dictionary has the most user-friendly interface and maybe the richest lexical content gathered in a single application I have ever seen. I believe that it can meet the needs not only of a general computer user but also of professional translators and linguists. The great stock of quality dictionaries and the option to create your own (user) glossaries makes this application a powerful and highly customizable tool that is worth to be considered when selecting a computer dictionary.

Romania's EU Commissioner Engaged to Promote Bulgarian Language in EU

2007-05-25T15:19:00.002+03:00

Romania's EU Commissioner Leonard Orban, in charge of multilingualism has taken a serious engagement to promote the Bulgarian language and the Cyrillic alphabet in the EU, he himself announced Thursday.

Five months after Bulgaria joined the EU, the Bulgarian language has an even better position in the EU than the languages of the other member states, Orban said after his meeting with the country's EU Affairs Minister Gergana Grancharova.

Bulgaria will support Commissioner Orban's initiative and efforts to reduce and weaken the language barriers, Minister Grancharova said.

Orban, arrived on a one-day visit to Bulgaria on May 24, the day of the Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slav Letters.

Commissioner Orban joined the solemn festivities in Sofia and conferred with Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev. He is also met Education Minister Daniel Vulchev and Sofia mayor Boyko Borissov.

Source: http://www.novinite.com/

Писмени преводи: до къде стигнахме след приключване на петото разширяване?

2007-03-21T14:58:00.000+02:00

MEMO/07/76
Брюксел, 23 февруари 2007 г.

За по-малко от три години официалните езици на Европейския съюз се увеличиха повече от два пъти, като станаха от 11 на 30 април 2004 г. на 23 на 1 януари 2007 г. Генералната дирекция „Писмени преводи“ (ГДПП) на Европейската комисия прие смело това изключително предизвикателство, включвайки за 32 месеца повече езици от предходните 46 години.

През подготвителния период на присъединяването група лингвисти от страните кандидатки преведоха и редактираха достиженията на правото на Общността – приблизително 90,000 страници, които съдържат договори и вторично законодателство, приети до деня на присъединяване – понастоящем повече от 300 тома законодателство на Общността, всеки от по 300 страници. В Брюксел и Люксембург бяха наети и обучени нови преводачи, които да се присъединят към колегите си от „по-старите“ държави-членки.

С успешното интегриране през 2007 г. на български, румънски и ирландски език в разрастващото се семейство на официалните езици на ЕС, Европейската комисия показа още веднъж, че вместо да бъдат пречка за изграждането на по-тесен съюз между народите, езиците всъщност укрепват европейския проект и че страховитите предсказания на евроскептиците бяха напълно необосновани.

Разширяванията през 2004 г. и 2007 г.

Разширяването през 2004 г. бе разбира се огромно предизвикателство. Единадесет държави с девет нови езика станаха едновременно членове на Съюза. Както може да се очаква, преводът на достиженията на правото на Общността, създаването и функционирането на отделите на новите езици в Люксембург отнеха известно време, но повечето проблеми бяха бързо разрешени.

На 1 май 2004 г. Съветът прие, по искане на малтийските власти, дерогация, съгласно която за период от три години, считано от тази дата, Европейският съюз няма да публикува всички законодателни актове на малтийски език в Официален вестник на ЕС и може да се ограничи само до превода на актове, приети съвместно от Европейския парламент и от Съвета. Тази дерогация изтича на 1 май 2007 г.

Освен малтийският, всички останали нови езици изравниха позиции с постарите езици в ГДПП.

Предвид придобития от предишното разширяване опит, ГДПП извърши нужната подготовка за безпроблемното интегриране на българския и румънски език от 1 януари 2007 г. Първите български и румънски преводачи в ГДПП бяха назначени като договорно нает персонал още през януари 2006 г., за да подготвят необходимата инфраструктура и преводачески инструменти. Съобразно хода на процедурите за набиране на временен персонал, до присъединяването на новите държави-членки в ГДПП, както и в местните й служби в София и Букурещ, работеха повече от 30 преводачи за всеки език.

Приблизително 150 други успешно преминали конкурса преводачи са в списъка на подбраните кандидати за всеки от тези езици. От тези общодостъпни за всички институции списъци в близките месеци ще бъдат наети още преводачи. През първата половина на 2007 г. ГДПП следва да бъде в състояние да постигне целта си от 56 преводача за всеки езиков отдел.

Български език

Към 1 януари 2007 г. в ГДПП работят общо 31 български преводачи, назначени като договорно нает персонал. Целта е да се назначат още 25 преводачи до 1 март 2007 г. Все пак, това зависи от редица променливи величини, като продължителността на административните процедури и необходимостта от подаване на предизвестия.

В началото на месец март към вече назначените четири асистента трябва да се присъединят други четирима издържали конкурса кандидати. Остават още три свободни места.

Румънски език

Към 1 януари 2007 г. в ГДПП работят общо 40 румънски преводачи, назначени като договорно нает персонал. Целта на ГДПП е да се назначат още 16 преводачи до 1 март 2007 г. Както при българския език, крайният резултат зависи от ред променливи величини.

Четири асистента са назначени като договорно наети служители, скоро ще бъде нает още един асистент, а други шест места са все още свободни.

Случаят с ирландския език

Договорът за създаване на ЕО е достъпен на ирландски език още с присъединяването на страната през 1973 г. Все пак едва през 2005 г. ирландските власти поискаха ирландският език да получи статут на официален език на ЕС. Преводите на и от ирландски започнаха на 1 януари 2007 г. след приемането на регламент. Поради дерогация подобна на тази, поискана от малтийските власти, през петгодишния преходен период само регламентите, приети съвместно от Европейския парламент и от Съвета, и кореспонденцията от и с гражданите ще бъдат превеждани на и от ирландски.

ГДПП създаде отдел по писмени преводи за ирландски език и откри междуинституционален конкурс за набиране на персонал през 2006 г. Ирландското правителство носи отговорността за превода на останалите достижения на правото на ЕС.
Преводите на ирландски език ще започнат с работен екип от пет преводача. Набирането на персонал с ирландски език е особено голямо предизвикателство, като се има предвид ограниченото предлагане и нуждата от такива преводачи, която изпитват самите ирландски власти. Въпреки това, на 1 януари 2007 г. бяха назначени 1 преводач, 1 асистент и 1 ръководител. Втори преводач започна в началото на февруари, а трети се очаква скоро. Последните двама преводача се очаква да започнат работа в рамките на няколко месеца, докато екипът достигне пълния си капацитет.

В списъка с резерви има 19 кандидати, успешно издържали конкурса за писмени преводачи с ирландски език.

Регионалният език на Испания

През декември 2005 г. Комисията сключи административно споразумение с Испания относно използването на баски, каталански и галисийски езици в кореспонденцията с Комисията. Споразумението се основава на заключенията, приети от Съвета през юни 2005 г. относно разрешаване използването на регионални езици в Европейските институции, които имат статут на официални езици в райони от територията на държава-членка. Испанското правителство назначи служба за преводи от тези три езика на испански и обратно.

Генерална дирекция "Писмени преводи“ на Комисията

Специализирани преводачески служби съществуват във всички важни институции и органи на Европейския съюз -Комисията, Съвета, Европейския парламент, Европейския икономически и социален комитет и Комитета на регионите, Съда на Европейските общности, Сметната палата, Европейската централна банка, Европейската инвестиционна банка и Европейския омбудсман.

Генералната дирекция „ Писмени преводи“ (ГДПП) на Европейската комисия е най-голямата, основната й преводаческа задача е ясно свързана с „правото на инициатива“ на Комисията в законодателството на Общността и с ролята й на наблюдател. С общ брой персонал от 2350 души (1750 преводачи и 600 души помощен персонал) ГДПП отговоря на нуждите на Комисията за превод и езикови консултации по отношение на всички видове писмена комуникация.

ГДПП е почти по равно разделена между Брюксел, където се намират повечето отдели на „старите“ езици, и Люксембург, където са отделите на новите езици и някои отдели, които превеждат на 11-те езика преди разширяването през 2004 г.

Поради организационни причини ГДПП е разделена на езици, със самостоятелен езиков отдел за всеки официален език. Езиковите отдели са разделени по-нататък на звена, специализирани в различна тематика.

В рамките на езиковите отдели преводачите специализират в превода на документи от отделни области на политиките на Европейската комисия: селско стопанство, конкуренция, финансови и парични въпроси, образование и култура, трудова заетост, енергия, околна среда, външни отношения, регионална политика и много други.

През 2006 г. ГДПП преведе 1 541 518 страници, което е с 36 % повече от 1996 г. От тях 72 % бяха написани на английски (45 % през 1997 г.), 14 % на френски (40 % през 1997 г.) и по-малко от 3 % на немски (5 % през 1997 г.).

Около 20 % от страниците за превод бяха възложени на преводачи на свободна практика. Това разбира се прилага за документи, които не са законодателни, политически деликатни или много спешни.

ГДПП използва система за осигуряване на качеството, основана на класификацията на документите по категория. Всички преводи, които са предназначени за публикация, извършени от служителите на ГДПП или от външни преводачи, се редактират задължително. Преводи, поискани с цел информация или общо разбиране на текста, се редактират при необходимост.

Последователността в терминологията е гарантирана посредством използването на преводаческа памет и бази данни на основната терминология на Общността. За новите езици те започнаха да се създават при превода на достиженията на правото на Европейската общност.

През декември 2006 г. ГДПП прие нова стратегия с цел да се справи с разширяванията на Съюза и да контролира разходите, като в същото време гарантира оптимални стандарти за качество. Основните мерки включват разграничаване по приоритетност на основни и второстепенни документи, ограничения в дължината на документите и включване на езиковите въпроси при разработването на политики на Комисията. Други важни елементи на новия подход са преводът на интернет страници, намирането на равновесие между работата на вътрешните и външните преводачи и тясното сътрудничество между институциите на ЕС.

Контрол на разходите

През 2007 г. разходите за писмени преводи в Комисията възлизат приблизително на 302 милиона евро, което съответства на 0,63 евро на гражданин годишно. Благодарение на мерките, приети за ограничаване на заявките и подобряване на продуктивността, въвеждането на нови три официални езика не увеличи обществените разходите. През 2006 г. очакваната обща стойност на разходите за писмен превод във всички институции на ЕС се оценява приблизително на 800 милиона евро.

Превод не само на законодателни актове

За да се гарантира демократичност и участие в Европейския съюз, гражданите и заинтересованите лица трябва да имат интернет достъп до основната информация за дейностите на ЕС, преведена на официалните езици. Ето защо в допълнение на специфичните езикови отдели ГДПП създаде сега многоезичен отдел, специализиран в превода на интернет страници.

Специализирани преводачи помагат на други генерални дирекции не само в превода на съществуващите интернет страници, но също и в по-добро формулиране на посланието им и адаптирането му към новата среда.

Друго звено предлага за генералните дирекции стилистична редакция на текстове, често съставяни на английски и френски от лица, чиито майчин език е различен. При поискване, тези текстове се проверяват и ако е необходимо променят, за да се гарантира, че са правописно, граматически и стилистично правилни и лингвистично издържани, напр. достатъчно ясни да бъдат разбрани от съответните читатели или да бъдатпреведени на други езици.

ГДПП се доближи също непосредствено до хората, както бе предвидено в План Д за демокрация, диалог и дебат на заместник-председателя на Комисията Маргот Валстрьом. Понастоящем около 50 преводача работят в местните служби, установени в рамките на представителствата на Европейската комисия в столиците и главните градове на държави-членки. Те участват активно в комуникационната й политика и осигуряват контакти с преводаческата индустрия, преводаческата гилдия, гражданите и институциите и широката общественост.

За отбелязване на 50-годишния юбилей от подписването на Договора ГДПП ще организира състезания за превод за ученици с цел да насочи вниманието към важността на превода вСъюза.

С поглед в бъдещето

За преводачите, наети от новите държави-членки, ГДПП осигурява обучение на най-широко използваните езици (най-вече английски и френски) по отношение на информационно-технологичната среда и преводаческите инструменти на ГДПП, както и по отношение на тематиката, с която се занимава Комисията.

В дългосрочен план ГДПП насърчава създаването на Европейска магистърска програма по превод със стандартна учебна програма, която отговаря на потребностите на европейските институции, дружества и организации. Това ще бъде особено полезно в новите държави-членки и страните кандидатки, където програмите по превод все още не са напълно разработени.

Преводачи от ГДПП, които изучават нови езици, могат също да бъдат изпратени като „преводачи на разменни начала“ в университети на държави, където се говорят тези езици, с цел да подобрят уменията си и в същото време да дават уроци по превод и многоезичие в европейските институции.

Терминологичната дейност, извършена в европейските институции, е от голямо значение за хората, работещи също в държавите-членки. Ето защо междуинституционалната база данни „IATE“, съдържаща почти 1,5 милиона термини на различните езици, ще бъде скоро достъпна за широката общественост.

За превода на голямото количество документи, създадени от европейските институции, ГДПП прие и разработи някои от най-модерните технологии: от приложения за разпознаване на реч до компютърен превод, използвайки богат корпус или „преводаческа памет“, за да се гарантира последователността в преводите. Тези разработки допринасят също за прогреса на индустрията в областта на езиците в Европа.

За повече информация относно Генералната дирекция „Писмени преводи“: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/

Вижте също и портала „Езици“: http://europa.eu/languages/en/home

Dictionaries and Termbases in the Same Boat

2007-03-16T10:41:00.000+02:00

The process of converging the two different approaches of classifying linguistic knowledge - namely, lemma-based vs. concept-based - is going to bear fruit soon.

The project of TRADOS & Langenscheidt to implement Langenscheidt technical dictionaries in its translation memory system as MultiTerm termbases will soon come to the market.

The problem is that translators, in their everyday work, use both glossaries and paper-based/electronic dictionaries to check terminology. Merging the two sources will save time for researching and browsing in print or electronicmedia. Translators can thus refer simultaneously to dictionaries and termbases and easily compare internal terminology with standard dictionary translations.

The Langenscheidt project is probably one of the forerunners of an upcoming tendency to joing the products of translation memory/terminology tool providers and specialist dictionary publishers. They have the same target group but completely different approaches in data management and product marketing. Specialist dictionary publishers will have to act in the future as content providers for language tools in order to meet their actual needs.
For this reason, LexTerm is a bridge between lemma-oriented lexicography and concept-oriented terminology and a means for integration of lexicographical content in CAT tools such as Translation Memories.

So far, the total of 10 specialist bilingual Langenscheidt dictionaries in 100+ subject areas in the major European languages have been converted to be integrated in Translation Memory tools such as Trados’ Translators’workbench and which are believed to be on the market in 2007.

In this particular case, Langenscheidt dictionary content is converted into the native TRADOS MultiTerm exchange format. The content is then encrypted and write-protected to guarantee authenticity and write/copy protection.This safeguards the copyright of the publishing houses and their authors.The Langenscheidt dictionary can then be accessed (in read-only mode) like any other termbase in TRADOS MultiTerm.

I hope that the process of integrating dictionary content and electronic terminology/translation tools will take roots...

Converter between Microsoft Office to OpenOffice format

2007-02-06T17:20:00.000+02:00

The Open XML Translator is an Add-in to Microsoft Word (XP, 2003, & 2007) to allow opening and saving OpenDocument format (ODF) files. As a plug-in for Microsoft Word the tool provides the choice to open and save documents in ODF rather than the native Open XML format. The tool may also be plugged into competing OpenOffice that use ODF as default format.

The Open XML Translator has been tested on Microsoft Office 2007, Office 2003 and Office XP. In addition, Novell has announced that the tool will be natively implemented in its next version of OpenOffice.

Currently the tool only supports Word/Writer documents. Future releases will also serve Spreadsheet/Excel and Impress/Powerpoint formats.

This new tool/plug in is of special importance for professionals who work with different Document Formats, or whose clients provide one format while their tools support the other. In especially, the Open XML Translator allows professional translatorsand language service providers to use free and Open Source computer assisted translation (CAT) tools like OmegaT together with OpenOffice.

Стаж по превод за студенти с английски език

2007-02-01T09:26:00.000+02:00

Първият випуска английска филология (АФ) с преводачески профил към катедра "Англицистика и американистика" на СУ "Климент Охридски" ще завърши през юни 2007 г. В програмата е предвиден преводачески стаж в български институции, организации, редакции и др., който ще се проведе през последния семестър от тяхното следване през март-май 2007 г. Организациите, които желаят да приемат стажанти, могат да се обадят в катедра АФ, тел. 930-83-14, 946-30-93 или да изпратят електронно съобщение на адрес: min@tea.bg. Студентите от магистърската програмапо конферентен превод в СУ вече за трети път имат възможност да тренират уменията си по синхронен превод, като участват в работата на семинари.

EU starts machine translation project for all EU languages

2007-01-25T13:42:00.000+02:00

A press release from the German University Saarbrücken informs about EU plans to develop a machine translation system capable to translate all 23 languages.

Despite growing "legion of translators", the press release reads, "the general trend towards specialization, the demand on the competence of specialized translators also increases. This leads to a general increase in the cost of a good quality translation. The European Commission cannot, for example, send technical and legal translations among the languages of the European Union to the Philippines, India or other low-wage countries."

An new EU-funded project, called EuroMatrix, now aims at technological breakthroughs in automatic translation in order to combat the rising costs of the increasingly multilingual European society. New combinations of the best currently available methods for rule-based and statistical translation are to be tested. Additionally, the question of how statistical translation systems can be improved by linguistic methods will be investigated. The ambitious aim is to develop and test translation systems for the 23 official languages of the European Union. An important part of the project is also the organization of competitions among the best translation systems, to which all research centers and firms from Europe and other parts of the world are to be invited to participate. It will naturally not be possible to focus equally on each language pair, but a practical result of the project is to be a continuously updated assessment of the technological state for each language. This overview in the form of a large tabular matrix has given the project its name.

The project is coordinated by Professor Hans Uszkoreit at Saarland University. Dr. Philipp Koehn from the University of Edinburgh is serving as technical/scientific coordinator of the project. Other partners include internationally renowned research groups at Charles University in Prague lead by Prof Jan Hajic and the Evaluation Center CELCT in Trento under the direction of Prof. Amadeus Cappelli.

The partnership with representatives of industry is important for the success of the project: the German firm GroupWare AG is bringing their LOGOS system into the project, LOGOS being one of the largest and most important commercial translation systems, which was made available the year before last in an Open-Source version. The firm Morphologic in Budapest has developed digital dictionaries for many European languages and has its own translation technology.

Bulgarian Alphabet in the EU

2006-11-16T09:55:00.000+02:00

With a view to Bulgaria's joining the EU, The Economist published an article on the Bulgarian writing system and the issues it raises. Here is the article:

Letter writing
Sep 21st 2006 SOFIA
From The Economist print edition

Of orthography and politics

IF BULGARIA joins the European Union in three months' time, which the European Commission will recommend next week, it will mark a rare turn in the 15-year retreat of the Cyrillic alphabet. For Bulgarian will then become an official EU language—and it will bring with it the script named after St Cyril, a ninth-century Byzantine monk.

Cyrillic has been in retreat ever since it was dumped, along with Soviet rule, first by Moldova, and then by Azerbaijan. Tatarstan, a Turkic republic in the middle of Russia, tried, rebelliously, to switch to Latin letters when Kremlin rule was wobbling, but it has since been forced to change back. In Central Asia, Cyrillic still survives, although Uzbekistan officially wants to change. In Montenegro, Europe's newest country after its secession from Serbia this summer, the Latin alphabet is increasingly popular, although in theory both still have equal status.

Does it matter? Alphabets work best with the languages for which they were invented. Everywhere else, the result is a confusing fudge of strange clusters of consonants, vowels and diacritical marks. In Slavic languages using the Latin alphabet, the sh and ch sounds, single letters in Cyrillic, become head-splitting combinations of sz, cz, ci, si, ś, š, and ć, as in the Polish word szczęśliwy (meaning happy).

Bulgaria's transliteration is particularly chaotic. Nikolay Vassilev, the minister responsible for sorting it out, cites the town of Панагюрище, which can be transliterated in no fewer than seven different ways. The new system plumps for Panagyurishte. Being back on the map of Europe is one thing. Being consistently recognised by outsiders may be quite another.

Bulgaria ready to join the EU on 1 January 2007

2006-10-03T10:10:00.000+03:00

Bulgaria and Romania are ready to become members of the European Union on 1 January 2007, as foreseen in the Treaty of Accession signed in 2005. The Monitoring Report released by the Commission on 26 September shows that both countries have made further progress during the past months, stepping up efforts to complete their preparations for membership.

Translation software for cell phones

2006-08-01T14:23:00.000+03:00

It has now become a reality that you hear Chinese when the other people speak to you in English on a mobile phone. This has been achieved by a translation software developed by Xiamen Talentedsoft Co. Ltd. (Talentedsoft).

With storage of 0.1 million words, the world's first translation software for cell phone can translate a common sentence from Chinese to English or from English to Chinese in less than 0.5 second and can also read out the words after the translation is done.

Talentedsoft is a company engaged in developing machine translation technology and voice recognition technology and is co-founded by two professors from Institute of Artificial Intelligence of Xiamen University and a returned Chinese intellectual from overseas with a PHD.

Microsoft releases updated terminology translation glossary

2006-07-19T14:16:00.000+03:00

To provide users with more up-to-date terminology, Microsoft has replaced the content that was previously posted to the ftp site with a more concise document that is easier to use.

This new CSV file contains over 14,000 English terms plus the translations of the terms for up to 45 different languages. Microsoft provides the Microsoft terminology data to allow their customers, ISVs, and partners to have a more consistent user experience across the products they are using and developing.

You can download it from here.

Microsoft Office 2007 beta includes automatic translation module

2006-07-13T14:22:00.000+03:00

2007 beta has recently been made available on the Microsoft site – with a document translation module. Machine translation is free of charge, a quote system for "human" translation services is included in partnership with WorldLingo. Office enables users to automatically translate a selected text or a complete document with a simple click of the mouse, but the translated document is available only on the HTML format.

Document translation is currently available from and to the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, German, Greek, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.

European standard on translation services

2006-06-01T14:52:00.000+03:00

The draft of European standard prEN 15038 on the provision of quality translation services has caused considerable confusion and concern among freelance and corporate translators for various reasons, if only because access to it has been hampered.

The purpose of the standard is to establish and define the requirements for the provision of quality translation services. It encompasses the translation process and all other steps involved in providing the relevant service. One of the key issues is quality assurance and the ability to trace its progress.

Кирила Корект 2007

2006-05-31T16:27:00.000+03:00

Излезе новата версия на продукта за редакция на български текст в MS Office среда Кирила Корект 2007.

Новата Кирила Корект 2007 работи с речник, отличаващ се с над 98% покриваемост и над 96% прецизност на предложенията. Модулът за проверка на граматическата и стилистичната коректност предлага над 30 проверяващи правила и разпознава 7 функционални стила, а синонимният речник е с над 25 000 синонима с обилни метаданни.

Новата Кирила корект 2007 предлага:

• Подобрен модул за правописна корекция. Актуализиран речник с над 67 000 думи и над 1 000 000 словоформи, последна редакция от март 2006 г. се грижи за коректното писмено представяне. Речникът е съобразен с последните езикови реформи на Института за български език при БАН.

• Разширен модул за граматическа редакция. Кирила Граматика вече предлага интелигентно решение за повечето граматически грешки, като пропуснати запетаи, неправилно членуване и съгласуване, проблеми със слятото писане и др.

• Предложения за стилистична уместност. Новата версия дава прецизирани, според 8 функционални стила, корекции на стилистични грешки.

• Вграден електронен синонимен речник. Базата на Кирила Синоним е изградена по най-пълния синонимен речник с автори Любен Нанов и Ани Нанова, второ допълнено и осъвременено издание, 2000 г., съдържащ над 5 000 синонимни реда, като синонимите са с маркери за стилистична употреба и за част на речта.

• Подробни обяснителни бележки към всички предложения на модулите на Кирила Корект 2007, които помагат да бъде направен точен езиков избор.

• HTML базирано ръководство, което улеснява работата с приложението.

• Функции за обработка на изгледа на текста – кирилизация, сричкопренасяне и др., които оформят представителния вид на текстовете.

Кирила Корект 2007 има демонстрационна 30 дневна версия, която може да бъде изтеглена от тук след след попълване на кратка анкета.

Продуктът има 2 варианта:

• За едно работно място – цена около 69 лв. с ДДС
• Обемен лиценз – за повече от едно работни места с цена около 40 лв. за работно място.

Може да бъде закупен и през интернет, чрез българска дебитна карта.
Предлага се и така наречената Софтуерна осигуровка - право да бъдат ползвани, за период от две години, всички нови версии на продукта, да се ползват ъпдейтите, които се разработват, а също така дава възможност на служителите ползващи Кирила Корект 2007 на работните си места, да използват продукта и на домашните си компютри.

Системни изисквания

Софтуер:
• Microsoft Windows XP/2000
• Microsoft Office 2003/XP/2000

Свободно дисково пространство:
• 15 МВ

Поддържани програми:
• Access
• Excel
• Front Page
• Outlook
• Outlook Express
• Power Point
• Publisher
• Word

Approved Bulgarian transliteration system

2006-05-31T14:15:00.000+03:00

Standartization Council for Geographic Names (SCGN) approved Tuesday the unified transliteration system, suggested by the Ministry of State Administration and Administrative Reform (MSAAR), news agencies reported.

The project for a uniform transliteration concerns first names of all Bulgarian citizens. A part of Cyrillic written names have different Latin spelling but change will be only by people’s will. However, the system turns obligatory when writing geographical denominations in Latin letters, Nikolay Vasilev, Minister of State Administration and Administrative Reform said.

Vasilev plans to contact Asen Gagauzov, the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works so that transliteration becomes legitimate. Financing of sign changes is to be arranged between MSAAR and Bulgaria’s 28 municipalities, Minister added.

The table with the names of settlements spelling can be reached at the MSAAR official website.

The origin of species: keyboard symbols

2006-05-23T14:35:00.000+03:00

Source: www.statesman.com

Fact, legend, lore and languages contributed to creating these common marks

! @ # $ % ^ & * () _ +

Magically one day it appeared — a teenie, tiny burnt orange tower next to the Internet URL (uniform resource locator) for the University of Texas.

Others followed.

Soon I spied the red letters of CNN, the lower case white "a" and gold arrow of Amazon, the multicolored box housing the Goggle "G," as well as the bitten apple, an obvious connection to Apple Computer.

What's the deal with these new additions to the address bar? Then, glancing down at the row of symbols on my keyboard, I wondered: How did these come about?

Just who picked the "!" to be an exclamation point, "@" for the at sign, "#" as the number sign and "$" for dollars? Each was formed long before these signs were substituted for expletives.

Some of the histories of these signs and symbols are a bit murky. But even anecdotal origins are interesting. Many come from other languages. For the most part, the histories of these symbols are tales of Latin words abbreviated and manipulated into symbols.

Whether you invert the question mark or place it at the beginning or end of a question, it is fun to know its origin. (The question mark symbol is from the first and last letter — "q" and "o" — of "quaestio," Latin for seeking or searching.)

Have you, too, wondered about the purpose of new nano-symbols in URLs and the older, more pedestrian keyboard symbols? Do you know other yarns about symbols and their origins? I welcome you to share them with me. Enjoy this foray into the origins of symbols and the world of glyphs.

Excess or advertising?

The icon placement at beginning of a URL seems a bit like overkill. In the URL box at the top of a screen a company's name is there, albeit with wordsrunningtogetherlikemeltedbutter. Why do it?

Placing the icon or a trademark symbol next to an Internet address is one more way to burn it into the brains of consumers and (hopefully) conjure good associations.

"Human memory is associative," says Dan Howard, marketing department chair at Southern Methodist University. This single element cues the memory to "all other associations connected with that engram," Howard notes. (An engram is the medical term for a change in neural tissue, which accounts for memory.)

Symbols cut through cultures and language, producing a common meaning. For example, the male and female symbols on restroom doors and the script of Coca-Cola are instantly recognizable. Companies spend millions of dollars protecting trademarked signs and symbols. Why not use them everywhere possible?

Is that an ink spot or a horse?

Sometimes a business or organization uses part of an icon to suggest the whole (longhorn head and horns in lieu of a full-body Bevo, for example).

In the world of URL some icons are more successful than others. The University of Texas Tower and the Southern Methodist University red mustang look a bit scrunched in this format. But the McDonald's golden "M" on a red square is immediately recognizable, as are the colorful, stylized peacock of NBC and the "UN" between green bars of the United Nations symbol.

!Exclamation point!

The origin of this symbol is thought to be a stage direction — a vertical, abbreviated writing of the Latin word for hurrah — "io." "The 'i' is short and the 'o' is long, so you get yo — like the 'Yo, Adrian!' line from 'Rocky,' " according to Greg Mele, Latin teacher at St. Andrew's Episcopal School.

The word io was written vertically at the end of a sentence or paragraph with the "i" topping the "o". Eventually the "o" was closed and the "i" lengthened to a vertical line.

The "!" was born as a way for the writer to direct the reader to be joyous, to exclaim. The sentence is to be read with enthusiasm.

Hurrah!

@ At sign

According to the folks at the Oxford English Dictionary, "this sign originated as a scribe's quick way of writing the Latin word 'ad,' which means to or toward, especially in lists of prices of commodities." The symbol's original meaning for merchants (cost per unit, each) has become the worldwide accepted computer link between a user's name and a domain name in Internet addresses.

The at sign has acquired various colorful nicknames in other languages (snail, worm, pig's tail, monkey's tail, etc.) but none has caught on in English.

$ Dollar sign

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing credits the dollar sign to the evolution of the Spanish "P" for pesos, piastres or pieces of eight. The sign was written as a plural "P" with the lowercase "s."

This theory contends that the "s" gradually came to be written over the "P". The resulting symbol is a close cousin to the "$", which was used in many areas as a symbol of monetary amounts before the adoption of the "$" for the dollar sign in the United States in 1785.

The twin pillars on a Spanish coin, known as the pillars of Hercules, are thought by some to be the origin of the double lines passing through an "S" to make the dollar sign. (The pillars of Hercules are a geographic reference to the high points on either side of the Strait of Gibraltar.)

% Percent

Basing transactions on 100 has been common since the time of Roman Emperor Augustus — taxes on sold goods, for example. This was expressed as 20 per 100 or 20 per cento. The shorthand was 20 p cento.

The symbol used today is a contraction of the per cento — "p cento", then "p/ 100", then "p/0" and finally "%".

Some suggest the sign is a split of the two zeros in 100, so "0/0" is a portion of the whole.

^ Circumflex or caret

The circumflex is an aid to English speakers indicating a letter, often in a foreign word, that has a strange pronunciation, such as papier-mâché or pâté. In some languages — French for example — it indicates the pronunciation of a phantom "s" as in hôpital.

Caret can be traced to "carere," a Latin word that literally means to cut off or be without, but also means something is missing. Circumflex goes back to "circumflectere," Latin for bending around. In proofreading, this mark indicates something to be inserted.

& Ampersand

This symbol is considered to be a combination of the letters in the Latin word for "and" (et). The word is believed to be a slurring of "and per se."

Some sources report ampersand is a corruption of "emperor's hand," but that sounds more like a wishful rhyme than fact. (Perhaps this is a case for www.kissthisguy.com, an archive of misheard lyrics.)

In the one-room schoolhouse recitation of the alphabet, the ampersand was often the 27th letter.

* Asterisk

Asterisk is from the Greek word meaning small star. This splat looks like a star and shines light on whatever it is near. Pretty straightforward.

( ) Parentheses

The word comes from the Greek, "parentithenai," to put inside or to insert. Comments between these two lines have been placed inside other comments — a paragraph or sentence. The symbol itself is self-explanatory and easier to write than a circle around the added phrase.

+ Plus sign - Minus sign = Equal sign

Many different ways to express addition and subtraction have been used. The Chinese dispensed with symbols for addition and subtraction, preferring colored rods. Black rods represented negative numbers and red rods represented positive numbers. Yes, the opposite of what black and red mean in today's accounting.

My favorite are the Egyptian hieroglyphs for addition and subtraction showing two legs. If the feet appeared to walk from right to left , that was a plus sign; left to right meant a minus. Basis? Reading was right to left so right-to-left movement was progress or positive, and left-to-right movement was regression or negative.

In medieval times, plus and minus in calculations were often indicated by the letters "p" and "m" (plus and minus) with a wavy line above them. In the commercial world, brewers marked kegs as "+" for full or "-" for empty. Some wordsmiths such as Michael Quinion of World Wide Words assert the plus was a scrawled form of the Latin word for "and" (et), by dropping the "e" and simplifying the "t" to a "+".

The plus and minus signs used today have been traced to early manuscripts by Johann Widman, a German mathematician, in 1486. While scattered uses of the plus and minus symbol abound, 16th-century English mathematician Robert Recorde formalized the use of the plus and the minus in a 1557 tome. In "The Whetstone of Witte," Recorde wrote: "There be other 2 signes in often use of which the first is made thus + and betokeneth more: the other is thus made - and betokeneth lesse."

Recorde also is credited with the formal debut of parallel lines as the equal sign. Recorde's equal sign was elongated and was an improvement over the single long line or vertical parallel lines used by other mathematicians and writers such as René Descartes. Some believe this sign is a slanted abbreviation of the first and last letters of Greek word equal; others, an abbreviation of the astrological sign for Taurus placed sideways. Seems a stretch.

Feel the need for detailed information on mathematical symbols? Pick up a copy of "A History of Mathematical Notations" by Florian Cajori.

The cloverleaf

Splat, shamrock, flower — call this little symbol what you will.

Before it sat next to the apple symbol, this cloverleaf was known as the St. Hannes Cross. In Scandinavia, the symbol indicates places of historic interest.

Susan Kare, design guru who worked for Apple Computer between 1983 and 1986 as the icon and font designer for the new computer, the Macintosh, is credited with placing this symbol on the command key.

"I did select that symbol, and found it in a book that had it listed as a Swedish campground symbol for 'interesting feature'— so I latched onto the 'feature' idea," Kare says.

Recently, Kare reports, she found out the symbol is a rendering of a castle with turrets, seen from a bird's-eye view.

# Pound sign

You might call it hatch marks, pound sign or number sign, but some wordsmiths call this symbol an octothorpe. Octo (eight from the eight points at the end of the crossed lines, I suppose) and thorpe from the Old English meaning hamlet. Do the areas defined by the cross marks look to you like lots in a town?

Pound is probably the most correct name for this symbol. Pound is slang for "pound avoirdupois," a unit of weight. Avoirdupois means "goods sold by weight" and a pound is a measure of mass.

The abbreviation "lb" for pound comes from the Latin "libra pondo". What does this have to do with the pound sign?

Some believe printers were concerned the "l" in "lb" would be misread for the number "1" and crossed it with a line for emphasis. The crossed "lb" became the tic-tac-toe pound sign utilized today.

Римейк на словото

2006-05-23T12:49:00.000+03:00

Източник: в. Капитал (20.05.2006)
(Веселин Димитров, Николета Попкостадинова, Боряна Кирилова)

Българският език между свободията и консерватизма

Знаете ли каква е приликата между думите хъшлак и саунд? Че и двете влизат в книжовната норма на българския език. А между жмел и пицана? Много просто, те пък битуват на страницата на уебпроекта „Неолог“ и скоро едва ли ще станат книжовни.

Преди две години бившият депутат от „Новото време“ Емил Кошлуков заяви, че ще внася проектозакон за чистотата на българския език. Мотивът: езикът ни е превзет от чуждици, жаргони и от все по-активно подменяне на кирилицата с латиница. До проектозакона така и не се стигна, но случаят ясно показа едно от крайните мнения по отношение на езика - това на пуристите. На отсрещния фронт са лингвистичните либерали - те нямат нищо против свободата на езика. От началото на прехода българският се развива интензивно, налагат се нови думи, основно чуждици с английски корен. Съвсем логично и спорът между пуристи и либерали става все по-остър.

В дните преди 24 май екип на „Капитал“ опита да разбере дали Институтът по български език към БАН, който единствен може да отразява промени в книжовния език, може да хване ритъма на разговорния български. Питахме се още кога една дума от жаргонна се превръща в книжовна. На какви условия трябва да отговаря тя? Печелим или губим от консервативния подход при езика и не трябва ли бариерите да паднат?

„Защо не, казва 17-годишният Иван, който се е подпрял на оградата пред софийската 7-а гимназия, това ни улеснява, а и нали границите тепърва ще падат, спокойно това може да важи и за езика.“ Иван не изглежда притеснен от въпроса дали така не се заличава националната идентичност. „Аз чатя на кирилица, така че съвестта ми е чиста“, казва той и звучи убедително. Предлагаме му приятелски бас. Дали ще знае значението на пет думи, които ги има в речника. Първата е облог. Не я знае. За сметка на това реагира бързо на цяр и тапия. На хъшлак и всуе мълчи.

В един подобен списък, но с неологизми, най-популярната дума сред трите баби на алтернативното малко пазарче на „Графа“ е джиесем. „Е, как да не знам - даже имам“, казва баба Милка. С останалите, произволно избрани от нас думи, удряме на камък. „Постер“ - питаме ние. „Не съм я чула“ - признава баба Милка. Другите също. Когато разбират, че това означава плакат, питат простичко: „Защо тогава трябва да се казва постер?“ „То и фирмите сега ги пишат на английски, заключват бабите, ама не трябва. Ние разбираме само кока-кола, защото я пиеме.“

Младата лингвистка Василка Шишкова пие колата си с еспресо. Тя ръководи 10-членния екип на „Кирила корект 2007“ - най-актуалната коригираща програма за MS Office. Последният ъпдейт на софтуера е от март тази година, като е планирано на всяка година и половина програмата да се обновява. Това обаче не означава, че в речника на „Кирила“ постоянно влизат купища нови или жаргонни думи. Всеки неологизъм преминава тежък тест - „пуска се“ в база данни от безброй текстове и се следи колко често се среща, като целта е да се разбере дали думата не означава нещо само за ограничен кръг от хора. „Нормите на езика трябва да са сравнително консервативни, обяснява Шишкова, в крайна сметка всички правим езика, но важното е дали една нова дума води до качествена комуникация между хората. Ако е така, по-добре да я включим в речника.“ В този момент телефонът й звъни. След като затваря, Шишкова казва, че е трябвало да обясни на своя колежка как да намери определен USB стик някъде в офиса. USB трудно ще намери своя български еквивалент и съвсем скоро думата би трябвало влезе в книжовния език. Тогава най-вероятно ще трябва да се изписва като юесби, както трябва да се изписва официално и SMS - есемес. „Есемес е грозна дума, но тя кратко и еднозначно означава един реален обект от живота на хората“, усмихва се Василка Шишкова. Тя застава зад мнението, че трябва да се наложи

„Адекватна демокрация“

по отношение на нормите на българския език. Стъпка в това отношение е предвидена в следващата версия на „Кирила“ - за всяка ненужна чуждица там ще бъде предлагана съответната българска дума.

Подобна е и тезата на езиковеда от Нов български университет Борислав Георгиев. Според него трябва да се намери компромисно решение за речниковите фондове - „защото чичо Пешо може да не знае какво значи брифирам, а аз да не знам какво е копраля“. Борислав Георгиев не е съгласен с мнението на негови колеги, че ако една една дума я няма в речника, тя не съществува. „Животът и обстоятелствата изискват да се утвърждават нови думи и не виждам в това нищо страшно“, допълва той.

Езиковедът обаче може и да се уплаши, когато чуе думите бабугер (хитра баба или възрастна лелка) или кощрамба (мома с неприятна външност). Те идват от жаргонния уебречник „Неолог“ (www.coffeeright.net/neolog). Модерната версия на българския език отразява обществото ни, пишат авторите на „Неолог“. Ан Фам е коректорката на думите в сайта. Тя смята, че oфициалният речник чисто физически не може да побере всички думи, които се използват в езика. Тогава на помощ идва жаргонният. Самата Ан идва в България от Виетнам, когато е на 5 години, и хваща малко от времето на тоталитаризма и унифицирания език. Учи български без учител, което значи, че има всички предпоставки да го научи във възможно най-уличната му версия. Не го прави. Сега сравнява жаргона с твърде цветна дреха, която не би носила. Според Ан в книжовния език могат да влязат новите думи и изрази, които описват дадено явление в обществото по-ясно, отколкото наличните до момента.

Едно такова явление е СПА, дума която не намираме в нито един български речник. Не се знае нито как трябва да се напише, нито от кой род е, нито дори дали е съществително. „СПА си е цяла индустрия, едва ли ще отпадне от употреба.“ „Всъщност е име на град в Белгия.“ „СПА означава sanitaperaqua - здраве чрез водата.“ „Скоро ще започне да се изписва с малки букви, казвам ви.“ „Ами. Ние си имаме наша дума - балнеоложки, тъй че не се знае дали няма да отпадне.“ „Е, чакай, чакай. Разликата е, че не е нужно да съм болна. Отивам в СПА център, за да се накефя, просто щото съм жаба и отивам да релаксирам като жаба.“

Това е страстната дискусия, развихрила се в продължение на две минути между Калина Викторова, Руска Станчева и Катя Чаралозова, всички езиковеди в Секцията за съвременен български език при Българската академия на науките (БАН), подписващи се със ст.н.с. I ст.д.ф.н. пред имената си. От тези дами зависи кои думи ще бъдат „легализирани“ в нормативния ни език, с какъв правопис и правоговор. Също така те решават и кои думи да отпратят в речника на редките и остарелите думи. Всички те са категорични, че

Езикът следва политическите и икономическите промени

в обществото във времето на преход, както и развитието на технологиите. Оттам и стремежът му да се демократизира. Според специалистите от БАН езикът се влияе и от международните отношения на България. Тъй като в момента те са ориентирани на запад, чуждиците навлизат основно от английски език. А повечето отмрели думи са гърцизми, турцизми и русизми. Когато поселение е означавало колония, а охотник - кандидат, се е зародило и движението на пуристите за опазване на чистотата на българския от заемки от модерните тогава езици. „И без пуристи езикът ще се прочисти от думите, които не му трябват“, убедени са езиковедите. Доказателство за увереността им е настоящото обиталище на тези слова - речника на остарелите и редките думи.

„Половината от обществото иска строго законодателство за езика“, казва Калина Викторова, от БАН. „Обаждат ни се и питат как може хем така, хем иначе, искат категоричен отговор. Да, но езикът невинаги е категоричен. Затова и ние подхождаме много предпазливо към него, защото самият език ще ни опровергае след време,“ допълва тя. Руска Станчева дава пример с думата бизнес. „Преди 15 години не можехме да прогнозираме, че ще навлезе толкова категорично. Първо се пишеше слято със следващата я дума, а после препоръчахме нейната самостоятелност, тъй като заживя независим живот в езика ни“, разказва тя.

Според езиковедите употребата решава дали една дума ще се задържи в езика. Например домейн, онлайн, сървър, кибер и т.н. от компютърния език законно са се нанесли във всекидневието ни. Обаче все още тече дебат (между експертите) за атачмънт срещу прикачен файл. Има и думи еднодневки като тамагочи и рубик куб, които с изчезването си от магазините напускат и речта. За разлика от тях фритюрник и тостер се задържат трайно както на кухненския плот, така и в езика.

Една от последните тенденции в езика - отпадането на предлозите (намаление ябълки, екскурзии Гърция, разпродажба ботуши), езиковедите не приемат като грешка, докато е на витрините и сергиите. Но казват, че слезе ли оттам в писмен текст, веднага ще я поправят. В контекста на табелите я възприемат като начин за пестене на място. А създателите на електронния жаргонен речник „Неолог“ я обясняват като стремеж на езика да се минимализира, за да може с малко да казваме много.

Темата за свободата на българския език породи дискусия и в екипа на „Капитал“. Оказа се, че изненадваща част от журналистите в редакцията са против използването на чуждици, което обаче не пречи на нашите страници често да четете за лоу кост компаниите, моловете, чейнджбюрата или пък за юзърите. Въпросът дали една печатна или онлайн медиа ще се стреми да приравни нивото си на нивото на жаргона, бил той уличен или специализиран, обаче остава напълно отворен. „Да говорим и пишем правилно и съобразено с аудиторията всъщност е уважение към другите, но и към нас самите“, казва Василка Шишкова от „Кирила“, която така обобщава проблема на българските медии.

Именно медиите са големият трън в очите на много от защитниците на езика. „Достига се до крайности, казва езиковедът Стефан Брезински, вулгаризми и жаргон в много шоупрограми.“ Брезински смята, че вече няма истински български пуристи. Такива като Иван Богоров с неговите драсни-пални-клечици вместо кибрит или погледни-вземи за бакалия. Всяка седмица проф. Брезински публикува своя колонка в „Труд“. Едно от последните му негодувания беше насочено срещу думата мол.

„Езиковедът трябва да бъде активен и строг страж на книжовните канони, така често пренебрегвани от журналисти, политици и множеството от публично говорещите със самочувствие на национален елит“, пише в своя статия друг езиковед - проф. Михаил Виденов. Това малко се различава с мнението на Брезински, че езикът е система, която се регулира сама.

А що се отнася до думата мол - няма проблем, моментално я променяме. Става на търговски център. Сега нека намерим алтернатива и на аутлет магазините. Очакваме предложения...

Български преводачи за НАТО

2006-05-08T13:50:00.000+03:00

Специален агент от службата за борба с наркотрафика ДЕА, ръководил залавянето на наркобарона Пабло Ескобар, ще набира преводачи за американските военни у нас. Майкъл Вигил пристигна в София, за да търси персонал за американските бази и даде първото си интервю пред “Календар”. Около 200 българи ще имат шанса да бъдат назначени на длъжност “преводач” в трите американски бази Безмер, Ново село и Граф Игнатиево. Условието за кандидатите е да имат чисто съдебно минало и да владеят отличен английски. Конкурсите за назначаване ще бъдат организирани от американската компания СОС Интернешънъл, чиито вицепрезидент е Майкъл Вигил. Дългогодишният агент на ДЕА е известен в родината си като човека, заловил митичния наркобос Пабло Ескобар и сложил край на най-големия картел в Колумбия - Меделин.

ФБР търси преводачи от български

2006-05-08T13:48:00.000+03:00

Директорът на ФБР Робърт Мюлер обяви, че бюрото набира американски граждани за преводачи от български, както и още 28 езика, сред които албански, китайски, кюрдски, турски, сърбохърватски и виетнамски.

Обявата е публикувана в уеб-сайта на ФБР. В резултат на призива на Мюлер за повече преводачи, отправен през септември 2001 г., ФБР почти е удвоило броят на работещите преводачи и езиковеди.

Бюрото търси хора, които разбират не само езика, но и познават страната, нейната култура и обичаите на хората.

Виж също: ФБР

New terminology resource

2006-04-21T14:34:00.000+03:00

ProZ, one of the largest translators' community, launched its new initiative: Wikiwords (still in beta version).

Wikiwords is a collaborative project to create a dictionary of all terms in all languages with definitions and example sentences.

The Wikiwords schema is built around concepts. For example, a dog is a concept. It can be conveyed in the English language with more than one term (such as dog, doggie, etc.). In Wikiwords, these terms are linked to the concept of a dog, as well as other terms in other languages that convey this same concept. Similarly, definitions and fields are also related to concepts. The diagram below summarizes the Wikiwords schema.

See more info at: ProZ.com

New translation of "Hamlet"

2006-04-20T13:41:00.000+03:00

Source: www.novinite.bg

Bulgarian audience will have the opportunity to rediscover Shakespeare's "Hamlet" with the new and astoundingly original translation of the tragedy by Prof. Alexander Shurbanov, a world-renowned scholar, translator and poet.

This is the sixteenth time that Shakespeare's most popular, memorable and philosophic play is moved into the Bulgarian language. The book, which saw its premiere on Wednesday evening, challenges the Bulgarian translation of such key phrases from the play as "To be or not to be, that is the question" and "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark".

Prof. Alexander Shurbanov, the best Bulgarian scholar in Renaissance literature and Shakespeare's works, claims that unlike the comedies, there is room for improvement in the translation of Shakespeare's tragedies.

Experts say the latest Hamlet translation boasts fidelity to the writer's work, as well as extraordinary poetic compression of the language.

"There is no other writer like Shakespeare! Three hundred and ninety years after his death he continues to live and to inspire directors to reincarnate him," says Shurbanov, who is Professor in the Department of English and American Studies at the University of Sofia.

"In this sense Shakespeare will never be a classis writer - everybody talks about him and nobody reads his works."

Shurbanov's latest book contains impressions from his one-year stay in the United States of America in 2004, where he taught courses at the University at Albany.

Professor Alexander Shurbanov is best known for his publications, among which "Renaissance Humanism and Shakespeare's Sonnets", "Between Pathos and Irony: Christopher Marlowe and the Genesis of Renaissance Drama", "Painting Shakespeare Red: An East-European Appropriation" (with B. Sokolova).

Shurbanov has translated from English into Bulgarian Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales", John Milton's "Paradise Lost", Dylan Thomas's "And Death Shall Have No Dominion: Selected Poems", John Updike's "Gertrude and Claudius".

Bulgarian ranked 11 by difficulty of learning

2006-04-18T14:55:00.000+03:00

The U.S. State Department, which has to train diplomats serving around the world, ranks languages by their difficulty for native speakers of American English. The department's Foreign Service Institute classifies languages in four categories, in ascending order of difficulty:

Category 1: Danish, Dutch, French, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish.

Category 2: Bulgarian, Dari, German, Greek, Hindi, Hausa, Indonesian, Malay, Urdu.

Category 3: Amharic, Armenian, Azeri, Bengali, Burmese, Czech, Finnish, Georgian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Khmer, Lao, Nepali, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Sinhala, Tagalog, Thai, Tamil, Turkish, Uzbek, Vietnamese.
Category 4: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean.

For more information, please visit: www.hamiltonspectator.com

Language diversity to continue net's rise as No. 1 communication medium

2006-04-11T14:10:00.000+03:00

Source: www.theage.com

English is no longer the language of the web, but systems are evolving that will maintain its global integrity without stifling diversity, writes Graeme Philipson.

FOR the first 90 per cent of its life, the internet was essentially an English-language medium. It was built on the English language. But now English is a minority language on the net, and things are still changing.

The problems of expressing text on computers was initially solved through a system called ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), in which the Roman alphabet used by most European languages is translated into the computer's zeroes and ones.

ASCII has been extended over the years to include accents and symbols such as the yen and Euro and copyright signs. But that doesn't extend to other alphabets such as Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Korean, Thai and Hindi.

There's an even bigger problem with pictographic languages such as Chinese and Japanese. These languages take many more characters than ASCII's standard 256 symbols. Computers don't understand pictographic text; it must be alphabetic.

The use of pictographic characters on computers is handled through multiple byte characters. These have been standardised internationally with a system called Unicode, an expansion of ASCII that can handle nearly a million characters and express virtually every character in every significant language.

But domain names are still limited to just 37 characters - the 26 characters of the Roman alphabet, the hyphen and 10 numerical characters. That has been a problem in countries that don't use the Roman alphabet.

In February it was reported that China was planning its own system of domain names in Chinese, leading some to believe that China would set up its own DNS (domain name system) and have the effect of splitting the internet along language lines.

The reports have since proved untrue. They were based on a mistranslation of a report in the Government-run People's Daily. What the newspaper actually said was that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the independent body that assigns internet domain names and manages the DNS, had announced plans for Chinese language domain names.

This is fair enough. Chinese language speakers represent the second largest group of internet users - 13 per cent. The proportion of English speakers is below one-third - just 30.6 per cent of internet users speak English as their first language.

Japanese is third (8.5 per cent), followed by Spanish (6.3 per cent), German (5.6 per cent) and Korean (3.3 per cent). Add in the Russians and a few others, and much more than a quarter of the internet's users do not use the Roman alphabet. (The figures come from http://www.internetworldstats.com.)

Because one Unicode character can map one Chinese character to as many as four Roman characters, using Chinese or other non-Roman characters in domain names is a little tricky. ICANN plans to get round the problem by using a method called DNAME records, which use a domain alias, mapping new domain names onto existing ones.

The initial reports led to fears that a separate Chinese-language internet would come into existence, splitting the internet and leading to the possibility of duplicated domain names or the same domain name leading to different URLs depending on the user's location.

The China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) has said it has no plans to do this, and that it will work with ICANN to ensure a unitary internet, albeit one more user-friendly to Chinese speakers.

The number of Chinese-speaking internet users grew fourfold in the five years to 2005, while the numbers of English-speaking users barely doubled in the same period. The number of English-speaking users will continue to grow, largely on the strength of high growth rates in English-speaking developing countries, especially India.

But it is very likely that growth rates in the Chinese-speaking world will continue to be much higher. Fewer than 10 per cent of Chinese currently use the internet.

There are more native speakers of Chinese than speakers of English, and that includes people who speak English as a first or second language. Most Chinese speak the variety of the language known in the West as Mandarin (the Chinese themselves call it Putonghua, or "common speech"), but other varieties of Chinese, though spoken as separate languages, use the same script. Taiwan uses an older version of the script, which was simplified on the mainland after the communist takeover in 1949.

Non-English speakers are very conscious of the dangers of English language-based cultural imperialism, and are actively encouraging the usage of other languages. The Arabic internet world now numbers tens of millions of users, for example.

Throughout history language has been an important aspect of nationalism. Preventing ethnic minorities from using their own language has always been one way governments have attempted to clamp down on separatists.

The internet is now the world's most important source of information and communication. These developments indicate that it will not be a barrier to linguistic diversity.

Преходът като превод

2006-04-10T14:20:00.000+03:00

Източник: в. Дневник

Само преди петнадесет години думите "консенсус" и "легитимност" звучаха като екзотични чуждици, а днес са думи, които употребяваме в ежедневната си реч. Ето, че сега на хоризонта се появиха "кохезия" и "субсидиарност". Каква ще е съдбата им - ще останат ли в езика така, или ще навлязат със съответния си превод?

Няма съмнение, че с присъединяването към ЕС България навлиза, образно казано, в голям преводачески период. Но тук не става дума за чуждиците и за превода им. Говорим за появата на един общ език, в който ще съществува общ способ да разчленяваме света и да споделяме ценности, или - един език на европейската идентичност.

Това са думи на порф. Валери Стефанов, декан на Факултета по славянски филологии в СУ "Св. Климент Охридски". Заедно с министъра по европейските въпроси Меглена Кунева те организираха конференция "Преход/Превод", чийто замисъл беше повече да очертае проблеми и да зададе въпроси, отколкото да търси правилата и отговорите. Мненията и гледните точки бяха колкото и изказалите се, но се изгради и един непоклатим консенсус - в езика не бива да има никакви намеси и регулации. Напротив, точно тогава може да се окажем "изгубени в превода" според сравнението, което използва Меглена Кунева. "Понеже става дума за именуване на явления, които просто не са съществували преди, става дума за едно възраждане. Какво правим с езика си, отваряме ли вратите, за да нахлуе т.нар. европейски език? Ако да - за кой език говорим - за жаргона ли или понятията? Още нещо - дали означава, че ние нямаме базата на понятията вътре в нашия език, и то защото ни липсват тези исторически слоеве, или това е едно нормално модернизиране на всичко онова, което представляват новите реалности в една модернизирана Европа?

Кое е правилното: интеграция или обединение? Това, което със сигурност знам, е, че една добра и точно намерена дума може да спаси цяла една политика, както национална, така и европейска."

Тук ви предлагаме три от мненията на конференцията, които предлагат различни и любопитни гледни точки към поставените въпроси.

Димитър Камбуров

"В момента състоянието на езика ни повече прилича на магма, а процесът на избистряне на магмата на езика е все още далеч. Ако на езика му се наложи закон или норма в това му състояние на изригвания и непрестанна обнова, това до нищо друго няма да доведе, освен до забрава и в последна сметка забрана на закона. Въпросът е дали ако създадеш и се опиташ да прокараш изкуствено моделиран език, ще намериш и кой да го говори. Тук беше споменато, че в по-ранен момент е било препоръчвано да се избягват думи като инициатива, коментар, провокация, асоциация. И какво от това? Тези думи са в чудесно здраве и до днес.

Нещо, което ми направи впечатление във връзка с един мой превод на книга за Русия, Cold Peace, написана от поляк, който е политически съветник и експерт във Вашингтон на американски английски. Изведнъж стана кристално ясно, че българската висша и средна административна лексика отпреди 89-а е била силно русифицирана. Всъщност западната, най-вече френската политическа лексика е намерила достъп до българската среда най-вече през руския. Сега се оказа много трудно да се реши дали в превода си да се върна към тези русизми по силата на това, че става дума именно за руски политически и икономически контекст, или да се заложи на англицизмите предвид американското авторство на книгата: ведомство или институция, отдел или департамент, канцеларията или офиса на президента. Заложих на руските версии, но нямаше как да не се досетя, че разправата и разчистването на руския от официалния български език е в явна връзка с геополитическата преориентация на България през последните 15 години. Русизмът явно ни мирише на комунизъм. Следва да си даваме сметка, че различните като езиков произход синоними могат полезно да насочват към различни нюанси, контексти и конотации, а по този начин могат да се правят важни оразличавания. Осъзнах също колко ми е трудно да правя точна разлика в нюансите между уж синонимите спогодба, договор, договореност, споразумение.

Питах се също дали да продължавам да се придържам към руския модел на произнасяне на имена, свързани с бившия СССР, или да дам израз на отвоюваната им независимост през преименуването им: Прибалтийски или Балтийски републики, Кишинев или Кишинеу, Лвов или Лвив, Белорусия или Беларус, Лукашенко или Лукашенка, Керчки или Керченски провлак. Ако бизнес езикът наистина е най-вече английски, политическият език и бюрократичният език са въпрос на все още нерешена борба между френски и английски.

Впрочем близостта ни до гръцкия през историческия ни контакт с Византия ни дават шанс да се преживяваме като близки по-скоро до поезията и философията ала Хайдегер, отколкото до бюрокрацията и метафизиката на латинския. Може би е полезно да пазим тази близост. Не е ли забавно например, че на български използваме думата "конкуренция" в значение, радикално противоположно на онези, с които думата функционира в западните си контексти. Въпросът е дали имаме сили за Хайдегер или за бюрокрацията."

Георги Господинов:

"Езикът си има свои закони и прагматична логика и не може да го регулираме отвън със закони. Абсолютно не вярвам в дисциплинираността на този процес отвън и ако изобщо говорим за намеса, тя трябва да е много деликатна. Разбира се, че проблемът не е до буквалната преводимост - речниковата, а до превода на определено мислене. За мен тук съществува един голям проблем.

По принцип, когато се говори за ЕС, а това се чу и тук, в много от изказванията, това се прави на един абстрактен, клиширан език. А той не подлежи на превод. В този смисъл тук има проблем с преводимостта. Не можем да говорим за Европа на един силиконов клиширан език - тогава няма да има никакво разбиране и в двете посоки.

Разделението между политическите елити и обществото, за което толкова се говори, е стъпило и върху разделението между езиците. Това е вредно явление, защото в някакъв смисъл то неглижира езика на обществото. Оттук следва и основният въпрос: как, след като администрацията е приела и подписала един документ, да може после да го обясни. Проблемът не е в конкретния термин - винаги може да намериш думата или думите, с които може да обясниш какво значи конклав, въпросът е как да преведем смисъла. Що се отнася до това кой трябва да прави това, отговорът звучи малко тавтологично, защото в случая първият възможен посредник е медията."

Георги Лозанов

"Преводът е либерализация на обществото, на неговата култура и мислене. Само това да е, вече може да се каже, че сме спечелили в превода.

Защото една евроинтеграция означава увеличаване на броя на преводните текстове, които идват от една чужда култура. И това е екзистенциален процес - от него зависи, или най-малкото се променя, животът на хората. Това, което в голяма степен определя живота на селския стопанин, който е сред колчетата с домати, е кои европейски документи ще влязат, преведени от френски например. Затова е интересен преговорният процес - той е процес на приемане на изречени на правен език екзистенциални отношения.

Струва ми се, че "печелим" и в друг смисъл:

За цялото патриархално, страстно и частно общество, каквото е балканското и нашето общество, и при което модерността все катастрофира, правният език, с целия си "деспотизъм", може да се окаже първият проект на модернизация.

Доминиращите публични езици досега бяха два: идеологическият по време на комунизма - стъпил върху една теоретична утопия. Всички помним партийния новоговор - той влезе накрая и в общуването с кварталния. Вторият език е съпротивата срещу първия и той се разви в частното общуване. Той разруши идеологическото говорене, а по-късно легитимира и мутрите, и жълтата преса.

Краят на този език би могъл да бъде точно в този правно-бюрократичен и същевременно пълен с културни недра език. И България ще заговори като част от един мултикултурен свят.

Що се отнася до чистота на езика - естествено, че ще се променят пропорциите, но да не забравяме, че процесът е двустранен. Нищо чудно думата ракия да стане чуждица в други езици.

Най-важното е, че тук правото не бива да пипа. Няма нищо по-страшно от закон за езика. Да не забравяме, че езикът е от Бога. Това е централната метафора на християнския свят и в навечерието на Великден всеки опит за такава норма е равносилен на богохулство."

Translation, by the numbers

2006-04-10T13:29:00.000+03:00

Source: www.cbc.ca

Author: Stephen Strauss

My son was recently vacationing in Quebec's Gaspé when one of his companions started to munch on one of those high-energy power bars that pick you up after a strenuous day's skiing.

Suddenly, she started to chortle. She pointed to text on the bar's wrapper and soon everyone was laughing. The cause: one of those translation absurdities that dot the unevenly bilingual landscape of Canadian packaging.

The Vancouver-based company had written in English that the bar was gluten free and dairy free. In French, this was turned into gluten libéré and laitier libre. Ha, ha, ha. While libéré does literally refer to free, it means free in the sense of liberated, often from something oppressive. Thus, the gluten reference would literally translate as "freed from gluten," as if gluten could be likened to a dictator.

More subtly, laitier doesn't mean dairy when it stands alone. Rather, you would have to say produits laitiers, as laitier would be like saying "milkness." At least the label didn't say gluten gratuit, one of my son's friends said. More guffaws. Gratuit also means free, but in the sense that it doesn't cost anything. However, there is an easy solution to the Vancouver company's problem: Let the internet be the translator – at least in part.

That doesn't mean go to Babelfish, the automatic language translation service on the Net. Type in libéré there and it tells you it doesn't know what you're talking about. Rather, simply assume that if a term or phrase has been used lots of times on the net by native speakers or good translators, it is correct. This blindly statistical approach is the essence of a kind of mini-revolution in the field of computer translation.

Instead of trying, as previous generations of computer scientists did, to teach a translating computer to think as a linguist, let the machine sift through existing translations of a phrase and statistically determine the likeliest usage.

Here is how you – and that poor misspeaking company in Vancouver – can use the principle of statistical machine translation today.

First, go to the Google search engine and type in "Government of Canada." You figure their translators probably have gotten things right. Next, type in "gluten free." The first reference is to an Innovation Canada website. It translates gluten free as sans gluten. This seems correct, but the internet is notorious for its accuracy potholes and gluten libéré also sounds right to the untrained ear. Go back to Google and type both words within quotation marks. There are 118,000 references to sans gluten. Type in "gluten libéré" and one reference appears – in Spanish. Sheer numbers scream the correct choice.

Type in "dairy free" in the Government of Canada website and sans produits laitiers pops up first. Put that into Google and it is referenced 805 times. Type "laitier libre" and it pops up seven times, one of which is a blog laughing at what a ridiculous translation it is for gluten free it.

Type in "gluten gratuit" and there are two references.

Of course, this approach isn't going to replace translators, who are needed to catch gross miscues, such as the paragraph found on the website of a Quebec power-bar manufacturer that begins in English: "Intervening in more than 50 pays GARANTIE BIO ECOCERT is a certification society approved by public authorities that has been active daily for more than 15 years on the field."

But my demonstration suggests that, in about half an hour, a non-French-speaking employee at that Vancouver firm could have verified something as simple as that ingredient label and likely got the translation right – or at least have improved on the current mishmash.

There are other applications. I'm writing a letter in German to a longtime friend of my father's announcing his recent death. My German is at the third-grade level and I am not sure whether I should use the German word for "has," as in "father has died," or the word for "is," as in "my father is dead." I go to Google. Ist (is) beats hat (has) 1060 to 0. It's little stuff but useful stuff and a sign of the times on the internet, where simply counting what people do is much more significant than anyone ever thought. It's how Google makes its money, and it's how government agencies might be able to separate liars, spinners, plotters and terrorists from the guileless rest of us.

Translating Web Sites - Considerations for Multilingual Online Businesses

2006-04-10T13:24:00.000+03:00

Source: www.isedb.com

I recently talked to someone who was in the process of translating their current web site (which is now in English) into several additional languages so he could appeal to more potential customers worldwide. By using the existing domain name and simply “adding pages to the site” in other languages, he thought he could save some money by not having to purchase additional domain names. I proceeded to explain to my friend that his idea of translating the site into different languages was a good one—but trying to save money is a bad marketing decision altogether. Multilingual web sites and merely translating the existing site into other languages is not a good marketing decision. It’s more effective to use only one language per domain name and establish an online presence in the country where you intend to do business.

If you are going to translate an existing web site into another language or several languages, the recommended method is to use only one language per domain name. I suggest that you host the site in the appropriate country, as well (for example, use a .fr TLD for French and host it in France). If you can also set up a local office in that country, that would be ideal. When you set up a web site and domain name, you are setting up a business—and by establishing a presence in the country using that country’s native tongue is much more powerful than simply adding a few web pages to your existing web site.

One option is to use sub-domains on your existing domain name (e.g., francais.yourdomain.com). While using sub-domains separates the languages into different sections of your web site, they are ultimately a barrier when it comes to doing business online. If your business is located in the United States, someone from Germany or France may be leery of doing business with you—simply because your business is not located in their country. (The same thing happens when I buy things online—I prefer to do business with someone located in the United States rather than someone in another country even though they speak my same language.)

Potential cost shouldn’t really be an issue or determining factor when it comes to translating and setting up new web sites. The cost of an additional domain name is minimal at this point, as buying a domain name is rather inexpensive. When choosing another domain name for a new/additional language, many people choose to use their current domain name and simply use another TLD. For example, if your main web site is in English on www.companyname.com and you’re translating your site into French, it would be appropriate to use www.companyname.fr. If for whatever reason it’s not available, then you might consider adding a hyphen or selecting something similar to your company name or perhaps even your main keyword in French. Typically, domain names containing keywords are still available in many country-specific TLDs. Still another option might be to select a domain name that includes your company name in addition to a keyword.

By setting up a new domain name and using one language for that whole site, you’re setting up the equivalent of a new internet business in that language. Other web sites will see your site as a separate web site from your other web sites in other languages. That’s a good thing, as that entitles you to additional directory listings in the country-specific Yahoo! Directory, DMOZ, and other influential web site directories in that language. In addition, other web sites in your industry that are in the same language will be more apt to link to your web site if it’s entirely in their language. For example, let’s say you sell red widgets—you have a lot of links from other sites that talk about red widgets but they’re in English. With a new French site about red widgets, other French web sites that talk about red widgets will link to your French site—they will probably not link to your site that is in English. In a time where links from other web sites are crucial for good organic search engine rankings, it is a good practice to remove any barriers such as language barriers that might stop another web site from linking to you.

Regional versions of certain major search engines tend to favor web sites that are in the same language and that are hosted in the same country. If someone uses www.Google.fr (Google France) to search in French, web sites that are in French and hosted in France are favored in the organic search results. Therefore, it is recommended that your French language web site use a .fr TLD and is hosted on a web server that is physically located in France. I realize that certain countries are preferred when it comes to web hosting, so for redundancy purposes it would make sense to host the site in the country first—and have backup servers in another country (you can specify several different nameservers when setting up the domain) if availability and bandwidth is an issue.

When doing the actual translating of your current web site, it’s best to use translators located in the country you’re targeting—they know the language best. If at all possible, if your company employs local salespeople or marketing staff in that country then you might consider having them write or translate the copy on the web site—they know the product and any important selling points and local “slang” that is important to include. Also, they will know the major web portals in their country (where the web site should be listed) as well as the major keywords that the site should target—translators from other countries might be able to translate the web site’s copy, but they may not be as familiar with the keywords that are important to include. Although computer-generated translation tools are available, do not use them to translate a web site from one language to another—the copy will not read well and visitors to the site will be turned off when they visit the site.

If you translate your web site into another language, you must be prepared to back up all the new business that the web site will generate. You must have someone available to speak that language—your salespeople should be located in that country and be ready to work with any potential customers that visit your web site. Just because you translate your web site into another language doesn’t mean that you’re done—be prepared to continue to support it by adding content on a regular basis, getting links to the site from other web sites in the same language, and promoting it just like you would with any other web site.

On web sites that are translated into languages other than English, it’s important to include a local phone number. I’ve talked to many people over the years about web sites in languages other than English, and there seems to be a trend—web surfers in countries other than the United States and Canada do not trust web sites as much as Americans and Canadians do. For example, when buying something online, Americans and Canadians will buy online and enter their credit card information without ever talking to the someone at the business. However, visitors from other countries tend to want some sort of ‘personalized touch’ during the buying process. By adding a local contact phone number and address/location, you increase the chances that they will purchase online. For example, one retailer I talked to translated their web site into another language (the main site was in English). They couldn’t figure out why no one was buying anything online although they had a lot of visitors from their country (the new translated site was in French, hosted in France, and had a .fr TLD). The retailer added their phone number and local contact information in the footer of every page on the site. The phone immediately started to ring off the hook and they were able to help people purchase online while they were on the phone. In this particular case, the customers wanted a personalized touch, and adding the local contact information helped tremendously, especially because the company is a major American retailer doing business for the first time online in that country. The web site’s visitors wanted assurance that they were doing business with a local company.

Translating a web site into another language may sound easy--and it can be done without even knowing the other language. However, it’s not something to be taken lightly—there are a lot of other considerations if your online business in that language is going to be successful. It’s important to stay away from using automated tools to translate the site; rather, use local translators who fully understand the business in their country and make sure you have local sales staff to back up that business. You’re not just translating a web site into another language—you’re establishing an online business in that language as well as a local presence in the country you’re targeting.

SDL TRADOS Certification Program for Translators

2006-04-07T13:45:00.000+03:00

SDL Desktop Technology, a division of SDL International, announced the upcoming launch of a major new industry initiative, the SDL TRADOS Certification Program.

Achieving SDL TRADOS Certification will demonstrate competence in understanding the CCM Methodology and in leveraging the complete range of SDL TRADOS functionality, including new collaboration, filtering, QA checking and terminology management features.

SDL TRADOS Certification Benefits to Corporations and LSPs:

- Pre-qualification of translators on technology use before outsourcing work
- Guarantee a level of translation technology expertise
- Faster return on investment when employing translators
- Ensure the translators you are using are connected to the global ecosystem of trusted technology

SDL TRADOS Certification Benefits to Translators:

- Stand apart from other translators
- Demonstrate a level of translation technology expertise
- Provide increased opportunities for career advancement

The SDL TRADOS Certification Program launches at the end of April 2006. To find out more information about SDL TRADOS Certification, the CCM Methodology and to pre-register your interest, please visit www.sdl.com/certified.

EU wordsmith lifts lid on eurojargon

2006-04-06T14:54:00.000+03:00

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Poor translations of EU jargon can alienate ordinary people, with EU translators' increasing reliance on the internet raising the risk of mistakes, European Commission terminologist Alex Andersen told EUobserver.

The commission currently employs 20 terminologists, one for each official language, to advise translators how to handle industrial terms such as "biomass" as well as EU jargon such as "subsidiarity".

Over-literal translations can fall foul of connotations in the target language, creating unwelcome effects Mr Andersen explained.

Translating "European Union" directly into Danish instead of opting for "europæisk sammenslutning [European Association]" also hits the wrong note and can have far-reaching implications such as galvanising support for Danish opt-outs on EU policy.

"The word 'union' doesn't appeal to Danish people. It has negative connotations because people think back to the historic union between the Nordic countries when they in turn dominated each other," the expert stated.

Mr Andersen, from Denmark, has over 30 years' experience in EU terminology and speaks Danish, Swedish, Dutch, German, French, English, Italian, Portuguese and - the hardest to learn - Finnish.

But a question mark hangs over the future of the terminologists’ role in the European Commission and other EU institutions, with some Brussels directors wondering if they still need them in an age when internet search engine Google supposedly has a solution to any terminology problem.

Google no substitute

"With Google you often end up just confirming your own good or bad idea," Mr Andersen said. "And it does not help the harmonisation of EU terms among the different institutions."

When the commission reopened its Berlaymont headquarters in Brussels in 2004 it attached the sign "Commission Européenne" which should have read "Commission européenne" in correct French.

The faux pas was quickly corrected but you can still see the screw marks from the old E if you look carefully.

"If they had called us, it wouldn't have happened," the terminologist quipped.

The EU should also beware of coining terms with fuzzy meanings that few people can understand unless they make a study of the European project, he said.

"Just think of the French 'partenaires sociaux' which is often mistranslated into English as 'social partners' instead of the more correct 'both sides of industry.' The UK civil service uses the former expression to mean husbands and wives."

To help translators check for definition, an interinstitutional termbank (IATE) has been set up, - an electronic multilingual glossary set to be open to the public by 2007.

The termbank can also cast a light on evolutions of EU culture.

French fossils

The EU's penchant for abstract policy "spaces" is a fossil of the French political term "espace" used in the 1970s and 1980s before English became the most popular language for original European Commission documents.

The phrase "absorption capacity" started out as a value in chemistry, extended to the capacity of new member states to absorb EU funds then moved to the EU's capacity to absorb refugees.

Its latest usage, as the EU’s institutional capacity to absorb new member states, is still too fresh to appear in the glossary.

Some sensitive words, such as "terrorist" and "genocide" also stand out in the EU terminologist's work.

"Terrorist" is "too sensitive" to fall under a terminologist's authority, but IATE defines it as "a person who commits a violent act for political reasons."

"Genocide" is described in line with the International Criminal Court in The Hague as harmful acts "committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

Microsoft to launch translation tools

2006-03-17T13:46:00.000+02:00

The N.Y-Times writes in an article published today, that Microsoft intends to enter the translation tools market alongsinde the launchof its new operating system Microsoft Vista expected to hit the market later this year and the next generation of the companies office-suite Microsoft Office 2007.

The article informs that Microsoft began a US$ 500 million marketing campaign yesterday to stir enthusiasm among corporate customers for its new products and grab business from I.B.M., its biggest rival in the business technology market:

"At the conference, Microsoft gave a series of demonstrations of the capabilities of its new products. These included phoning in for e-mail and having messages read back using voice recognition and translation technology, searching corporate databases, creating virtual workspaces that automatically sync documents and calendars for team members, and analyzing worldwide sales patterns from an Excel spreadsheet."

I.B.M criticises Microsoft orientation on desktop products as outdated. The Microsoft demonstrations were a display of "more functions than people need or want in a pure Microsoft software environment," the N.Y. Times cited Ken Bisconti, a vice president in I.B.M.'s software group. "Microsoft, is clinging to a pre-Internet, proprietary software model."

Creating momentum in the marketplace for Windows Vista and Office 2007 is crucial for Microsoft, the article reads. "Microsoft needs to add new capabilities to stay ahead of free alternatives to its desktop offerings, like the Linux operating system and OpenOffice applications."

Ще стане ли България разбираема за света?

2006-03-16T14:49:00.000+02:00

НетИнфо

Има ли държава BĂLGARIJA и как се пише правилно на латиница личното име на министъра на държавната администрация и административната реформа.

След 100-годишно объркване може би е намерен пътят за утвърждаване на единна система за изписване на българските собствени имена (географски и лични) на латиница - транслитерация.

Проектът е на Министерството на държавната администрация и административната реформа, наречен е "Разбираема България" и би трябвало да срещне широка обществената подкрепа.

"Решаването на проблема с изписването на българските собствени имена на латиница не само ще премахне объркванията, но и става неотложно с предстоящото приемане на страната ни в Европейския съюз", каза днес министър Николай Василев на нарочно организирана дискусия. Той се е захванал да координира работата на специалистите от Института за български език при БАН и на други учени, интелектуалци, медии, политици.

Нямаше спор, че сега има хаос в изписването, в цялата държава липсват полезни табели и други означителни знаци на латиница, а дългогодишните спорове за това кой е най-добрият подход при избора на латинския еквивалент на българското изписване сякаш не могат да бъдат разрешени.

Silvia, Sylvia, Silviya, Szilvia ... / Nikolay, Nikolai, Nickolay, Nikoláj... - така се изписват в момента името на жена ми и моето - така министър Василев представи бъркотията.

В момента, ако търсите в интернет, ще попаднете на следното:
Panagyurishte (71 100 пъти), Panagurishte (44 900), Panagiurishte (553), Panagiuriste (169), Panaguriste (237), Panagyuriste (390), дори Panagurište. Последните две изписвания са на две съседни табели по магистрала "Тракия".

Така е и с Tarnovo (577 000 пъти в интернет), Turnovo (262 000), Tirnovo (16 800), Tyrnovo (14 100).

На табелите и картите, в документите (за самоличност и други), в публикации и кореспонденция чрез интернет - навсякъде няма ред в изписването. Един град, едно име (лично или фамилно) в едно и също семейство дори се изписват по няколко различни начини.

Имало е няколко опита за решаване на проблема, но не са били възприети и утвърдени общи правила. Сега изглежда има шанс учените и държавните институции да се обединят, а ако бъдат подкрепени и от медиите може наистина да има резултат.

Още повече, че в Института за български език е разработен софтуер, който предлага коректно транслитериране на собствени имена от българска кирилица в латинска версия и обратно.
Програмата ще бъде предложена за свободно ползване в интернет.

Опитни шофьори се губят по българските пътища, а за гости от чужбина положението понякога е без изход. От екипа на министерството на държавната администрация дадоха пример: чужденци казват, че успешно са пристигнали в Бапха. Всъшност ставало дума за Varna (Варна).

Българските министри от няколко правителства с ужас сядат на международни форуми зад табелки, на които е изписано BĂLGARIJA.

В езиците с латиница чуждите имена се изписват в оригинал, дори да не е очевидно как се четат: Gerhard Schröder (бивш канцлер на Германия), François Mitterand (президент на Франция), Nagymezővásárhely (град в Унгария). Тъй като редица съчетания трудно се произнасят от чужденци, всеки го произнася, както може, но изписването е едно.

Държави, които не ползват латиница, са въвели ред. В Гърция и Япония има ясни правила и еднозначни табели. Дори в китайския език, който фонетично стои толкова далеч от европейските езици, няма съмнение как се изписват сричките: Deng Xiao Ping (Дън Сяо Пин).

Само че, поради обикновена неграмотност и ниска квалификация всяка седмица в поне една българска печатна медия столицата на Китай се появява като Бейджинг, защото в англоезичните източници, от които безотговорно се преписва, Пекин е написан Beijing.

Подобен на българския проблем има и в Русия. Там пишат Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, но и Kosmodemianskaya.

В състоялата се в сряда дискусия всички бяха съгласни, че е необходима еднозначна, окончателна и официално приета система.

Трябва да бъдат наложени с нормативен документ единни правила за географските имена, а за личните имена на хора да се зачита желанието им.

Учените от БАН имат водеща роля при избирането на един от вариантите за изписването с латиница на някои букви.

Министър Василев пое ангажимента да бъде утвърден официален, задължителен и широко оповестен списък на всички населени места, реки, местности и други ида бъде предложен препоръчителен списък на имената на българските граждани. Изрично беше заявено, че вече издадените документи са валидни и ще се променят само по лично желание.

Като основни проблеми, за решаването на които сега се очаква окончателната дума на Института за български език, бяха определени:

- Транслитериране на думи, съдържащи следните буквени знаци: Ж, ж; Й, й; Ц, ц; Ч, ч; Ш, ш; Щ, щ; Ъ, ъ; Ь, ь, Ю, ю; Я, я.

- Транслитериране на думи, съдържащи следните буквени съчетания: Дж, дж; Дз, дз.

- Транслитериране на думи, съдържащи следните буквени съчетания:
йо, -ьо, -ия.

- Допускане на дублетност при транслитериране на собствени имена, съдържащи кирилската буква Ц, ц (ts, tz).

- Съчетаване на транслитерирани и преведени части от съставни собствени имена (площад "Независимост", Народен театър "Иван Вазов").

- Транслитериране на абревиатури (БДЖ, ЦСКА).

- Предаване на не-български собствени имена, използвани като собствени имена в България (Лайош Кошут, Джордж Вашингтон/Уошингтън, Ами Буе).

- Изключения при транслитерирането на български собствени имена, приемани по традиция: -ия в краесловие (София, Мария, Камчия, България).

- Удвояване на букви при транслитериране на някои собствени имена
(Несебър, Василев)

Всеки, който поиска, може да даде своето мнение по дискусионните пунктове на: www.mdaar.government.bg

Bulgaria Ponders Unified Cyrillic Transliteration

2006-03-16T14:10:00.000+02:00

Bulgaria is to work out a unified system of transliterating Bulgarian proper names into Latin alphabet.

With its upcoming accession into the EU, the Balkan country will contribute a brand new alphabet into the Union. However, its practical usage poses the threat of many confusions and variations in transcribing Bulgarian names with Latin letter, minister of state administration said.

Nikolay Vassilev introduced Wednesday the project "Understandable Bulgaria", which would be implemented along with broad public debates on the best manner to Latin-equalised Bulgarian proper names.

In his words, the new system would facilitate the communication of Bulgaria with the rest of the world.

The project envisions also the active cooperation on the side of letters experts and linguists, scientists and media, Minister Vassilev said.

The initiative is organised by the State Adminstration and Administrative Reform Ministry and the Bulgarian Language Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

EU translation costs spiralling out of control

2006-03-15T14:23:00.000+02:00

The "costs of interpretation and translation in an expanded EU are spiraling out of control, according to a separate draft report from the legislature's budgetary control committee" the International Herald Tribune writes in today's online edition.

According to the article, nearly Euro 26 million (US$ 31 million) - representing 16 percent of the Euro163 million spent on interpretation - is used to hire translators who are on call or sitting idle.

The draft report from the Parliament's budgetary control committee notes that the cost for interpreting 20 languages in a one- day meeting can be as high as Euro 118,000, compared with Euro 6,000 to Euro 9,000 for three languages. Yet the European Union defends its translation policy on grounds of the democratic nature of the union. A representative of the Liberal party points out that "the hefty cost of translation was justified since it was essential for democracy in the bloc that citizens could understand debates in their own languages."

A recent report by the budgetary control committee notes that the interpretation costs could be decreased if the "Parliament's cumbersome triple location in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg" were brought together.

The recent EU expansion has brought an increase in costs for hiring interpreters for a one-day meeting cost about Euro 40,000 to Euro 88,500, due to number of language having risen from 11 to 20.

Source: International Herald Tribune

В София ще има обучение за конкурсите на ЕС

2006-03-11T14:15:00.000+02:00

"Дневник" | 07 март, 09:49

Едноседмично обучение за кандидатстване в конкурсите на Европейския съюз ще се проведе в София. Целта на курса е да се придобият необходими техники и умения за работа в европейската администрация. Лекциите се организират от Европейския център за обучение CEFEC под егидата на Синдиката на европейските функционери и със съдействието на Дипломатическия институт към министъра на външните работи Ивайло Калфин.

Курсът е предназначен за българи, притежаващи задълбочени познания и професионален опит в областта на евроинтеграцията, структурите и политиките на ЕС, съобщиха от Външно министерство. Семинарът ще подготви участниците за процеса на кандидатстване чрез използването на интерактивни форми на обучение и представяне на всички етапи на конкурса. Обучението ще се проведе от 27 март до 2 април и е на английски език.

В момента текат няколко конкурса за български преводачи и юристи-лингвисти в институциите на ЕС. Европейската комисия например търси 60 преводачи, като предлага и стажове. Наскоро приключиха конкурсите за сътрудници в Европейския парламент.

Translation statistics

2006-03-04T12:35:00.000+02:00

The following table shows the relative positions of the top ten countries worldwide in terms of the numbers of translations published from 1979 to 2002 (the latest year for which statistics are available). Is translation an indicator of the level of true democracy in a country, or of the level of education, or its linguistic diversity, or the number of publishers – or simply reflects the number of immigrants? Readers are left to make their own conclusions…

1. Germany 218275
2. Spain 193946
3. France 137267
4. USSR 92755
5. Japan 90194
6. Netherlands 80229
7. Denmark 53732
8. Poland 51521
9. Brazil 49696
10. Hungary 41998

Source: UNESCO

Rapid Intelligence Bridges Wikipedia Language Gap

2006-02-21T14:32:00.000+02:00

The technology is designed from the ground up to work with wiki-based content and has a number of unique features of interest to researchers and Wikipedia editors. It is the only search engine to index machine translated content, so that users may search for terms in their own language and see results translated from English.

"Wikipedia's growth in English is well documented, but other languages lag far behind. The next biggest is German, roughly a third of the size of the English one. Spanish is a mere tenth of the size" says Luke Metcalfe, founder of the site. "There is thus a massive gap in the market."

The resultant content is machine translated, so it contains imperfections, but are still much better than no article at all and further, provide a starting point for editors to translate manually into their own language. Languages included are German, French, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Greek, Korean, Chinese and Russian.

In addition, some country-specific topics are covered best in their native language. Qwika makes this content available to English speakers, rolling it all into the one index. Articles from all 11 languages are included in the English language version.

The engine also includes WikiTravel and aims to include all sizeable wikis. "Wikis are cropping up on a variety of topics and approaches to community. We'd like to see this diversity flourish while still providing the user with a central location for such public encyclopedia-style content."

The service aims to be an alternative search for Wikipedia. At the time of writing this press release, all of Wikipedia was suffering an outage, and its search is often down.

Some examples:
http://www.qwika.com/find/dark_lunacy - Finds the Spanish version (no english article exists)
http://www.qwika.com/find/der_spiegel - German translated version contains more information than the english one.
http://www.qwika.com/find/australia - Wikipedia and WikiTravel
http://www.qwika.com/find/helmut_kohl - Many languages and talk page.

About Rapid Intelligence:
Rapid Intelligence is a web and search technology company. Its other titles include FactBites, featured in BusinessWeek, a search engine/encyclopedia hybrid that provides point form topic summaries as results, and NationMaster, the world's largest database for comparing countries online, which has received warm reviews from CNN, the BBC, The New York Times and the American Library Association.

About Wikipedia:
Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia written by volunteers on an ongoing basis, backed by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its aim is to create and distribute a freely available encyclopedia in as many languages as possible. According to Alexa.com, Wikipedia has been ranked in the top 30 most trafficked websites throughout 2006.

Cultural Knowledge Beats Machine Translation

2006-01-24T13:25:00.000+02:00

Terry and Sylvie Gadness, owners of Groupe Mistral, a Mercer, Kentucky-based language service provider (LSP) agree that it's the knowledge of cultures that is important which is why they believe human translators will never be replaced by computers, writes the Advocate Messenger.

After 15 years in business and with a network of language translators offering more than 60 European, African and Asian tongues, Groupe Mistral has worked for clients including Disney, Hewlett Packard, Dictaphone and Panasonic. From their experience the translators agree that while computers and modern communications are a necessary part of running a business it's pretty clear that machine translation systems will never replace human translators. "For a while, computer gurus were telling everybody, 'Computer translations are going to take things over. You're not going to have to hire translators anymore," Terry Gadness is cited. "That was 15 years ago and we're still waiting. The computers can't keep up with the changes in language."

Among Groupe Mistral's projects was a proofreading job that turned out to become a retranslation of a machine translated document. It was an American PR firm's proposal directed at the president of Congo.

"They ran it through a computer translator and sent it to me for editing and I said, 'No, this is absolutely unacceptable.' When you're talking about the higher ups in the Congo and in French Africa, they are very proud of their language and they're extremely educated. I had to have it re-translated overnight because it had to be printed out and given to the U.N. ambassador to Congo who was going back to Congo and had to put it on (then-president) Lauren Kabila's desk."

Read the Article at : amnews.com

Translator/Interpreter for Delegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria

2006-01-23T10:05:00.000+02:00

EUROPEAN UNION

Delegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria

is seeking to recruit a

TRANSLATOR/INTERPRETER

Duties and responsibilities:

• Translation of incoming or internal documentation from the Bulgarian or French into English, as required by the Delegation; translation of legislation; translation of press articles on Bulgaria-EU relations and of letters from central government institutions, local government bodies, NGOs and private persons.

• Interpretation at official meetings and talks; interpretation for missions to Bulgaria; other relevant functions, as required by the Delegation.

• Keeping a full record of all the translation jobs, according to the requirements of the Delegation.

• Any other tasks assigned by the Head of Delegation.

Requirements:

• Excellent knowledge of English.

• Good knowledge of other(s) EU language will be considered as additional merit.

• Good knowledge of EU institutions and of legal terminology.

• Relevant working experience as translator/interpreter of at least 5 years.

• Bulgarian citizenship.

Please send a CV together with a motivation letter to the Delegation of the European Commission, 9, Moskovska St., Sofia 1000, to the attention of Ms. B. Dimitrova or to the e-mail: Delegation-Bulgaria@cec.eu.int. Please quote the reference: ref. TI/10/05.

Deadline for receipt of applications is 03 February 2006.
Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Конкурс за коректори на публикации на български език в ЕС

2006-01-20T19:23:00.000+02:00

Асистенти (AST3) открит конкурс EPSO/AST/8/05

Европейската служба за селекция на кадри (EPSO) организира открит конкурс на базата на тестове за коректори за подготовката на публикации на български език.

В конкурса може да участват граждани на някоя от държавите - членки на ЕС или на една от присъединяващите се страни - България и Румъния.

Кандидатите трябва да владеят перфектно български език и да имат добри познания по английски, френски или немски език. Желаещите да участват в открития конкурс на Европейската служба за селекция на кадри трябва да имат желание да се посветят на предизвикателна, динамична работа в мултикултурна среда, поясняват от европейската институция.

Квалификация:
• средно специално или висше образование, удостоверено с диплома; или
• средно образование, даващо право на обучение във висше учебно заведение, удостоверено със съответната диплома, и най-малко три години професионален опит.

Професионален опит:
• най-малко три години опит в областта на подготовката или коригирането на публикации след получаване на една от горепосочените квалификации.

Известието за открит конкурс, както и подробна информация, са публикувани в Официален вестник на Европейските общности OJ C 327 A от 23.12.2005 г.

Кандидатите трябва да използват оригиналния формуляр за регистрация на оптичен носител от Официален вестник (копия или разпечатки няма да се приемат).

За да получите копие от Официален вестник OJ C 327 A, моля изпратете плик (с минимален размер 23x22 см) с актуален адрес и без марка на един от посочените по-долу пощенски адреси:

Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
Resources Unit
EPSO/AST/8/05
2, rue Mercier - L-2985
Luxembourg

Делегация на Европейската комисия в България (OJ C 327 A)
ул ."Московска" 9
1000 София
България

или пишете на email: opoce-competitions@cec.eu.int.

Конкурсът е открит за кандидатстване от 22 декември 2005 г. и крайният срок за изпращане на формулярите на оптичен носител е 31 януари 2006 г.

Повече информация относно възможностите за работа в институциите на ЕС може да намерите в специализираното издание на Информационния център на ЕС към Делегацията на ЕК.

Официален вестник на Европейските общности OJ 2005/C 327 A/02 от 23.12.2005 г. (PDF)

Статия за българските преводачи във в. Сега

2006-01-17T17:16:00.000+02:00

"Преводи и легализации". По централните софийски улици има много такива табели. Този бизнес процъфтява, откак границите на България се отвориха и хората хукнаха на гурбет или да се образоват. Не е ясно какъв е оборотът на фирмите за превод, но като съдим по това колко българи работят в чужбина, сигурно на 90% от тях им се налага да ползват услугите на преводачите. Служителите в тази сфера се определят като "заклети преводачи". Причината за непрестанното множене на тези фирми на пазара е и в безпроблемния старт на такъв бизнес. Тъй като се касае за интелектуален продукт, не е нужен голям капитал за развиване на преводаческа дейност. Затова, колкото такива фирми, толкова и оценки за работата им.

С условията за преводи всеки може да се запознае на място или в интернет. Цените може да са стряскащи за частни лица, но за някои документи няма алтернатива, освен да се използва услугата на платените преводачи. Всеки документ като диплома за образование, кръщелно свидетелство, удостоверение за раждане, за стаж, пенсии и т.н. струва между 19 и 32 лв. за стандартна страница от 1800 знака.

Цените извън столицата варират около 5 лв. за страница от английски, като много повече са индивидуалните преводачи, които не са обвързани с определена организация. Естествено има значение и езикът, на който се превежда документът. За основната група - английски, немски, френски, испански, италиански, руски, услугата е около 8 лв. на страница. Скандинавските, балканските и азиатските езици са в друга ценова група. Едно медицинско на японски излиза около 50 лв. А само за 10 лв. без ДДС ще бъде преведено от македонски на български...

Отстъпки от въпросните цени се предвиждат за страни, с които България има сключен договор за правна помощ. В такъв случай от цената обикновено се приспадат 5 лв. Причината за високите тарифи е повече от тривиална. Все пак, става дума за фирми, където щатните служители най-често, ако не навсякъде, работят на процент. От 8 лв. на страница, които взема фирмата, конкретният преводач прибира около 3 лв. Останалото е за компанията.

Предвид творческото начало на самата дейност, обяснима е и надценката на художествените преводи с около 60-70% на страница. Високите цени са и причина много от издателствата у нас да прибягват до услугите на преводачите на свободна практика, които имат по-малки финансови претенции, именно защото не са свързани с фирма, а и в повечето случаи работата им е по-качествена. Те са специализирани в художествения превод и не поемат друг ангажимент, докато работят по конкретен текст.

Стряскащ е броят на фирмите, оторизирани да извършват преводаческа дейност. До 23 август 2005 г. МВнР е сключило договор за извършване на официални преводи с 950 фирми в страната. Те обикновено се рекламират с това, че при тях работят само "заклети преводачи". На практика у нас почти не може да се намери бюро, в което преводачите да не са оторизирани. Клеймото определено е загубило стойност, защото проверки явно не се правят.

Що е то заклет преводач?

В България изпит за заклет преводач няма и не съществува някаква форма на лицензиране на конкретно физическо лице преводач. Заклет преводач се става, като се попълнят две нотариално заверени декларации към конкретната агенция, с която преводачът работи. Ако работи за няколко, се попълва за всяка, защото няма универсална бланка. След това документът се заверява при нотариус. "Заклетият преводач" полага клетва, че няма да разпространява следствена тайна и няма да дава умишлено грешни преводи. Той подписва нотариално заверена клетвена декларация, съгласно която носи отговорност по чл.290, ал. 2 от НК за достоверността на извършваните от него преводи на документи и други книжа. За извършено нарушение, законът предвижда лишаване от свобода до 5 г. Неговото име и образец от подписа му са внесени в Консулския отдел на МВнР. Министерството на външните работи обаче няма процедура за лицензиране на отделните преводачи, а само за агенциите за преводи.

"Статут "заклет преводач" няма в България. Няма нормативен документ, който да регламентира отговорностите на такъв преводач все още. Единствено МВнР е изготвило вътрешно нормативен документ, който се нарича правилник за легализациите и заверките на документи. Там са регламентирани общи правила, на базата на които се сключва договор с юридическо лице за извършване на официални преводи", потвърди за "Сега" и управителят на фирма за преводи "Лозанова" Юлия Лозанова. Според нея стремежът фирми да налагат определението "заклет преводач" на служителите си е резултат от това, че понятието е добило гражданственост. Иначе, и в тяхната фирма има богат избор на езици, от и на които се превежда. Сред най-екзотичните поръчки са преводи от суахили и пакистанския официален език - урду, които владеят само няколко българи.

"Ние, преводачите и агенциите, не вникваме в юридическата същност на статута заклет преводач. Хубаво ще е хората да разберат, че у нас реално няма заклети преводачи. В Европа обаче има такъв статут и там е налице изготвена процедура за добиване му. Там този преводач първо е физическо лице и той има право да превежда само на майчиния си език, докато у нас няма такова ограничение", допълва Лозанова.

Тенденции

В първите години на прехода в България се появиха и фирмите, които предлагаха преводачески услуги. Времето съвпадна с бума на емигранти, на които естествено бяха нужни и преведени документи.

"Навремето голяма маса хора емигрираха по икономически причини и потокът от документи, който се превеждаше, беше огромен. През последните 5 години се работи предимно с фирми. Пак става дума за превод на документи, но те са в обслужване на бизнеса и институциите - тръжни документации, големи преводи за компании и т.н.", обясниха от "Лозанова".

В момента, ако една фирма иска да се задържи на пазара, трябва да инвестира в бизнеса си. Все още обаче може да се работи с един компютър като едноличен търговец. Тази практика обаче вече губи позиции.

"Предвид членството ни в Европейския съюз и високите изисквания, които ще навлязат, малките фирми за преводи ще изчезнат. Ето вече кандидатстваха от българска страна устни преводачи за ЕС. След последното набиране са избрани 38 българи, които тепърва ще държат изпит за устен преводач, за да могат да бъдат назначени. До 18 януари предстои подаване на документи за кандидатстване за писмени преводи. Критериите са преди всичко качество, но всеки, който счита, че може да отговори на изискванията, може да кандидатства", обяснява Юлия Лозанова.

ИНТЕРВЮ

Илиан Цинцаров: Заплашваха ме заради цените, които предлагам

Илиан Цинцаров е от преводачите, които според професионалистите в бранша нямат шанс да оцелеят на пазара. Той няма голяма база и работи при домашни условия. Един от най-младите преводачи работи срещу 3 лв. на страница.

- Вие сте студент по туризъм. Защо се захващате с преводите?

- Причината е в една моя преподавателка, която ми каза, че не зная английски, без дори да ми даде шанс да се докажа. Тоест, директно ме скъса. Другата причина е, че видях колко зле изглеждат сайтовете на много такива фирми и вярвах, че мога да превеждам добре. В същото време съдружникът ми Борис е гений по отношение на дизайна.

- Какъв е опитът ти досега и ще издържиш ли на конкуренцията?

- Занимавам се вече от година и нещо с преводи. Работих в една фирма за преводи и легализации, където се отнесоха много лошо с мен и не ми платиха нищо за работа, която свърших, и нямаше оплакване от клиента. Естествено след един месец напуснах. За мен един от най-мръсните бизнеси в България е легализацията на документите за българи в чужбина. Има много агенции, които са взели лицензи, но според мен една част от тях са го направили по втория начин. Виждал съм преведени документи, които са на плачевно ниво, и потърпевш е клиентът. Аз не казвам, че съм най-добрият, но се справям и хората са доволни.

- А защо работите на такива ниски тарифи? Тези 3 лв. на страница от английски звучат несериозно на фона на останалите...

- В интерес на истината преди половин година дори ме заплашваха заради цените, които предлагам. Писаха ми от една агенция, че ще ме съдят, защото съм подбивал цените на цялата гилдия. Още на другия ден обаче разбрах, че са се отказали. Другото, което ме накара да сложа такива цени, е търсенето, което не е голямо, ако не си се хванал с посолствата.

- По колко страници можете да превеждате на ден?

- Ако се напрегна и цял ден не правя нищо друго, мога да превеждам по 10 страници на ден. В повечето фирми тотално експлоатират преводачите си и те стигат до 15 страници. Имам такива приятели, които са ми казвали за подобни случаи.

- Какви са ви месечните доходи от преводи?

- Грубо около 150 лв., но засега това не ми е основна работа. Може би, след като си завърша образованието, ще започна по-сериозно. Сега сме само трима - аз, Анелия, която превежда от немски, и Борис. Оттам и името ИАБ, което е абревиатура. Работим само с 2 компютъра, но след време предвиждам да се разраснем и да си направим реклама, с което ще запознаем хората с нашата фирма.

Jurisconsult rules on Euro spelling

2006-01-17T14:24:00.000+02:00

Valletta, Malta (Times of Malta): EU Council sources have said that Jurisconsult - the EU's language authority - had instructed all EU translators and lawyer-linguists to continue spelling the single currency in all texts, except Greek, as euro and that member states were not free to use any other term.

For more information, please visit:
www.timesofmalta.com

CNN translator fired

2006-01-17T14:22:00.000+02:00

New York, USA (CNN): The company responsible for Saturday's inaccurate translation of the Iranian president responsible for CNN being banned from Iran has apologized to CNN. Lesley Howard, owner of the Lesley Howard Languages translation company, said "Obviously, we're taking it very, very seriously. We will never use him again," referring to the interpreter. She said the same interpreter, who like other interpreters is contracted for individual projects, has done good work in the past, including for CNN. She added that there is no reason to believe the interpreter purposely gave the wrong translation.

For more information, please visit: www.mediabistro.com

Януарска конференция на Линукс-БГ

2006-01-14T15:10:00.000+02:00

На 21-ви януари, от 13:00 започва януарската конференция на Линукс-БГ, която се провежда съвместно с конференцията Локализация! Локализация!. Събитието ще се проведе във Франкофонския център в ректората на Софийски Университет. За тези от вас който ще идват за първи път напомняме да използват входа на ректората от към градината и да помолят портиера да ги упъти.

Събитието ще бъде посветено изцяло върху превода на свободен софтуер и засега включва следните лекции:

1. Владимир Петков ще говори за "Координиране на проекти за превод на свободен софтуер"
2. Ясен Праматаров ще говори за "Платено превеждане на свободен софтуер - успехи и изводи от спонсорирането на проекта за превод на КДЕ"
3. Ростислав Райков ще говори за "Превод на документацията към GNOME"
4. Александър Шопов ще говори за "Използване на Subversion и Trac за превеждане на свободен софтуер".

Ако имате предложения за други теми - пишете на Владимир "Kaladan" Петков // vpetkov@i-space.org

Авторското право върху софтуер – свръх кратко въведение

2006-01-06T15:16:00.000+02:00

За лекцията, която ще изнеса в петък, ще ми е нужно да направя някакво въведение в авторското право, за да съм сигурен, че студентите имат някаква що-годе еднаква представа поне за основите на материята, за която ще става въпрос.

Тъй като е практически невъзможно за времето, което ще имам, да направя разумно въведение се опитах да нахвърля най-жизнено необходимия минимум, за база на по-нататъшната ми лекция и темата като цяло. Сам зная, колко много повече и по-подробно може да се каже, но целта в случая е минималистична точност.

С тази цел се опитах да превърна плана и бележките си в нещо като мини-статия, която може да послужи и на други в бъдеще, но моментната ми цел е да помоля за коментари, поправки и допъления.

Същност на правата

Авторските права са абсолютни права. Това означава, че едната страна по тях е носителят на правото (който не винаги е автора), а от друга – всички останали субекти. Пример за обратното са наемните отношения, при които има правна връзка, която е значима само за наемателя и наемодателя, и е ирелевантна (без значение) за всички останали.

Правата на авторите са до голяма степен еднакви навсякъде по света. Това е резултат от уреждането им с международни договори, разпоредбите на които всяка страна е имплементирала във вътрешното си законодателство. Такива договори са този от Берн и TRIPS.

Възникване на правата

Чл. 2. Авторското право върху произведения на литературата, изкуството и науката възниква за автора със създаването на произведението.

Правата възникват от момента на обективиране на произведението. Това е моментът, когато произведението се закрепя върху някакъв вид носител или каквато да е форма, така че да може да бъде възприемано. Не е нужно произведението да бъде обявявано или публикувано – достатъчно е единствено то да бъде осезаемо – да може изказът на идеята да може да бъде сетивно възприет.

Носители на авторското право

Правата обикновенно възникват за създателя на произведението, но от това правило закона предвижда изключения и друго може да бъде договорено. Специфична е уредбата когато се намираме в трудово правоотношение:

Чл.14. „Ако не е уговорено друго, авторското право върху компютърни програми и бази данни, създадени в рамките на трудово правоотношение, принадлежи на работодателя.“

Освен когато се намира в трудово-правни отношения, авторът може да създава и произведения по поръчка:

Чл. 42. „(1) Авторското право върху произведение, създадено по поръчка, принадлежи на автора на произведението, освен ако в договора за възлагане е предвидено друго.
(2)Ако не е уговорено друго, поръчващият има право да използва произведението без разрешение на автора за целта, за която то е било поръчано.“

За всички други правни субекти автор е този, чието име или идентифициращ знак са посочени върху произведението:

Чл. 6. „До доказване на противното за автор на произведението се смята лицето, чието име или друг идентифициращ знак са посочени върху произведението по обичайния за това начин.“

Срок на правата
Общата разпоредба за срока на правата гласи:

Чл. 27. „(1) Авторското право се закриля, докато авторът е жив и седемдесет години след неговата смърт.“

Компютърните програми и бази данни имат своя специфична уредба:

Чл. 28а. „Авторското право върху компютърна програма или база данни, възникнало съгласно чл. 14, продължава 70 години след разгласяването на произведението. Ако в този срок се установи авторът, се прилагат разпоредбите на чл. 27.“

Обект на защита

Обектът на защита е едно от най-често неразбираните неща. Авторското право не защитава идеите, а само техния изказ; тяхното закрепяне по начин, който им позволява да бъдат комуникирани. Защитен е изразът на мисълта на автора, а не самата мисъл. Законът говори за произведение, което е „резултат на творческа дейност“ - да е ново и оригинално. Критериите за „новост“ и „оригиналност“ са специфични за произведението и затова са възможни разминавания. От такива съображения в някои страни (САЩ) изискването е единствено произведението да не съвпада напълно с друго.

Съдържание на авторското право

Авторските права се делят на имуществени и неимуществени.
Неимуществените дават на автора право:

- да иска признаване на неговото авторство върху произведението;
- да иска името му, псевдонима му или друг идентифициращ го авторски знак да бъдат обозначавани по съответния начин при всяко използване на произведението;
- да решава дали да публикува произведението или да вземе решение да спре неговото използване;
- да променя или иска запазване целостта на произведението.

Първите две от горните права не могат да бъдат очуждавани, което означава, че не могат предоставяни, продавани или прехвърляни по какъвто и да е друг начин. Авторът, обаче, може да разгласи произведението си анонимно или под псевдноним.

Имуществените дават на автора право:

- да възпроизвежда (копира) произведението си;
- да го разпространява;
- да го преработва и приспособява;
- да търси възнаграждение за всеки вид използване и поредно използване от същия вид (право, но не и задължение).

Специфични за компютърните програми ограничения на правата

Ако свободата на потребителя не е ограничена от носителя на правата, той има право да извършва действия, нужни за нормалното й функциониране, действия са описани в чл. 70 от закона. Ако не е уговорено друго, всеки, който законно е придобил компютърна програма има право:

- да използва програмата за всякакви цели, които не противоречат на законите;
- да я зарежда, изпълнява, предава на разстояние;
- да я превежда;
- да преработва и внася изменения, които са нужни за постигане на целта, заради която е придобило програмата, включително и за отстраняване на грешки.

Горните права могат да бъдат ограничени по договорен път, чрез клаузи, които се намират в лицензите (договорите, които скючваме с производителите) на тези програми. Има някои права, които законът ни дава и които не могат да ни бъдат отнети:

Чл. 71. Лицето, което законно е придобило правото да използва компютърна програма, може без съгласието на автора и без заплащане на отделно възнаграждение:

- да изготвя резервно копие от програмата, ако това е необходимо за съответния вид използване, за който е придобита програмата
- да наблюдава, изучава и изпитва начина на действие на програмата за определяне на идеите и принципите, които са залегнали в който и да е неин елемент, ако това става в процеса на зареждането на програмата, изобразяването й върху екран, изпълняването й, предаването й на разстояние или съхраняването й в компютърната памет при условие, че той има право да извършва тези действия в съответствие с чл. 70.
- да превежда програмния код от една форма в друга, ако това е безусловно необходимо за получаване на информация за постигане на съвместимост на създадена компютърна програма с други програми, при условие, че необходимата за тази цел информация не е била предоставена в готов вид и че това се извършва само по отношение на онези части от компютърната програма, които са необходими за постигане на съвместимостта.

Тези права предоставят само при условие, че извлечената по този начин информация няма да бъде използвана за създаване и разпространение на друга компютърна програма и че правата на автора няма да бъдат накърнени по какъвто и да е друг начин в следствие на тези ни действия.

Източник: http://blog.peio.org/?p=347

БНР открива радиоакадемия за български език

2006-01-06T14:01:00.000+02:00

По инициатива на Обществения съвет, Българското национално радио организира РАДИОАКАДЕМИЯ ЗА БЪЛГАРСКИ ЕЗИК. Всяка последна сряда на месеца, от 14 до 16 часа ще гостуват изтъкнати езиковеди, професорите Михаил Виденов, Стефан Брезински, Владко Мурдаров, Васил Райнов, Петър Пашов и др. Лекциите са на основата на мониторинг, установил повтарящи се отклонения и нарушения на основни езикови норми и закони. Участниците в Радиоакадемията ще имат възможност да дискутират, да правят предложения за следващи занимания. Целта е по-висока речева култура, задължителна за работещите в електронните медии.

Заниманията ще бъдат в рамките на два семестъра - от ноември 2005 до май 2006г. и от септември 2006 до януари 2007г.

Радиоакадемията ще бъде тържествено открита на 30 ноември т.г. от 14 часа в зала 31-ва на БНР от госпожа Поля Станчева. Първата лекция е "Принципи на нормиране и кодифициране на съвременния български книжовен език", лектор чл.кор.проф.д.ф.н. Михаил Виденов от Софийския университет.

TRADOS and SDLX started to merge product lines

2005-12-13T14:24:00.000+02:00

In a press release, SDL International, a leader for "global information management (GIM)" and computer assisted translation (CAT) solutions, announced today the first interoperability versions of its leading Translation Memory products, SDL TRADOS 7.1 and SDLX 2005.1.

Only five months after the acquisition of former arch-rival TRADOS, Inc. SDL thus is en-route to merge the two technologies as previously announced in a roadmap published by SDL.

As the press release informs, the list of extensive interoperability features includes the support for SDLX's native ITD Translation Format in SDL TRADOS 7.1. This allows integration with SDL Translation Management System. SDLX 2005.1 also features improved support for TRADOS TTX files and both products have been enhanced to improve translation memory (TM) exchange using the industry-standard TMX format.

The interoperability releases also include new customer-driven innovations for creating, cleansing and maintaining high-quality translation memories and termbases, SDL writes. With the integration of SDL MultiTerm into SDLX 2005.1, all users can work from the same centralized termbase, and, for the first time, SDLX 2005.1 users can search terms via fuzzy-matching. SDL TRADOS 7.1 users now benefit from automated terminology checks, which ensure correct terminology usage in source and translated material, and the ability to add comments against a TM segment, which dramatically improves collaboration in the translation review process.

The new version also feature new file support, including InDesign CS2, Quark Express for Mac, Java Properties and Generic Delimited Text files. Also added to SDLX 2005.1 are new file filters that include SDL TRADOS Word filter, InDesign CS2 and support for .NET formats.

SDL offers free upgrades for licensed users who wish to switch to the new interoperability versions: Both SDL TRADOS 7.1 and SDLX 2005.1 are available free, for a limited time period, to any customer who purchased a license of SDL TRADOS 7 or SDLX 2005.

Learn more about the new features in:

SDL Trados 7.1

SDLX 2005 SP1

Институт във Виена предлага стипендии за преводачи

2005-12-13T11:07:00.000+02:00

ИРИНА ПАПАНЧЕВА, в. Дневник

Институтът по хуманитарни науки Institut fur die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, IWM във Виена предлага стипендия Paul Celan на утвърдени преводачи. В рамките на стипендията те трябва да преведат значими хуманитарни и социални творби от източно на западноевропейски език или от един източно-европейски език на друг.

Условия

Преводачите ще имат възможност да прекарат между три и шест месеца в института през 2006 г., за да работят върху проекта си. Със стипендията, която получават, те ще могат да покрият разходите по престоя си, както и за път, здравните си осигуровки и непредвидените плащания.

Стипендиантите ще бъдат настанени в самостоятелен апартамент, ще разполагат с офис и с личен компютър с достъп до Интернет. Ще им бъдат предоставени условия за осъществяване на място на проучвания, свързани с превода, и други подходящи източници във Виена. Освен това те ще участват в дейностите на научната общност и на IWM.

Кандидатстване

Можете да кандидатствате, като изпратите формуляр за кандидатстване, автобиография с библиография на преводите ви и други подходящи публикации, името на автора и творбата, която искате да преведете (на оригиналния език) и обяснение на избора ви, точния брой страници на произведението, договор с издател за публикуването на превода или писмо, което да потвърждава такова намерение от негова страна, доказателство, че притежавате правата за превод и публикуването му, планираната дата на публикуване, информация за програмата на издателската къща.

Предимство ще бъде давано на творби, които са тематично свързани с изследователските области на IWM.

Подбор

Финалистите ще бъдат избрани от експертно жури и ще научат решението му през пролетта на 2006 г.

Краен срок

Крайният срок за кандидатстване е 22 декември.

Адрес за кандидатстване

Изпращайте кандидатурите си на адрес:

Institut fьr die Wissenschaften vom Menschen
Fellowship Coordinator
Spittelauer Lдnde 3
1090 Wien
AUSTRIA

Допълнителна информация

Допълнителна информация ще откриете в сайта на института.

Конкурс за преводачески услуги на български и румънски език

2005-12-13T09:53:00.000+02:00

Европейската общност обявява търгове за предоставяне на преводачески услуги на български и румънски език на документи, съставени на английски, френски и немски език.

В открития междуинституционален търг може да участват преводачи на свободна практика и преводачески агенции от страна - членка на ЕС и от присъединяващите се страни България и Румъния.

Обявлението за търга е публикувано в Официалното издание на Общността OJ S 214 от 8 ноември 2005 г. - на английски (PDF), френски (PDF), немски (PDF).

Търгът обхваща превод, проверка и редакция на документи на Европейската комисия, Европейския парламент, Европейската сметна палата, Комитета по регионите, Европейския икономически и социален комитет и Центъра за преводи към институциите на ЕС.

Текстовете са с различна дължина и степен на спешност и се отнасят до широк кръг от европейски въпроси.

За целите на търга кандидатите трябва да обърнат специално внимание на инструкциите за съставяне и подаване на документите за участие.

Крайният срок за подаване на документите за участие в търга е 17:00 ч. (Брюкселско време) на 18 януари 2006 г.

Желаещите да участват и в двата търга за преводачески услуги - на български и румънски език - трябва да подадат два отделни комплекта от документи.

Максималната обща стойност на сключените договори е 4,008 млн. евро.

Срокът на поръчката ще бъде 48 месеца след връчването на договора.

Разплащане ще се извършва след всяко изпълнение на възложена поръчка по договора.

Кандидатите за участие трябва да имат не по-малко от 2 години професионален опит в сферата на преводаческите услуги или да са превели минимум 1000 стандартни страници.

Оценяването на документите ще става по икономическа изгодност съгласно обявените критерии за кандидатстване.

Подробна информация за условията и актуализирана информация за търга, както и необходимите документи за кандидатстване са публикувани на Интернет страницата на Генерална дирекция "Писмени преводи".

Допълнителна информация за условията и начина на участие в търга може да получите от следния адрес:
European Commission
Floriana Miceli
JECL 6/158A
B-1049 Brussels
тел. (32 2) 295 45 89
факс: (32 2) 295 29 31
E-mail: DGT-FL-TENDERS@cec.eu.int

От горепосочения адрес може да получите и необходимите документи за участие и на същия се изпращат готовите документи/предложения за участие в междуинституционалния търг на ЕО.

Необходимите документи за кандидатстване за преводачески услуги на български език, както и на румънски език може да изтеглите на английски, френски и немски език.

Общите условия съдържат електронен формуляр за кандидатстване, който трябва да се попълни на един от трите езика - английски, френски или немски, както и няколко анекса, които трябва да се попълнят на български език.

Покана за участие в търга (PDF) - английски, френски, немски

Общи условия (PDF) - английски, френски, немски

Уточнение от 07 декември 2005 г. (PDF) - английски, френски, немски

Проектодоговор (PDF) - английски, френски, немски

Примерни текстове за превод от институциите на ЕС

Електронен формуляр за кандидатстване

MultiTrans 4 Freelancer Edition

2005-12-09T13:36:00.000+02:00

MultiCorpora, a developer of enterprise language management solution software, debuted its new solution set for freelancers at the ATA 2005 conference in Seattle, Washington, in November. MultiTrans 4 Freelance Edition provides access to the basic functions necessary for a freelance translator to perform translation not working from a corporate network.

This stand-alone edition of MultiTrans 4 includes the ability to build and import TextBases and TermBases of an unlimited size and uses the Translation Agent within Microsoft Word. Unlike the Expert Edition, this Freelance Edition can only be installed on a computer not connected to a domain, and cannot connect to TextBases or TermBases hosted on a MultiTrans 4 Server. Existing MultiTrans Light customers with contract maintenance will be upgraded to the MultiTrans 4 Freelance Edition free of charge in January 2006.

A new translation suite

2005-12-09T13:21:00.000+02:00

Beetext Productivity Solutions offers a translation suite that features project management software for translators. The suite integrates a web-based bi-text search engine and terminology management software within a centralized work environment.

The suite contains:

- Intelligent distribution of work requests
- Web based project management
- Automatic and evolving production process
- Workflow automation
- Real time monitoring of workloads and resource availability
- On demand reports and statistics
- Automatic invoicing
- Automatic archiving of documents and follow up
- Integration with other Beetext solutions
- Automatic word count with Beetext find
- Integration with third party software

Beetext is offering a 20% discount on its software until January 15, 2006.

Beetext also features a series of search engines, from desktop search to LAN search engines including search engines specific to translators. Beetext Flow Web-Based Project Management Software helps project managers keep track of translation request deadlines and helps planning and scheduling in real time with its structured and flexible workflow automation features. Beetext is offering a 20% discount on its software until January 15, 2006.

ЕК обявява конкурс за български граждани за преводачи в институциите на ЕС

2005-12-07T12:55:00.000+02:00

Генерална дирекция “Писмени преводи” на Европейската комисияобявява конкурс за български граждани за преводачи в институциите на Европейския съюз, съобщиха от Делегацията на Европейската комисия в България.

Подробности за конкурса обявиха на пресконференция днес в София Робърт Роуи от отдела по разширяването при Генерална дирекция “Писмени преводи” на Европейската комисия и Стивън Милс, представител на офиса на Генералната дирекция в Букурещ и временно отговарящ за дейността й в България.

1. Европейската комисия обявява открит конкурс EPSO/AD/35/05 за езикови специалисти-администратори в областта на писмения превод. Комисията набира 60 щатни преводачи на български език, за работа в Европейската комисия, Европейския парламент, Комитета на регионите и други институции на Европейския съюз.

Общи условия за кандидатстване:
- националност на 25-те страни-членки на ЕС или на присъединяващите се страни (България и Румъния).
- пълноправно гражданство
- документ за завършено висше образование или квалификация (най-малко 3 години обучение)
- изпълнени задължения за военна служба
- не се изисква професионален опит
- възрастови ограничения няма

Езикови компетенции:
- перфектно владеене на майчиния език
- много добро владеене на един от следните езици: английски, френски, немски
- много добро владеене на английски, френски, немски, италиански, полски или испански (втори език)
Владеенето на допълнителни езици от официалните езици на ЕС е предимство.

Етапи на конкурса:

> кандидатства се само по Интернет, на страницата на Генерална дирекция “Писмени преводи” на Европейската комисия
> предварителни тестове:

1. тест за логически разсъждения
2. затворен тест с отговори на въпроси за оценка на знанията по европейска интеграция и политика на Общността

Кандидатите с 450-те най-добри оценки на предварителните тестове се поканват да представят пълна кандидатура.

> два писмени превода (по 45 реда) с ползване на речници кандидатите с 225-те най-високо оценки (от всички 450 селектирани от предварителните тестове) се поканват на устен изпит изготвят се списъци с имената на 150-те най-добре представили се на устния изпит

> Европейската комисия търси специалисти с университетска диплома в областта на: филологии, езици или право; икономика, счетоводство, финанси, естествени науки, социология, политология, информационни технологии и др.

Необходими специфични умения:

> способност на кандидатите да схващат и разбират проблеми от всякакво естество, често сложни по вид
> способност за бързо реагиране на променящи се среда и обстоятелства
> умения за ефективна комуникация

Краен срок за кандидатстване: 15 декември 2005 г.
Цялата процедура обхваща период от средно 8 до 10 месеца.

Одобрените кандидати започват работа от датата на присъединяване на България към ЕС, на постоянен договор, със средно месечно възнаграждение от 3 800 евро.

Списъкът с одобрените кандидати запазва своята валидност за определен период от време, който може да бъде удължен. Успелите кандидати (150 души), включени в списъка, могат да изпращат своя актуализирана автобиография, особено ако са придобили нови езикови умения.

2. Европейската комисия обявява открит конкурс и за преводачи (преводачески агенции) на свободна практика АО 2005 - BG. Подробности на адрес: europa.eu.int или на страницата на Генерална дирекция “Писмени преводи” на Европейската комисия:

Писмено запитване на: DGT_FL_TENDER@cec.eu.int

Краен срок за кандидатстване: 18.01.2006 г.

Literality and intention

2005-11-28T10:59:00.000+02:00

Excerpt from A matter of gain in translation? by Suresh Menon

All translations are a compromise between two mutually exclusive exigencies – fidelity to the literality of the words and fidelity to the literary intention of the author. I can’t remember who said that, but it is well put. Vladimir Nabokov, for example, belonged to literal school, and his translation of Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, therefore, strips the original of all poetry. Vikram Seth, whose technique in Golden Gate was inspired by Pushkin, pays a tribute to the English translator Sir Charles Johnston with several lines devoted to him. He says, ‘Pushkin’s masterpiece/ In Johnston’s luminous translation’

In a collection of essays on the subject of translation, Mouse or Rat ? Umberto Eco speaks of translation as negotiation (that is, in fact, the book’s sub-title), arguing that the negotiation is not just between words but between cultures. The Italian ‘ratto’ is ‘rat’ while ‘topo’, he says can be either ‘rat’ or ‘mouse’, and a shriek followed by a cry of ‘Un toppo’ is acceptable in an Italian translation of Shakespeare. But in a translation of Albert Camus’ La Peste, the rat presages the plague, and therefore only ‘ratto’ will do.

Susan Sontag has mentioned three versions of the modern idea of translation – translation as explanation (the translator’s mission is clarification, enlightenment), translation as adaptation (to write another version), and translation as improvement (Baudelaire’s translation of Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry is considered an improvement on the original and some say, perhaps more controversially, so is the German translation of Shakespeare by Schlegel-Tieck).

Translation is an art and despite Eco’s efforts at giving language a mathematical base, art is often imprecise. Publishers prefer to make everything as familiar and unthreatening as possible. This is a commercial decision, and has nothing to do with the flavour of the original or the way it is captured in a translation. Some writers take it upon themselves to help a translator while others like Marquez see it as a different discipline altogether and leave everything to the translator.

Can there be an untranslatable work? I would imagine Finnegan’s Wake is untranslatable, as is poetry in many cases. Poetry is what is lost in translation, said Robert Frost. Perhaps, at the hands of a great translator, the reverse is also true: poetry is what is gained in translation.

EC launched language information portal in 20 languages

2005-11-23T14:08:00.000+02:00

As part of it's commitment to the multilingual society of Europe, the European Commission yesterday launched an informational web portal on European languages.

The web portal on Europe and Languages provides various information on linguistically relevant topics that touch Europe especially. A news section provides latest press releases of EU institutions touching linguistic diversity policies, EU's translation services, and language learning.

The newly created web portal, the press release informs,

"will be an easy point of entry for the general public, the media or students to information about languages from the European Union. The subjects covered range from the Union's policies to encourage language learning and linguistic diversity, by way of a review of language skills in the Union today, to the rules for the use of the EU's own official languages and a round-up of employment opportunities for professional linguists with the Union's institutions. The content is organised in a logical and user-friendly way and, most importantly, all the navigational and presentational text in the portal itself is provided in all 20 official languages - reflecting the Union's commitment to communicating with its citizens in their own language."

EU translation standard

2005-11-22T14:19:00.000+02:00

There has been considerable discussion about the draft EN translation standard (prEN 15038), regrettably more with regard to the free accessibility of the standard than its content. The standard can be viewed (free of charge) here.

Конкурс за писмени преводачи в Европейския съюз

2005-11-21T11:42:00.000+02:00

Европейската служба за селекция на кадри (EPSO) организира следния открит конкурс чрез провеждане на тестове с цел създаване на резервен състав за набиране на

ПИСМЕНИ ПРЕВОДАЧИ НА БЪЛГАРСКИ ЕЗИК
(АДМИНИСТРАТОРИ ЛИНГВИСТИ AD5)

Конкурс на общо основания EPSO/AD/35/05

Кандидатите трябва да бъдат граждани на една от държавите-членки на Европейския съюз или на една от страните в процес на присъединяване (България, Румъния)

> Квалификации и дипломи
Кандидатите трябва да са завършили пълния цикъл на университетско образование от най-малко три години, удостоверено със съответната диплома за висше образование.

> Езикови познания
Кандидатите трябва да отговарят на следните три условия:
а) отлично владеене на основния език (български);
б) задълбочени познания по един от следните езици: немски, английски или френски;
в) задълбочени познания по един от следните езици: немски, английски, испански, френски, италиански или полски, но различен от езика, избран съгласно точка б).

Обявлението за конкурса е публикувано в Официален вестник на Европейския съюз C 282 A от 15 ноември 2005 г. на немски, френски и английски. Заинтересованите лица трябва да кандидатстват онлайн, като за целта посетят уебсайта на Европейската служба за селекция на кадри (EPSO), където се предлага по-подробна информация относно процедурата за кандидатстване онлайн, както и електронния формуляр за кандидатстване.

Крайният срок за кандидатстване е 15 декември 2005 г, 12 ч брюкселско време.

Кандидатите, които страдат от някакво увреждане, което не им позволява да подадат формуляра за кандидатстване по електронен път, могат да поискат, само и единствено в писмен вид, хартиения образец на същия формуляр, като изпратят молбата си на адреса, посочен в настоящето съобщение.

Внимание: За всички конкурси на EPSO, единственият достоверен източник на информация е обявлението, публикувано в Официалния вестник на Европейския Съюз. Ако се установи разлика между информацията, съдържаща се в обявлението за конкурса, и информацията, предоставена от друг източник, меродавна е информацията, съдържаща се в обявлението за конкурса.

European Court of Auditors about EU's interpretation costs

2005-11-17T15:19:00.000+02:00

European Court of Auditors releases Special Report No. 5/2005 about interpretation expenditure

Recently the European court of auditors presented a report about the interpretation costs incurred by the European Council, the Commission and the Parliament revealing interesting results.

With the so far last enlargement and changes in the status of languages (Walsh) by January 2006 21 European languages will have the status of official and working languages of the European institutions. Due to the nature of their activities the Parliament, the Commission and the Council require the largest volume of interpretation services. The General Directorate for Interpretation of the Commission (GD Interpretation) is responsible for the interpretation needs of the Council and the Commission. The Parliament has its own interpretation service.

The European Court of Auditors was to find out if the interpretation services were managed economically or if they exceeded the needs, if the institutions possessed adequate instruments and techniques and if the interpretation services were provided at the lowest possible costs but were of high quality.

The European Court of Auditors' report reveals that the overall quality of interpretation services in most cases corresponds to the users' needs and expectations, further measures are, however, necessary to further decrease the costs of the service.

The detailed report, which is available at www.eca.eu.int, showed that the reduction of costs for interpretation services for the Council, the Commission and the Parliament could exceeded expectations - even if absolute costs will rise due to the increased demand after the enlargement.

Due to the introduction of active and passive languages "on demand" it was possible to harmonise the language combinations with the special requirements of the individual institutions and meetings, thus reducing the number of interpretation day by almost seven percent compared to 1998.

European institutions employ permanent interpreters (civil servants) as well as so called ACI - auxiliary conference interpreters, their payment being justified:

"The daily fee paid by the European institutions in 2004 at a fixed rate of 483,98 euro per day for experienced interpreters is in line with current market conditions in the private sector. However, it is lower than the gross average rate paid by other international organisations, which have also signed Conventions with the IACI. The much higher volume of employment and the longer contracts that the E.U. institutions are able to offer, as well as the favourable tax treatment (ACIs pay a community tax and are as a consequence exonerated from national income taxes) explain the difference. The effect of the favourable tax treatment is that, in spite of a lower gross rate, the net amount received by the freelance interpreter from DG Interpretation and the Parliament is higher than the net amount earned by working for the private sector or for other international organisations. This means that the E.U. institutions can afford to apply high standards in recruiting ACIs, but also have to carefully observe the market conditions in order to avoid overpaying their ACIs."

Problems, however, are posed by the different regulations concerning the deduction of travel costs with regard to freelance interpreters (ACI) and permanent interpreters and the sometimes disproportionate willingness of EU institutions to pay for unnecessary or excessive travel costs. According to the report, pre-tax costs and indirect costs for ACI at the Parliament are 15% higher than those for permanent interpreters. (The costs for ACI at the Directorate General for Interpretation are, however, 14% lower.)

The European Court of Auditors' report concludes that the number of interpreters available for the new official languages remains too low. The European Court of Auditors furthermore recommends equal conditions for ACI and permanent interpreters.

Sources: EU press release (pdf)

New competition for translators for Bulgarian language

2005-11-16T16:59:00.000+02:00

Here is the information published at the EPSO site:

Linguistic administrators (Translators – AD5) for Bulgarian language

OPEN COMPETITION EPSO/AD/35/05

Official Journal C 282 A

Publication date: 15 November 2005
Closing date: 15 December 2005, 12.00 noon (Brussels time)

You may apply for this competition if, on the closing date for online registration, you meet the following requirements:

1. Qualifications
You must have completed the equivalent of a university course at least three years long and obtained the relevant leaving qualification.

2. Professional experience
No professional experience is required.

3. Languages
You must satisfy the three following conditions:

a) have a perfect command of your main language (Bulgarian);
b) have a very sound knowledge of either English, French or German (the first compulsory source language);
c) in addition to the languages chosen under (a) and (b), have a very sound knowledge of either English, French, German, Italian, Polish or Spanish (the second compulsory source language).

Knowledge of other official languages of the European Union or the acceding countries is an advantage and may be assessed if you pass the competition successfully.

Applicants must be citizens of one of the Member States of the European Union or of one of the acceding countries (Bulgaria, Romania).

You can start your electronic application for EPSO/AD/35/05 here

Конкурс за конферентни преводачи към Европейския съюз

2005-11-10T16:18:00.000+02:00

Европейската служба за селекция на кадри (EPSO) организира следния открит конкурс чрез провеждане на тестове с цел създаване на резервен състав, от който да се набират

КОНФЕРЕНТНИ ПРЕВОДАЧИ
(АДМИНИСТРАТОРИ ЛИНГВИСТИ AD5)

ЗА БЪЛГАРСКИ ЕЗИК EPSO/AD/33/05

Кандидатите трябва да бъдат граждани на една от държавите-членки на Европейския съюз или на една от страните в процес на присъединяване (България, Румъния)

> Кандидатите трябва да имат:
i) завършено най-малко тригодишно обучение за конферентен преводач и прдобита съответна академична квалификация,

или
ii) завършен най-малко тригодишен курс, равностоен на университетски, и съответна квалификация, придобита при завършването му, И завършено обучение за конферентен преводач и съответна квалификация, придобита при завършването му,

или
iii) завършен най-малко тригодишен курс, равностоен на университетски, и съответна квалификация, придобита при завършването му, И доказан едногодишен стаж като конферентен преводач.

Езици
За подробна информация по комбинациите от езици трябва да направите справка в обявата за конкурса.

Обявата за конкурса е публикувана в Официален вестник на Европейския съюз C 273 A от 4 ноември 2005 г. на немски, френски и английски. Заинтересованите лица трябва да кандидатстват онлайн, като за целта посетят уебсайта на Европейската служба за селекция на кадри (EPSO), където се предлага по-подробна информация относно процедурата за кандидатстване онлайн, както и електронния формуляр за регистрация. В допълнение към кандидатстването онлайн, отпечатайте и попълнете отделно формуляр за кандидатстване от уебсайта на EPSO и го изпратете на EPSO преди крайния срок – 6 декември 2005 г.

Повече информация за услугите на Европейския съюз в областта на устния превод можете да намерите на уебсайтовете на трите заинтересовани институции:
Европейската комисия
Европейския парламент
Европейския съд

Внимание: За всички конкурси на EPSO, единственият достоверен източник на информация е обявлението, публикувано в Официалния вестник на Европейския Съюз. Ако се установи разлика между информацията, съдържаща се в обявлението за конкурса, и информацията, предоставена от друг източник, меродавна е информацията, съдържаща се в обявлението за конкурса.

Brussels looking for Bulgarian translators

2005-11-09T14:47:00.000+02:00

Brussels is seeking Bulgarian translators for [a monthly salary of] EUR 3,800. The European Personal Selection Office (EPSO) has opened two competitions - the one starting November 4 and the other to be opened November 15 - for conference and linguist translators from Bulgaria and Romania.

Applicants should be fluent speakers of Bulgarian and at least one of the other EU official languages. They must also have good general knowledge of the EU institutions, be fine team workers, and adapt quickly to new and exceptional circumstances.

For more information, please visit:
www.novinite.com
europa.eu.int

Компютърната терминология в българския език

2005-10-31T15:33:00.000+02:00

Ето какво казват специалистите езиковеди за навлизането на компютърната терминология в българския език. Това част от предаването "За думите" - рубрика на Програма "Христо Ботев", излъчено на 11 юли 2003 г. по националното радио.

ВОДЕЩ:

С масовото навлизане на компютърната техника в почти всички сфери на живота и особено с все по-голямото място на ИНТЕРНЕТ, естествено в езика навлизат и думи, свързани с тях. За това какви проблеми от езиково естество възникват при това навлизане, ще разговаряме с доктор СВЕТЛА КОЕВА, старши научен сътрудник в Института за български език към Българската академия на науките, научен секретар на института и ръководител на секция “Компютърно моделиране на българския език”.

СЪБЕСЕДНИК:

Основният въпрос е каква стратегия да се възприеме при въвеждането на новата терминология, свързана с компютърната техника: в кои случаи да се използва английският термин, в кои да се създаде нова дума или да се използва преводът на български език? Разбира се тенденциите се налагат преди всичко от живата реч и нейната употреба, но ролята на специалистите в тези процеси е важна, защото те биха могли да препоръчат подходящият подход за всеки конкретен случай.

Заетите от английски език термини в областта на компютърната техника, които са се утвърдили в българския език, не са малко на брой. Такива са например широко използваните думи като:

компютър, процесор, монитор, принтер, скенер, модем, сървър, драйвър, диск, дискета, файл, директория, флопи, софтуер, хардуер, интернет, мултимедия и др.

За подобен клас думи е характерно това, че те са се наложили в системата на българския език, за което свидетелства фактът, че словообразуването и формообразуването им се извършват според граматичните правила на нашия език: принтер, принтера, принтерът, принтери, принтерите, два принтера, принтерче; форматирам, форматираш, форматира и т.н.

Разбира се при използването на английските транскрипции се наблюдават както предимства, така и недостатъци. Предимствата се изразяват в това, че новите термини са еднакви в различните езици, тоест те са унифицирани и са станали съвместими, което улеснява работата както на специалистите, така и на обикновените потребители. Недостатъците може да се свържат с неяснота в значението на термините (например: хъб или рутер) или недостатъчната степен на асимилация (например: даунлоудвам).

Втората група думи са български еквиваленти (превод на новите термини), които са се утвърдили в езика. Такива са например думи като:

мишка от mouse,
клавиатура от keyboard,
прозорец от window,
икона от icon,
мрежа от net и др.

Тук можем да причислим и множество глаголи, образувани на българска почва от съответните английски термини, например:

print – принтирам (и разпечатвам);
surf - сърфирам;
format - форматирам;
copy - копирам;
convert - конвертирам;
import - импортирам;
export - експортирам;
install - инсталирам;
compress - компресирам;
restart – рестартирам и др.

Отново можем да говорим за предимства и трудности при създаването на българските термини и те са следните. Основното предимство е, че българските думи се отличават с яснота и приемливост от носителите на езика. Понякога обаче могат да се наблюдават трудности, свързани с превода или при уместността на употребата на съответните думи.

Така например някои български съответствия (част от тях също по произход чужди думи), макар че са по-ясни, не са с широка употреба:

хъб, което означава концентратор;
рутер, което означава маршрутизатор;
суич, което означава комутатор;
юзър – потребител,
юзърнейм - потребителско име,
чат - разговор в реално време,
спам - нежелана реклама по електронната поща,
ъпгрейд - надстройка, обновяване,
файъруол - система за защита и др.

И накрая някои от новите термини могат да се характеризират като чуждици, което означава, че за изразяваните от тях понятия съществува българска дума с широка употреба, която би трябвало да се предпочита. Например:

сейфвам и запазвам, съхранявам, записвам;
хард диск и твърд диск;
инсъртвам, инсъртна - вмъквам, въвеждам;
пасуърд и парола;
фолдър и папка, директория;
хедър и заглавие, шапка;
пействам, пейстна - залепвам
и много други подобни примери.

ВОДЕЩ:

А каква е препоръката на специалистите? Кои думи да се предпочитат и използват?

СЪБЕСЕДНИК:

Могат да бъдат направени няколко препоръки в зависимост от различните случаи. Ако английските термини са се утвърдили и не се възприемат като чуждици, тоест като думи, които са неприсъщи за структурата на българския език, препоръчително е да се употребяват те.

Ако английските термини се възприемат като чуждици, препоръчително е да се употребяват българските съответствия или значението да се предава описателно.

Ако нито един от вариантите не се е наложил окончателно, бъдещата езикова практика ще покаже какъв е процесът на асимилация. В такива случаи по преценка на автора английският термин може да се предава на латиница и в скоби, например обновявам, актуализирам и в скоби (upgrade).

ВОДЕЩ:

Предвижда ли се издаването на специализирани речници за използваните при работа в интернет и с компютри термини? Защото знаем, че когато една дума с нейното значение бъде фиксирана в речник, тогава тя с това значение придобива официален, така да се каже нормативен, характер?

СЪБЕСЕДНИК:

Ами доколкото ми е известно на пазара има няколко такива речника с компютърна терминология. Аз съм използвала някои от тях, в момента не мога да цитирам авторите, в никакъв случай не са сътрудници на Института за български език и това е една от задачите пред сътрудниците за български език - да регистрират тенденциите в езика и съответно да ги включват в речниците, които са издания на Института.

ВОДЕЩ:

Казвате, че сте ползвали някои от тези речници, значи вършат някаква работа. Това, че авторите им не са сътрудници на Института за български език към Бълтарската академия на науките, намалява ли нормативността на тези речници?

СЪБЕСЕДНИК:

Дотолкова, доколкото с нормативен акт на Държавния съвет, Институтът за български език е единственият орган в България, който препоръчва езиковата норма, т. е. неговата задача е да се наблюдават езиковите тенденции, да се регистрират и на основата на промените да се правят промени в кодификацията.

Microsoft embarks on translation

2005-10-14T13:47:00.000+03:00

In a talk given in front of students at the University of Waterloo, Canada, Microsoft Founder Bill Gates spoke about the software industry and Microsoft, the place where he thinks "the action is" at a time the information revolution is just beginning, the Globe and Mail reported.

According to the article Mr. Gates also pointed out that Microsoft will get into the development of software that will process language:

"Microsoft will make more software in the next 10 years than it made during the past three decades, as technology finally emerges to allow the creation of more ambitious products, Mr. Gates said ... The future will see software that performs voice and image recognition as well as automatic language translation. Software will also eventually act as a personal agent that determines a user's location and availability, directing phone calls, e-mails and instant messages to a device, he said. 'We'll laugh at the days we had phone numbers and multiple e-mail addresses.'"

In an effort to stop the draining away of the industry's smartest young professionals to rivals like Google and Yahoo, Microsoft Founder is currently visiting North American University to re-enforce the interest in Computer Sciences and, more specifically, Microsoft Inc.

New Words and Senses from the New 2005 Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11 ed.

2005-10-07T12:54:00.000+03:00

Below you'll find a sample of the nearly 100 new words and senses that have been added to the best-selling Eleventh Edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary.

New Entries
============

amuse-bouche (noun) 1984 : a small complimentary appetizer offered at some restaurants

battle dress uniform (noun) 1982 : a military uniform for field service

bikini wax (noun) 1985 : a procedure for removing pubic hair from the skin near the edge of the bottom half of a bikini by applying hot wax, covering the wax with a cloth to which the wax and hair adhere, and then peeling it off quickly

brain freeze (noun) 1991 : a sudden shooting pain in the head caused by ingesting very cold food (as ice cream) or drink

chick flick (noun) 1988 : a motion picture intended to appeal esp. to women

civil union (noun) 1992 : the legal status that ensures to same-sex couples specified rights and responsibilities of married couples

cybrarian (noun) 1992 : a person whose job is to find, collect, and manage information that is available on the World Wide Web

DHS (abbreviation) : Department of Homeland Security

hazmat (noun) 1980 : a material (as flammable or poisonous material) that would be a danger to life or to the environment if released without precautions

hospitalist (noun) 1996 : a physician who specializes in treating hospitalized patients of other physicians in order to minimize the number of hospital visits by other physicians

metadata (noun) 1983 : data that provides information about other data

otology (noun) 1842 : a science that deals with the ear and its diseases

retronym (noun) 1980 : a term consisting of a noun and a modifier which specifies the original meaning of the noun ["film camera" is a ~]

SARS (noun) [severe acute respiratory syndrome] 2003 : a severe respiratory illness that is caused by a coronavirus (genus Coronavirus), is transmitted esp. by contact with infectious material (as respiratory droplets), and is marked by fever, headache, body aches, a dry cough, hypoxia, and usu. pneumonia

steganography (noun) 1985 1 archaic : cryptography 2 : the art or practice of concealing a message, image, or file within another message, image, or file

tide pool (noun) 1853 : a pool of salt water left (as in a rock basin) by an ebbing tide—called also tidal pool

Wi-Fi (certification mark) —used to certify the interoperability of wireless computer networking devices

zaibatsu (noun) 1947 : a powerful financial and industrial conglomerate of Japan

New Senses
===========

advance (adjective) : going or situated before [an ~ party of soldiers]

chatter (noun) : electronic and esp. radio communication between individuals engaged in a common or related form of activity; also : such chatter regarding future hostile activities

neoconservative (noun) : a conservative who advocates the assertive promotion of democracy and U.S. national interest in international affairs including through military means

workout (noun) : an undertaking or plan intended to resolve a problem of indebtedness esp. in lieu of bankruptcy or foreclosure proceedings

A new generation of dictionaries

2005-10-05T16:44:00.000+03:00

LingvoSoft has just released the Dictionary 2006 series of translating dictionaries for Pocket PC. These essential language solutions are remarkable tools that will help you out in business, study or travel situations. And the talking versions even speak the words from their massive databases aloud, using the latest bilingual Text-to-Speech technology.

For more information, please visit: Palmtops / press release

New approach for updating and translating web content

2005-10-05T16:41:00.000+03:00

Clay Tablet Technologies, an innovator in multilingual content management, introduced an exciting new approach for updating and translating web content.

Technological hurdles and operational costs have made it impossible for all but the largest organizations to manage dynamic multilingual websites -- and even they face substantial challenges. With its new products and services, and partnerships with leading translation service providers, Clay Tablet is changing all that -- revolutionizing the way organizations communicate on the web.

For more information, please visit: Market Wire

German and Russian move up in European language survey

2005-10-05T16:30:00.000+03:00

A total of 12 per cent of the interviewees said they could speak German as a second language, compared to 11 per cent who said their second language was French.
E.U.'s eastern enlargement has also made Russian more popular. The language is now in fourth place – tying with Spanish - in the Eurobarometer ranking of the E.U.'s most widely spoken foreign languages.

For more information, please visit: Expatica

New findings on the evolution of language

2005-10-05T16:20:00.000+03:00

Language structure may reveal more about human origins than vocabulary. Traditional techniques for studying the history of languages have relied on evolutionary trees based on word-type, but the speed at which lexicons change means such techniques cannot look further back than 10,000 years.

Now Michael Dunn and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute of Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, Netherlands, have developed a new approach.

For more information, please visit: New Scientist

English words are not always that "English"

2005-09-30T15:52:00.000+03:00

In an article published in the Financial Express author Christopher Caldwell explains why English is "the international language of choice" and how it is "creeping into the very fabric of all other languages".

The dominance of the English language, especially when it comes to business, politics or new technologies, cannot be denied neither do we have to look very hard for occurrences of English words in other (non-English) languages. Yet commentators on the supremacy of the English language tend to forget that English is mainly of Roman-Germanic origin and, therefore, has itself a fair share of vocabulary borrowed from other languages.

In his article "The unavoidable language" Caldwell cites the German politician Guido Westerwelle, chairman of the Free Democrats (FDP), who described the coalition discussions as having been "sehr fair". The author found it telling that, "at a moment of drama and tension, Mr Westerwelle should use English words in full confidence that his fellow citizens will understand him." And they do - the word is even listed in the DUDEN, the German equivalent of the Webster or Oxford English dictionaries, as meaning "according to the rules". It has found its way into German and is frequently used.

From a linguistic point of view, the word is of Old English origin (just like the words "meeting" and "leader", which were also given as examples) and it is, therefore, "fair" to refer to it as an English word. But what about the other examples given in the text? "The word "hamburger" "supplants no French equivalent," according to Caldwell. Nor does it have an English equivalent because the food it refers to is named after the German town of Hamburg - for whatever reason.

And what about the word "budget", which, as no surprise to the author, can be found in French dictionaries? Well, you can also find it in German dictionaries - with a French pronunciation because it is a French word, which was introduced to the English language during the Middle English period (ca. 1100 AD - 1500 AD).

Despite the fact that English has become the world's leading language in the areas of scientific research, technological development, business negotiations and political affairs due to colonialization and recent political and economic developments one should not forget its origins. Since people first started migrating and dealing with their neighbours different languages and cultures have been influencing one another and left their traces. This holds true for English during the past centuries but also for Latin, which influenced every other modern European language during the times of the Roman Empire or for Greek during the times of Alexander the Great.

The article rightfully points out the rise of the English language to a Lingua Franca (also because it is "fantastically simple as a pidgin"), yet the examples given to demonstrate how English words have become part of the everyday vocabulary of other languages merely reflect the divers origin of the English language itself. Why should, therefore, no other language now have its turn in borrowing from the English language?

The article can be found in The Financial Express.

Международен ден на преводача

2005-09-30T14:04:00.000+03:00

Днес, 30.09.2005, е Международният ден на преводача.

Светецът-покровител на тази професия е св. Йероним (347-419), който през 4 век сл. Хр. е превел Библията (Вулгата - "общоприето издание") от гръцки на латински. Преводът му е плод на 30-годишен труд!

Международната федерация на преводачите е избрала "Преводът и човешките права" (Translation and Human Rights) за тема на тазгодишния професионален празник.

Честито на всички колеги!

MultiTrans 4 Released

2005-09-30T13:59:00.000+03:00

MultiCorpora, a provider of software solutions for translation support and language management, unveiled MultiTrans 4 to the language industry at the AILIA conference held in Ottawa on September 16, 2005. MultiCorpora will take MultiTrans 4 to the market with its worldwide marketing campaign, expected to last through December 2005.

MultiTrans 4 provides access to previously translated texts that, in conjunction with top-quality automatic alignment and search tools, become an essential knowledge support asset. MultiCorpora believes that combining these capabilities in a user-friendly CAT tool, which can be adapted for different types of user, will give everyone the resources and time needed to maintain quality while performing the art of translation.

Bulgarian Invents Unique Translation Method

2005-09-29T09:40:00.000+03:00

A unique translation method that allows people to communicate in real time using different mother languages has been invented by a Bulgarian man.

Koycho Mitev's invention uses digits to record speech and automatically transfer it into whatever other language.

It enables people speaking in different languages to hold real-time conversations, the state Bulgarian National Radio said in its website.

The unique method has earned Mitev an award at Inpex, the largest American innovation tradeshow. It was held earlier this year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Source: www.novinite.com

Office 2003 Add-in: Word Redaction

2005-09-28T14:05:00.000+03:00

Overview

Redaction is the careful editing of a document to remove confidential information.

The Microsoft Office Word 2003 Redaction Add-in makes it easy for you to mark sections of a document for redaction. You can then redact the document so that the sections you specified are blacked out. You can either print the redacted document or use it electronically. In the redacted version of the document, the redacted text is replaced with a black bar and cannot be converted back to text or retrieved.

Sensitive government documents, confidential legal documents, insurance contracts, and other sensitive documents are often redacted before being made available to the public. With the Word 2003 Redaction Add-in, users of Microsoft Office Word 2003 now have an effective, user-friendly tool to help them redact confidential text in Word documents.

Document processed by Word Redaction

Tips for using this add-in are available from Work Essentials, a resource that provides free occupation-focused expert advice, demos, templates, and webcasts.

Notes:

● In a redacted document, the black bar that replaces the redacted text takes up the same amount of space as the original text so that line spacing and line breaks are unaffected. As a result, readers may be able to determine the length of a redacted word based on the size of the blacked out area. To help protect your redacted document from attempts to recover information by using word length, avoid redacting single words. If you need to redact a single word, you can replace it with a longer or shorter word before you select it for redaction.

● We recommend that you carefully review any documents redacted using this tool to confirm that all the information that you intended to redact was successfully redacted.

-------------
Word Redaction is a freeware and can be downloaded from here.

Новият Microsoft Office 12

2005-09-28T12:08:00.000+03:00

През второто полугодие на следващата година (2006) корпорацията Microsoft има намерението да представи новата версия на своят офис пакет, известен към момента под кодовото наименование Office 12. По думите на основателя на Microsoft Бил Гейтс Office 12 ще бъде най-същественото обновление на съществуващата линия програмни продукти на компанията от излизането на Office 95 преди десет години.

Панел с инструменти в Microsoft Word

Основните усилия на разработчиците на Office 12 са насочени към опростяване на системата за навигация и подобряване на потребителския интерфейс. От Microsoft отбелязват, че с преходът към Office 12 по-лесно можете да се съсредоточите върху работата, вместо върху изпълнението.

Галерия със стилове

На лентата с инструменти в Office 12 се появяват икони на графически команди, улесняващи и ускоряващи изпълнението на едни и същи действия. Специалните галерии със стилове позволяват бързо форматиране на целия документ въз основа на един шаблон.

Екранна снимка на Microsoft PowerPoint

Office 12 ще разполага и с усъвършенствана система на контекстно меню. Целият интерфейс на Office 12 трябва да стане по-функционален и да е достъпен дори и за начинаещи потребители.

Контекстно меню

Измененията засягат всички основни приложения на Microsoft Office, в т.ч. Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access и Outlook.

Излезе нова версия на ABBYY Lingvo

2005-09-28T10:40:00.000+03:00

ABBYY Lingvo е най-пълния и съвременен електронен речник. Той дава възможност да получите точен превод на всяка дума. В неговите 46 английско-руски речника са събрани около 2,3 милиона речникови статии. Над 80% от речниците са издадени в периода 2003-2005 г. Речниковите статии съдържат транскрипция, тълкование, синоними и антоними, граматични коментари. Дадени са и примери на употребата на думата. Lingvo може да служи и за изучаване на езика - той съдържа справочник по граматика, фонетика и специално приложение за заучаване на думи - Lingvo Tutor. В новата версия Lingvo 11 сласните, носещи ударенията в думата, са маркирани в различен цвят. Електронният речник може да се инсталира и на джобни компютри (PDA) и смартфони.

Новото в ABBYY Lingvo 11!

> Нов руски тълковен речник - Ефремова Т.Ф., 2005, 136 000 статии

> Милиони словни статии в 23 речника

10 нови английски речника:
Английско-руски и руско-английски автомобилен речник
Английско-руски и руско-английски речник по строителство и нови строителни технологии
Английско-руски и руско-английски речник по машиностроене и автоматизация на производството
Английско-руски и руско-английски речник по физика
Нов английско-руски медицински речник
Английско-руски тълковен речник по винопроизводство

1 нов немски речник:
Австрия. Енциклопедичен речник.

5 нови френски речника:
Речник на бизнесмена (френско-руски и руско-френски)
Нов голям френско-руски фразеологичен речник
Речник по нефтена и газовата промишленост (френско-руски и руско-френски)

5 нови испански речника:
Испанско-руски и руско-испански юридически речник
Испанско-руски и руско-испански икономически речник
Испанско-руски речник на съвременната употреба

2 нови италиански речника:
Италианско-руски и руско-италиански икономически речник

> 14 обновени и преработени речника:
- Английско-руски и руско-английски речник на общата лексика
- Английско-руски и руско-английски научно-технически речник
- Английско-руски и руско-английски речник по изчислителна техника и програмиране
- Английско-руски тълковен речник по финансово управление
- Английско-руски тълковен речник по финансови пазари
- Английско-руски тълковен речник по счетоводна отчетност и одит
- Английско-руски тълковен речник по управление и икономика на труда
- Английско-руски тълковен речник по маркетинг и търговия
- Английско-руски енциклопедичен речник «АМЕРИКАНА II»
- Немско-руски и руско-немски медицински речник

> Нова функция - превод на изречения дума по дума

> Показване на ударението в думата - гласната, на която пада ударението е маркирана с цвят

> Усъвършенстван е модулът Lingvo Tutor - добавени са 6 нови теми на учебните речници и са добавени нови функции за изучаване

> Lingvo 11 може да работи на смартфони - работи на телефони с операционна система Windows Mobile® и Symbian OS™ (Series 60)

Counting Words and Characters

2005-09-27T16:46:00.000+03:00

Tim Watson

Word and character counting is a subject close to the heart of all freelance translators, as it’s the basis for job costing and getting paid. This article considers some of the issues involved in word counting.

Different word processors and translation tools very often produce different word count values for the same document, though typically not wildly different. The differences can be due to the use of different rules for counting as well as deficiencies in the applications used.

Many people rely on the document property statistics produced by Microsoft Word to determine the word and character counts. In many instances this is perfectly good. There are, however, a few things to be aware of that Word gets wrong, as I will explain.

When one is handling a large number of documents at a time, getting an overall word count for all documents can be time consuming, especially if this means opening several documents in Microsoft Word, noting the count values for each file and then totalling them all together. There are third-party tools to automate the process of counting words. These allow a number of files, which may be of different formats, to be selected, and the word/character counts are then summarized and totalled. When one is faced with many files, these tools are real time savers. For example, when one is working with Web pages, it’s quite common for a customer to supply dozens of separate files. The utilities typically support multiple file formats such as Word, HTML, PDF, PowerPoint, Excel, text and so on. These dedicated word counting tools can also be more accurate as they don’t have the deficiencies that standard applications such as Microsoft Word have. The table “Word Counts From Three Applications” shows the word count from three different applications, including Microsoft Word, for a set of test documents.

Readers who wish to try the test documents on their own systems may download them from www.surefiresoftware.com /testdocs.htm. Scanned and electronically faxed images are another matter. These will typically be in bitmap (.bmp), .jpg, .gif, .tif or some other graphical format. Acrobat PDF documents or Word documents may also contain scanned images. Text in a scanned image is not stored in the form of a character encoding, but is described like a picture and is made up of colored dots or pixels. In order for a computer program to count words, one must first convert the graphical image back into a character encoded format, such as Word, rich text file (RTF), text and so on. This can be done with the aid of an optical character recognition (OCR) application. Several OCR applications are commercially available.

Counting in Counting in Word

Let’s now consider Microsoft Word in more depth and look at the areas where caution is needed.Word basically counts words by assuming everything between spaces is a word. This includes symbols such as %, &, @, * and #. Translation tools are generally a bit smarter and will not include these symbols as words.

Text from text boxes, grouped shapes, auto-shapes, headers, footers and comments are not included in the Word-generated document statistics. Headers and footers usually contain little text, so the error introduced by Word from ignoring this text is minor. The use of text boxes can be more significant. Some document authors use many text boxes, particularly to annotate drawings or to help produce complex text layouts. In these cases, ignoring this text can produce large errors, causing the word count to be far too low.

Microsoft Word counts numbers as words. For example, 4.7 would count as one word. Some other packages may exclude numbers from the word count. General opinion seems to be split on how to consider numbers. Some say that because numbers don’t need to be translated, they should not be included. Others say that because numbers need to be transcribed and checked for errors, they should be included. The difference is typically not significant for documents that contain only a few numbers.

Word does not count the text contained in any embedded objects. These objects, sometimes also known as OLE objects, are inserted into a Word document through use of Word’s Insert menu and the Object… item. For example, an Excel worksheet can be embedded within a Word document. Inserted OLE objects in Word documents are often diagrams with little or no text; but this is not always the case, and caution is needed. For example, an embedded Excel worksheet may contain significant amounts of text.

Using Microsoft Word to open HTML files and provide statistics needs some additional care. If the HTML file contains a form with predefined options for a drop-down type combo box, then Word will not count the predefined drop-down text options. When the HTML contains forms, this can lead to the word count being significantly lower than the truth. The Word statistics also do not include the HTML page title, button text, and text in meta tags such as meta tags for description and keywords. Scanned images — text that is part of a graphic, very often buttons — will also not be counted.

Counting in PowerPoint

In common with Word, PowerPoint does not count the text contained in OLE objects, which are commonly used in PowerPoint presentations. Microsoft Word tables can be easily inserted as embedded objects, using the PowerPoint Insert menu, Picture sub-menu. Excel worksheets are also commonly embedded into a slide. When embedded objects exist, they typically contain significant amounts of text, and this should be taken into account manually.

PowerPoint 97 and 2000 are not consistent with Word in the rules used for counting.

For example, hyphenated words are counted as two words. PowerPoint XP corrects this difference. This means that two different users with different PowerPoint versions may disagree about the word count on the same document. PowerPoint, of course, doesn’t provide character count statistics. A third-party tool must be used for this purpose.

Summary

Understanding the tools available and the shortcomings of different approaches to word and character counting is important. Minor word-count differences are probably not worth getting hung up on, and a pragmatic approach is sensible. A few words make little difference to the overall time for translation; it is far more important to consider carefully the type and difficulty of the material. This, of course, is an altogether more skilled task.

Internet-based Sharing of Translation Memory

2005-09-27T16:16:00.000+03:00

New solutions that are changing translation and localization workflows

GARRY LEVITT
(Garry Levitt is a localization project manager at LinguaPoint. He can be reached at garry_levitt@linguapoint.de )

Internet-based translation memory (TM) sharing will constitute the next big cost-saving improvement to localization workflow since the introduction of translation memory itself. This article explains the extent of the changes to current localization workflow that will be brought about by the widespread introduction of this new feature.

TM Sharing Explained

TM sharing enables two or more translators to translate the files of one and the same project, while using the same TM in order to retrieve previously translated segments — also called "fuzzy matching." We can distinguish between two different types of TM sharing. First, a Master TM can be shared internally over the vendor's own local area network (LAN), which would probably be the case if several in-house resources were working on the same project. This procedure is supported by various translation-tool packages such as TRADOS Team Edition 6 or TM Server.

But with tools such as Logoport and T-Remote Memory, several translators in different locations can also share a single TM. According to the developers of T-Remote Memory, Telelingua Software, their application is not another TM software package but an add-on that can be used in conjunction with any existing TM solution. Translators only require an Internet connection in order to connect to a "communication server," which transmits and collects all data provided by the connected TMs. This second type of TM sharing, also referred to as telesharing, represents the latest innovation in translation tool development. A single TM (and in the case of T-Remote Memory, one or more TMs) is fed with the translations of different translators. As the TM grows, translators can not only call upon their own translated segments in the TM, but also upon the translations of the other translators involved on the project — in real time.

TM Sharing or Multi-user Functionality?

In reality, Internet-based TM sharing had been around for quite some time before Logoport and Telelingua decided to market their solutions, albeit in a slightly different form. ForeignDesk is a translation tool that has provided support for TCP/IP-based connection of translators for a number of years through its "multi-user functionality." The difference with ForeignDesk, which has recently been released by Lionbridge as open source, lies in the basic functionality of the tool. There is no use of TMs, but of "projects" that already contain legacy material that has been leveraged from previous projects. Yet the basic principle remains the same. Translators can connect their project with the projects of the other translators via TCP/IP and can thereby share their translations. The main drawback with this type of telesharing is that all translators involved will have to be on-line and working at the same time in order to achieve the greatest benefit. This almost rules out a situation in which translators from totally different parts of the world can work together on one project. Unless, of course, they pay a flat rate for their Internet connection and can leave their computers on overnight, which will coincide with someone else's working day in another time zone. It could be argued that this particular tool is more suited for regional teams of translators rather than global teams.

TM Sharing vs. TM Exchange

The benefits of TM sharing can best be illustrated by first explaining the workflow of a localization project without the use of this technology. The increasingly short turnaround times for localization projects — necessary if we are ever to reach anything close to real simultaneous shipment of localized products — requires a language services provider (LSP) to divide a project up among several freelance translators, assuming the necessary resources are not available in house. Otherwise, the first type of TM sharing, a network TM, could be used. In order to limit the risk of inconsistencies creeping into the localized texts, translators are asked to exchange their individual TMs or translated bilingual files.

The process of TM exchange includes the need for translators to then import these memories into their own TM as they would with TRADOS. If they are exchanging translated bilingual files, all they need to do is update their TMs with these translations by "cleaning" the files into their translation memories. This memory-synchronization step can be especially cumbersome if you are dealing with very large TMs. Furthermore, translators or editors are often faced with the task of changing their translation a number of times over in order to be consistent with the translation that other translators have used.

TM exchange can go a long way in ensuring a certain degree of consistency when several translators are involved on one project. TM sharing, on the other hand, can really come to grips with the issue of consistency throughout a project, as inconsistencies are unlikely. If another translator has already translated a similar or identical segment, the Master TM will provide this translation, thereby doing away with the need for "manual" TM exchange.

Client-side Benefits

There is an increasing demand for the deployment of network TMs to enable further cost reductions and to allow for faster time-to-market, especially where large projects are concerned. In the current economic downturn, clients are constantly seeking to reduce localization costs as budgets dwindle. Many refuse to pay for proofing of 100% matches and repetitions or demand reduced rates for certain fuzzy-match brackets. Against this background, TM sharing can be seen as yet another hole in the belt that is slowly being tightened around localization. As clients become more and more aware of the benefits of TM sharing and the use of network TM functionality in several current tools, they will also come to expect their localization partners to adopt the use of this technology. This should not be a problem for most multilanguage vendors (MLVs), but survival is becoming increasingly hard for some of the middlemen of the cascaded localization production chain, namely, the single-language vendors (SLVs) and smaller agencies, as the MLVs pass on this requirement to their subcontractors.

Currently, an MLV may require an SLV to call on the services of several translators when carrying out a large localization project. The division of files among several translators can result in a loss of fuzzy matches, as every translator will only be translating a part of the total project with his or her own stand-alone TM. Depending on how large the loss of fuzzy matches is, an MLV may agree to foot the bill for this loss as until now there has been no other alternative than to choose a conventional multi-translator approach without TM sharing.

TM sharing will soon become the standard, as MLVs will refuse to subcontract projects to SLVs who either don't have TM sharing incorporated into their localization workflow or who can not allocate the necessary in-house resources to the project. This will not only be because of the risk to the overall consistency of the project and the longer turnaround time, but because MLVs and clients will no longer be willing to pay for the loss of fuzzy matching, which would result from the use of stand-alone TMs. SLVs will have the choice between two courses of action. They can decide to integrate TM sharing into their localization workflow and show themselves to operate on the cutting edge of localization. Or they could choose to ignore the developing trend and view the investment in new tools and software licenses as unnecessary or postponable. This, however, is not an option as they risk missing the boat altogether when MLVs decide to look for other subcontractors. And if there is a market, someone else will soon be willing to oblige.

Share and Share Alike

But convincing translators to accept TM sharing as the right way forward may take time. Before the advent of TM some years ago, translators were paid a fixed word rate. Understandably, it took them some time to adapt to the idea of being paid a reduced rate for repetitions, 100% matches or fuzzy matches. However, translators have gradually fallen into line with the use of TM as the benefits of this technology became clear. So how will translators react to TM sharing? Some translators today already draw the line at a staggered delivery of their translated files with intermediate synching of TMs. They want to be paid in accordance with the initial analysis of the translatable files and do not want to see their workload and, consequently, revenue reduced by an exchange of TMs. For the sake of consistency, most agencies will agree to pay the translators for the initial word count even if the real word count is less through the sharing of TMs.

Other important psychological factors will play a role in determining a translator's acceptance of TM sharing. An element of mutual trust and professionalism is essential for the success of these projects. If, for example, we are dealing with a highly repetitive set of files, one translator may decide to delay work on the project until the first set of files has been translated by another translator, and, therefore, the first translator benefits from the likely additional fuzzy matching. Even if the project text is less repetitive in nature, the translator will probably have saved himself or herself quite a bit of terminology research, as key terms will have already been translated.

Match Made in Heaven?

Furthermore, translators will most likely not approve of having to base their translations on the "bad translations" of other translators that will crop up as fuzzy matches. They will either have to grin and bear the translations of colleagues in their own files for the sake of consistency or totally rewrite fuzzy matches that came from other people's translations. In the first scenario, translators might be risking their reputations because in-house editors will not know who made the original mistake. In the second scenario, translators are likely to need more time to complete their work if they are to correct the possible mistakes of their colleagues, for the TM will contain all the translations from various translators before the files have been proofed and edited. This is an important issue, as the translation turnaround time may have been increased at the expense of the actual translation quality. One mistake by a single translator could have repercussions in numerous other files that are being processed by other translators.

Calculating Payment

It still remains to be seen whether vendors and translators will get paid for a fixed word count as described in the analysis of their files. One thing that we can be sure of is that the advantage will shift more in the direction of the vendor and the client as we slowly move from mere TM exchange to full-fledged TM sharing. However, an important condition for this shift will be the capability to indicate objectively and in concrete figures the net contribution of every translator working on the project.

A way may soon be created to monitor a translator's work and progress during a given project, including the number of words and type of matches that have been translated. In most translation tools, each translated segment already receives a unique identification of the person that created the translation. On project completion, the Master TM could perhaps be filtered on the basis of a translator's identification, and a personal log could be created by means of a logging system. These logs would accurately reflect the real number of translated words per translator and could be the basis for payment.

This solution, however, would mean that translators would be continuously confronted with the problem of not knowing how long it will take them to complete the job and how much they stand to earn. This would depend on many factors such as the number of assigned translators, their individual speeds and the number, time and lengths of the breaks that they take. If one translator takes a break, the Master TM will have grown considerably and will influence the remaining workload for all translators — especially the first, who will have seen his allocated chunk shrink right before his very eyes. Furthermore, translators would no longer be able to divide up their own time, as the progress of the other translators would constantly be influencing everyone's workload and the required time until completion. This could certainly be a problem in texts with a high degree of potential fuzzy matching. Frequent progress reports will also have to be made available to the translators for their information, in order to prevent them from having to turn down projects as their planning becomes increasingly difficult.

How far can we afford to go in our bid to make translation more cost effective? Increased uncertainty is a high price to pay for translation cost reduction and may not be conducive to higher quality — consistency or no consistency.

Control and Security

The issue of increased control and security through TM sharing is interesting and requires further attention, as it may be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, translators will no longer have a copy of any valuable TM that they have been feeding their translations into. Translation capital is protected as the TM resides on a local server to which translators have only limited remote access. On the other hand, if this Master TM were ever to become corrupt outside of the LSP's office hours, translators — possibly in a different time zone — would not have a copy of the TM available to them to carry on working, as would have been the case with a stand-alone TM. Neither would they be able to try any function, such as the TRADOS "reorganize" function, which can often solve the most frequently occurring TRADOS TM problems. With TM sharing, this option would probably not be open to translators. They would have to stop working for the rest of the day until an engineer on the LSP's side could be contacted.

Also, with all of the agency's TMs residing on a server, this could spell potential disaster for a large number of projects in the event of server down time. But there would actually be no more need for the translators to send the translated files back to the vendor, as the translation could also just be created from scratch by pre-translating the source files with the updated Master TM. Translators would not be required to resend their files if these became corrupt or otherwise problematical. The LSP could simply automatically recreate the translation by translating the source files with the updated Master TM.

On some projects, translators are required to use special settings for their stand-alone TMs and are sent a list of instructions. With the use of TM sharing, any special settings can be carried out by the LSPs themselves without the need for any intervention by the translator and thereby avoiding any potential mistakes.

Key Solution Providers

Among the key providers of TM solutions that offer support for simultaneous TM access over LAN are STAR with its Transit XV, TRADOS with TRADOS 6 LSP and TM Server, Atril with Déjà Vu X and SDL with SDLX Enterprise Server 2003 and SDLX for UNIX.

While the various TRADOS 6 versions (Freelance, LSP and Power LSP) are targeted mainly at freelance translators and language service providers respectively, the TRADOS TM Server, the next-generation TM server technology and flagship version, is more suited to the needs of global corporations, although it is also used by service providers requiring the extra benefits of this client/server version. TRADOS also plans to introduce a version for the Internet by the end of 2003.
Déjà Vu X is the latest release of Atril's translation tool, which includes Editor, Standard, Professional and Workgroup versions. The differences among these versions include the number of translation and terminology databases that each can access simultaneously over a LAN. Atril is also working on a Web TM server (TM Remote Server) to enable Internet-based TM sharing. It is expected to be available in the second half of 2003.

In addition to the companies providing solutions with support for TM access over LAN, Logoport Software's and Telelingua's products also support database access via an Internet connection.

Telelingua's T-Remote Memory recently became commercially available. It allows users situated anywhere in the world to simultaneously share both TMs, terminology databases and MT systems, provided that these can be queried remotely via APIs or Web services. T-Remote Memory is available in Standard and Enterprise versions as well as in a Leased version that enables companies to handle unexpected peak work flexibly.

Logoport is a fully Web-based TM solution developed by the German company Logoport Software GmbH. Rather than directly purchasing the software, translators, agencies and other companies can lease an amount of time on the Logoport system at short notice. The leased capacity can be adjusted with the current volume of work, and users are charged for the net time that they have been using the system. A company can also acquire licenses to install the Logoport server on its internal network.

Conclusion

TM sharing has the potential to literally turn the translation industry upside down. We have witnessed the introduction of TM at a time when translators did not avail themselves of more than a computer and a word processing program and have now reached a point where translators in the localization industry cannot afford to work without a TM tool. The widespread introduction of TM sharing could reverse this trend completely. Many freelance translators will no longer need to own a TM tool themselves but will log on to their client's system and hitch a ride on the TM solution that the client has implemented.

All clients are interested in cost efficiency, quality and time-to-market. TM sharing can help clients and vendors realize improvements in all three areas. The localization workflow paradigm is set to change. Clients, vendors and eventually translators will welcome this change as it provides benefits for all and creates room for the language industry to expand even further. Translation is likely to be targeted for further cost reductions for quite some time to come. TM sharing can help relieve some of the tension surrounding price arrangements, which are slowly developing into a bone of contention among clients, MLVs and SLVs. Progress is inevitable, and TM sharing is as progressive as it gets.

Comparison of Key Features and Benefits
=========================================

Déjà Vu X Standard, Professional and Workgroup
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nature of the product: CAT tool
Simultaneous database access over Internet: No
Simultaneous database access over LAN: Yes
Increased consistency when working with several translators: Yes, but only in-house translators
Centralized management of project configuration:
Wider choice of translators: Yes, through DVX Editor.
Increased control over intellectual property: No
Shorter turnaround times when working with translators in different locations: N/A
Software purchase required: Yes
Price (in euros): Déjà Vu X Workgroup: Server license and first workstation: €2250; Additional workstations: €1490 each
Editor: Native editor
Additional features: Depending on the version, simultaneous access to several translation memories is possible. The Workgroup version includes the TM Builder, a programmable API, and enables the creation of satellite projects that can be sent to freelance translators and edited with DVX Editor (free).
Further information: www.atril.com

T-Remote Memory
------------------
Nature of the product: Add-on for existing CAT tool
Simultaneous database access over Internet: Yes (TM system must support queries via APIs or Web services)
Simultaneous database access over LAN: Yes
Increased consistency when working with several translators: Yes, translators can be situated anywhere
Centralized management of project configuration: Yes
Wider choice of translators: Yes
Increased control over intellectual property: Yes
Shorter turnaround times when working with translators in different locations: Yes
Software purchase required: Yes. Leasing possible.
Price (in euros): Standard version: €2100 (for 3 users, minimum)
Enterprise version: €8550 (for 10 users), available from July 1, 2003
Leased version: €1710 for 10 users for 3 months (minimum period)
Editor: MS Word
Additional features: Share several translation tools at the same time (translation memories, terminology databases, machine translation systems)
Further information: www.telelingua.com

Logoport
-----------
Nature of the product: CAT tool
Simultaneous database access over Internet: Yes
Simultaneous database access over LAN: Yes
Increased consistency when working with several translators: Yes, translators can be situated anywhere
Centralized management of project configuration: Yes
Wider choice of translators: Yes
Increased control over intellectual property: Yes
Shorter turnaround times when working with translators in different locations: Yes
Software purchase required: No. Lease access time.
Price (in euros): €.70/hour per user (discounts available for multiple users)
A Logoport server can also be installed on a company network; prices remain the same as for connecting to the remote server.
Editor: MS Word
Additional features: Context Matching, Logoport Messenger, terminology management, file format converters
Further information: www.logoport.net

TRADOS 6 Power LSP, TRADOS TM Server
-------------------------------------
Nature of the product: CAT tool
Simultaneous database access over Internet: No
Simultaneous database access over LAN: Yes
Increased consistency when working with several translators: Yes, but only in-house translators
Centralized management of project configuration: TRADOS 6 LSP: No
TRADOS TM Server: Yes
Wider choice of translators: No
Increased control over intellectual property: TRADOS 6 LSP: No
TRADOS TM Server: N/A
Shorter turnaround times when working with translators in different locations: N/A
Software purchase required: Yes
Price (in euros): TRADOS 6 Power LSP: €2595
TRADOS TM Server: no price indication provided by TRADOS
Editor: MS Word, plus other native editors
Additional features: TRADOS 6 LSP: Data mining tool, front-ends, terminology management, file-format converters
TRADOS TM Server: ConteXT TM optional
Further information: www.trados.com

SDL WorkFlow, SDLX Enterprise Server
-------------------------------------
Nature of the product: Multilingual content management system, CAT tool
Simultaneous database access over Internet: SDL WorkFlow: Yes.

SDLX Enterprise Server: Yes, via an Internet/Intranet Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection. At the end of this year, it is planned to implement this as a web service.
Simultaneous database access over LAN: Yes
Increased consistency when working with several translators: Yes
Centralized management of project configuration: Yes
Wider choice of translators: Yes
Increased control over intellectual property: Yes
Shorter turnaround times when working with translators in different locations: Yes
Software purchase required: Yes
Price (in euros): SDLX Enterprise: $1,000-1,500 per user (price is tiered and based on the number of users)
Editor: Native editor
Additional features: SDLX Enterprise Server: SDL Align, SDL Project Wizard, SDL Termbase, SDL Maintain, SDL Apply, SDL Analyse, SDLX AutoTrans and others.
Further information: www.sdlintl.com

Avoiding a US-centric Writing Style

2005-09-27T16:06:00.000+03:00

Laurie Kamerer

A bank in China recently purchased 400 copies of a software package from Cisco Systems, Inc. Neither the software nor the associated documentation had been localized, but bank management was not worried since “everyone speaks English.” Unfortunately, the bank’s personnel did not speak the long-winded, US-centric brand of English that appeared in the online help system. As a result, the CDs sit on the shelf while customers complain.

In a perfect world, all of our products, Web sites, documentation and marketing collateral would be localized for every target locale. In reality, customers often have to make do with the English versions. In either case, writers play a crucial role in serving global customers. One of the biggest contributions that content creators can make to their global audience is to eliminate US-centric references and biases.

Translations can be completed more efficiently and with fewer errors when their source materials are culturally neutral. When end customers must grapple with the English themselves, eliminating cultural bias becomes even more critical. Creating culturally neutral and therefore more comprehensible material hinges on two principles: avoiding culture-specific references and avoiding location-specific references.

Principle 1: Avoid culture-specific references. This kind of reference, which assumes the reader is familiar with American idiosyncrasies and customs, can even confuse native English speakers from outside the United States. Sports metaphors all too frequently creep into US business parlance and bewilder non-US speakers of English. Puns, jokes, idiomatic language, colloquialisms and jargon all fall into this category.

In the following example, the simile assumes that the audience is familiar with the American cultural landscape: “The Economy is very much like Oklahoma just after the land rush. The land closest to the border has been grubstaked, and many of the most convenient and conspicuously valuable lots have been fenced to keep interlopers out” (marketing material from a Cisco Systems, Inc., Web site).

Sports metaphors, especially baseball metaphors, should be eliminated at every occurrence. Not only do sports generally play a lesser role in other countries than they do in the United States, but baseball specifically (often cited as the pinnacle of Americanism) is especially unfamiliar to many non-US readers. The following statement, overheard at a sales meeting, might baffle attendees from outside the United States: “It’s great that our sales team made a diving catch on this one, but next time we should develop a game plan that does not necessitate such ninth-inning heroics.”

Colloquialisms can trip up even the best translators. Some of George W. Bush’s cowboy westernisms have made translators at international media outlets scramble. As reported in a recent National Public Radio piece, Bush stumped the foreign press with his recent challenge to Iraqi attackers. “Bring ’em on,” he said. The Kyoto news agency in Japan opted to translate this as follows: “Come on. If you’re courageous enough to attack us, just attack us. We are ready to defeat you.”

After struggling with translating “Bring ’em on,” the Arab news agency Al- Jazeera chose not to quote the president at all, but instead to paraphrase.

Speeches and presentations can be especially daunting for non-US speakers of English. In addition to understanding English, the audience also has to keep up with the speaker. If audience members receive slides or an outline in advance, they will be able to better focus on and comprehend the content.

Principle 2: Avoid location-specific references. Things that are not standard internationally, but vary based on the reader’s geographic frame of reference, can be considered “location-specific.” Common culprits in this category are time and date references, units of measure and references to specific laws and tax codes.

CNN reported on one particularly expensive example of this type of problem in 1999. NASA had lost a $125-million Mars orbiter because a Lockheed Martin engineering team used English units of measurement while the agency’s team used the more conventional metric system for a key spacecraft operation.

While time and date formatting might be obvious examples of location-specific considerations, a domestic reference like this might not immediately raise a red flag: “Customer support representatives are available 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. every day except national holidays” (Contact page from ecommerce Web site).

In addition to “What time zone?” the reader will have to ask himself “Whose nation? What holidays?”

In some cases, these types of references not only confuse readers, but can be much more insidious. One software vendor thought that the company would be able to “globalize” fairly easily by translating on-line marketing materials for its target market in Europe. The software enabled the automation of a number of human resources functions, including Web-based processing of 401(k) and W2 forms. The marketing content had gone through initial translations when one editor, based in Europe, asked, “What is 401(k)?” Not only did the marketing materials fail to speak to the target audience, but the functionality did not speak to their national tax and pension codes.

A British comedian also touched on this principle when he asked a retired British judge whether, when charged with a particular crime, he should plead the fifth. “That won’t do you any good,” the judge responded. “The fifth amendment is part of the American Constitution and has no legal recognition in the UK.”

The application of these guidelines must vary depending on the nature of your content. Marketing material is not always suited to a perfectly literal style, whereas technical documentation is best if it is dry and unadorned. In any case, writers won’t leave their global audience stranded on second base if they consider these guidelines when developing content.

Working With Translation Memory

2005-09-27T15:52:00.000+03:00

When and how to use TM for a successful translation project

STEVE IVERSON
(Steve Iverson is president of Iverson Language Associates, Inc. He can be reached at steve@iversonlang.com)

Translation memory (TM) has become a common term in the translation and localization industry and has led to confusion on the part of clients and service providers alike. There is confusion over what the term means, what the difference is between TM and translation software and when it's appropriate to use TM.

TM belongs to the computer-assisted translation family of tools. In essence, TM tools do not translate material, but assist the human translator to produce a better (that is, faster and more consistent) translation. TM, simply put, keeps track of and allows the reuse of information that is repetitive, both within a document and across a series of documents. And since it works at the segment level, it is different from glossaries. Widely used tools available today include TRADOS, STAR Transit, Déjà Vu, SDLX and others.

Why Use TM?

Without TM, the translator either relies on a document where he or she keeps track of previously translated text or, more often, relies on memory. In a society where quality and consistency continue to be important issues, relying on already overloaded brains can be troublesome. There are a number of valid reasons for considering the use of TM. One is to help maintain consistency. Phrases and sections that repeat should not be re-translated.

If translations can be reused, there is less to translate. This implies faster turnaround time on projects. Despite education efforts to the contrary, it is often believed that good quality translation can be produced at increasingly greater speed. This drive is understandable, since turnaround time of a translation often has a great deal to do with how quickly a company starts making money on its product in international markets.

Probably the most important benefit from the use of TM is the ability to maintain control of translation/localization costs. With the reuse of translated material, there is less text to translate, resulting in lower project costs.

An often overlooked benefit for using TM tools from a service provider perspective (translation agency or freelance translator) is that often the resulting files are easier to work with. Certain types of tools (open-tag TM tools) actually hide coding in files such as HTML so that there is no risk of accidentally deleting or altering the codes and tags.

TM tools can often also simplify the desktop publishing (DTP) process, requiring only clean-up at the end of the project instead of the traditional cutting and pasting of the translated text into the English template.

Finally, TM can become a component of a content management system, allowing you to manage and maintain the foreign languages along with the English. Content management is being adopted by many companies with extensive publications departments and dynamic Web sites. It implies finding ways to keep track of what's been written, usually with a focus on English. However, content management refers to managing content, whatever the content is and in any language.

How Does It Work?

There are three ways to use TM tools. The easiest is to start from scratch, not trying to incorporate legacy material (previously translated documents). You begin by translating your material with an empty TM. Once the text is finalized, it is put into the database of the tool you are using. The next document to translate is then electronically compared to the database, and the results are reported in terms of no-match, fuzzy match and 100% match. A fuzzy match is a phrase that is similar to the new source language text but requires some editing to make it match exactly. Once you have built your database to a fairly high level, you will begin to see more fuzzy and 100% matches and fewer no-matches. How long it takes to get to this point depends on the volume of material you are translating and on your internal reuse of existing segments.

Second, you can populate the database of your TM tool with material from your legacy documents. This may build your database quickly, but involves the risk of introducing errors into the database which will then be used in many other documents. And even though it is possible to correct entries in the database, it can be time consuming. So make sure that before you use your legacy documents in this way, the language is exactly the way it should be. It is often helpful to have your legacy material proofread for accuracy, and to make sure that the text is in the same order as the source text.

Third, you can translate documents with a lot of internal repetition. If the document has a lot of text within itself that repeats, you can reduce the amount of text for translation by exporting frequent segments, translating them once, and then using those translations to pre-translate the file before sending the complete document to the translator. The frequent text appears in all the places it should, and the translator translates what's left over.

One key issue for TM tools is the type of file formats that can be used with them. Some are fairly limited (only Microsoft Word documents), while others have a fairly broad range of file formats that are compatible with the software. Before you select one of the available tools, make sure that it has broad enough compatibility with the file formats you require.

Will It Work for Me?

The question of whether TM is appropriate for you and your documentation can be difficult. A key first step is to determine what you hope to achieve from using TM: to save money? to improve consistency? to reduce turnaround time? to reduce formatting work? Here are three criteria for a quick evaluation.

High degree of repetition. The more repetition there is in your documentation, the more benefit you will see from the use of TM. This repetition may be within one single document or between several documents. There are times when using a TM tool to help manage one document has benefits, but most often you find repetition between documents related to the same products, or family of products and updates.

High volume. Obviously, the more volume you have, the larger the database will become over time. This helps compensate for the cost of creating and maintaining your database.

Compatible file formats. You must have file formats that either allow you to work directly in the TM tool or have a way for you to extract the text needed.

If your documentation meets those criteria, you are probably a good candidate for the use of TM tools.

How Much Does It Cost?

If you have decided not to purchase the software and manage it yourself, your service provider will be charging you for the translation and/or editing of the text. However, the way you are charged will probably be different. Once you have a database started, any projects that you choose to translate will be analyzed, and the software will provide statistics on the number of 100% matches, the number of fuzzy matches and the number of no-matches.

The no-matches will probably be billed at the normal per-word rate that you always pay. Fuzzy matches are typically billed at a fraction of the rate for no-matches (often 50%), and 100% matches may be billed at a still smaller fraction (often 25%).

Although it is commonly accepted that the 100% matches do not need to be reviewed, thereby allowing you to save more money, there is also an argument for reviewing them. Since the computer is doing all the work, it's wise to make sure that there has not been a computer glitch, resulting in a mistake in matching segments. In addition, proofing the 100% matches allows you to make even more improvements in your memory. While it's important to minimize changes to 100% matches for the sake of higher repetition, there will be times when you will still need to carefully revise segments in your database. Often, these are most obvious when you review them in context, and reviewing the 100% matches gives you that opportunity.

In addition to the per-word charges, you may be charged for the time it takes to process your files and update the memory. This is normally billed at an hourly rate, agreed to in advance of the project. The cost is normally fairly small. Most clients find that even with the additional billing, the reduced translation cost more than offsets this extra item.

If your service provider offers DTP, the files will need to be "cleaned up" to accommodate the additional space required by the target language. The cost for this service should be less than traditional formatting "from scratch."

Who Owns the Database?

This is a widely debated question, and one that has not been answered conclusively. Some say that the database is a result of work contracted for and paid for by the client, so the client has a right to receive the memory files once the project is complete. The other argument says that without the creative work of the translator, the memory files would not exist at all. This is similar to having a marketing firm create your brochure, then charge you if you want the electronic files, a practice that exists in some areas. While there may not be one answer for all circumstances, it's best to be clear about this at the beginning of a relationship with any service provider and to have the answer noted in writing.

Making TM Work for You

Once you've decided to use TM, you will want to maximize the return on your investment. There are several things that you can do to make sure TM is the most effective.

Edit your English. Make sure it's as clean as possible, eliminating any awkward sentences and text that is no longer relevant to the product. Try to make it as consistent as possible, checking the use of multiple terms to describe the same thing and similar sections being written in the same way. The investment in editing your English before translation can yield some great results with TM.

Once you've edited one document, compare it to similar documents and sections of text to make sure there's consistency across documents. Work with the people who produce your technical publications to make sure they understand that how they write the documents has an effect on the cost and turnaround time of the translations. Often, little thought is given to the translation portion of the process.

Prepare your electronic files. Choose a program that meets your needs in terms of managing your documentation, but try to find something that interfaces well with your TM tool. Programs such as Adobe FrameMaker may work very well, or Microsoft Word might be the best option (although not from a DTP standpoint).

Be aware of how formatting of your documents might simplify the use of TM. If you are using a DTP program from which you need to extract the text, you might find that the English is split in the text file. For example,

Maximum
diameter

which would be translated as diamètre maximum, might become

Maximum Diamètre
Diameter Maximum

since it would result in a translation of each word individually, instead of as a phrase. Because of the hard return in the table, the extraction process produced two separate words/segments for translation, which would be incorrect. If this is not corrected, the memory will then contain an incorrect translation and result in a wrong translation — maximum translated as diameter.

With the increase in the volume of translation work being done in this country, TM can be one of the best tools to assist in the management of translations from all parties involved. And until a computer can think like a human, it seems to be the best choice for starting to automate the process. Talk with your service provider about whether you are a candidate for TM, and be aware of how the process works for you.

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This article reprinted from #59 Volume 14 Issue 7 of MultiLingual Computing & Technology published by MultiLingual Computing, Inc., 319 North First Ave., Sandpoint, Idaho, USA, 208-263-8178, Fax: 208-263-6310.

Localizing Movies and Broadcasting

2005-09-27T15:44:00.000+03:00

Subtitling and dubbing for multiple version releases

DAVID SHADBOLT
(David Shadbolt is a research editor with MultiLingual Computing & Technology. He can be reached at david@multilingual.com)

If any industry could claim global marketing success, it is the motion picture industry. While the 1939 movie Gone With the Wind was created for an American audience, directors of contemporary movies such as Gladiator (2000) have global release and merchandising sales as their goal. The official Web site for the 1997 movie Titanic even included, in addition to worldwide release dates, links to English, German, Italian and Spanish trailer clips. It is now commonplace for studios to release subtitled and dubbed movies in 36 languages or more.

International broadcasting networks also pump out subtitled and dubbed series to other national broadcasters, many of whom are multilingual. For example, Europe has 15 to 20 different multilingual channels broadcasting in up to 22 different languages.

"There are approximately 5,000 international broadcast and cable networks around the world," says Deeny Kaplan, executive vice president of Miami-based TM Systems (TMS), "creating a continuous demand for dubbing, subtitling and translation. Some countries have hundreds geared towards specific languages or specific audiences. Even a little country like Jordan broadcasts three languages a day, 24 hours a day on its television networks, and everything has to be dubbed or subtitled, whether it's a movie or news piece."

Markets

The need for subtitled and dubbed material has spawned a specialized language sector, particularly in countries with major international broadcasting networks. London alone has more than 30 organizations with roots buried deep within the industry. Europe's largest broadcasting vendor, Broadcast Text International (BTI) with its head office in Sweden, subtitles 40,000 hours of television, video, cinema and DVD content annually — the equivalent of 70 feature films a day, all year round. Bjorn Andersson, chief executive officer of BTI, says, "We existed for 20 years in different constellations doing subtitles for broadcasters before merging into this new group in 1998. We began subtitling in one country for one language but now do multilingual subtitles for broadcasters — for example, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), first in Scandinavia, then Western Europe and now the growing Eastern European market."

BTI has also developed its client base in the DVDs and SDH (subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing) sectors. SDH, better known as Closed Captioning in North America, has three categories: prerecorded programming, real-time for live programming and live display.

"SDH demand is really growing in countries like Germany, France, Italy and England." Andersson says. "The DVD market sector started five years ago and is very strong, which is one of the reasons we have recently opened an office in Santa Monica. Last year, the movie studios released about 6,000 DVDs, and it will probably remain around that mark annually until the studios deal with the backlog of movies in their vaults. In seven or eight years, these numbers will probably go down to around 3,000 per year. The DVD market is divided into local markets, for example, German companies releasing DVDs with SDH and maybe a couple of other languages, and the international DVD market primarily based in Los Angeles and London, which subtitles and dubs movies into 36 languages."

The movie versions take into account not just language but cultural considerations and viewing. "At a big studio such as Warner Universal or Paramount," says Kaplan, "you have a number of departments in charge of market niches — feature films, DVD, home video, broadcasting, even airlines. An airline version of an X-rated movie would need editing for general viewing because you might have your eight-year-old son sitting next to you."

Subtitling Workflow

Andersson outlines the workflow of a typical subtitling project: "Let's say our Santa Monica office receives a video from one of our clients such as MGM or Universal Studios. We encode the work into MPEG1 using a softel-encoding system purposefully built for video subtitling and send the result on to our in-country office where it is either assigned to one of our own 60 or 70 translators or a freelancer on the local payroll. That translator does the translation with the template he or she has received from us, and then the local office proofreads the work in real time, looking at the tape together with the subtitles to see if there is anything wrong with the translation. Then it's shipped back to Santa Monica where they make a final technical check to see if there are any technical problems. For example, it's very important that the subtitling doesn't cover chapter breaks and that the exact time codes haven't changed on these files since we sent them out. The final test is in real time, running the tape or the digital file against the subtitled file once more just to see if it's accurate. Before we send it back to the client, it's often converted into a bitmap or TIFF file."

One set of problems encountered in providing subtitles is the expansion and compression factor. A 66-page English script could expand to 86 pages in German and 96 pages in Spanish. Yoshie Anjiki, formerly a graphics technician at Studio 26 and now part of the Polarity Post Production (PPP) team in San Francisco has worked with a number of clients such as Albertsons, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chevron and Starbucks.

"We've encountered problems when a client has insisted on using its own translation company," Anjiki says. "Timing is always the key, and sometimes the client's translation is too long to fit in the lower third of the screen. A maximum of two lines for subtitles is ideal, or the viewer is too busy reading and can't comfortably watch the video. We clean up the translation and do line breaks that will prepare the translation to fit in the lower third of the screen."

Most dubbing studios use a linear, tape-based approach to dubbing and subtitling. A master tape in a professional format such as Betacam SP or Digital Betacam is used to play back in the studio for recording, while copies of it in a consumer format such as VHS are used by translators, casting directors and others to create the translated script, assign voice talent to characters, create cue lists for recording and so on.

"When we start a subtitling project," Anjiki says, "we ask our client to provide us with a beta SP or DigiBeta English master as a guide, and an un-keyed (clean or text-less) submaster as a source. According to the original version, we try to recreate it in ethnic languages by replacing show title or name keys when requested. If an un-keyed version is unavailable, then we have to squeeze or move subtitles to fit on the screen whenever there are any conflicting graphics in the lower third of the screen. There are many things we have to pay attention to — existing keys, background color, close-ups and so on. This is where the timed and precise translation comes in handy. It helps our editing process greatly."

Timing is just as important in the dubbing process. As Charles Xavier, localization director at PPP, explains, "A big portion of translation is the actual timing of the phrases. It has to work well because they usually don't re-edit picture for foreign languages. Automated dialog replacement (ADR), also called looping, replaces production sound recorded on the video with the voice of the talent (actor) recorded in the dubbing studio. Picking the right phrases to fit the timing for the voice-overs is a challenge. You have to find words that match the rhythm of the original language to fit the lip movements. Take English to German. If it's 11 seconds in English, too literal a translation might add an additional eight to nine seconds to the dialogue. With video games and some other products, exact matching of lip movement is impossible. We actually take out breaths and slide in words to make them match better. The phrases are edited to the picture once they are recorded to tighten up the phrases even more. It can be a challenge. Many games originate in Japanese, and we do the English version, and people have commented that our version looks almost better than the original does."

Technology

Reducing time-to-market for language versions is a priority for movies and television series as it is with software or other time-critical product. Kaplan at TMS says, "An episode of Friends shown tonight in the United States is seen in 50 other countries as a subtitled or dubbed version, so time is of the essence. In the movie business, the major studios have tiered levels that reflect their concerns and objectives for a given movie. A studio's first target is the group comprising France, Italy, Germany and Spain (FIGS), with Thailand now added for some reason. Increasingly, the majors want to include India, Israel and other countries, even worldwide same day release. A major animation movie has just received simultaneous release in 83 countries."

Broadcast news is even more time-sensitive. When the Voice of America needed the main evening news broadcasts of ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS and FOX translated to Arabic and subtitled daily, it turned to Applications Technology, Inc. (AppTek), which developed a fully automated process. Sami Shamma, responsible for business development at AppTek, explains: "This process required the translating and editing of three and a half hours of news, which is an average of 32,000 words, and a task we had to complete in six hours. We developed new tools alongside our machine translation engine to automate the insertion of time-stamped subtitles into the news footage. AppTek developed a workflow process that included voice recognition of the newscast and production of English text; machine translation of the text to Arabic; post-editing the Arabic text; auto-generation of time-stamped Arabic subtitles; and superimposition of subtitles on the original footage. As soon as we had finished, Voice of America had someone literally running to the aircraft so that it could get over the Gulf and broadcast the subtitled news footage."

Solutions from companies such as AppTek and from companies such as CPC, Screen Subtitling Systems and SoftNI (originally Software & New Ideas) have significantly reduced the time and cost of movie and broadcast localization.

SoftNI developed and released its off-line computer-based video subtitling system in 1986. The company provides a wide variety of services and software related to translation, subtitling and dubbing of motion pictures and television programs, including what it describes as the first software-based multichannel, multilanguage subtitling system for digital video broadcasting (DVB).

It was TMS, however, that received a technical achievement Emmy award for its fully integrated, non-linear language localization system for translation, dubbing and subtitling. The award is given to companies that make a contribution to television broadcasting that forever changes the face of the industry. Other winners include Apple Computer, Inc. (Final Cut Pro editing and finishing system) and the ARRI Group (ARRIFLEX Cameras).

Carlos Contreras, chief technology officer at TMS, says, "While there are differences in the user interface between our system and competitive solutions — as well as in the general approach to the actual subtitle file preparation — in general, all get the task done. One of our unique advantages, though, is that ours is the first comprehensive system for both subtitling and dubbing. Our scripts can even mix both formats in one single document. We also do away with proprietary file formats and go for open standards for video, sound and text files so that the user is never trapped into a proprietary technology. The learning curve is minimal as well."

The TMS system consists of four modules: PrepStation, TranStation, DubStation and SubStation. In the PrepStation the video is digitized in preparation for the translation process. "It is then encrypted, so even if someone has access to the actual file, it can not be played to get a copy of it," says Contreras. "Our players contain hardware keys to allow playback of the tracking file only on authorized TranStation or DubStation." Digital files enable access from a network or over the Internet, thereby reducing costs, delays in customs or loss and piracy that the current practice of making copies of a videotape or VHS cassette can cause when packaging and sending by courier to translators and dubbing studios.

The lightweight TranStation module, the least expensive component at $1,495, provides a transcription and translation function for both dubbing scripts and subtitling blocks. Major features include automatic single keystroke time code insertions and automatic loop or line counters. As the software provides pictures and text on a single screen, translators operate in a familiar Microsoft Word environment or compatible format, thereby simplifying the process of preparing the document for subtitling and/or dubbing compared to the process of starting, stopping and rewinding a VCR to find the exact place on a video cassette.

The translator can also create Closed Caption files with TranStation CC, a new component introduced by TMS at the 2003 National Association of Broadcasters event. "It is easily integrated into the existing TranStation as an upgrade or can be purchased as a standalone unit," says Contreras. "The TranStation CC contains features needed to create Closed Caption files and is comparable to other Closed Caption preparation suites, typically more complex and inefficient, some of them even still working with VHS tapes with time code soundtracks."

Upon completing the subtitles or dubbing files, the translator returns the file in a CD format or over the Internet to a dubbing or subtitling facility where it is proofread, loaded into the subtitling component, the SubStation, and burned in real time, in any color, style or character set. The fourth component, the DubStation, controls the recording session. "Linked to protocols or any audio workstation that reads time code, the DubStation contains an abundance of tools to assist in the production of scheduling and the administration process," says Kaplan. "A graph on the DubStation shows the time frame of each character and provides precise cues as to when the talent should speak the lines. In the dubbing recording suite, the actors stand on one side and the engineers on the other side telling the characters when to do their lines, while recording the voices directly into the computer."

WANTED! Post-Productions in Toronto negotiated the TMS sales agency for Canada after a successful experience dubbing a major children's television series. Company president John deNottbeck explains, "When a client asked us to do a Japanese-to-English conversion of a children's television series, we only had three weeks to deliver. Apparently, the original subtitling company had made a budgeting mistake in its bid and told the client it would now cost more per episode, quoting basically the same price for the 40-episode project as we had originally proposed. Although we only had three weeks rather than the original three-month lead time, we met the deadline after purchasing TMS, which requires only a short learning curve and operates instantaneously in computer time."

According to deNottbeck, "The TMS will eventually have competition from two other systems currently under development, but they have yet to be debugged. What we've discovered with TMS is that it's knocked off a third of our record time, so clients save on the costs of studio time and talent fees. Additionally, the system can print out the line and word count per character, which saves producers the headache of manually working out how much to pay the talent."

In Canada, deNottbeck sees TMS proving very successful. "Montreal has 15 studios operating non-stop, converting English content to French. They all use the Rythmoband system, developed in France almost 40 years ago. It's far slower than using a TMS system. Within two weeks of the talent working with TMS, the two companies using Rythmoband in Toronto were calling us looking for information."

At $30,000, TMS is relatively inexpensive. Kaplan says, "We met recently with an executive at a Miami-based international network. We were told the network had a room in which they intended to place a subtitling suite, and he was astounded when we told him our solution would only cost $30,000." Contreras explains, "A traditional voice recording room using standard playback decks and recording equipment, that could go well into the $50,000-$100,000 range, much more than our solution. The savings basically come from the fact that we are using standard PC software and hardware to replace high cost video and audio equipment."

The system has proven itself to a number of clients, beginning with Caracas-based M&M, which operated the software successfully for two years before the formation of TMS in 2001. The biggest installations are located at the localization studios of The Kitchen, Inc., in Miami, built for Claxson Interactive Group, a Latin American multimedia conglomerate. It contains eleven dubbing suites to cope with the volume of localization projects. Juan Bernardo Alvarez, The Kitchen's language conversion service head, claims the software cuts "translation time by half and significantly reduces the time it takes to convert a show like South Park into Spanish or other languages. If we have an emergency and need to rush out a show, what would take eight hours of recording in one studio we can now do in as little as an hour and a half using several studios at the same time."

Specialized Skills

Andersson at BTI says that companies not only have to understand the native language and culture but also the broadcasting and movie industry. "Localization is so much more than translating from one language into another, and the translation itself is a very specific type of translation, somewhere between the spoken and written word, and many translation companies did not do so well when they tried it," Andersson says. "A comprehensive translation is needed, as well as the elimination of narrative conclusion because the text needs condensing to meet the limitation of 70 characters per five or six seconds. It's a big task, but also an interesting task when you are translating. It's also the only time with translated content where everyone can compare both the source (dialogue) language and the target (written translation) at the same time. We hear about it in countries like Germany or The Netherlands if we get it wrong when an English movie is shown with subtitles."

BTI creates multilingual subtitles from 90% American English and 5% British programming with the balance from other languages. Andersson stressed that only by living in the target-language country can a translator make certain assumptions on how much his or her fellow natives know about a certain subject and how to translate it.

"For instance," Andersson says, "in British comedies, name-dropping is common, where the person named has certain characteristics. He or she may be frugal, generous, foolish, strong or whatever. In one episode of The Vicar of Dibley, we counted more than 60 names, and we had to research each name so that we understood the person's characteristics before making a decision on retaining or substituting that person's name. Some of the people don't mean anything to anybody in Iran or India or even in Sweden for that matter. Making decisions is easier if you live in the target country and not the source country like the United Kingdom or the United States."

Research also is important, according to Andersson. "While we don't have the experts on law texts or on technical texts or other topics," he says, "translators need to know a little about the many different things so that they can handle a drama series or comedy. If they don't, they have to find out, and sometimes just a couple of lines will take many hours of research to figure out what the lines actually mean. We may also omit Latin names of some species if it's a nature documentary, for example. It's much easier for translators to find the equivalent in their own languages. This applied to the Blue Planet series which we did for the BBC into many languages, among them Scandinavian. The fascinating thing with this series was that it had 350 different species of animals and plants. Some of them didn't have corresponding names in the Scandinavian languages, but through our local contacts at the Museum of Natural History, we named some for the first time. In Sweden, for instance, they added the names of 20 different species of fish. We have almost weekly contact with natural history people due to our BBC documentaries and National Geographic work."

Some television programs probably require too much editing to work in other countries — editing Friends for India, where scenes of holding hands and kissing is restricted, or the Middle East, where showing midriffs is prohibited — but one-off movies would seem more feasible. Directors can accommodate a broader range of cultural requirements by avoiding obtuse terminology and substituting visuals for verbal communication where possible. Misakes, though, are sometimes made, even by studio bosses. Think of the movie The Spy Who Shagged Me, the title of which raised many eyebrows in Britain where shag is commonly used as a substitute for the four-letter word beginning with f.

Errors of cultural blindness may occur less frequently as escalating production costs necessitate international sales and therefore the demand for localized content. Legislation in some countries will also drive the need for subtitling, dubbing and closed captioning content. In the United States, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 compels video program distributors (cable operators, broadcasters, and satellite distributors) to phase in closed captioning of their television programs in Spanish as well as English.

One can hope that the streamlining of subtitled and dubbed motion pictures and broadcasting will not result in the Hollywoodization of the world, but increase the diversity of content watched globally. globe

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This article reprinted from #60 Volume 14 Issue 8 of MultiLingual Computing & Technology published by MultiLingual Computing, Inc., 319 North First Ave., Sandpoint, Idaho, USA, 208-263-8178, Fax: 208-263-6310.

Technical and Language Issues in ERP Localization

2005-09-27T15:36:00.000+03:00

Adapting enterprise resource planning systems to the global marketplace

BERT ESSELINK

(Bert Esselink is a global engagement consultant at Lionbridge and the author of The Practical Guide to Localization. He can be reached at bert_esselink@lionbridge.com)

Localization service providers translating ERP software packages or SAP support had better make sure to use translators who know these domains inside out and should not rely on translators just looking at some glossaries. Localization companies now need to face these new challenges and higher customer demands. This was one of the conclusions in my article "The Evolution of Localization" (MultiLingual Computing & Technology #57 Volume 14 Issue 5, supplement "Guide to Localization").

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a domain where much translation is going on. SAP, for example, the leading provider of ERP systems, employs hundreds of translators who produce localized versions of the various SAP solutions. In addition to the in-house localization teams, SAP partners with localization vendors and freelance translators to ensure scalability or to access specific domain knowledge. More than 100 million words are translated each year, primarily consisting of software strings, documentation, training courses and support notes.

Many companies implementing ERP systems do so on a global basis, inherently making global business practices and support for multiple languages a requirement. ERP solution providers have been quick to realize the strategic importance of this requirement.

In this article I will introduce the complexities of global ERP deployments with a focus on the challenges of supporting multiple languages.

What Is ERP?

ERP systems attempt to integrate all departments and functions across a company onto a single system. ERP automates the tasks involved in performing a business process. An example is order fulfillment, which involves taking an order from a customer, shipping it and billing for it.

Most ERP systems feature components for finance management, logistics, human resources, manufacturing, customer relationship management, procurement and supply-chain management.

Decades ago, ERP deployments were primarily country-specific. Today, we frequently see global ERP deployments by multinationals who want to capture and standardize their business processes across the globe. One of the main business drivers for global ERP deployments is the centralization of data in a single repository to assess performance on a global scale rather than for each individual market. Increased globalization of business practices and value chains has called the need for a global overview of business data.

Examples of companies selling ERP software are SAP, PeopleSoft, Oracle and Microsoft Business Solutions (formerly Great Plains). SAP has the largest market share (approximately 25%), followed by Oracle, PeopleSoft, Sage and Microsoft.

A typical ERP implementation project has these phases: a fit/gap analysis to define business processes and the need for customization; system design and development; data conversions from legacy systems; testing of the new system; training of the super-users and end users; and deployment.

Most ERP implementations are coordinated by consulting or systems integration firms such as IBM Global Services or BearingPoint, at least in the initial stages. Consultants work with employees of the company that is implementing ERP to define and tweak end-to-end business processes, customize the system, develop new features if required and test the system for deployment.

Global implementations typically are first rolled out in a few pilot markets, followed by additional markets or groups of markets.

Global ERP Deployments

Global ERP deployments run, on average, between one and three years. The number of modules used and the global reach of the deployment are factors that influence the time it takes to implement an ERP solution. Some organizations decide to implement only the human resources solution globally, for example. Others implement the full ERP solution across a wide range of markets or regions.

The global rollout schedule is normally based on the system needs in the respective markets. Although language or translation is hardly ever considered as a critical factor during planning, some companies prefer to roll out new systems in English-speaking countries first to avoid the complexities of multilingualism.

Most ERP systems can also be tailored to the industry of the company that is implementing the system. SAP, for example, now has 23 distinct industry portfolios including automotive, health care, media and telecommunications.

A recent Gartner study outlined seven generic issues that should always be considered in a global ERP deployment project:

language — code page support and system translation;

currency — dual- or multiple-base currency capabilities;

simultaneous operation of multilanguage and multicurrency on a single system — Unicode support;

statutory compliance — complying with local legal, taxation and accounting rules;

implementation services — regional consultant staffing and travel;

product support — local support or global 24/7 support; and

upgrade timing and availability — delays for language version updates.

Although the business in most organizations is structured according to product group, enterprise function or geography, in global ERP deployments there will be combinations of these dimensions.

What Is ERP Localization?

The term ERP localization is used in various different contexts: localization of the user interface text of the ERP system itself; of the system to comply to market-specific business processes; of any custom developments made on the system; and/or localization/translation of support documentation and training materials.

Most ERP applications and systems are provided in multiple languages by default. As I mentioned earlier, most ERP solution providers localize their products in a large number of languages. Most ERP vendors outsource their product localization.

Next, the word localization is also used to describe the process of customizing the product's functionality to the business practices of a particular market. Some ERP manufacturers use the term a localization to refer to a specific country version or extension of their product. ERP solutions are normally available in "country versions" and "language versions." Oracle, for example, sells a fully globalized product, stating, "Oracle E-Business Suite supports multiple languages, unique global business practices, and local statutory and regulatory requirements, such as the Euro — powerful capabilities that include localizations for 43 countries and support for 29 languages."

After tailoring a solution to suit local market and industry domain requirements, a company implementing an ERP system may still require customization of the product, simply to make the ERP product reflect a company's existing business processes. Prior to deployment, all critical business processes are analyzed and compared with the standard functionality offered by the ERP product. In case of major discrepancies, the decision is made to either change the process to comply with the ERP package or to customize the software to follow existing processes. During this fit/gap process, the decision can be made to provide customizations in the local language or to leave them in English. Using a local language version of an ERP package with customizations in English could, in fact, produce even a user interface consisting of fields or controls in different languages.

The final level of localization in global ERP implementations is normally called "translation" by organizations implementing ERP and refers to the translation of end-user reference documentation or training materials. Change management practices common to ERP deployments dictate extensive training for end users, and training materials are normally provided in the local language. To complicate matters even more, support documentation is often translated from a base language, for example, English, into a select number of target languages, such as French and Spanish. Then it's up to the individual market to create "localizations" of these translations — that is, to adapt the translated materials to local needs and practices. This approach obviously requires careful version control and update management.

Technical Considerations

In addition to the business and procedural challenges to deploying an ERP system globally, a global system also has many technical complexities. Some of the technical issues to consider when deploying an ERP package for multiple countries include globalization features — multiple time zones, currencies, calendars, address formats and data standards; support for various character sets — on-screen display, storage of data and output to various devices such as faxes or printers; efficient global system landscape — for example, one central global system or distributed systems in each market or region.

Considering the amount of data processed by a global ERP system, it is extremely important to create the right balance between centralized data and local deployment.

Globalization features. The first challenge has been addressed by most ERP solution providers for many years, simply to meet customer demands that were increasingly global. SAP especially has been a forerunner in implementing advanced globalization features in its products.

According to SAP's white paper Global Solutions Without Boundaries, "With business solutions based on mySAP.com, you can adapt your operations to each country individually. SAP has applied local experiences and knowledge to develop country versions that meet the unique business requirements of each country."

An Oracle developer recently stated, "In addition to this country-specific functionality, the standard Oracle Applications products have an underlying architecture which is capable of supporting global business practices, for example, with a flexible chart of accounts, tax reporting ledger, shared service capabilities and multiple organizations structures. Our features are all designed and built with a global perspective, and, increasingly, the country-specific requirements are being integrated into the standard products. Statutory compliance may be the hardest globalization feature for ERP solution providers to maintain, especially because some countries such as Brazil change their regulations frequently.

Character sets. The technical complexities of supporting multiple languages in global ERP solutions have always been numerous, but these are being greatly simplified by the adoption of Unicode by most providers. Character-set support is critical, for example, for the storage of multilingual data in a central repository. Even though most ERP solutions had workarounds, creating one central repository containing data in multiple character sets has always been cumbersome.

A growing number of solutions now support Unicode, which makes the character set issue less stringent, especially for new implementations that don't have to deal with too many data conversions and legacy systems.

According to the PeopleSoft Web site, "PeopleSoft is one of the first to embrace Unicode fully, which allows you to run PeopleSoft 8 applications simultaneously in more than 100 languages. This capability empowers you to store data from any language in a single database instance and build applications with global functionality within a single code module."

System landscape. Implementing one ERP central system to manage business processes and data worldwide obviously has many advantages such as central control, reporting and IT efficiencies, but it is often simply not feasible for size and performance reasons. Most organizations, therefore, adapt the ERP implementation to the current business environment — only centralizing, for example, those processes that are already global.

Global ERP systems can be deployed in several layers, for example, Global, Regional and Local. Each layer has separate systems, customizations, functionality and translation needs. Organizations can choose which business processes are placed in which layer.

Language Considerations

Every organization implementing software globally has to make some strategic decisions related to language and translation of systems or documentation.

The translation strategy should aim to find answers to the following questions:

Which languages do we need to cover and how do we prioritize?

What is the impact of language support on our system landscape?

What do we translate and when do we start?

Who will own the translation initiative and budget?

Who will be involved in the execution?

How can we minimize translation costs and still guarantee quality?

How do we organize and automate the translation process?

The most important decision to be made in global ERP implementations is to what extent the system (user interface) will be translated. Common criteria for this decision include:

Availability of the module in the required language. Most, but not all modules are provided in all languages — that is, the language gap must be identified.

Business and regulatory requirements in the markets. Most countries have a legal requirement to provide all financial reports for taxation in the local language.

Level of customization. Customizations need to be translated from scratch because they are not provided in the local language by the system vendor.

Technical infrastructure limitations. Code pages, Unicode, hardware requirements for language packs, data conversions, response times and so on. Availability of technical resources to set up and support translation environments and provide quality translations.

Translation business case. Number of users, market demands, frequency of use, return on investment and so on.

Although translation of the system is most complex, the supporting documentation and training materials normally contain the most words to translate.

One major issue with ERP translation programs is that organizations often do not build a translation phase into their implementation plans. This is particularly true in the case of large global corporations such as manufacturers that have not previously had to deal with centralized, large-scale translation to any extent.

The impact of translation should not be underestimated. It forms a large piece of the change management activities. Using training material in English to train users in international markets, for example, might considerably slow down the use and adoption of the new system.

A translation strategy should ideally be clearly defined early in the deployment scoping and planning phase. This way the implementation teams can gain a much better idea of the work, costs and time involved in delivering a translated solution to international markets.

Once a translation strategy has been defined, it is important to involve qualified resources for the translation work. Translators working on ERP programs need to have the technical, terminological and domain expertise to produce translations that speak to the business users of the system or the people being trained.

A supply-chain management ERP module will require different skills and terminology than a human resources management module, for example, even though some commonalities exist. In some cases, the same term may even have different meanings and require different translations. An example often used by SAP is the German word Vorgang. Depending on the context or application, it can have three different English translations: activity, transaction or operation.

It is virtually impossible to be a subject matter expert in all areas that ERP systems cover. During implementation, functional consultants may define the business processes in each of the core areas such as finance, logistics and human resources. It is not realistic to expect knowledge of all these fields from one or two translators.

So, global ERP implementations should be supported by a strong and scalable team of translators who have a knowledge of ERP in general and specific subdomains in particular.

After dealing with all the business-related and technical complexities of deploying an ERP system on a global basis, it would be a shame if that investment were devaluated by presenting end users with a user interface or supporting documentation that is badly localized. globe

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This article reprinted from #61 Volume 15 Issue 1 of MultiLingual Computing & Technology published by MultiLingual Computing, Inc., 319 North First Ave., Sandpoint, Idaho, USA, 208-263-8178, Fax: 208-263-6310.

Is Translation Just Another Commodity?

2005-09-27T15:20:00.000+03:00

LORI THICKE

(Lori Thicke is cofounder and general manager of Eurotexte, the first translation company in France to receive ISO 9001:2000 certification. She can be reached at lori@eurotexte.fr)

In the 18 years since I cofounded Eurotexte in Paris, the translation industry has changed profoundly. Back then translators were by and large still using typewriters. Each successive advance — personal computers, fax machines, modems, the Internet — dramatically altered practices in our industry. But the biggest change of all is happening right now. Market forces are threatening to turn translation and localization from professional services into price-based commodities.

Lawyers don't engage in bidding wars, nor do ad agencies win accounts because they're cheap; yet nowadays translation buying is frequently based on calls for tender and reverse auctions. Distancing itself from other professional services, translation is well along the road to becoming just another commodity, with price as the sole differentiator.

Multinationals as well as national leaders are leading the charge to drive prices lower and lower. While some days it seems no quote, large or small, goes unchallenged and even the tiniest companies want to bag a discount of some sort, the permanent changes we are seeing are taking place in the largest companies.

In these companies, translation purchasing is being taken out of the hands of the decision-makers who are actually using our services and put into the hands of professional buyers. And the buyers operate under an entirely different mandate. It's no over-simplification to say that while a marketing manager wants words that will sell internationally, the purchasing manager simply wants words that cost 20% less than last year.

Rare is the purchasing manager who fully understands the role of translation in reaching a company's international goals, and this has to be even less of a preoccupation when the purchaser is a hired gun, brought in from the outside to slash costs — at all costs.

The tactics for meeting this goal are becoming all too familiar: being asked to drop your prices 20% instantly or see your largest client walk away; having to bid to keep your own customers against a start-up charging what a good translator is paid; being directed to a Web site where you can enter your lowest offer in a reverse auction (after being assured that quality is, of course, the main consideration).

These price pressures are endangering quality as well as the status of our profession. However, by acting together we may be able to prevent the erosion of our industry to the level of secretarial services. Here are a few ideas:

Resist the temptation to match prices with the cheapest players in your market. When their low margins and/or low quality force them out of the game, it'll be hard to put your prices back to sustainable levels.

Explain your value proposition. Higher quality, better service and more efficient project management will certainly save your clients money in the long run. Make sure they know this.

Increase your prices. Position your company higher upstream, away from the fray. Offer a complete enterprise-level solution. Be a full-service consultant.

Educate your clients about the needs of their international customers. And let your clients educate you about what image they want to project. If their new Web site is riddled with errors, ask them what this could cost them in sales. If necessary, translate the errors back into their own language so that they can appreciate the magnitude.

Find out everything you can about your cut-rate competition, particularly their pricing. What are they paying their translators? (This will tell you if they're using professionals.) Do they charge a low word price but count words higher, or charge so much for "extras" such as editing and project management that the final bill turns out to be more expensive for the unsuspecting client?

Even if you lose out on a bid, keep in touch with your former customers. I've seen company-wide rebellions where translation users refuse the suppliers chosen by the purchasing department.

Join or create a professional association. Brainstorm with the other members about ways to demonstrate to clients the importance of quality translations to their bottom line.

Regardless of the method, it's vital that we act now and act together to preserve the standing — and the future — of our industry.

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This article reprinted from #63 Volume 15 Issue 3 of MultiLingual Computing & Technology published by MultiLingual Computing, Inc., 319 North First Ave., Sandpoint, Idaho, USA, 208-263-8178, Fax: 208-263-6310.