New York City is planning on translating their website into multiple languages for better access for their highly immigrant workforce. This is great news for the millions of city residents who do not speak English as a primary language. This is also great news for city services which should be relieved by being able to provide services on the web without having to find live interpretation services. Read more.

The city of many tongues will soon have a Web site nearly everyone can understand.

City Hall plans to translate nyc.gov - the city’s English-only, multiagency Web site - into several languages “to better serve the city’s diverse population,” said Mayor Bloomberg’s spokesman Matthew Kelly.

At least 36% of the city’s population are immigrants, and the census data show that nearly half of the city’s residents speak a language other than English.

The city Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications began advertising last week for companies that may be interested in taking on the task.

While only in the infant stages, the goal is to allow visitors to click on a button that translates the information into Spanish, Chinese and several other languages - an option already available on Access NYC, a site that lets residents know what services they qualify for.

This story is an interesting read because it speaks to the artistry / challenges in translating unusual language. It takes a very skilled translator to keep the original intent of the author, and this article illustrates one reason why. More.

China’s literary scene seems to have found a new icon in Guo Xiaolu, whose book A Concise Chinese English Dictionary for Lovers, published in 2006, has been a runaway success in the UK and has been shortlisted for the Orange Prize.

Writing in a second language, it would seem, is still a huge barrier for the Chinese. But Guo, currently riding the wave, has shown that it doesn’t have to be.

Despite her recent foray into English fiction, the 33-year-old Fujian-born film maker and writer has turned what is her potential weakness into her greatest strength. Rather then trying to rid her language of any Chinglish-sounding phrases, she’s made Chinglish part of her style.

In her book, Guo tells the story of a naïve Chinese exchange student, Z, who falls in love with a hopeless commitment-phobe and artist in Hackney, east London. When Z touches down at Heathrow, her English is, in fact, quite broken, but as the novel proceeds it becomes more and more fluent.

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“They said it was wonderful but they couldn’t publish it. At the time, I thought I should make it difficult for Westerners to read my Chinese English, but then I realised that no one could follow because I deliberately inserted so many errors; each sentence was upside down. My ambitions to play with the language were too grand and it killed the story.”

Citing examples of her vaguely Dadaist prose (“I on the sky. I not mature yet. Here on the mountain, 1993 eat the barbeque.”), Guo describes the process as having linguistic fun. But the fun truly begins when the book is translated into other languages.

Says Guo, “The Italian version just came out and they say it’s a cool, really funky translation and I said ‘Are there any mistakes?’ And they said ‘No, almost no mistakes.’ I just laughed because the grammar and the structure is wrong in the English original. My German translator is working on the novel and she says that there are loads of mistakes in the German version and I think it’s wonderful.”

Guo’s first critical success abroad, Village of Stone, was a compelling story about a girl who tries to leave her loveless childhood behind. She explores a similar theme of “rural escape” in her upcoming novel, Desperate Kingdom of Desire, about a Chinese ragpicker who sorts through British garbage in China.

Guo’s daring manoeuvre has, for sure, paid off well. Is it all a bit gimmicky? Perhaps, but Guo has shown not only an ability to transcend language, but also an adept use of imagery and metaphors which don’t get lost in translation.

Let’s file this under the, “James Bond Tech” file. I highly doubt that a hand held technology will replace translators / interpretors in the near future, but it’s clear that technology is getting better in limited applications. I believe that in specific targeted areas where you need very limited command based language, technology can play an important role, but humans are still the most important part of any communication plan - no matter which language you are talking. More.

Under the Small Business Innovative Research Phase III indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, the Navy will purchase an unspecified number of Voxtec’s Phraselator P2 hand-held device, which facilitates accurate communication in different languages without a human translator. More than 5,000 units are being used by U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The contract also covers future research, development and refinement of the Phraselator’s phrase-based language technology, the company said.

The Navy will also be able to purchase future low-production prototypes from the Annapolis, Md., company in addition to the commercial devices currently in use.

While I don’t listen to punk rock, I love this review of the punk music band, La Plebe. The band, which sings in Spanish, provided an English translation which was appreciated by the reviewer, showing that bridging the language divide can help communication in just about any community. Read more.

Recorded at Motor Studios with producer Bill Gould (founding member of Faith No More, Brujeria), ¡Hasta la Muerte! is 30 minutes of pure energy. The song “Pinches Fronteras” sings of America’s arrogance towards those trying to find a better life across the border; “Plebe Por Vida” serves as an anthem for the band shouting “We have each other, we’re stronger than those who control,” and “Cerdos Al Marchar” is a tale of a rally turned riot: “They’ve come prepared with rags to protect their faces, for justice they rose together as brothers.”

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Being someone that doesn’t speak Spanish I have to thank the band for putting the translations in the insert with the lyrics. The message of this record is strong, and including the translations insures that that message is not lost by any of the audience. This record is out; go buy it, give it a couple of listens, and then tell your friends about how awesome it is. You’ll thank me, I promise.

I find this interesting… Google is one of the leaders in online translation… but they are looking for real live translators for their products. Why don’t they just plug it into their Google translation pages. Plug in the English and out comes Zulu, Spanish, Abhazian…Read more…

Vlad Patryshev, a software engineer, revealed on the Official Google Blog that “[m]any Google products . . . currently support more than 170 languages, from Abhazian to Zulu.” And of that impressive amount, “Translations into most of these languages are done by volunteers from around the world who are eager to help people view and search the web in their own native language.”

Patryshev was also quick to point out that these volunteers haven’t signed their lives away; “it usually takes weeks for an individual volunteer to finish translating one site,” he wrote. So if you’ve got the ability, some spare time, and an interest in aiding Google, the company’s new Google in Your Language page may be worth a look; it outlines some of the guidelines and FAQs with which translators should become acquainted, and provides a relatively quick way to get started.

Museums are cultural icons of their communities. Should they be required to provide translations for Latino populations? And what if the exhibit is of Latino art or history? In order to attract a Latino audience you need to think about Spanish translated signs, but that’s not all. Read more…

Is translation needed?Recently, LACMA was criticized for failing to provide translations for the wall text describing items in its acclaimed new exhibition of colonial art, “The Arts in Latin America, 1492-1820.” The writing on the descriptive cards as well as the larger explanatory placards is all in English, creating a cultural barrier for the region’s Spanish-speaking residents, contends the LA Weekly’s Daniel Hernandez.The assumption, of course, is that Spanish-speaking Latinos are too clueless to enjoy an art exhibition unless it’s explained to them in their own language. But going to museums where there is little or no explanatory text on the walls happens to be in the best cultural tradition of Latin America, one expert counters.

“It’s generally in the U.S. where you get a lot of signage and a lot of information about a piece,” says former Princeton University anthropology professor Jorge Klor de Alva, who served for six years on the Smithsonian Institution Council. “It’s rarely done in Mexico, and whatever description is given tends to be minimalist. So immigrants, if they had in fact attended art exhibitions in Mexico, would not be expecting much in the way of text.”

The same is true to some extent for Spain and Western Europe, he adds, where many museums have resisted the trend toward more text as a matter of curatorial philosophy.

“Here, there’s the sense that the museum-goer needs to be instructed,” says Klor, who has curated art exhibitions in Spain. “But in Latin America and especially in Europe, there’s much more the sense that people need to be given the freedom to interpret the art on their own. The assumption is that most of the paintings speak for themselves.”

That’s particularly true of the religious art at the heart of LACMA’s colonial show. Non- Latinos may find it foreign, and even off-putting, for its severe, occasionally bloody Catholic images. But Latinos are used to seeing such icons and images in their homes and churches.

Indeed, LACMA has not received a single complaint from the public about the English-only signs, says Ilona Katzew, curator of Latin American Art. She says there wasn’t enough room on the walls to accommodate both languages, but complete bilingual information for the show was provided in the brochure, catalog and audio-tour tapes.

“It’s not just about creating exhibitions that cater to specific groups,” says Katzew, who is Mexican and bilingual. “It’s about creating bridges among different types of people through art, which is truly a universal language.”

You’d think that saying welcome should be a bit easier, however, it seems that translation errors can happen at the most basic level. More.

COLUMBUS A college’s attempt at a warm welcome got a little lost in translation.

Signs posted around Columbus State Community College Monday said “Welcome!” in English and three other languages. Unfortunately, the French and Spanish versions were wrong.

The French welcome was spelled “bienvenu,” but it should have included an “e” at the end. The Spanish greeting was “bienvenida,” but that word is used to welcome one girl. “Bienvenidos” is the word used to welcome all students.

The video game industry is waking up to the multi billion dollar Hispanic market. The ever popular video game football franchise Madden ‘08 is marketing to Latinos by releasing a Spanish translation of their game. Read more.

Madden sells a lot of copies, but it could always sell more. Which is why EA are, if Amazon and GameStop are to be believed, about to release a Spanish-language version of Madden for the US market. Called Madden NFL 08 en Español, it would be the first major game (at least that I know of) to target the Spanish-speaking population of the United States, and looks due on November 13. There are only listings for a PS2 and 360 version, which would make sense, this being a risky venture (November’s pretty late, so bilingual Hispanics may well have opted for the English version by then).

Interesting to see an overview from the perspective of an interpreter. At WLS, we work with many industries, and we find that in the workplace, those acting as interpreters may be highly -trained professionals, the cousin of the owner who took a few years of Spanish, or in hospitals, the young child of an ill patient - and everything in between. Let’s not forget that quality customer service, whether in a hospital or at a restaurant requires quality communication. Read more.

Maria Currano isn’t a doctor, but for people who speak only Spanish and need to go to the hospital, she could be just as important.Currano, 30, is a Spanish translator and interpreter for the Prince George’s Hospital Center in Cheverly. She helps doctors communicate with Spanish-speaking patients.

“Part of what makes my job so rewarding is that I’m able to use my language skills to help people,” Currano said. “For patients, it makes their hospital experience a lot less scary and more productive if they can communicate well with health-care providers.”

A translator is someone who takes written information and rewrites it in another language. An interpreter listens to what someone says and repeats it in another language. Not all translators are interpreters, and not all interpreters are translators. Currano learned how to do both in school.

English is Currano’s native language. She started learning Spanish in middle school, then studied in Spain and at the University of Maryland. She majored in Spanish and linguistics (the scientific study of language) and took classes in translation. For a while she wanted to be a teacher, but during college she started working at the hospital and enjoyed it.

Translators and interpreters are needed in many industries. Police, schools, courts, the government and international businesses all use translators and interpreters daily.

Most translators and interpreters don’t have extra training in the area they want to work in. Currano didn’t have any medical training and for a long time would carry a medical dictionary wherever she went. More important, she said, is to know about the culture of the group you are translating or interpreting for.

There are so many people in the US who do not speak English. While learning English is an important step for immigrants to become integrated into our culture, both socially and economically, we do need to do what we can to help people them out. I just read this article about a law in Kansas that does just that. Rea Read more…

Linda Covey sat next to a courtroom bench Friday afternoon, conducting a murmured conversation with a defendant’s father while the magistrate judge moved on to other cases.

Speaking in Spanish, Covey told the man that his son was being moved to another county jail, and he needed to contact the court to find out how much his son owed in court costs and fines. She also told the man that his son had 90 days to pay or his driver’s license would be suspended.

After several minutes of conversation, the man thanked Covey and left the courtroom.

Helping Spanish-speaking people understand the complexities of the legal system is part of the daily routine for Covey, a full-time interpreter for Ford County District Court. She also helps English-speaking people navigate the system and fills in wherever she is needed.

Covey said she has worked as an interpreter for five years, and she believes she was born to do that job.

“I’m not saying that pridefully, not at all,” she said in a recent interview. “I’m just saying that I’m a tool to be of service, and that’s what I do.”

Helping people understand the courts

Under Kansas law, courts must have interpreters when needed to help a non-English-speaking person understand what is happening. The interpreter translates the proceedings into the person’s native language, listens to the person’s response, then translates their comments into English for the court.